This time, Tsunade had been at the Pharmaceutical Department for less than five minutes when Elder Utatane's furious shouting rang out. "Tsunade, this is extortion! You're being utterly irresponsible!"
"How am I extorting you? How am I being irresponsible?" Tsunade shot back, refusing to give an inch.
"I worked my fingers to the bone making those medicines. I'm only asking for a little compensation for my hard work. Is that so wrong?"
"A little compensation? You call that a little?" Utatane Koharu trembled with rage. "You're demanding 40 percent of the profits right off the bat! That's the village's wealth. How can you put it in your own pocket?"
"When did I ever say I'd put it in my own pocket?" Tsunade retorted, thoroughly annoyed.
"I'm going to use the money to establish a Medical Ninjutsu research department dedicated to studying all kinds of medical techniques. That's good for the village. Why shouldn't I?"
"I said no, so it's no!"
"Heh, Elder Utatane, don't forget: without me, Tsunade, you wouldn't be able to make those medicines!"
"I never imagined you could be so arrogant, Tsunade." Utatane Koharu was so furious she was practically seeing red. "Without you, the Pharmaceutical Department would still be the Pharmaceutical Department. It would develop every medicine it was supposed to."
Tsunade sneered. "Heh. Really? I don't believe you!"
"Hmph, Tsunade. Just you wait!" Utatane Koharu ordered the guard beside her, "Show her out!"
"You'll be begging me one day. I'll be waiting!" Tsunade strode out of the Pharmaceutical Department with her nose in the air, feeling as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders.
She hadn't expected Uchiha Dan to really have a way to break the deadlock—and it hadn't even been that difficult.
All it had taken was a simple display of arrogance to force Utatane Koharu into becoming Uchiha Dan's ally.
And that was exactly what had happened. Now Utatane Koharu hated Tsunade more than she hated Uchiha Dan.
So there was no way she would let that insatiable woman get what she wanted.
Compared to Tsunade, Utatane Koharu still thought Uchiha Dan was a better choice. He'd helped her for five years without asking for a single coin.
She could just be a little nicer to him from now on.
What was the big deal?
He was still better than the woman who wanted money. That wasn't asking for money—that was asking for Utatane Koharu's life.
It wasn't that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Utatane Koharu hadn't realized Uzumaki Mito and Tsunade were deliberately protecting Uchiha Dan.
But when profit was at stake, everything else came second.
Just as they'd wanted to eliminate Uchiha Dan for the sake of their interests, they were now willing to spare his life for the sake of their interests.
The two of them had temporarily backed down, but someone else refused to accept it.
At the Hokage's office, the door suddenly swung open, and an angry figure strode inside.
"Hiruzen, I need an explanation. Why did you suddenly change your mind again?" Shimura Danzō demanded the moment he entered.
"Danzō, what are you talking about?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, feigning confusion.
"Don't play dumb with me!" Shimura Danzō said coldly. "How many times have I told you that Uchiha Dan is a menace as long as he's alive? You agreed to let me take him out. Why are you suddenly forbidding me from acting?"
"You wouldn't let me form Root before, and I let that go. But why are you going back on a decision we'd already made? What do you take me for?"
Shimura Danzō was genuinely furious.
Did he really want Uchiha Dan dead?
Among the village's top officials, Shimura Danzō had always been the most outspoken in favor of eliminating Uchiha Dan, even more so than Utatane Koharu. But in truth, he was the one who least wanted Uchiha Dan dead.
What he really wanted was Uchiha Dan himself.
That was why he'd done everything he could to pressure Hiruzen Sarutobi into letting him handle it.
Only then could he make Uchiha Dan disappear without anyone knowing.
But what he truly wanted was to make Uchiha Dan serve him.
As an ambitious man, Shimura Danzō had always coveted the Hokage Position.
Yet as Hokage Assistant, his power was tightly constrained by Hiruzen Sarutobi, leaving him very little he could do.
