Uchiha Kazuto really was a good kid who wholeheartedly wanted what was best for Konoha. For the sake of the village, he'd even broken with the Military Police Force's tradition and shared power that had once belonged exclusively to the Uchiha Clan. This... this...
Compared to Kazuto, whether it was Kagami, Uchiha Shisui, or Uchiha Itachi, they all seemed so narrow-minded.
Uchiha Kazuto was the true good Uchiha of Konoha!
He was the one who had truly understood the Will of Fire, the one who truly understood and revered him!
Just listen!
What did it mean to do it for Lord Hokage? What did it mean to do it for the village? What did it mean to shout that his Will of Fire was burning bright?
Hiruzen Sarutobi listened to the chants echoing in from outside his office, ringing throughout all of Konoha. He took a deep breath, his expression content. Ever since becoming Hokage, no one had ever shown him such respect—not to mention actually shouting slogans about respecting him and doing things for him.
So this was how highly Uchiha Kazuto regarded him?
No wonder, no wonder. Now everything that had happened before made sense. Why had the genius who'd awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan as a child and been hidden away by the Uchiha Clan exposed the conspiracy between Uchiha Fugaku and Danzo? Because the boy, Uchiha Kazuto, truly had the Will of Fire in his heart and really did worship him as an idol!
Hiruzen Sarutobi drew deeply on his pipe and closed his eyes, a boundless sense of guilt welling up inside him. He'd actually suspected that Uchiha Kazuto might have some kind of scheme. Kazuto had treated him with such sincerity, and yet he... Ah!
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed.
"For Lord Hokage! Long live Lord Hokage!"
"Long live!"
"Long live!!!"
"Loyalty!"
The voices, filled with unspeakable loyalty, rang in through the window again. Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes and took another blissful puff.
How could a good kid like that possibly find anything out?
When he'd refused to let anyone probe Fugaku's memories, Kazuto must have been in great pain. As clan head, he couldn't just let people probe Uchiha Fugaku's memories for the sake of the clan. After all, some secrets stopped being secrets once they were exposed.
"Call Itachi back."
Listening to the voices outside, Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head and decided to summon Uchiha Itachi back. Uchiha Kazuto was so loyal; if he let Itachi continue investigating, he might come up empty-handed and end up being discovered by Kazuto. Then the mighty image he'd built in Kazuto's heart might be damaged.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi was still investigating Uchiha Kazuto.
But no matter how hard he searched, he couldn't uncover anything. It was as if there was nothing suspicious about Uchiha Kazuto at all. He'd wanted to join the Military Police Force's latest recruitment, but they'd turned him down. As Uchiha Fugaku's son, he'd already lost the clan's trust.
He was no longer the young master he'd once been.
When the clan members saw him, all they said was, "Look, that's the traitor Fugaku's son. Be careful—stay away from him, or you'll have bad luck."
It seemed their whole family had become traitors, despised by everyone. In the past, clan members would nod to him and say things like, "The young master sure is handsome." Now Uchiha Itachi was nothing more than a stray dog by the roadside.
The clan members' attitudes made Uchiha Itachi feel increasingly miserable. Damn them. The Uchiha really were born evil. If... if it weren't for Uchiha Kazuto, I, Uchiha Itachi, would really want to wipe you all out!
Uchiha Itachi's face darkened as he suppressed the frustration inside him.
And then there were the Hawk Faction members of the Uchiha Clan. Those people who'd discussed the Coup day after day now acted as if nothing had ever happened. Itachi hadn't heard a single word from them about the Coup, and whenever they saw him, they hurried away as if he were a plague.
The whole Uchiha Clan seemed to have returned to normal. The only thing out of place was Uchiha Itachi himself. He no longer fit in with the clan!
The Hawk Faction members despised Uchiha Itachi because Uchiha Kazuto had told them that Itachi was a traitor to the clan—a genuine traitor who would even destroy the Uchiha Clan in the future.
Though it sounded like a prophecy, the Hawk Faction members believed it without question. When they'd asked how Uchiha Kazuto knew, he'd simply pointed to his eyes.
After that, no one had any more questions. Those were the incredible Mangekyō Sharingan, after all—the eyes that had become the stuff of legend.
To this day, Uchiha Kazuto hadn't revealed the abilities of his eyes to anyone. They remained shrouded in mystery. Yet that very mystery made the Hawk Faction trust him completely, convinced he could lead the clan to greatness.
After all, he'd even killed Danzo.
This was Shimura Danzō, Konoha's ultimate darkness—a man who, just because he'd once been the Hokage's comrade, dared to shit on the heads of all the major clans. Many of the village's disappearances were tied to him. He called himself Konoha's darkness, but in truth, he was nothing but a cancer, a living beast.
A beast whose existence the Hokage had tacitly allowed.
And now this beast, the one who'd given all the major clans of Konoha a headache, had been killed by Uchiha Kazuto, who'd even dragged his corpse in front of the Hokage. It was practically a slap in the face. Everyone knew the rumors that Danzo had once attempted to assassinate Lord Hokage. Rumors like that didn't come from nowhere. It was probably true.
But look at Danzo. After attempting to assassinate the Hokage, he'd faced no consequences. He still acted as brazenly as ever, and with the Hokage's tacit approval, continued shitting on the heads of the clans and the people of Konoha without a care. That showed just how highly Hiruzen Sarutobi regarded that beast.
There were even rumors that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō had an improper relationship. It was thanks to this disgusting relationship that Shimura Danzō could act so brazenly in the village and escape punishment even after his failed assassination attempt.
And now this old beast, with connections reaching to the heavens and nothing to hold him back, had been killed by Uchiha Kazuto and dragged before Hiruzen Sarutobi, who'd also spun some conspiracy theory. The theory was absurd on the face of it, and yet Hiruzen Sarutobi had actually believed it.
As expected of Lord Kazuto!
Though even they, the Hawk Faction, were starting to wonder whether that conspiracy had really existed. After all, Uchiha Fugaku had admitted it.
Before you continue