Shimura Danzō Wants to Become Hokage

His gaze was as sharp as a sword, fierce yet devoid of any lack of heroic spirit; his back was held straight, and the chakra surging within his body never ceased.

Everything about him signaled that Sarutobi Hiruzen was fully prepared for battle.

In Uchiha Yuji's memory, having only seen him in his elderly years, he felt as though the man in his prime before him was an entirely different person.

Yet, even in his prime, possessing all seven chakra natures, he was merely at the peak of what an ordinary ninja could achieve.

Uchiha Yuji's lips curled slightly as he chuckled, "Don't bother thinking about leaving this space; this is the ability of my Mangekyo."

"This world is independent; it is not a space attached to the ninja world. By the way, a friendly reminder: Summoning Jutsu is completely useless in this space."

"This is the ability of my left eye."

"And the ability of my right eye is absolute control over this space."

Uchiha Yuji spoke like a villain who had already secured victory, detailing his abilities with precision, entirely unconcerned about the leakage of his intelligence.

"For example, like this."

He gently raised his right hand, waving it as he gestured for Sarutobi Hiruzen to look his way.

His youthful, fair fingers suddenly clenched into a claw.

His heart! It felt as if his heart had been gripped tight!

The chaotic heart rate and the momentary cessation of oxygen supply not only affected his ability to extract chakra but also caused Sarutobi Hiruzen's vision to black out.

After Uchiha Yuji released his hand, Sarutobi Hiruzen, his eyes gradually refocusing from their daze, looked at Uchiha Yuji in disbelief.

What kind of joke was this!

The Mangekyo Sharingan—Sarutobi Hiruzen had seen it with his own eyes in the distant past.

But not even Uchiha Madara possessed such a bizarre ability.

Though his emotions surged like a torrent, Sarutobi Hiruzen kept his face impassive. "Such a powerful ability must have severe limitations, right?"

Uchiha Yuji answered candidly, "After all, expanding a world and controlling it at will consumes a great deal of chakra."

You call that a great consumption?

Sarutobi Hiruzen scanned the surroundings—the landscape altered by flames and the elite Uchiha members knocked to the ground—and then took a closer look at the youth who didn't even have a bead of sweat on him. He suspected he had received false intelligence.

However, Uchiha Yuji did not give him more time to think.

"I am a person who speaks his mind. Third Hokage, let us be frank with one another."

Despite the respectful title, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt not a shred of respect, yet he didn't mind and nodded.

"That is exactly my intention."

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat on the barren earth, ignoring the harshness of the environment, his piercing eyes fixed directly on Uchiha Yuji.

"The Second Hokage never trusted our Uchiha clan, and as his student, you, Third Hokage, have never trusted our Uchiha clan either."

"The Hokage is the leader of the village. When the leader displays distrust, the villagers, lacking their own judgment, naturally follow their leader."

"The village of Konoha has also begun to distrust us, the Uchiha."

The conversation had only just begun, yet a thin layer of sweat already covered Sarutobi Hiruzen's forehead.

"That is not—"

"I said, let us be frank. You should understand the meaning of that word, Third."

His blood-red eyes spun frantically, and the sky within the space instantly shifted to a blood-red hue. An invisible pressure manifested into a tangible force, pinning Sarutobi Hiruzen's half-risen body back to the ground.

"Sending us to the most dangerous battlefields, facing the most dangerous enemies, fighting enemies that completely counter us—we could endure all of that."

"Because we Uchiha are strong. We are the powerful! Crises do not break us; they only promote our growth and make us even stronger!"

The Uchiha standing or lying nearby could not help but nod in unison, proudly puffing out their chests.

"But the establishment of the Uchiha Police Force!"

"It only shackled us and put a collar around our necks. To you, our Uchiha clan is no longer the Uchiha that ended the chaotic era and founded Konoha alongside the Senju clan."

"In your eyes, we are merely a weapon that could explode at any moment."

"I can even predict the future fate of the Uchiha clan—constantly marginalized by the villagers, pushed out of the inner circle, and then, on some dark and windy night, completely wiped out."

"No, I will not allow such a thing to happen," Sarutobi Hiruzen said decisively.

Uchiha Yuji sighed and shook his head slightly. "You are too weak, Third."

"Though you are called the Professor, you lack the courage of a hero. You are even weaker than Elder Setsuna."

"You don't even have the courage to finish off that partner who has been constantly encroaching on your authority and testing your bottom line. How can someone like you earn our trust?"

"Oh?" Uchiha Yuji's momentum, which had been rising with his words, came to an abrupt halt, and he revealed a mocking smile. "To think he would just crash in like this."

"Self-destructing right in our Uchiha compound—truly worthy of the 'Root' buried deep beneath Konoha, never doing anything that sees the light of day."

Beside Uchiha Yuji, a circular hole resembling a mirror suddenly unfolded, projecting the events occurring in the outside world.

A powerful shockwave knocked down countless walls, and raging flames scattered, with sparks quickly igniting the wooden structures. The billowing smoke rising into the sky and the sounds of the explosion quickly attracted the attention of all the remaining ninjas.

Beside the smoke, countless dark shadows approached rapidly; these were the Anbu stationed nearby.

Yet, what greeted them was a countless flurry of dancing flames.

"Third Hokage, the time for you to choose has arrived."

Meeting the gaze of Uchiha Yuji, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a dull ache beginning to throb in his skull.

He didn't even need to think twice to know exactly who in Konoha would go to such lengths.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had initially assumed the anomalies occurring within the Uchiha clan were merely acts of rebellion born from their dissatisfaction with the status quo.

He had believed that a few minor adjustments would be enough to smooth things over; he had never predicted a situation like this.

The upper echelons of the Uchiha clan had been completely reshuffled, and now, there was only one voice left in the entire Uchiha clan.

He had just been discussing the village's distrust of the Uchiha and was preparing to use his words to deny it, but Danzo had chosen this exact moment to jump out, leaving him with absolutely no way to continue the conversation!

Danzo! Oh, Danzo! You have ruined my grand plans!