Sarutobi Hiruzen looked especially haggard. Clearly, he had not slept well the night before.
In the latter half of the night, Shisui had brought back news. The strange scene among the Uchiha today had only confirmed his account.
The slash last night had indeed come from Xuanye, not Fugaku.
That was a crucial difference. It meant the Uchiha had not one pair of Mangekyō, but two.
This was no simple matter of one plus one equaling two. Even if Fugaku was somewhat weaker, Sarutobi Hiruzen could not imagine how anyone could take on two pairs of Mangekyō at once.
A ninja should have had plenty of stamina, but after a night of turmoil and bad news arriving one report after another, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked as though he had aged more than a decade.
Once all the jonin had arrived, Sarutobi Hiruzen called the meeting to order.
"What happened last night... I'm sure you all know by now."
"The Nine-Tails broke free. The Fourth Hokage and his wife died in battle. Konoha suffered devastating losses."
Even the visible damage alone was staggering: destroyed houses and streets, the gash left by Xuanye's slash, and casualties among civilians and ninja alike.
By a conservative estimate, the economic losses alone exceeded ten billion ryō.
Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent when he saw the figure.
The Third Great Ninja War had only recently ended. Konoha had yet to recover, and now the village had suffered another calamity...
And if Uchiha Genya had not intervened, the Nine-Tails would have caused even greater destruction last night.
No sooner had Sarutobi Hiruzen finished speaking than someone rushed to attack the Uchiha Family.
"Hmph! This was all a plot by the Evil Uchiha!"
Sure enough, only Danzo would say something like that.
Sarutobi Hiruzen cared at least a little about appearances. Danzo had no such concerns. He only needed to be the first to lunge and snap like a mad dog.
This time, though, no one on the Uchiha side glared at Danzo. They remained quietly calm.
They did not even look at him. Their fervent gazes rested on Uchiha Genya, who sat before them with his feet propped on the table, seemingly dozing.
At a serious gathering like a jonin meeting, that posture was disrespectful to everyone present. It was as if he considered none of them worth his attention.
Uchiha Genya perfectly embodied arrogance.
Yet no one, Sarutobi Hiruzen included, thought there was anything wrong with his behavior.
He had earned the right to act that way.
If Konoha had sent Uchiha Madara to negotiate with the Five Great Ninja Villages back then, everyone present would probably have had to kneel while he spoke.
After all, they could hardly hope to keep both their heads and their knees intact.
"Oi, Elder Danzo, what are you implying? Are you saying I betrayed Konoha?" Uchiha Genya's voice carried over, tinged with a faint smile.
Uchiha Genya thought he was far more amiable than Uchiha Madara, the greatest killer in the Ninja World.
At least he had not made Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō kneel on the platform to speak. He had not spat in their faces, either, or held a blade to their throats and forced them to sing "Conquest."
Come to think of it, Uchiha Genya was practically a saint!
The jonin near Danzo quietly shifted away from him, lest they end up splattered with blood.
They had thought Danzo was merely a little overbearing and a little slow on the uptake.
Now they realized how wrong they had been.
Danzo had gone completely mad—so mad he could no longer recognize reality!
Danzo shouted for some time before noticing that no one around him was paying attention. Humiliation washed over him.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at him as though he were an idiot.
You don't actually think my backing lets you do whatever you want in Konoha, do you?
If Danzo did, Sarutobi Hiruzen would have to wonder whether his eyesight was failing him. How else could he have chosen a creature masquerading as a man to be Hokage Assistant?
"That's not what I meant. I only..."
Under Uchiha Genya's gaze, Danzo felt as though the weight of the entire world bore down on him.
A suffocating pressure coiled around him like a python, leaving him unable to lift his head and meet Uchiha Genya's eyes.
When Danzo realized he was afraid, shame and fury surged through him.
He was Shimura Danzō, the Hokage Assistant, the Darkness of the Shinobi!
And he was afraid of some Uchiha brat!
Danzo felt like a clown, making a spectacle of himself onstage to entertain the audience.
"No matter what you say, the Sharingan appeared in the Nine-Tails' eyes last night! Many people witnessed it. Uchiha Genya, how do you explain that?"
Danzo gathered his thoughts and turned his attack back on the Uchiha.
But he no longer dared to target Uchiha Genya directly.
Fugaku was no longer the one who spoke for the Uchiha. It was this absurdly young Uchiha Genya.
Now that Danzo had finally reached the point, Xuanye raised his head.
His feet, however, remained on the table. He showed no intention of taking them down.
"Last night, a mysterious masked man got past the Third Hokage, who was guarding Minato and his wife. And as far as I know, the intruder set off no alarms."
"Danzo, are you saying the Third Hokage, the Anbu, and the Sealing Squad are all useless?"
At Xuanye's words, everyone instinctively looked at Danzo.
Even Sarutobi Hiruzen could not help glancing at him.
I'm begging you. No one will think you're mute if you keep your mouth shut.
Danzo's face flushed. This evil Uchiha was as silver-tongued as ever.
"I'm the one questioning you! Stop changing the subject!"
"You said a mysterious man controlled the Nine-Tails yesterday. Are you admitting that your Uchiha Family was behind everything that happened last night?"
Xuanye regarded Danzo with an amused expression, showing no trace of anger at being caught out.
That had only been the appetizer. The main event came next.
Xuanye continued at an unhurried pace:
"As everyone knows, the Uchiha Sharingan is an organ-based Kekkei Genkai. If a ninja dies on the battlefield, someone can take their Sharingan, transplant it, and use it immediately."
"So you can't necessarily pin the blame for controlling the Nine-Tails with a Sharingan on the Uchiha Family."
Danzo sneered. "You think that excuse clears the Uchiha of suspicion? You're still the prime suspects!"
"Besides, everyone in the Ninja World knows how the Uchiha Family treats anyone who dares transplant a Sharingan."
"Who would dare transplant one of your clan's Sharingan?"