While Itachi and Obito moved through the Uchiha District, just outside its borders—
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzō, and elite members of both the ANBU and Root had already gathered.
Though after the Shisui incident, Hiruzen had once again stripped Danzō of his position as Hokage's advisor and ordered him to disband Root…
But in truth, Hiruzen knew full well—this was an impossible thing.
Those Root shinobi, after years of both physical and psychological conditioning by Shimura Danzō, had long become mindless tools, loyal only to him and not the Hokage.
Even without any official position in Konoha, as long as those Root shinobi were alive, Shimura Danzō would still be… Shimura Danzō.
It wasn't that Hiruzen couldn't uproot Danzō's influence completely.
He just didn't see the need.
As the Third Hokage, the aging Hiruzen still relied on Danzō—as his vanguard and his blade—to handle both internal and external threats to the village, big and small.
After so many years, their relationship and entanglements had grown… complicated.
So, just like putting on a performance for Uchiha Itachi, Danzō had stayed home for a few days before naturally slipping right back into the position he'd always held.
Moreover, now that Naruto had been possessed by Senju Tobirama…
Hiruzen needed someone like Danzō—a reckless hardliner—to observe what exactly their old sensei was planning, and what mental state he was in…
"Danzō, let's wait here," Hiruzen said. "Uchiha Itachi said he would handle the Uchiha matter on his own… Just as we suspected, he's probably planning to eliminate the Uchiha's radical militant faction."
He sighed. "Even though I still wish there were no bloodshed… we've come to this point. If Uchiha Itachi truly carries the Will of Fire in his heart, then we can't think of a better way forward."
"For now, let's simply cover him from the shadows…"
Shimura Danzō let out a silent, cold laugh. As his sinister gaze swept across Hiruzen's deeply sincere expression of regret, a flicker of admiration emerged in his eyes.
As expected of Hiruzen… the man he'd spent his whole life chasing from behind.
Danzō had thought that coaxing Shisui into giving up one use of Kotoamatsukami was already proof of his cunning and tactical brilliance.
But compared to Hiruzen—
He'd actually convinced the Uchiha clan leader's son to raise the blade against his own kin!
What astonishing skill in brainwashing...
And all while wearing the mask of a kind, grandfatherly Hokage.
"Hiruzen, your handling of Uchiha Itachi… was well done," Danzō said, unusually offering praise. But the next moment, he quickly changed his tone.
"However…"
"I still think we should kill Uchiha Itachi as well! That brat of Fugaku's—no matter how loyal he may seem to the village, no matter how much he's escaped the narrow mindset of the Uchiha—he's still a terrifyingly gifted and extreme Uchiha, through and through…"
"Someone like that—we can't afford to let him live! You know what our sensei once said: a Uchiha consumed by darkness has no logic left… If he ever leaves the village and gets ideas of his own, he could become a terrifying enemy to Konoha!"
Hiruzen fell silent for a moment. Then he shook his head, rejecting Shimura Danzō's proposal.
"No. Itachi intends to join the underground rogue-nin organization known as Akatsuki, acting as a double agent for Konoha. As Hokage, I cannot take action against a shinobi who has made such a major contribution to the village—based solely on speculation."
Danzō let out a cold laugh. "I see. Hiruzen, next time just say what you really mean."
Hiruzen didn't respond. He simply clasped his hands behind his back and looked once again in the direction of the Uchiha district, sighing deeply.
And what was it that went unsaid?
Naturally—it was that Hiruzen had merely said that he, the Hokage, couldn't make a move. He never explicitly forbade Shimura Danzō from doing so.
If it wasn't said clearly… then it was tacit permission.
This was the silent understanding built over the years between Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō—
A kind of mutual cultivation: the Hokage, and the Root of Konoha.
"Hiruzen, why did you recently lift the surveillance order on the Jinchūriki? I'll be honest with you—I can give up my authority to monitor the Nine-Tails. After all, over the years, the Jinchūriki has only interacted with you, and as Hokage, it's unthinkable that you'd let go of control over a Tailed Beast…"
Danzō cast a glance at Hiruzen. With the Uchiha matter nearing resolution tonight, he seemed unusually talkative: "You'd best reinstate the ANBU surveillance over the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. Don't forget the night of the Nine-Tails."
