Never Had He Felt So Free and Confident

Having calmed the rampaging Wood Release Cells within his body, Danzo still had fine beads of cold sweat covering his forehead. He drew a sharp breath and tried hard to steady himself.

He shook his head slightly. Once he believed he had fully recovered, he swiftly turned his gaze toward the stack of documents on the desk before him.

Tonight was the night of the Uchiha Clan's destruction. Although Danzo's initial plan had achieved a measure of success, he still felt that hidden troubles remained.

Quickly gathering his thoughts, he picked up the files on the desk and carefully reviewed the gains Root had made during this operation.

As he read, Danzo's brow suddenly furrowed.

"There were even personnel losses?"

His sharp gaze fixed on the report in the document...

The case of Root personnel disappearing inside the Konoha Police Force.

Danzo quickly turned to the next report. The words on it read:

According to preliminary analysis of the scene, six Root members had disappeared from Uchiha Yuan's office deep within the Konoha Police Force. Their status, dead or alive, was currently unknown.

Initial assessment of the traces at the scene indicated that they had been caused by an unknown sealing technique arranged by Uchiha Yuan before his death. No corpses or traces of survivors had been found.

Seeing this, a trace of confusion and incomprehension surfaced in Danzo's eyes. He muttered under his breath, "A sealing technique?"

He immediately shook his head. "No... judging from the scene, it doesn't resemble a sealing technique at all. It's more like..."

Danzo instinctively bit the tip of his tongue, only to find that he had difficulty saying it aloud.

His brows drew tightly together, and his voice unconsciously dropped...

"It is more like Wood Release..."

The moment the words left his mouth, he was startled by his own thought.

Wood Release was a power possessed only by the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama. How could the Uchiha possibly be qualified to... wield such a powerful ability?

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Danzo instinctively shook his head hard, forcibly driving the bizarre thought from his mind.

"Those evil Uchiha could never have obtained the First Hokage's cells."

After saying that, a strange suggestion faintly rose from the depths of Danzo's heart, as though his brain were forcibly preventing him from examining these doubts any further.

It was inherently bizarre and utterly unreasonable, yet he accepted it without noticing.

He merely continued muttering, supplying an explanation for himself...

"According to the intelligence, Uchiha Yuan was merely an ordinary civilian employee of the Police Force. He had never even awakened the Sharingan, yet this operation still lost several Root members... What a loss."

Without the Sharingan, yet capable of taking the lives of Root members—there was clearly something unreasonable about that.

But now...

Danzo was completely unaware of how strange it was. Instead, he instinctively ignored these obvious inconsistencies and fell entirely into his own blind spot.

A little tired...

Not long afterward, Danzo closed his eyes and tried to pull himself out of that confused, dazed state.

A moment later, he opened his eyes again.

"There are more important matters to handle next."

The Konoha high-level meeting was about to begin.

The destruction of the Uchiha Clan was already a foregone conclusion. How to deal with the aftermath of this incident, especially how to handle Sasuke, the survivor, would become the focus of the meeting.

"That old fool Hiruzen is always far too naive and softhearted."

Danzo snorted coldly, his usual gloomy expression returning.

"For Konoha's future, the matter of the Uchiha orphan absolutely cannot be left to Hiruzen's soft heart any longer. That child must be brought under effective control as soon as possible."

It was time for the same old routine again: you'll regret this, I'm the Hokage.

With that thought in mind, Danzo straightened his clothes and slowly rose to his feet.

His spirits were lifted once more, restoring his usual composure and coldness.

As he stepped out of the secret chamber, Danzo's expression was resolute, his footsteps steady and powerful. There was no sign of anything amiss.

Inside Konoha's high-level conference room.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura had arrived early. They had long been preparing their accusations and questions for today.

After the Uchiha Clan extermination incident ended, Root's actions had almost completely disregarded the Hokage's orders, as they had entered the Uchiha Police Force and the clan's camp without authorization.

They had taken away a great number of valuable resources and Sharingan, naturally giving the others grounds to challenge them.

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi had not yet publicly stated his position, as advisors who had long struggled against Danzo, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura would naturally speak up.

In order to preserve the delicate balance of power between the Hokage and Root, the two planned to pressure Danzo at today's meeting, making Root surrender at least some benefits to placate the various factions.

The moment the meeting began, before Hiruzen Sarutobi could speak, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu could no longer hold themselves back and directly began questioning Danzo.

"Danzo, Root ignored the Hokage's orders and acted without authorization. What exactly are you trying to do?"

Utatane Koharu's words were sharp, carrying obvious dissatisfaction.

Mitokado Homura immediately followed up...

"After the Uchiha Clan was exterminated, a large number of Sharingan were taken. Do you have no explanation at all?"

The two advisors spoke one after another, their words filled with criticism and doubt as they pressed Danzo.

The atmosphere in the conference room gradually heated up, faintly carrying tension and the scent of gunpowder.

Yet Danzo remained silent, as though he were uninvolved. He listened coldly to their accusations without expression.

For the moment, he actually looked down somewhat on this kind of pointless shouting match...

Two useless old fools who only knew how to play politics...

Seeing that Danzo still had not spoken to explain himself, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression grew somewhat displeased. "Danzo, what explanation do you have for Root's actions this time?"

After a moment of silence, Danzo finally spoke. "I need no explanation. Everything I have done was for Konoha."

With a single sentence, he forcibly blocked everyone's questions, leaving the two advisors even more dissatisfied.

Utatane Koharu was about to speak again when Danzo suddenly turned his head and stared at Mitokado Homura with an unreadable expression.

For no reason, a powerful feeling of disgust and resistance rose in his heart. His tone even carried a trace of mockery...

"Homura, it seems you are quite loyal to the Hokage?"

Mitokado Homura froze, then replied unhappily, "As Hokage advisors, it is only natural that we be loyal to the Hokage and Konoha. Danzo, what exactly are you trying to say?"

Danzo sneered several times. His tone became increasingly grim, carrying undisguised sarcasm. "True loyalty is obedience and blind submission that completely loses all reason. But from what I can see, you are still quite rational now, aren't you?"

The moment his words fell, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Utatane Koharu both froze. They stared at Danzo in astonishment, never expecting him to be so sharp-tongued today, so mercilessly confrontational.

Ignoring everyone's puzzled looks, Danzo seemed to grow more fluent the more he spoke, continuing without the slightest restraint...

"So-called loyalty brings nothing more than empty reputation, dignity, and praise."

"Yet those served by loyalty sit back and enjoy ruling power and abundant benefits. You two, if you want benefits, I can provide enough benefits as well. I can even have your heads carved onto the mountain overlooking the village."

"Danzo!"

Utatane Koharu shouted furiously.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened. "Danzo, have you gone mad? Do you know what you are saying?"

"I am not mad. I merely think that you so-called Konoha ninja have long forgotten what Chuxin means. Every last one of you is utterly laughable."

Danzo spoke very seriously...

"..."

After saying all this, he slowly relaxed his shoulders, feeling an unprecedented sense of exhilaration and release, as though he had vented every ounce of the suppression and dissatisfaction buried deep in his heart for so long.

He even felt that he had never been so free and confident before.

The atmosphere in the room instantly froze. The Third Hokage and the two advisors exchanged shocked, puzzled looks, seemingly unable to understand why Danzo was acting so abnormally today.

Danzo, however, no longer paid attention to their astonished gazes. His expression was calm as he quietly waited for whatever came next.

He did not notice that deep within his heart, some strange and invisible force was quietly manipulating his thoughts, actions, and even his words, shaping an entirely new Danzo...