With no other choice, he had to find another way. On one hand, he wanted to form Root; on the other, he wanted to secretly build up his own circle of followers.
Of all the people in Konoha, the ones he most wanted to bring under his control were the Uchiha Clan.
Having witnessed the power of Madara Uchiha, Kagami Uchiha, and the other Uchiha firsthand, Shimura Danzō had long been captivated by them.
He desperately wanted to recruit a Uchiha Clan prodigy and train him to become his right-hand man.
He even imagined that one day, through that prodigy—and the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and Brainwashing Technique he would create to control the Root he had yet to be allowed to form—he could secretly take control of the Uchiha Clan.
But the Uchiha were too arrogant. They wouldn't give Shimura Danzō the time of day.
That damned Kagami Uchiha was like that, and the others were no better.
And Uchiha Dan, who had been driven out of the Uchiha Clan, was exactly the kind of talent he'd been looking for all along.
After lengthy analysis, Shimura Danzō had become convinced that his teacher had ordered Uchiha Dan to be watched until the day he died—and had even forbidden him from training—because the man's talent was so exceptional that it reminded him of Madara Uchiha. Otherwise, why go to such lengths?
And if someone like him went missing, no one would care.
Besides, this wasn't just his idea. Orochimaru, who had already shown exceptional talent for research and was secretly working with him, wanted the same thing. The two of them had hit it off at once.
Originally, Shimura Danzō had planned to wait until Root was established before making his move against Uchiha Dan. After all, he had nowhere suitable to keep him.
The matter was classified; no one else could be allowed to find out.
But something Orochimaru had said not long ago had changed his mind. Now he wanted to achieve his goal as quickly as possible.
Once Uchiha Dan had been brainwashed, he would become Shimura Danzō's own Kagami Uchiha.
No—in Orochimaru's view, Uchiha Dan would be even more useful than Kagami Uchiha.
Shimura Danzō had originally been brimming with confidence, since Hiruzen Sarutobi had agreed just a day earlier that he could make his move soon.
But who could have expected an unexpected obstacle to appear?
Uzumaki Mito and Tsunade had suddenly stepped in to protect Uchiha Dan, and Hiruzen Sarutobi and Utatane Koharu—the two fools—had changed their minds too.
Utatane Koharu in particular had been shouting just a day ago that Uchiha Dan had to die. Now she was saying he couldn't die yet. Shimura Danzō could only curse his useless teammate.
"Hiruzen, I asked you a question. Is it that hard to answer?" Seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi's silence, Shimura Danzō grew even angrier and pressed him again.
"Danzō, you need to understand that everything I do is for the village. I changed my mind after weighing the pros and cons."
"We wanted to eliminate Uchiha Dan before because keeping him alive wasn't in the village's interests. But now, keeping him alive benefits the village more. That's all."
"You're the only one doing things for the village? What about me?" Shimura Danzō sneered. He couldn't stand hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi spout that self-righteous nonsense.
"Danzō, I hope you understand that once a decision has been made, it's final. After all, I'm the Hokage." Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression had grown rather grim.
Shimura Danzō was reaching further and further, and it displeased him greatly.
At those words, Shimura Danzō stiffened. A nameless fury surged straight to his head.
That line again! That same line again!
Wasn't it only because you were better at sucking up? The teacher clearly favored me more. How could you, Hiruzen Sarutobi, possibly compare to me?
But all he could do was seethe helplessly.
"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!" After tossing out those words, Shimura Danzō could no longer contain his fury. He slammed the door behind him as he stormed out.
Fine. If you won't agree, don't blame me for going behind your back and doing it myself.
Having long since figured out Hiruzen Sarutobi's personality, he knew that if he acted first and reported afterward, Hiruzen Sarutobi would do little more than scold him. At worst, he'd confine him to his home for a while to reflect.
Compared to what he'd gain, that kind of punishment was nothing.
Wasn't that exactly what had happened when he plotted to get Kagami Uchiha killed?
As long as I deny it and you can't produce any evidence, what can you do to me?
Before you continue