Hayashi Ren stepped into the Hokage's office and respectfully bowed to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Grandpa Hokage," he greeted.
Sarutobi smiled warmly and motioned for Ren to stand.
As Hayashi Ren straightened up, he cast a glance—one tinged with fear—toward Danzo and said to Sarutobi:
"Grandpa Hokage, it was him… he's the one who told me to join Root after graduation."
"Ah, don't be afraid, little Ren," Hiruzen said with a sigh, misreading the situation entirely. "This is Lord Danzo, the head of Root, one of Konoha's most important divisions."
He genuinely thought that Ren was scared simply by looking at Danzo's face.
But little did he know—Hayashi Ren was only pretending to be afraid.
"You killed someone," Danzo said coldly, his eyes sharp and his voice even colder, practically dripping with menace.
He wanted to intimidate Ren—to strike fear into his heart right from the start.
That way, he could control him more easily.
Danzo prided himself on understanding the minds of young shinobi. To him, manipulating children was as natural as breathing.
Unfortunately for him, Hayashi Ren wasn't just any child.
"No, I didn't kill anyone!" Ren denied firmly, without hesitation.
He understood perfectly—as long as he refused to admit anything, they wouldn't be able to pin it on him.
Especially not with Hiruzen Sarutobi present.
He didn't believe for a second that the Hokage would just sit back and watch.
"Then explain why the Root operatives I sent to monitor you have all gone silent?" Danzo asked, voice still ice-cold.
"Lord Danzo," Hayashi Ren replied without missing a beat, "how should I know what happened to the people you sent?"
"Wait… are you saying you had them following me?"
He fired back with a string of sharp, pointed questions.
Danzo fell silent.
Hiruzen lowered the brim of his Hokage hat, just enough to cover the amused smirk forming on his face.
"To think… the leader of Konoha's secret underground force can be stumped by a twelve-year-old. How pathetic," he thought to himself, silently mocking Danzo.
But this wasn't about the questions themselves.
Danzo didn't go quiet because he didn't have answers.
It was because… Hayashi Ren had seized control of the conversation.
"This kid… something's off," Danzo thought to himself, frowning.
Seeing Danzo fall silent, Ren didn't press the issue further. Instead, he turned to the Hokage once more:
"Grandpa Hokage, you have to believe me. I really didn't kill anyone!"
Originally, he had hoped Danzo would keep pressing so he could confront him directly about the surveillance.
But Danzo had backed off, and Ren knew not to overplay his hand.
"Of course, I believe you," Hiruzen said with a chuckle, gently patting Ren's head.
"You're just a student who hasn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy yet. How could someone like you possibly kill a special jonin?"
His tone grew especially heavy on those last two words—"special jonin"—making sure the message wasn't just for Ren, but clearly aimed at Danzo as well.
"Exactly!" Ren chimed in. "And besides, why would I kill a fellow Leaf shinobi?"
"Doing that would not only earn me the scorn of every ninja in the village—it would also go against Konoha's core values of peace and harmony."
"Core values of… harmony?" Sarutobi echoed with a confused look.
Danzo also froze, staring at Ren like he'd just spoken a foreign language.
"Konoha's… harmony values? What the hell is that?"
Both of them were stunned.
Ren gave a soft cough to compose himself.
"It's something I came up with based on all of Grandpa Hokage's speeches," he explained matter-of-factly.