Konoha.
The Senju Clan compound.
“Enough!”
“Danzo’s actions will be judged according to the village’s laws!”
“He is a high-ranking elder of Konoha!”
“Even if he has committed a grave offense, he can be tried and punished only after the advisory council and I discuss the matter in a high-level meeting!”
“Uchiha Fugaku!”
“Don’t forget your position!”
“If you act now, you will be defying the village’s laws and the authority of the Hokage!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen shouted sternly.
The muscles in Uchiha Fugaku’s face twitched violently.
Veins bulged on the hand gripping his sword, and his teeth ground audibly.
Unwilling.
He was deeply unwilling to accept this!
A high-level meeting?
That was nothing more than a game played by the four of them: Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura!
As long as Danzo was handed back to them, it would not take more than a few days for him to assume another identity and continue manipulating events from the shadows.
But what could Fugaku do?
Could he truly kill an elder under the Hokage’s protection in front of everyone?
If he did, the Uchiha Clan would be branded as traitors.
The light in Uchiha Fugaku’s eyes gradually dimmed.
To his sorrow, he realized that even as head of the Uchiha Clan, he seemed powerless to change anything.
Sarutobi Hiruzen noticed Uchiha Fugaku’s hesitation and inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as he could suppress Fugaku, there would still be room to maneuver.
Once they returned to the conference table, everything would be under his control again.
Clap!
Clap!
Clap!
At that moment, crisp applause suddenly rang out.
Chiba stepped forward, clapping with a sneer.
He looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen with undisguised pity in his eyes.
It was the look one gave an idiot.
“A high-level meeting?”
“The village’s laws?”
“Sarutobi Hiruzen.”
“Have you occupied the Hokage’s seat for so long that your brain has rotted?”
The entire crowd was stunned.
Even Nara Shikaku could not help widening his eyes.
Had Chiba gone mad?
He had actually addressed the Third Hokage by name and insulted him in public!
This was no longer simple defiance.
He was grinding the Third Hokage’s dignity into the dirt!
The two old fossils, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, trembled with rage.
“Insolent!”
“Chiba, how dare you speak to the Hokage that way?”
Chiba did not even glance at her.
He simply stared at Sarutobi Hiruzen.
There was no trace of reverence in his eyes, only endless indifference and superiority.
“All of you seem to have misunderstood something very important.”
Chiba’s voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached everyone present.
“Who founded Konoha?”
The question left everyone momentarily frozen.
Chiba did not need them to answer.
He suddenly stepped forward.
Enormous cracks instantly spread across the ground beneath his feet.
The terrifying pressure of the Perfect Sage Body descended with a boom.
“The Senju Clan!”
“And the Uchiha Clan!”
Chiba’s voice resonated like a great bell, shaking everyone’s eardrums.
“Konoha is the foundation Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara built upon countless lives and corpses!”
“The names of our two clans are engraved into the very bones of this village!”
“What is your Sarutobi Clan compared to them?”
“And what is the Shimura Clan?”
Chiba extended his hand and pointed at Danzo on the ground, his finger as sharp as a sword.
“You’re nothing more than vassals who barely survived by sheltering beneath the wings of our two clans!”
“Now, a piece of trash from one of those vassal clans not only covets the Senju Clan’s Wood Release, but even dares to gouge out the eyes of the Uchiha Clan!”
“A subordinate overstepped his station and forgot his roots, committing such a beastly act…”
“And you dare lecture me about the village’s laws?”
Chiba’s cold, stern gaze swept across the compound.
The full majesty of the Super Kage level was revealed at that moment.
“Let me make this clear!”
“In Konoha, the sanctity of the Senju and Uchiha bloodlines is the supreme law!”
“Anyone who dares steal the power of the Senju and Uchiha will die.”
“It doesn’t matter if Danzo is an elder.”
“Even if he were the Hokage, he would still have no path but death today!”
“And anyone who dares stop me will die with him!”
Boom!
The entire crowd erupted.
Uchiha Fugaku abruptly raised his head.
An unprecedented light blazed in his previously dim eyes.
Every word Chiba had spoken resonated with his heart!
“Well said!”
“No one may trample upon the dignity of the Senju and Uchiha!”
“Danzo must die!”
Uchiha Fugaku could not restrain his roar.
That’s right!
The Uchiha and Senju had founded Konoha!
Why should they be suppressed at every turn by these former vassal clans?
Why should their ancestors be desecrated by such trash?
“Kill him!”
“Kill that old dog Danzo!”
All the Uchiha clansmen descended into a fanatical frenzy.
Dozens of Sharingan lit up like a sea of scarlet flame.
The humiliation and anger they had suppressed for years finally found an outlet.
Amid the frenzy, only one person seemed out of place.
Uchiha Shisui.
He stood at the outermost edge of the crowd, his expression deeply pained.
His fingers dug into his arm so tightly that his nails nearly pierced the flesh.
How had things come to this?
Confusion filled Uchiha Shisui’s heart.
He had been taught the Will of Fire since childhood.
But now his Will of Fire was harming the clan that had raised him.
For the first time, Uchiha Shisui felt utterly lost.
The village?
Or the clan?
He simply did not know which he should choose.
At the center of the compound, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s expression had gone beyond merely ugly.
The Hokage’s authority in which he took such pride, along with the political rhetoric he had carefully cultivated for decades, was worthless before Chiba’s absolute strength and dominance.
Chiba did not merely possess heaven-defying power.
He was also a hundred times better at branding others with accusations than Sarutobi Hiruzen himself.
“Chiba…
you…”
“Even if your argument has merit, could you do this for my sake?”
“For Tsunade’s sake…”
“Will you leave this matter for me to handle?”
After a long silence, Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke in a hoarse voice.
He completely humbled himself, even invoking Tsunade’s name.
“Third Hokage.”
“If this were any other matter, I could indeed show you some respect.”
“But in this matter, your reputation means nothing!”
“I’ll ask you only one question.”
“For the sake of this beast who gouged out his comrades’ eyes, do you insist on openly violating the iron laws established when Konoha was founded?”
“Do you intend to announce to the entire shinobi world that Konoha has become a den of thieves where Kekkei Genkai clans can be harmed at will?”
“…”
Chiba refused without hesitation.
He looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen as though looking at trash.
Without Sarutobi Hiruzen’s tacit approval, how could Danzo’s Root have ever become so arrogant?
“I…
I…”
Sarutobi Hiruzen froze after hearing Chiba’s words.
The accusation was too grave.
So grave that even he did not dare accept it.
If he nodded, not only would the Uchiha immediately riot, but the Hyuga, Ino–Shika–Chō, and even the ordinary civilian-born ninja present would lose all faith in Konoha’s leadership.
The village’s foundations would be destroyed in one stroke.
Danzo could not be saved!
There was truly no way to save him!
Today, Danzo would undoubtedly die!