Lashing Out at Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi (Please Follow, Vote Monthly Tickets, and Recommend)

"Third Hokage-sama, there's a situation!"

An Anbu carried over a piece of intelligence and placed it before Hiruzen Sarutobi. After opening the scroll, Hiruzen's expression changed.

What was the Uchiha clan doing?

"Hiruzen, what is it?"

Utatane Koharu glanced at the Anbu, then at Hiruzen Sarutobi. Seeing his expression gradually change, she grew puzzled as well. What had happened?

Could those lunatics from Cloud Village be preparing to start another war?

"It's an issue with the Uchiha clan. See for yourselves."

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his forehead in frustration, then placed the intelligence before the others for them to read.

He truly had not expected things to turn out this way. Was this Bai Ye's first move?

He had long guessed that Bai Ye would make some moves after taking power, but this was clearly something Hiruzen Sarutobi had never anticipated!

"The Police Force is just muddling through?"

"What exactly are they trying to do?"

Both Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were dumbfounded.

What!?

Why did this feel like some childish game?

They were just refusing to do their jobs?

"That kid is clever."

Danzo spoke with a gloomy gaze. Compared to Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, his political instincts were clearly sharper, and he naturally saw what Bai Ye was trying to do.

This move looked like a childish trick, but it could indeed produce some results.

But if the Uchiha clan wanted to rely on this to resolve their predicament, that probably would not be enough, would it?

"Hokage-sama, quite a few villagers are waiting downstairs for you to give them an answer."

"I understand. Have them wait for now. Go bring the Uchiha clan's new patriarch and the elders of the three factions here."

After a moment of silence, Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to speak with Bai Ye first.

This one was clearly going to be harder to deal with than Uchiha Fugaku.

So, he needed to probe Bai Ye's intentions.

"Yes!"

The Anbu vanished from the Hokage's Office, and the four of them began discussing what they should say when Bai Ye arrived.

They needed to prepare in advance so nothing went wrong later.

"Uchiha Bai Ye and the three elders, Hokage-sama requests your presence to discuss some matters."

The Anbu quickly found Bai Ye.

Uchiha Tetsu, Uchiha Setsuna, and Uchiha Jin, who stood beside him, all turned to look at Bai Ye in disbelief.

It really was just as he had said. As long as they did this, the Hokage would summon them soon afterward?

After the clan meeting ended, the Uchiha clan began following the plan Bai Ye had laid out previously and started slacking off.

The Uchiha Security Force had begun muddling through, and when dealing with matters, they leaned toward having Konoha's villagers take their problems to the village authorities instead. Right now, they were either drinking tea in the office or nowhere to be found, supposedly out on "missions."

In just one morning, the entire village had become somewhat chaotic.

In the past, whenever there were trivial disputes in the village, people would go to the Uchiha Security Force. Everyone had their own side of the story, and if the Uchiha failed to handle it properly, then it was the Uchiha's problem.

But now, the Uchiha simply refused to handle their problems. They drank tea, then vanished, and told everyone to go find the village authorities to resolve things.

The villagers, who had grown accustomed to acting like masters, panicked at once.

Who did not know that, over the years, whenever there was a problem, they could go to the Uchiha? It did not matter if they lost their temper; the other side would put up with it anyway.

This was one of their few chances to vent their anger at the ninja overlords, so naturally the villagers would not let it pass.

But now, the Uchiha clan simply refused to play along. Aside from a few old men drinking tea and reading newspapers, all the younger members of the Police Force had left their posts due to "emergency missions."

And they even said the complaints had been registered and would be handled immediately once people returned, but there was simply no one there. Since they wanted the matter resolved right away, a crowd gathered outside the Hokage's Office.

Some wanted their problems resolved, while others wanted to lodge complaints against the Uchiha clan.

"Wait a moment. We'll head over shortly."

Bai Ye nodded, a smile curling across his lips.

It seemed his plan had worked. He had intended to disgust Konoha and those villagers in the first place.

I'm not your father. Why should I care about so many of your problems?

Complain all you want. If I take it seriously, I lose!

So what if they complained to Konoha?

The Police Force's wages had always been paid internally by the Uchiha clan. Bai Ye had no intention of easing the relationship between the Uchiha and Hiruzen Sarutobi, so he naturally let things continue.

As for chilling the villagers' hearts?

