After Uchiha Chisen left with that Uchiha girl, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't understand where he had insulted anyone.
He pinched some tobacco and placed it in his pipe, then struck a match. As the tobacco ignited, he gently sucked on the pipe's mouthpiece.
"Hoo..."
Faint smoke enveloped his old face as Sarutobi Hiruzen murmured, "Now it's basically confirmed that Chisen won't be a threat to Konoha. Are you satisfied now, Danzō?"
As soon as he finished speaking, an "Anbu guard" emerged from the corner of the office.
However, after only a few steps, his form began to change.
He gradually transformed into a bandaged elder, revealing only one eye, with a rather sinister and gloomy aura.
This was the master of Konoha's "Root"!
The master of absorbing blame in the ninja world!
—Shimura Danzō!
"When Uchiha Chisen walked into the office, he glanced in my direction. He should have noticed me immediately," Danzō narrowed one eye, looking towards the door. The hostility and distance in his gaze were not deliberately hidden.
Then, he turned to Sarutobi Hiruzen and continued, "Hiruzen, you can't guarantee that Uchiha Chisen didn't say those things deliberately because he discovered me. He's an Uchiha whose methods are so extreme they're practically evil!"
"You heard him just now. He said he would even draw his sword on the Hokage if the Hokage stood in his way. This kind of inherently evil Uchiha brat shouldn't exist in Konoha."
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and said, "Danzō, I know what you're planning. You are not to lay a hand on Uchiha Chisen. He is someone I value, an Uchiha like Itachi."
"Although his extreme methods are somewhat inappropriate, he has indeed set a new standard for justice in the village, causing many ill-intentioned people to restrain themselves considerably."
Sarutobi Hiruzen stated firmly, "Chisen's existence has both advantages and disadvantages for the village, but currently, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages."
"Hmph," Danzō let out a sinister snort. "Advantages outweigh the disadvantages? That's just your indecisiveness. You're only saying this because the Gekko Clan died today."
"If it were a ninja of the Sarutobi Clan who was killed, would you still have this look on your face, Hiruzen?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen replied calmly, "I only deal with what is public, not private."
Danzō admitted that he almost laughed at the monkey's words.
"Indulging such an extremely evil Uchiha to exercise his so-called [Absolute Justice] in Konoha is playing with fire! One day, you will regret this, Hiruzen!"
Danzō looked deeply at Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Sarutobi Hiruzen met his gaze and said gravely, "Danzō, you always fail to understand your position. In Konoha, I am the Hokage. You are merely Konoha's 'Darkness'."
"If I say Chisen cannot be touched, he cannot be touched! Don't forget that 'Root' exists with my tacit approval. With just one command from me, 'Root' will be completely disbanded!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. "Danzō, as the Hokage, my power is limitless. You wouldn't want me to do that, would you?"
Danzō's eyes widened. "Monkey, you..."
"Hmph!!!"
When words fail, silence is golden. Danzō, with a dark and angry old face, said no more and left directly, head down.
Bang—
The violently slammed door indicated how suppressed his anger was.
...
"Has Chisen not returned yet?" Uchiha Fugaku, far away at the Konoha Military Police Force, was troubled by the sight of four corpses.
"No," replied a Konoha Military Police Force coroner.
Fugaku sighed heavily. "He attacked another Konoha ninja clan. With this, the conflict between the Uchiha and the village... I'm afraid it has tipped further towards an irreversible situation."
This was Fugaku's greatest concern.
To be honest.
While Uchiha Chisen's actions were extreme, they were correct, so correct that even Fugaku found it difficult to fault him at times.
But this correctness was like a fatal death knell for the Uchiha Clan, which was already in a precarious state.
Ever since the Nine-Tails' Rampage, the Uchiha Clan had been viewed with suspicion by the village.
Many ninja clans that had maintained a barely passable relationship with the Uchiha Clan had become increasingly distant in recent years.
The reputation of the Uchiha among some civilians had also worsened.
This external pressure had indirectly intensified the pressure from the clan's hawk faction on him, the clan head.
Today...
Several Uchiha Clan members had met with him privately, demanding the formulation of a comprehensive Konoha coup d'état plan.
"Sigh..."
Fugaku sighed. In the entire Uchiha Clan, were there no one to worry about besides his eldest son, Itachi, and the now-deceased Shisui?
...
"U... Uchiha Chisen is here!!!"
At the same time.
A trembling exclamation, filled with a sense of dread, instantly shattered the tranquility of a street in Konoha Village.
A thief who was quietly stealing suddenly froze, his expression one of utter despair and his face ashen.
He hastily shoved the stolen wallet back.
Without even daring to look in Uchiha Chisen's direction, he unhesitatingly prostrated himself on the ground in the most humble "dogeza" position.
"I surrender! I want to surrender! I'm willing to honestly confess all my crimes to the Konoha Military Police Force! Please don't kill me!" the thief cried out, drenched in sweat.
At the other end of the street, two Konoha villagers who had been fiercely arguing and spewing vulgarities simultaneously put on enthusiastic smiles.
They slung arms around each other, calling themselves "good brothers," showing no sign that they had been arguing heatedly just moments before.
A villager who had casually thrown trash hastily picked it up and stuffed it into his own pocket.
"That's... that's so exaggerated..." Izumi had truly witnessed how famous her senior, Chisen, was in Konoha.
She had been buried in her studies at the Ninja Academy until now.
She hadn't really paid attention to people who were so famous outside the Ninja Academy.
Izumi felt that if senior Chisen just strolled around the village regularly, the crime rate in Konoha would drop by several percentage points!
"You brat! Stop right there!!!"
But soon, an angry shout shattered the eerie silence.
"Who's going to stop! If you catch me, it'll be terrible!"
Another shout rang out.
The former was an adult's voice, the latter a child's.
Izumi turned her head in confusion.
She saw a little kid with blond hair running wildly and desperately, pursued by a man holding a rolling pin.
Wherever they went, chaos ensued.
The blond kid would also pick up various items from the street and throw them behind him to impede his pursuer.
But this also made the street incredibly chaotic, scaring many passing villagers into quickly dodging.
Just as the blond kid ran past Izumi.
Her peripheral vision caught her senior Chisen reaching out a hand.
The blond kid, who had been running happily, was instantly lifted up.
He was caught!
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