Coup

He took all the blame, Danzo. He bore all the condemnation, Danzo. Hiruzen Sarutobi was the innocent, good man, while Shimura Danzō was the demon, the villain.

"I've had enough! I should have been the one to become Hokage!"

Danzo had written this in his diary.

This was the truth of it all! Hiruzen Sarutobi, that Innate Evil Old Man, had no right to be called Hokage. The position he held now should never have been his. Everything he had now was stolen from the Innate Evil Old Man who had seized it. He sat in a seat that did not belong to him.

Before long, the contents of the diary began spreading wildly in secret. Through the machinations of certain people, they even reached the ears of senior members of some of the village's clans.

"How could this be!"

The clan heads stared in disbelief at what seemed like a rumor. In the past, they would have dismissed it as a rumor and thought, Some bastard dares to spread rumors about Lord Hokage?

But that was in the past. Now...

Looking at the state of the village and Hiruzen Sarutobi's recent behavior, it didn't seem impossible after all.

After all, when the Second Hokage died, nobody but Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others knew what had really happened. What had taken place was entirely up to Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others to say, wasn't it?

And they had heard that this information had been dug out of Shimura Danzō's diary.

Now they understood. So that's why Hiruzen Sarutobi had been so lenient with Shimura Danzō. Was this the truth? Was that why Uchiha Kazuto had faced no consequences after killing Danzo? It turned out Uchiha Kazuto had inadvertently solved a problem for Hiruzen Sarutobi.

The clans quickly clamped down on everyone in their ranks, forbidding anyone from spreading word of Hiruzen Sarutobi's scheme. Whatever the truth, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still Hokage, and he had Uchiha Kazuto—the Hokage's loyal hound—at his side. He was not someone they could take on.

But even if they said nothing, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already lost the people's trust in Konoha. In everyone's eyes, he had become a steaming pile of crap—a madman, a demon who had usurped a position that was never his.

Time passed quietly, and Konoha still seemed peaceful.

By this point, nearly every shinobi in Konoha—except for some clan heads and those who truly hated Uchiha Kazuto—had joined the Study Corps and undergone training. Though they didn't say it aloud, most of Konoha's shinobi approved of Uchiha Kazuto and knew him as a man wholly devoted to Konoha, a good citizen who embodied the Will of Fire.

His loyalty was beyond question! What a pity that Uchiha Kazuto belonged to the Uchiha Clan. What a perfect candidate he would have been to become the next Hokage!

Meanwhile, Uchiha Itachi still hadn't given up on finding a weakness in Uchiha Kazuto. He spent nearly all his time searching for one, doing little else. Under Uchiha Kazuto's deliberate guidance, Uchiha Itachi ignored the changes in the village. Then, one night, without knowing it, he locked eyes with a crow.

Until... the day Konoha finally exploded!

Countless villagers filled the streets, shouting, roaring, and marching. They cursed Hiruzen Sarutobi as a traitor and a beast, and exposed all the darkness recorded in Danzo's diary. They couldn't take it anymore. They truly couldn't.

They could no longer bring themselves to praise that beast, that madman. Whenever they thought of what Hiruzen Sarutobi had done, they felt sick.

How could such a beast continue to sit in the Hokage's seat?

Konoha had become far too oppressive under the madman Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Lord Kazuto, the villagers are rioting! They say they're going to force Lord Hokage out of his position!"

In the Military Police Force office, Uchiha Tekka knelt before Uchiha Kazuto and delivered his report.

"What? How dare they? How dare they rebel against our great Lord Hokage? This is treason! A pack of ungrateful wretches! These people are no longer ordinary villagers. We must hit them hard! First Unit, move out!"

Uchiha Kazuto's face filled with shock and fury. He couldn't understand it. Lord Hokage was so great and had given so much to the village. Why would these people rebel against his rule?

It made no sense!

Thud, thud, thud!!! Thud, thud, thud!

Before long, the First Unit had assembled. They took up their batons and set out to suppress the riot.

"Protest! Protest! That bastard Hiruzen Sarutobi is no longer fit to be Hokage! We need a new Hokage!"

A crowd of Konoha villagers marched down the street toward the Hokage's Office, holding signs.

Just then, a group of shinobi wielding batons charged in.

Six blows a second! A storm of heavy baton strikes fell upon the villagers, beating them until they were covered in blood and fleeing in disarray, shrieking in agony. In an instant, the crowd scattered.

"Beat them! Beat them hard! These people are no longer ordinary villagers. They dare to undermine the unity of the village! The First Hokage said that anyone who dared to undermine the village's unity or harm the village would be dealt with, no matter who they were. These wretches!"

Seeing this, Uchiha Kazuto bellowed. He was putting the First Hokage's ideals into practice to the fullest. So what if every person in Konoha had to die for the village? What did it matter if everyone died, as long as the village remained? Nothing was more important than the village's safety!

That was the great Will of Fire passed down by the First Hokage!

"Lord Kazuto, something's happened!"

Just then, Uchiha Inaho came over and knelt before Uchiha Kazuto, his face alight with excitement.

"What is it?"

Uchiha Kazuto furrowed his brow.

Uchiha Inaho then told him why the villagers had rioted and why they had turned against the village.

"How is that possible? How could this happen?!"

Uchiha Kazuto took a step back, his face full of disbelief. He seemed as if he truly had no idea why the villagers were rioting. As though his faith had shattered, he fell to the ground, stunned.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was the traitor? The great Lord Hokage was the insect who had undermined the village's unity? How could he have ever dreamed such a thing? It couldn't be true!