The Uchiha clan was not refusing to deal with their problems. They simply had urgent matters of their own to handle for the moment. Once their issues were settled, would they not immediately help resolve them? Besides, had they not arranged for a few retired old men to register the complaints?

"Let's go, you three."

"Mm."

The three exchanged glances, then followed Bai Ye.

This might have been Bai Ye's first time in such a setting, but the three of them had experienced it before.

"Patriarch Bai Ye, this is our first meeting since you became patriarch, isn't it?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi greeted the newcomers with a genial smile. Danzo, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu beside him, meanwhile, wore cold expressions with little emotion.

They had already discussed things before the others arrived.

"Yes, it is indeed our first meeting. Hokage-sama, what did you wish to see me about? Feel free to say it directly."

Bai Ye did not waste words with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

His attitude caught Hiruzen Sarutobi somewhat off guard. He was being so direct.

But Hiruzen quickly recovered, took a puff of his pipe, and smiled kindly with narrowed eyes. "I merely thought that the Uchiha clan suddenly selecting a new patriarch was surprising, so I wanted to meet you."

Tch.

What an old fox.

Bai Ye cursed inwardly before replying, "It was an internal arrangement. I was rather surprised myself."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was implying that the village had not been informed of the Uchiha clan changing patriarchs. Was such a major matter not worth notifying them about? Bai Ye, however, directly shoved it back at him: this was an internal affair of the Uchiha clan.

Hiruzen had thought Bai Ye would not be able to handle it, only to realize that he had underestimated him.

"That is true. I was saying, Fugaku has done quite well over the years, so why did he suddenly step down? It was indeed rather abrupt. Speaking of which, has Fugaku been resting within the clan lately?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi continued speaking as though he had not understood Bai Ye's meaning.

"Fugaku has indeed been resting lately. Some time ago, he said he felt too tired. Sometimes he wanted to do something, but certain people simply refused to treat the patriarch like a person. So he got tired and wanted to step down. As for those within the clan who refused to treat the patriarch like a person, I dealt with them briefly. It seems the results have been quite good."

Holy shit!?

This kid was good!

Uchiha Setsuna stared at Bai Ye in shock. Bai Ye's ability to lie without even drafting a script stunned him.

He had originally thought that, facing such a situation for the first time, Bai Ye might feel somewhat intimidated.

But he had not expected Bai Ye to handle it so effortlessly.

Bai Ye was ostensibly talking about the Uchiha clan's internal affairs, but was he not alluding to Konoha?

He said that people within the Uchiha clan had refused to accept Fugaku, but what he really meant was the conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha.

And Bai Ye's claim that his simple handling had produced good results referred to the Uchiha Security Force slacking off just now. The results did seem rather good.

This kid must be eliminated.

Danzo glanced at Hiruzen Sarutobi without saying anything, but in his heart, he had marked Bai Ye for death.

In his view, Bai Ye had to die this time!

Otherwise, judging by what the kid had shown so far, he would definitely become an opponent a hundred times more troublesome than Uchiha Fugaku.

"But constantly striking them down does not seem like a good solution, does it? Don't you want to ease the atmosphere within the clan?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked.

"There is no point in easing things. After all, some people only feel satisfied when they see the clansmen suffering."

Bai Ye answered.

Frowning, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Bai Ye, then sighed. "Patriarch Bai Ye, I feel there may be some misunderstanding here!"

He was not easy to fool.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that this situation before him was truly difficult to handle.

"For example?"

A trace of interest flashed through Bai Ye's eyes as he handed the conversational lead to Hiruzen Sarutobi. He wanted to see what Hiruzen Sarutobi intended to say next.

"Regarding the Uchiha Security Force, I do not think you should act this way. It will only worsen the villagers' view of the Uchiha clan. I have helped stabilize things for you, but if this continues, I cannot keep persuading those villagers forever."

A trace of displeasure flashed through Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart, along with frustration. If this had been Uchiha Fugaku in the past, he would certainly have expressed gratitude first.

But Hiruzen saw none of that on Bai Ye's face. Instead, he felt Bai Ye was looking at him with a mocking gaze.

It even made Hiruzen Sarutobi doubt himself slightly.

"The Uchiha have certain internal matters that need handling, so we temporarily cannot deal with other issues. We can only trouble Hokage-sama to deal with them first!"

