Shimura Danzō Charged Forward

At the central passageway of the Konoha Root Base, Uchiha Itachi stood silently on a bridge corridor facing deeper into Root. Behind him stood several blood-covered Uchiha Clan members. Minagawa Uchiha stood among them as well, and all of them waited expressionlessly for whoever was coming out of the darkness.

Clearly, the Root shinobi who had been fighting them earlier had already been wiped out. But everyone knew those had only been members of the outer defenses. More elite Root shinobi would soon appear alongside the Darkness of the Shinobi World, the man who had forced the Uchiha Clan into rising up in resistance.

Suddenly, the sound of a cane striking the ground echoed through the silent darkness. As it drew closer, sharp whooshes split the air, and masked figures instantly filled every corner of the hall.

They simply stood there without making any unnecessary movements, staring directly at the Uchiha Clan members before them. Like a pack of corpses, they sent chills down the backs of even the normally arrogant Uchiha, who unconsciously tightened their grips on their weapons.

Clang, tap tap!

Following a crisp strike of cane against the floor, the footsteps stopped as well, revealing the owner of the sound.

The figure stood amid the crowd of masked men, his body wrapped in bandages with only one eye exposed. It was none other than Root's leader, Shimura Danzō.

"Uchiha Itachi, I trusted you so deeply, yet you still dared to lead a rebellion against Konoha. The Uchiha truly are an innately evil clan. I will not make Sarutobi's mistakes. Since you have come here, not one of you will leave alive."

After saying that, he planted his cane on the ground. The crisp sound of its collision with the floor reached the ears of the Root shinobi like a signal. In an instant, they all moved, charging together at the Uchiha Clan members.

Just as Minagawa Uchiha and the others arrived at the entrance to the Root Base, the Anbu codenamed "Night Hawk," who had previously received orders, arrived at the Hokage Building.

Seeing numerous clan heads and Jonin gathered in a meeting, the Anbu did not dare delay. Without explaining himself directly, he went straight to the Third Hokage's side and reported the intelligence concerning the sudden change at the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Upon hearing the news, Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately felt as though he had lifted a rock only to drop it on his own foot.

He had intended to use last night's attack on the Hokage Building as a pretext to summon the major clans and Jonin while the Uchiha Clan was being destroyed, so he could distance himself from the matter.

Once the dust settled, the people of the village would have no grounds to condemn him—the Hokage who had been discussing the attack on the Hokage Building and knew nothing of it. Then, he could handle the Uchiha's assets and aftermath before delivering a speech on the Will of Fire. Everything would have concluded perfectly.

As for why no one from the Uchiha had been invited to the discussion—what a stupid question. Everyone knew the relationship between the village and the Uchiha. The Hokage had not invited them because he did not wish to provoke the Uchiha over the village's failure to maintain public security, causing an even deeper rift between the two sides.

Yet he had never expected Shimura Danzō and Uchiha Itachi to be so unreliable. Even with outside assistance, they had failed to smoothly take down the Uchiha Clan and allowed the situation to change, leaving him, the Hokage, trapped between a rock and a hard place.

After all, destroying one of the village's own clans before the Uchiha had openly rebelled was impossible to justify. It would also pose a massive threat to his reputation and authority as Hokage.

Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen was about to pause the meeting and go elsewhere with his two old companions to discuss how to resolve this matter, another Anbu used Body Flicker to appear in the meeting room.

However, this Anbu was not as tactful as the previous one. He directly announced the intelligence before all the shinobi present.

"Hokage-sama, Uchiha Fugaku has led the Uchiha Clan toward the Root Base. Our investigation found many slain Root members and knocked-out Anbu members outside the Uchiha Clan Compound!"

This was unavoidable. Anbu stationed merely to keep watch within the village had minds of their own; they were not part of the group of Anbu fanatically loyal to the Hokage.

Destroying the Uchiha could not be done openly. Therefore, those sent to the Uchiha Clan had to be loyal Anbu capable of keeping their mouths shut. The other Anbu naturally did not know the reasons behind it. Since the matter was too significant and the important people in the office would learn of it sooner or later, he simply said it outright.

The instant they heard this news, everyone in the office erupted in an uproar.

"What is the Uchiha Clan trying to do? They openly attacked the Anbu and even dared to continue attacking Root. Are they attempting a military coup d'état?"

"Perhaps the Uchiha Clan discovered something. The Hokage Building was just attacked, and they are the Military Police Force responsible for protecting the village. They were not even invited to this meeting. Maybe they uncovered something and are at a critical point in their investigation."

"That does not add up either. Why would they attack the Anbu? And why did they only kill Root members while sparing the Anbu? Advisor Danzo did not attend the meeting either. Could it be...?"

"Fuck, stop talking. I did not hear anything. Let us see what Hokage-sama says."

In an instant, the crowd's discussions came to an abrupt halt. As shinobi, they all possessed sharp eyes and ears. Having suddenly heard such explosive information, everyone stared in shock at the person who had spoken. Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other high-ranking officials also fixed their eyes on the man who had analyzed the situation.

Seeing everyone looking at him, the man who had spoken was somewhat at a loss. In truth, everyone knew about the issues between the Konoha High Command and the Uchiha, but no one else had been bold enough to say it outright in a setting like this.

The many shinobi considered the Anbu who had just entered and Sarutobi Hiruzen's ugly expression after hearing the news, and they all sensed that something was amiss. They stopped paying attention to that man, who was both bold and cowardly, and turned together to see what the Hokage would say.

At this point, Sarutobi Hiruzen could no longer sit still. He could hardly say outright that they had planned to destroy the Uchiha Clan in advance because the Uchiha wanted to stage a military coup d'état, and that the Uchiha had only attacked the Anbu in retaliation.

Furthermore, as Hokage, he naturally knew how many things Shimura Danzō had done. If something serious were exposed once Danzō clashed with the Uchiha, their group of Konoha High Command officials might directly lose the villagers' trust.

Since the Uchiha had not killed the Anbu directly under his command, it meant they were not willing to completely tear apart all ties. Perhaps there was still room to turn things around.

However, thinking of the major clans and numerous Jonin present, Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately realized he could use their presence to pin the charge of betraying the village on the Uchiha, rally everyone against them, and eliminate this hidden danger.

He immediately rose and ordered:

"Let us go. Since everyone is here, we might as well go see what exactly is happening with the Military Police Force."