"You think... you're the Hokage?"
Yuhara's voice was drenched in ridicule, and his words hit Danzo square in the ego, forcing a rare moment of silence. But within that silence, a raging inferno lit up behind his eyes.
Already furious over the loss of more than a dozen of his Root operatives, Danzo's temper finally exploded after being mocked so openly by a mere Uchiha brat.
The title of Hokage—Danzo's lifelong obsession.
He had even gone so far as to attempt the assassination of his old friend Sarutobi Hiruzen for the chance to claim it. But one memory still haunted him.
That day, when he sat smugly in the Hokage's chair, dreaming of a glorious Konoha under his leadership—only for Sarutobi to appear behind him and say, with grave calm and effortless authority:
"Danzo, you've overstepped. I am the Hokage."
That sentence, so simple, carved itself into Danzo's heart like a brand. As long as Sarutobi lived, he knew the Hokage's seat would forever remain out of reach.
And now, this insolent Uchiha boy dared to speak those same words in front of a crowd? How could Danzo not snap?
He might have lost the chance to be Hokage—but he would never allow a brat from the Uchiha to mock him so casually.
With his fury burning cold now, Danzo glared at Yuhara with his one visible eye, his voice sharp as ice.
"I saw it all with my own eyes. You slaughtered Konoha's Anbu—don't think you can weasel out of this. I may not be the Hokage, but I am a Konoha shinobi. For the good of the village, I will arrest you… or eliminate you if necessary. Apprehend him!"
At his command, the remaining Root operatives sprang into action.
All around, the Konoha shinobi flinched, and Shisui's face darkened with tension.
Yuhara, however, was slightly surprised. Danzo looked calm, but had he gone insane?
Twelve Root elites couldn't even touch him, and now Danzo thought a single three-man team could capture him?
"Or maybe," Yuhara thought, "he assumes I wouldn't dare shed blood in front of this many people?"
It was a valid concern. If Danzo's goal was to bait him into killing more Root operatives publicly, that could be twisted into justification for an all-out purge.
But the moment Danzo's men made their move, Yuhara clenched the hilt of his ninja blade. He wasn't about to just stand still and take it. If they were just trying to arrest him, fine. But if they had darker intentions... he'd show them no mercy.
Before he could act, however, Shisui charged ahead.
His ninja blade flashed out, and he blurred forward using the Body Flicker Technique, clashing instantly with the three Root ninja.
Yuhara frowned. Shisui was being reckless. As a member of the Anbu, attacking Root openly would put him in a bad position. Root and Anbu might have longstanding friction, but outright violence between the two was rare—and forbidden.
Yuhara himself had more leeway. Officially, he didn't even "know" Root existed.
Shaking his head, he leapt in to join the fray. This fight was different from earlier. He couldn't go all out, not in front of so many witnesses, and especially not when the enemy hadn't even drawn blood yet.
Despite these restraints, he and Shisui—both Mangekyō-level Uchiha—worked in sync. Without using their full power and with no real coordination, they still locked down one target each while distracting the third with overlapping pressure.
The three Root operatives were no pushovers. Their teamwork was tight, but even they struggled with the suffocating tempo.
Yuhara also noticed that they were clearly holding back. Danzo had outright said, "I'll kill you if necessary," but these operatives weren't going for fatal blows. They were following orders to capture, not execute.
That restraint told Yuhara they were likely of high rank—men with judgment and sense. If they had been the usual cold-blooded drones, this skirmish would've escalated far worse already.
"Stop! What the hell do you all think you're doing?!"
A thunderous voice suddenly rang out from the distance.
Yuhara and Shisui instinctively stepped back. The Root trio also retreated and returned to Danzo's side.
Because now… the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had arrived.
His expression was grim as he strode into what had once been Training Ground Three. The fires that had raged earlier were already extinguished by other arriving Konoha shinobi.
But this place was no longer a training field. It looked like a battlefield—no, a massacre.
Even for a veteran like Sarutobi, who had fought through war, the sight of mangled corpses littering the ground made his brow twitch. He held his composure and turned to Yuhara.
"Explain. What happened here? Whose bodies are these?"
"I'll explain, Hokage-sama."
Before Yuhara could speak, Shisui stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
"Yuhara had invited me here tonight to help him train with his swordsmanship. I accepted the invitation. However, when I arrived, the attack had already taken place—and Yuhara explained the entire situation to me."
Shisui spoke calmly and clearly. It was obvious his time in Anbu had trained him to report succinctly and effectively.
Yuhara listened, nodding silently. As he glanced around, he realized more and more Konoha shinobi had gathered. Not just ordinary ninja—but clan members as well.
He spotted Hyuga Hiashi. Uchiha Fugaku was here too.
Looks like this really had turned into a public spectacle.
Still, that worked in his favor. The more witnesses, the safer he was.
And these weren't idiots. Danzo's mishandling of the situation would make them think twice. Especially the Uchiha clan—tonight's events were going to spark a lot of new conversations behind closed doors.
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