The Hokage's office.
Thud! Thud!
His cane pounded against the floor, making it shake.
"Damn those Uchiha for slandering me! If I'd known, I would've XXXX!"
Danzo cursed up a storm, completely forgetting his status as he let loose with a string of profanities.
Now that his Sharingan had been exposed, people were also pinning Shisui's disappearance on him.
He was even being painted as the mastermind behind the Nine-Tails Incident, with the Uchiha cast as his scapegoats. They claimed that was why he wanted to exterminate the Uchiha: to keep the truth from coming out someday.
Who knew where these rumors had come from? They had spread throughout the village, and everyone seemed to believe them.
With so many crimes laid at his door, how could Danzo possibly keep his temper?
"Danzo, I'll ask you one last time: where is Shisui's body? And you must hand over the Mangekyo!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen gave him a stern final warning.
Things had gone this far. Surely they couldn't walk away without getting anything substantial out of it.
The problem was... Danzo really was innocent!
How could he possibly know where Shisui's body was? Furious, he explained:
"I've already told you: Shisui Uchiha's disappearance has nothing to do with me!"
He really wasn't lying.
Last night, he had only pried one Mangekyo from Shisui before the latter broke through their pursuing squad. Danzo had no idea where he'd fled. His disappearance truly had nothing to do with him.
As for the Mangekyo... Sarutobi Hiruzen, could you even handle that?
"Shisui's disappearance really has nothing to do with you?"
Mitokado Homura picked out the key point in Danzo's words. The Mangekyo aside, Shisui's disappearance might genuinely have nothing to do with him.
"Of course it has nothing to do with me. And I suspect Uchiha White Dove is behind Shisui's disappearance!"
Danzo stated who he suspected.
It was simple enough to suspect him. Since Danzo hadn't made Shisui disappear, the only other possibility was that White Dove had. There was no need to overthink it.
Danzo was finally getting a taste of how wronged it felt to be smeared and slandered.
He hadn't done it, yet everyone was convinced he was responsible. The injustice made him want to prove his innocence with his life.
"Uchiha White Dove...?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen exchanged a glance with Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu. They all nodded to themselves.
In retrospect, Uchiha's challenge today had been orchestrated by White Dove from start to finish. He was indeed highly suspicious.
"That's right. Uchiha White Dove is the real mastermind, that wicked little brat! Shisui's disappearance definitely has something to do with him!"
Danzo ground his teeth as he spoke.
Getting knocked out by White Dove's Sharingan Genjutsu had already been a tremendous humiliation. Worse, White Dove had exposed the secret of Danzo's transplanted Sharingan and pinned both Shisui's disappearance and the Nine-Tails Incident on him. If White Dove weren't elsewhere, Danzo would have wanted to eat him alive.
That brat was far too cruel.
Danzo was the "Darkness of the Shinobi," after all!
How could he not be furious after being humiliated like this?
"I never thought he'd hidden himself so well. It seems we'll need to keep a closer eye on him from now on. How about assigning that task to Itachi?"
Mitokado Homura made a suggestion.
The Anbu couldn't directly monitor the Uchiha, so the task would have to go to Uchiha Itachi.
"Itachi... That works."
Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded. It was indeed the best choice. Setting aside the question of whether anyone else had the strength for it, they wouldn't even be able to enter the Uchiha Clan Compound.
"Then what about the conditions we agreed to earlier...?"
Utatane Koharu's eyes shifted as she got an idea.
She was deeply displeased with the audacious brat, Uchiha White Dove. Now that she had a chance, she wanted to make things difficult for him.
"No. I agreed to those conditions as Hokage, and besides, they aren't unacceptable."
Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.
If they went back on their word, the Uchiha might rebel outright.
The Uchiha led by Uchiha Fugaku wouldn't have had the nerve.
But with Uchiha White Dove leading them, things were different.
So, even if only to buy themselves time, they had to use those conditions to keep the Uchiha settled for now.
