Hold Uchiha Sōken accountable?
Don't be ridiculous.
Hashirama Senju had dared to lecture Madara Uchiha, the rogue ninja, because he was strong enough to pin his best friend down and beat the crap out of him.
Danzo's defeat had come so easily that the Third was filled with apprehension. He asked himself honestly: he didn't think he could defeat Danzo so easily. Even Uchiha Genjutsu shouldn't have been enough to leave Danzo unconscious—unless...
An idea surfaced in his mind, one that brought him no joy at all.
He glanced at Sōken, who was covered in blood but wasn't actually hurt that badly. Then he looked at Uchiha Shisui, who had held Aburame Ryoma back with ease from beginning to end, and at Fugaku Uchiha, who had done nothing but stand around and watch the whole time... The latter was beside the point.
The first two alone were enough to give anyone a headache.
And that wasn't even mentioning the many outstanding Uchiha jonin!
It looked like he'd have to put the matter of the Uchiha Clan aside for now. If he pushed them too hard and they fought to the bitter end, leaving Konoha gravely weakened and letting the other four villages swoop in and take advantage... he would never allow that to happen.
"Uchiha Sōken, the Police Force isn't anyone's plaything. I hope you don't go down the wrong path!"
The Third spoke each word deliberately.
Then he turned and left.
The area around the meeting room had been wrecked beyond repair. Earth Release users couldn't fix a building made of reinforced concrete; they'd have to wait for a professional construction crew. Fortunately, the Hokage's Office wasn't near this area and hadn't been caught up in the battle. At least he wouldn't have to find another office to work from.
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, the two shrewd old Elders, left without saying a word.
"The future of the Uchiha is my responsibility as clan head. There's no need for the Hokage to worry about it." Sōken watched the Third's retreating figure and called after him.
The meeting ended on an anticlimactic note.
The Third and the others hadn't achieved what they wanted. Instead, they'd lost Shimura Danzō. And the Third's parting words were tantamount to acknowledging Sōken's position as head of the Konoha Police Force. He was afraid of letting relations grow too strained and sparking a conflict, whether through a misunderstanding or the instigation of someone with an agenda, that would lead Uchiha Sōken to take up arms against the village.
Until they knew just how strong Uchiha Sōken was, starting a war rashly was too risky!
In a world where an individual could wield immense power, one truly strong person could decide the outcome of a great war. Numbers didn't always matter. The Third, who had once witnessed the battle between the First and Madara Uchiha, knew that better than anyone.
Uchiha Sōken...
Perhaps he possessed the power known as the Mangekyō Sharingan, just like Madara Uchiha!
As he made his way back to his office, the Third felt heavy-hearted. The only consolation was that Uchiha Sōken didn't seem intent on starting a war with the village. At least, there were no signs of it for now, and that let him breathe a sigh of relief.
"The Uchiha... Hah! Sensei, you were right. The Uchiha are a dangerous and evil clan."
In the ruins around the meeting room,
The clan heads who had come to attend the meeting began to disperse. They gathered in twos and threes, speaking quietly among themselves, but every one of them steered clear of Uchiha Sōken. Not opposing the Uchiha didn't mean they had to be friends with them, after all. Not many people liked being friends with a bunch of folks who looked down their noses at everyone.
That fat old man Torifu Akimichi hurried off. As soon as the Third left, he led Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi away with him, afraid of getting entangled with the Uchiha Clan. He might have received plenty of help from Kagami Uchiha back in the day, but personal debts could never outweigh the importance of one's clan!
However,
among the many clan heads, someone had been secretly watching Uchiha Sōken for a long time. Only when two clan-head friends of his urged him did he reluctantly leave with them.
"Sōken, what are you looking at?"
Shisui walked over.
"Nothing. I just felt like someone had been watching me for a while, so I got curious about who it was..." Sōken shook his head. "Forget that. Anyway, Shisui, do you see now? This is how you fight for peace!!!"
He pointed at the walls riddled with holes and the cracked, broken floor.
Shisui could only smile wryly.
He had indeed been shaken. When Danzo fell, he'd thought everything had gone wrong and that an irreversible bloodbath between the village and the clan was inevitable... But then the situation had taken a sudden turn. No bloodbath had come. Instead, Sōken had been approved as the new head of the Police Force.
"This is absurd."
Shisui looked baffled and frustrated.
The outcome was certainly good, but he still couldn't quite accept it. He couldn't get over how the village's rulers acted on a whim, with no conviction or backbone at all. The speed with which they'd changed their tune left him speechless.
"Not absurd at all. That's the way the world we live in works: the strong rule, and the victor is king!!!"
With a loud RIP, Sōken tore off part of his sleeve and used it as a bandage around the wound on his thigh. The bleeding had stopped, but without a Medical Ninja's help, the flesh wound would take another day or two to heal.
"Hey, Shisui, how long are you going to keep brooding? Can't you see my leg's hurt? At least come over and give me a hand!"
Sōken looked up at Shisui, who was still deep in thought, and shouted in irritation.
And so,
not long after Danzo was hospitalized, the Uchiha Clan's new head and the Konoha Police Force's new chief were hospitalized too. The doctors said those flesh wounds could heal just as well at home, but Sōken insisted on staying in the hospital. It wasn't because he was worried Danzo might make a comeback or anything. He just wanted to take it easy in the hospital for a couple of days.
These past two days had been exhausting!
First, he'd hastily seized the position of clan head, then he'd stood firm against pressure from the village... For now, the overt threat to the Uchiha Clan had been temporarily dealt with. As for the murky undercurrents beneath the surface, he'd worry about them after a couple of days' rest.
Besides, he needed time to carefully study his dōjutsu.
If he went home, there'd surely be a pile of troublesome matters for him to handle as clan head. If he went to the Police Force, he'd have no chance of relaxing as its chief either. After weighing his options, he figured he might as well stay at Konoha Hospital and pretend to be an injured patient while he rested and cleared his head.
Before you continue