Konoha's Senior Leadership

"Who?"

Everyone in the Hokage's Office turned to look out the window.

As they looked at the boy, whose face was still somewhat youthful but whose eyes seemed to hold the weight of countless years, they were all shaken.

First, there was the stark contrast. Second, when Ye Fan had slipped into the Hokage's Office, none of them had noticed.

If he could sneak up on them without making a sound, didn't that mean he could just as easily kill them without a sound?

The senior Konoha officials stared at Ye Fan, sensing an extreme danger that left them deeply wary.

Ye Fan surveyed the room. Nara Shikaku and the Third Hokage were the only ones whose eyes held no killing intent. The others all showed varying degrees of it.

Shimura Danzō, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu were especially hostile.

There wasn't a trace of concealment in the killing intent in their eyes.

"Uchiha Ye Fan!"

Danzō stopped in his tracks and fixed his gaze on Ye Fan. Chakra began to seep from his body, making his intentions clear.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu said nothing, but their chakra rose to its peak as they prepared to kill Ye Fan at any moment.

Their long-held beliefs aligned perfectly with Danzō's.

For the sake of Konoha's so-called stability, they were willing to cast aside anything—or anyone.

No matter how much someone had contributed to Konoha, if their convictions ran counter to theirs, that person had to die.

They believed Konoha could achieve true peace only by eliminating anyone or anything that posed even the slightest threat to stability.

They had played no small part in the Uchiha Clan's downfall.

If not for their pressure, coupled with Danzō's efforts to fan the flames, the Uchiha Clan would never have been pushed so far to the margins of Konoha before ultimately meeting its end.

And even after the Uchiha Clan had been nearly wiped out, the two of them still weren't satisfied. They wanted to kill the young Sasuke Uchiha, too.

If the Third Hokage hadn't been so determined to protect Sasuke, he might have been killed in the dead of night long ago.

When they learned Ye Fan had returned to the village, they had been filled with killing intent.

In their eyes, Ye Fan's very existence could threaten Konoha's peace. Even if he was a useless nobody without a Kekkei Genkai, he still had to die.

They had already pressured the Third Hokage over this more than once.

Jiraiya's sudden appearance in the Hokage's Office had been his way of making his position clear to them and Danzō.

The reason Jiraiya had been so forceful was that he wanted to protect Ye Fan and keep him from being assassinated.

"Uchiha? Heh. The moment my parents took their own lives, I stopped being part of the Uchiha Clan."

"From now on, call me Steel-Piercing Ye Fan!"

Ye Fan wore a cold smile. He stomped through the window frame and slowly entered the Hokage's Office.

"Ye Fan! Do you know where you are?"

"This is no place for a lowlife like you to cause trouble!"

The instant the window frame shattered, Danzō, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura quickly formed hand seals, preparing to subdue Ye Fan.

"Hmph. Hypocritical trash!"

Ye Fan snorted and stood perfectly still, looking at them with disdain. He didn't take the three of them seriously at all.

"Stop!"

Seeing what was happening, the Third Hokage immediately shouted to stop them.

"Danzō, I said stop!"

When the Third Hokage saw that Danzō still wasn't backing down, he stepped in front of him and grabbed his arm.

Although the Third Hokage was gravely injured, the authority he had built up over many years remained undiminished.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, can't you see he's harboring treasonous intentions?"

"If we don't eliminate him, he'll become a grave threat in the future! Even if he's just a useless nobody without a Kekkei Genkai right now!" Danzō roared, utterly resolute.

"That's right. I can clearly feel that he has no sense of belonging to Konoha whatsoever.

"He's also a descendant of the Uchiha Clan. Even if he's useless, he'll still threaten Konoha's peace. He has to die!"

Mitokado Homura rose to her feet, killing intent spreading from her.

"Lord Third Hokage, I warned you long ago that Ye Fan had no loyalty to Konoha whatsoever, but you refused to believe me."

"Well, look where that got us. He's even dared to come right to our doorstep!" Utatane Koharu glared viciously and pointed at Ye Fan.

"Even if you're Jiraiya's student, I won't let you off! Nothing that threatens Konoha can be allowed to exist in this world!"

Faced with their threats, Ye Fan smiled disdainfully, his expression growing colder.

At the same time, Ye Fan realized something: they apparently didn't know that he had defeated Orochimaru.

If they knew what had happened in the Forest of Death, they wouldn't dare speak to him like this.

In the Forest of Death, he had crushed three Kage Level fighters. Strength like that was enough to pose a serious threat to any of the ninja villages in the shinobi world.

Hearing Utatane Koharu's words, Ye Fan laughed and shot back, "So nothing that threatens Konoha should be allowed to exist in this world, huh?"

"Didn't Konoha just get invaded? Why don't you go wipe out Sunagakure?"

"And what about Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and all the other ninja villages? Which one doesn't pose a threat to Konoha? You're so powerful—why not wipe them all out and unite the shinobi world while you're at it?"

"Look at you, feeling so full of yourself after only a few days with a full stomach. You've already forgotten your own name!"

"You!" Utatane Koharu had no answer for Ye Fan. Her chest heaved as she gasped for breath, nearly choking on her anger.

After several seconds, she finally roared, "You're twisting my words! I'll kill you right now!"

"That's enough!" The Third Hokage stomped through the floorboards, genuinely furious.

"Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, Shimura Danzō! Do you think I'm already dead? Or do you think you're the ones in charge of Konoha?"

"I told you long ago: no one is to lay a hand on Ye Fan, and no one is to try to assassinate him in any way. Are you deaf?!"

"You keep saying Ye Fan will threaten Konoha's peace. Has he threatened Konoha yet? Has he disrupted the village's order?!"

"I'm not dead yet. You don't get to make the decisions!"

The Third Hokage's furious scolding echoed throughout the Hokage's Office.

The senior Konoha officials watched the Third Hokage seething with rage, their expressions varied and complicated.

If the anger he'd shown toward Danzō earlier was something they had never seen before, this outburst was something they had never imagined.

Had they not experienced it themselves, they would never have believed that Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had always been known for his kindness, could feel such anger.

For a while, the Hokage's Office fell into utter silence. They could hear one another breathing.

After several seconds, Danzō broke the silence.

He still refused to give up. "It's true that Ye Fan isn't a threat to Konoha right now, but that's only because his current strength is so limited!"

"If he gains great power one day, do you think he'll still be the same? Can you guarantee he'll remain as he is now?"

"Hiruzen, you're still too softhearted. We have to snuff out every destabilizing factor before it can take root. Only then can we ensure Konoha's stability!"

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura strongly agreed with Danzō.

They hadn't noticed when Ye Fan arrived, but when they thought it over, it didn't seem like a big deal.

They had probably been so focused on Danzō's situation that they hadn't noticed anything else.

He was just a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy. How much trouble could he possibly cause?