"Bastard, do you know what the Uchiha Security Force is supposed to do? Do you know how many matters this is delaying? The Uchiha will bear all consequences! Do you know how many people want the authority of the Police Force?"

Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi's good-cop routine was not working, Danzo, as the bad cop, naturally needed to step in.

"I never said we would not handle them. We simply need to deal with our clan's affairs first. Besides... the Police Force's wages are not paid by Konoha, are they? If you are dissatisfied with the Police Force, the Uchiha can hand it over to another ninja clan. Since Elder Danzo wants it so badly, and the Police Force is such a prized possession, how about giving it to your Shimura clan?"

The moment Bai Ye finished speaking, Uchiha Setsuna could no longer hold back his laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

Danzo glared darkly at Uchiha Setsuna.

"Sorry, I thought of something funny!"

Uchiha Setsuna had received professional training. Under normal circumstances, he would not laugh unless he truly could not hold it in.

He had not expected Bai Ye to be this vicious.

Seeing Danzo's stifled expression made him feel immensely satisfied, and it strengthened his resolve to support Bai Ye even further.

"Bai Ye, the village has always wanted to improve its relationship with your Uchiha clan. Besides, the Police Force is a responsibility your clan accepted in the first place. Are you really going to speak of giving it up? Isn't that somewhat irresponsible?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi hurriedly tried to dissuade Bai Ye. Everyone knew that the Police Force was a restriction placed upon the Uchiha.

If it were truly thrown away, it would not be some prized possession.

Watching Hiruzen Sarutobi step out to smooth things over, a cold smile flashed through Bai Ye's eyes. Was he resorting to moral coercion again?

"Since you all believe the Uchiha clan is incapable of handling the job, why insist that the Uchiha do it? Is it not because these matters offend people that you dumped them onto the Uchiha clan?

Hokage-sama, would it not be better for everyone to speak openly? Why put up so many pretenses?"

This...

Hiruzen Sarutobi froze. He had clearly not expected Bai Ye to speak to him this way.

"Hokage-sama, you know perfectly well who escalated these conflicts. Is this not the method you are best at using? Right... Advisor Danzo?"

"?"

No!

If you want to attack Hiruzen Sarutobi, then attack Hiruzen Sarutobi. Why drag my name into it at the end?!

Danzo's gaze darkened as he said flatly, "Why blame others for the Uchiha's own problems? Your clan is arrogant and does not know how to restrain itself within the village, so naturally you have drawn the entire village's rejection. Besides, during the Nine-Tails' Rampage, the Nine-Tails was controlled by the Sharingan. And the First Hokage died not long after fighting your Uchiha clan's ancestor, Madara Uchiha!"

They had used this move time and again, and it never failed.

No matter how Fugaku had explained himself back then, the Sharingan had controlled the Nine-Tails. Everyone had clearly seen the Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes.

There was no way for them to explain that away, was there?

"If the First Hokage's death is to be counted against our Uchiha clan, then why not go further back? During the Sengoku era, your clans also had many members killed by the Uchiha clan, so just add that to the tally as well. Since we are going to settle accounts properly, why not invite the Hyuga clan too? When everyone fought each other in the past, how many ninja did each side kill?"

Pfft.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll hold it in!"

Uchiha Setsuna waved his hands repeatedly before forcing himself to hold back.

Damn it!

This kid's words could truly anger someone to death. Even when he had no argument, he would still force out a point.

Just now, Setsuna had not known how to explain things, yet Bai Ye directly pulled out the history books. You like reminiscing about the past, right? Then why not go back even further?

"Then how do you explain the Nine-Tails' Rampage?"

"Someone also saw a strange masked man appear that day. I now seriously suspect that this masked man was one of Elder Danzo's subordinates or collaborators. After all, the information about the Fourth Hokage's wife giving birth was not something our Uchiha clan could obtain, but Elder Danzo, as the Hokage's advisor, could.

"Furthermore, not a single member of Root appeared during the Nine-Tails' Rampage. I seriously suspect that this was a show you directed and staged yourself!"

Motherfucker!!!!

Danzo was already cursing wildly in his heart.

Everyone around them was so stunned by Bai Ye's reasoning that they could not speak. Had they not said the Uchiha were all brutish fools who only knew how to fight?

Since when had they become so good with words?