"Danzō… your perspective has grown broader compared to before." Hiruzen looked at him in surprise, but then shook his head.
"But let me tell you—the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki is experiencing something… terrifying. No, I can't even say I know how to deal with it myself."
"I removed the confinement and ordered all of you to stay away—for your own good. Trust me on this, Danzō."
A lie? No, this was actually the truth.
In Hiruzen's view, given Senju Tobirama's temperament and his scheme to possess Naruto's body—if Shimura Danzō approached him with his usual domineering attitude—
They would absolutely come to blows.
His sensei had never tolerated anyone's nonsense in his life, not even from legendary shinobi like Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara.
And now, Tobirama—who, in his previous life, might have studied the Uchiha so obsessively that he'd been tainted by their very madness after his reincarnation—had become someone terrifyingly extreme in both thought and action, with ruthless, seasoned methods to match.
If Shimura Danzō handled things poorly, he was bound to get a proper beating...
But just as Hiruzen had anticipated—
Shimura Danzō had this peculiar trait: he loved contradicting him regardless of the situation.
Even when Hiruzen spoke with absolute sincerity—
Danzō would still fly into a rage in an instant!
"Hiruzen, have you lost your mind? How are you even still Hokage?" Danzō exploded, feeling as though Hiruzen had become completely undeserving of praise—the moment he'd given him one compliment, he went and pulled something this outrageously reckless.
There's a problem with the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and you're lifting surveillance? Acting like you're trying to avoid him?
Shouldn't you be mobilizing all the village's resources and forces immediately—eliminating every single instability, no matter the cost?
Has being Hokage for too long finally made the once-great shinobi of the past senile?
"Danzō, I know what you're going to say… But you need to trust in my judgment as Hokage," Hiruzen said calmly. "If this were any ordinary issue, I would have tried to bring the Nine-Tails under control before handling it."
"But the problem is—"
A troubled expression crossed Hiruzen's face. He sighed, then shifted his tone and spoke with seriousness: "In any case, this is an order! I'm doing this for your own good, Danzō!"
And that, too, was the truth.
Hiruzen still hadn't figured out how to explain to Danzō—and the others—that their old sensei had returned from the dead, possessed the son of the Fourth Hokage, and was now pursuing immortality… all in the name of bringing peace to the entire shinobi world.
It was simply too absurd.
Yet, the more sincerely Hiruzen spoke, the more enraged Danzō became.
"No! Hiruzen, even if you strip me of my position again and dissolve Root, I must take Root and seize control of the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki!"
"This village cannot survive another Nine-Tails disaster! What the hell is going on with you? If you can't do your job as Hokage, then step down and let someone with a spine take over!"
Danzō was practically spitting as he shouted, jabbing his finger toward Hiruzen's face.
"I'm telling you—whatever's going on with the Uchiha is nothing compared to the Nine-Tails!"
"After tonight, I'm taking Root and locking down the Jinchūriki, no matter what you say!"
Inwardly, Hiruzen chuckled: That's right...
Exactly what he wanted.
But on the surface, he maintained a look of irritation—playing the role of a Hokage offended by Danzō's distrust—and argued with him heatedly.
And just then—
The two of them simultaneously stopped mid-debate, both turning their heads upward toward the treetops.
At that very moment, right above Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō—
Naruto was sprinting at full speed toward the Uchiha District!
"Damn it! The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki is heading for the Uchiha District? What the hell is going on?! Hiruzen, this is the consequence of your negligence…"
Shimura Danzō suddenly formed hand seals, intending to blast the moving Naruto out of the sky with a sharp Wind Release technique.
The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, heading to the Uchiha District?
What kind of joke was this?
In the past, even within the center of the village, the Uchiha had abided by an unspoken rule left behind after the Night of the Nine-Tails—staying far away from Naruto, terrified of being suspected by the higher-ups.
And now, on the very night Uchiha Itachi was making his move, Naruto was heading alone into the Uchiha District?
If anything unexpected happened...
If those cornered militant Uchiha saw Naruto before them, given their extreme personalities, they'd surely do everything in their power to provoke a Nine-Tails rampage—to throw Konoha into chaos in revenge, or to seize a final chance to overturn their fate!
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