"But that relocation fund is a full one and a half billion ryo. That money..."
Utatane Koharu's heart ached.
All that money, handed over to the wicked Uchiha just like that... What a disaster!
If the Utatane Clan had gotten their hands on it, they could have trained hundreds of ninja.
"Hiruzen, why not give the money to Root? I'll deal with the Uchiha!"
Danzo looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen, trying to intercept the funds.
Root's need for money was enormous. Every base and research project required piles of cash.
He usually had to scrape together enough funding through all sorts of underhanded tricks. With a chance to get his hands on such a huge sum now, how could he not be tempted?
"Enough. You can forget about that money... Koharu, cut next year's public welfare budget. Let the villagers suffer for a while. I'll take the blame. Get the money to them as soon as possible. The Uchiha can't be pushed any further!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen first scolded Danzo, then gave Utatane Koharu her instructions.
The Uchiha couldn't be allowed to make trouble.
At the very least, not now.
Everyone was watching them. Even if they wanted to do something, they absolutely couldn't do it at a time like this.
For now, they just had to placate the Uchiha with money.
As for the money... The ninja might be poor, but Konoha wasn't. More than a billion ryo was a huge sum, but it wasn't impossible to scrape together.
"Whether it's the money or the mission quota, or even canceling the surveillance, those are minor matters. But the real question is... what do we do about the Sharingan?"
Mitokado Homura pointed out the key issue.
One of the Uchiha's conditions was still on the table.
They wanted Danzo or Kakashi to return their Sharingan!
The obvious choice was for Danzo to remove the Sharingan from his eye socket and hand it back to the Uchiha.
But they all knew Danzo wouldn't agree.
Sure enough, Danzo exploded.
"No! We absolutely can't agree to that. If we agree to everything, it'll mean the village has submitted to the Uchiha. That's out of the question. I'll take Root and wipe out the Uchiha tonight!"
He might have several Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his possession, but the demand to "return" one was about ownership.
In other words, if he handed it over this time, the Uchiha wouldn't be able to use it as an excuse to make trouble in the future. He could even reveal the Sharingan transplanted into his right eye without worrying about anyone seeing it.
That was the real benefit.
So, even for that alone, he couldn't hand it over.
The temptation of possessing a Sharingan openly was just too great.
But if he wanted them to focus on Kakashi instead, he had to put on a show and make them understand that forcing him to surrender his Sharingan would mean an immediate war with the Uchiha. Then they'd know whose Sharingan to hand over.
Things went exactly as Danzo expected. The others immediately protested.
"No! The village can't afford any more chaos!"
"Everyone is watching us. We absolutely can't make a move now!"
"Danzo, don't do anything rash!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others felt a splitting headache coming on.
Danzo was the one who'd caused the mess, yet somehow it felt as though they were the ones who'd made it.
"I think we can send Kakashi together with Uchiha White Dove to wipe out the Land of Lightning's intelligence outpost at the border. Whether the Sharingan gets returned is up to him. We can't go after our own people!"
Mitokado Homura offered a suggestion.
They would simply give the Uchiha a chance.
As for the mission... Hadn't they asked for a mission quota? This was an S-rank mission.
It was basically an attempt to "cover their ears while stealing a bell."
The high-ranking officials were clearly selling Kakashi out, yet insisting it had nothing to do with them. They wanted it both ways.
"Not bad. If he fails, it'll prove he isn't all that capable!"
Danzo nodded in agreement.
And, thanks to his peerless wisdom, a brilliant plan suddenly occurred to him: if he could get Kumogakure involved, wouldn't that kill two birds with one stone?
"Kakashi... Sigh!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed, but the others knew his temperament. They exchanged glances, understanding that he had more or less "given his tacit approval."
With that, the village's agreement with the Uchiha began to take effect.
After a good night's rest, White Dove also began his "tenure" in the Konoha Military Police Force.
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