"You'll regret this, you monkey!"
"Call me Hokage!"
Bang!
Inside the Hokage Office Building, Danzō yanked the door open and strode out in great strides.
The cane in his hand suddenly felt strangely out of place.
Heavy.
Far too heavy.
Inside the office, Koharu Utatane hesitated for a moment before speaking softly.
"Hiruzen… could this be a mistake? Maybe Danzō really didn't touch that Cloud envoy."
Her voice wasn't loud.
In fact, even she didn't sound very confident.
Tap.
Tap.
The Third Hokage said nothing, only drawing steadily on his pipe.
If anger could take physical form, flames would have already been shooting three meters into the air above his head.
He was furious.
At last, after filling the entire office with thick smoke, he stood up and walked to the window by the door, gazing down at Danzō's retreating figure.
His expression darkened further and further, until he finally couldn't help calling out:
"Danzō!"
Down below, Danzō stopped with his back to the window but didn't turn around.
The Third sighed and leapt down.
Tap.
His feet landed beside Danzō as he said quietly,
"You should understand—"
"This matter will almost certainly trigger backlash tomorrow."
"The ceasefire talks between Kumo and Konoha are imminent. How can we allow internal problems at a time like this?"
There was even a hint of exhaustion and decay in his tone.
Hearing this, Danzō's heart softened slightly. Thinking of his old companion's age, he sighed and no longer insisted stubbornly. Turning around, he said,
"Problems? What problems?"
"They couldn't even find the body. If he got himself lost, what does that have to do with Konoha?"
"A bunch of blockheads with lightning in their heads—what right do they have to sit at the same table as us and negotiate?"
His face looked awful.
Almost ashen.
If not for the fact that his authority wasn't strong enough right now, he would have advocated striking back without hesitation!
A mere Cloud Village, daring to take advantage of the chaos—did they really think Konoha had no one left?!
Unfortunately, his old friend Hiruzen was a peace-lover, unwilling to let the village sink back into war.
Looking at Hiruzen's aging back, the once-smooth forehead had sprouted countless wrinkles in just two short years, stacked so thick they almost obscured what he once looked like.
"Ha…" For a moment, Danzō couldn't tell whether it was pity or impulse. He took two quick steps forward. "Hiruzen, if you can't take it anymore, then hand over the Hokage position. You're too tired."
There it was.
Still harboring ambition!
The faint trace of sympathy that had just risen in Hiruzen's heart vanished instantly.
He flicked his sleeve and snorted coldly.
"So it really was you who destroyed the body?"
Danzō: ????
"Otherwise, how would you know they couldn't find the body? Only I knew that!"
The Third narrowed his eyes, lifting his heavy lids to stare at him.
For once, a sharp glint of scrutiny appeared in his cloudy gaze.
"You—!"
Two veins bulged on Danzō's forehead.
He nearly wanted to point at Hiruzen's nose and shout, Are you an idiot?!
But—he couldn't expose the fact that Root had been monitoring the Hokage.
If that came into the open, it would become another massive bomb.
So in the end, he could only swallow this bitter loss.
Grinding his teeth, forcing it down.
Bang!
He turned and stormed off, slamming his cane against the ground.
If he stayed any longer, he was afraid he'd really end up smashing Hiruzen with it.
Behind him, the Third Hokage shook his head and slowly shifted his gaze toward the Hyūga clan compound.
A flicker of calculation passed through his eyes.
Danzō still had his uses at the moment.
He couldn't simply hand him over.
Then—there was only one choice left.
Push the blame onto the Hyūga clan.
"I just hope… the people of Kumo won't go too far."
And just like that, before Kumo had even confirmed the situation or formal negotiations had begun, the Third Hokage had already decided where the blame would land.
As for whether this would cause any harm to Konoha?
The incident happened after the visit to the Hyūga clan. Their young lady had even gone missing!
Naturally, whatever happened would be the Hyūga's responsibility.
What did it have to do with the Third Hokage?
…
Uchiha compound.
Sasuke rubbed his sleepy eyes and pushed open his bedroom door.
When he saw a figure standing outside, he instinctively ran over, stretching out his arms and mumbling,
"Big brother? Why aren't you asleep yet…"
He leaned in for a hug.
But the moment he touched them, something felt off.
The height was wrong.
And the reaction wasn't right either.
Normally, Itachi would bend down and lift him up.
Sasuke rubbed his eyes and looked again.
"Yo, my foolish little brother."
The person opposite grinned, tapping Sasuke's forehead with a finger, his white teeth glinting faintly in the moonlight.
"Uchiha Ren?!"
"It's you?! Pfft—pfft!"
Sasuke's mood instantly exploded.
He jumped back in a flash, frantically rubbing his arms and wrists, brushing at his clothes.
The disgust was written all over his face.
"You tricked me just to get a hug!"
"Hmph! Uchiha Ren, you're the worst!"
In his agitation, after a few swats, he even threw a punch.
Bang!
It hit!
A triumphant smile spread across Sasuke's face.
The earlier theatrics had all been an act—his real goal was that revenge punch.
Boom!
But before the smile could fully bloom, it froze.
The Uchiha Ren in front of him—his second brother—went boom and vanished into smoke.
"E-Exploded?"
"I… I just punched my own second brother to death?!"
Sasuke was stunned.
His pupils looked like they'd just experienced a world-shattering earthquake.
A faint hint of red even surfaced in his eyes.
H-He's opening his eyes?!
But just as he was about to awaken them, the door to the adjacent room suddenly opened.
Whoosh.
"Sasuke, what are you—hm?"
Hearing the noise, Itachi pushed the door open.
The moment he saw the change in Sasuke's eyes, his figure vanished.
In the next instant, his hands were already on Sasuke's forehead as he said sharply,
"Sasuke, what's wrong?"
Inside, confusion surged.
That just now looked like the signs of awakening the Sharingan, didn't it?
Was it interrupted… or was the emotional shock not strong enough?
But in the middle of the night, what could possibly have stimulated Sasuke like that?
A nightmare?
But… since when could Uchiha awaken their eyes just from having nightmares?
If that were true, Father would've become the Nightmare Master ages ago…
As he puzzled over it, Sasuke suddenly snapped back to his senses, crying as if he'd found a savior.
"Waaah… big brother, I-I just… just accidentally punched Ren to death…"
"Huh? You mean you punched Ren to death?"
Itachi froze for a moment.
Then he burst out laughing.
"Sasuke, you're really giving yourself too much credit… uh, I mean, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
He might not fully grasp Ren's true strength, but there was no way Sasuke could even come close to him.
At most, maybe a single slap.
Hearing that, Sasuke finally came back to his senses.
His little face flushed red with embarrassment as he repeated what happened.
Itachi shook his head with a smile.
"That was a clone. He used it to fool Mom."
"A clone… the Three Basic Techniques?!"
Instead of calming down, Sasuke became even more shocked.
When had that guy learned that?!
The Three Basic Techniques were notoriously tedious and time-consuming to master, especially for children their age.
It usually took months of nonstop practice.
"But that guy is always in the clan either sunbathing or dragging people around to chat. When did he ever practice the Three Techniques?"
"Could he really have learned it instantly?"
Want More? Get up to +60 Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ https://www.patreon.com/NightQuill705
➤ +300 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter Drop!
Thanks for the support!