Danzo's Daily Scapegoat

The Uchiha residential district was home to the majority of the clan's commoners.

Although they were not like the Konoha Military Police Force, where almost every member possessed a three-tomoe Sharingan, there were still quite a few among them who had awakened the dōjutsu.

In particular, the eyes of Uchiha Fugaku were absolute masterpieces among the three-tomoe variety, and he, Lord Danzo, could not let them go to waste.

Furthermore, he could use this opportunity to show off to Sarutobi Hiruzen.

After all, the greatest contributor to resolving the Uchiha clan's rebellion this time was none other than he, Lord Danzo.

As a department directly under the Hokage, the efficiency of the Anbu was quite high.

It did not take long for them to compile the list of the dead in the Uchiha district.

There was only one person whose body had not been found: Uchiha Itachi.

In this way, the facts were quite obvious.

Originally, this was the result Sarutobi Hiruzen had anticipated.

Yet, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew that the matter was far from as simple as he had imagined.

His eldest son, his daughter-in-law, and the three clansmen would never have been killed by Uchiha Itachi.

For one, he had not issued a kill-on-sight order against the Uchiha, so Shinnosuke's squad would not have engaged Uchiha Itachi at all.

For another, with Uchiha Sasuke as a bargaining chip, Uchiha Itachi would never have dared to harm his own kin.

Viewed in this light, it could only be someone else.

The person with the greatest suspicion was that masked man from years ago—the one who controlled the Nine-Tails, killed his wife Biwako, severed Danzo's left arm, and stole Shisui's right eye.

Thinking of this, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a surge of anger, followed by a splitting headache.

A sense of powerless frustration welled up in his heart.

He had no idea how Konoha had offended the other party to be targeted in such a way, repeatedly slaughtering Konoha ninja.

This time, they had even killed his eldest son and daughter-in-law.

If it were anyone else, he would have long since dispatched a large force of elite Konoha ninja to hunt them down.

But the other party seemed to possess some kind of space-time ninjutsu, appearing and disappearing without a trace.

It was simply beyond the reach of human effort.

One wave had not yet subsided when another rose.

Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen was agonizing over this, a commotion broke out not far away, interrupting his train of thought.

Immediately after, an Anbu member hurried over. "Lord Hokage, this is bad."

"What happened?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked with a frown.

"Just now, while we were collecting the bodies, several of them mysteriously disappeared," the Anbu ninja said in a panicked tone.

Clearly, even for an elite Anbu veteran who had seen many battles, such a bizarre event could not help but make one's skin crawl.

"Which bodies were lost?" Kakashi, who seemed to have sensed something unusual, walked over and asked.

The Anbu ninja replied, "Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Hefeng, Uchiha Zong, and Uchiha Qing."

"Without a doubt, they are all Uchiha clansmen who had awakened the Sharingan," Kakashi sighed, then heard the Anbu ninja add, "Oh, right, it seems the body of Fujiwara Chiya is also missing."

"Fujiwara Chiya." Sarutobi Hiruzen was startled at these words. As if struck by a sudden realization, he hurriedly pressed, "Are you certain that Fujiwara Chiya is dead?"

If anyone had the strongest motive to kill his son, aside from the deceased Uchiha clansmen and the mysterious masked man, it was only Chiya.

After all, he had issued a kill-on-sight order against Chiya.

Although he did not believe that, given Chiya's strength, he could have killed or even defeated the squad led by his own son, Chiya was a genius after all. One could never be too careful.

What if Chiya had faked his death?

"Lord Hokage, Chiya is indeed dead. The body was personally inspected by myself and several other Anbu ninja."

It was Kakashi who answered Sarutobi Hiruzen. Sensing the subtext in the Hokage's words, he frowned and said firmly, "I checked with my Sharingan. He suffered a fatal wound to the chest; the possibility of a faked death or a transformation jutsu can be completely ruled out."

"Chiya had striking features, black hair and black eyes. Without the Sharingan active, appearing in the Uchiha district, he would easily be mistaken for an Uchiha clansman."

"Chiya's body was placed right next to Uchiha Hefeng, Uchiha Zong, and Uchiha Qing. I suspect the person who stole the bodies mistook him for an Uchiha clansman."

"I see." Hearing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, though he still did not fully discard his suspicion of Chiya. He then asked, "Then who do you think did this?"

"It was Uchiha Itachi." A low, aged voice approached from afar.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others turned to see Danzo walking over with his cane, followed by two Root Division ninja in black robes, one on each side.

Danzo, unaware that Fugaku's body had been stolen, continued, "Uchiha Itachi was filled with disgust and hatred for his clan. Thus, he murdered Shisui and stole his eyes, inciting conflict with his Uchiha brethren."

"And, in the end, it led to this tragedy."

"Him? How could that be?" A flash of surprise crossed Kakashi's eyes as he asked, "Does that not mean Chiya was also killed by him?"

At these words, the surrounding Anbu also cast questioning glances at Danzo.

"That goes without saying. Fujiwara Chiya was a Konoha jonin; if he had seen Uchiha Itachi slaughtering his Konoha comrades, he naturally would have tried to stop him at the cost of his life. Unfortunately, he died at the hands of Uchiha Itachi." Having learned of Chiya's death, Danzo gave a definitive reply.

While feeling smug inside, he did not forget to look at Sarutobi Hiruzen with a boastful air.

It was as if he were saying, "See that, Hiruzen? My plan succeeded. By sacrificing a mere Fujiwara Chiya, I easily resolved the Uchiha clan's rebellion."

Listening to Danzo's riddled, self-righteous claims, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew he could not let him continue. He placed his hands behind his back and, facing away from the others, commanded, "Stop dawdling and get to work."

"Yes!" Kakashi and the others responded respectfully before vanishing from the spot.

As soon as they left, Danzo waved away the two Anbu ninjas behind him, stepped up behind Sarutobi Hiruzen, and said smugly, "Everything is resolved now."

"Resolved?" Sarutobi Hiruzen turned around, his face terrifyingly grim. "You bastard, Danzo, look at the mess you've made! You invited a wolf into the house, not only slaughtering the Uchiha clan but also causing the deaths of my eldest son and daughter-in-law. I can no longer tolerate your arbitrary actions."

"Shinnosuke is dead?" A flicker of surprise crossed Danzo's face.

Sarutobi Hiruzen ignored him and continued, "From today on, you are relieved of your position as Hokage Advisor, and the Root Division will be disbanded as well."

"But Hiruzen, I..." Sarutobi Hiruzen's sudden display of strength caught Danzo off guard. In that moment, he felt as if he were looking at the Shinobi Hero of his youth, and his tone involuntarily weakened.