Only those who wronged you knew just how wronged you had been. That saying was indeed true.
If anyone present knew that what happened last night truly had not been Danzo's doing, aside from Danzo himself, it was probably only Xuanye.
At that moment, the Uchiha behind Xuanye angrily activated their Three-Tomoe Sharingan one after another, glaring murderously at Danzo as he hurried to conceal the truth.
Danzo's actions made it abundantly clear that there was a Sharingan in his right eye socket.
That fact alone was enough for the Uchiha to sentence him to death.
Danzo was not like Kakashi, whose close friend had gifted him a Sharingan before dying.
That made the origin of his Sharingan highly questionable.
Danzo had not been wrong in his assessment of the Uchiha. So long as they learned that someone had dared transplant a Sharingan from the Uchiha Family, they truly would retaliate at any cost.
That was also why the Uchiha did not have something like the Hyuuga Clan's Caged Bird. They had no need for the protection of such a Cursed Seal.
Anyone who dared transplant a Sharingan would face the Uchiha's relentless vengeance.
Therefore, even those who secretly transplanted Sharingan had to conceal it, and whenever they used them, they had to remember to silence witnesses and ensure the information never leaked.
Just like Shimura Danzō.
If Xuanye had not yet given the order, these powerful Uchiha would have already swarmed forward and hacked this man who had dared desecrate their clansmen's corpses into pieces.
One had to know that Danzo had not yet transplanted a Wood Release right arm. Even if he had mastered Izanagi, it would merely grant him one extra life.
Facing so many enraged Uchiha, he would undoubtedly die.
"Hiruzen..." At this point, Danzo could only look toward Sarutobi Hiruzen beside him with pleading eyes, hoping that Hiruzen would shield his mistakes as he had in the past.
No, that was wrong. This time, he truly had done nothing! This was all part of the Evil Uchiha's scheme!
Xuanye looked at Shimura Danzō as though he were a rat backed into a corner.
"Elder Shimura, it seems you are rather unwilling to remove the bandages around your right eye?"
"But that is fine. To prove Elder Shimura's innocence, could we ask the Hyuga Clan Head to activate his Byakugan and take a look?"
"After all, I would not want Konoha's Hokage Assistant to bear the everlasting infamy of murdering fellow village shinobi and conducting bloodline transplantation experiments."
Hyuga Hiashi glanced at Xuanye.
This newly appointed Captain of the Security Division was truly ruthless. He actually wanted Danzo to be utterly ruined before everyone present.
Not only that, but Xuanye had deliberately mentioned Danzo's position as Hokage Assistant.
He was trying to drag Sarutobi Hiruzen down with him as well!
"Hyuga Hiashi, how dare you!"
Danzo's voice had completely cracked. If the Byakugan saw the secret beneath his bandages, he would truly be finished.
But such a threat meant nothing to Hyuga Hiashi.
He had long found Danzo extremely unpleasant. Just moments ago, Danzo had even insulted the Hyuuga Clan as a bunch of cowards in a roundabout way.
What the hell was Danzo? Without Sarutobi Hiruzen, he would have been chopped into countless pieces long ago.
Just as Hiashi was about to activate his Byakugan, Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly slammed his hand on the table.
"Enough!!"
"Konoha has just suffered such an enormous calamity, and now you are turning your blades on your own people?!"
Xuanye showed no surprise as he looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen, his expression still smiling.
He had known that Sarutobi Hiruzen would definitely step forward for Danzo.
Although he had been certain that Hiruzen would intervene, even Xuanye was now curious why Hiruzen could tolerate Danzo time and again, to the point where even attempting to assassinate him could be forgiven.
He even suspected that Hiruzen might have repeated the Will of Fire so often that he had brainwashed himself.
Or did the Hokage's tradition of forgiveness get passed down through generations?
If it had been Xuanye, and one of his subordinates had dared defy him and even taken real action, he would have minced that person up and fed them to dogs.
Moreover, Sarutobi Hiruzen had chosen an especially poor time to speak up for Danzo. Doing so now would make it easy for others to see him as Danzo's accomplice.
Yet he had done it anyway. It had to be said that his love for Danzo ran deep indeed.
Sure enough, every jōnin present, aside from the Anbu directly under the Hokage, began looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen differently.
Could it be that everything Danzo had done had been condoned by Sarutobi Hiruzen?
Was the purpose to eliminate the Fourth Hokage and seize power once more?
They could not be blamed for overthinking it. What had happened today was simply too strange.
Even the two advisors, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, had quietly moved a little farther away from Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen, afraid that they might be dragged into this as well.
What Xuanye needed to do was stomp on them once more at this moment and completely cast Sarutobi Hiruzen's prestige into the Abyss.
Having fused with LV5-level electricity, Xuanye could naturally slash Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō into ashes with a single strike. Even dealing with the families behind them would not be difficult.
But what then?
Could he just kill anyone who opposed him?
That was not how politics worked. He was not a madman like Uchiha Madara.
Unless he wanted to completely destroy Konoha and become the Hokage of one person sitting atop its ruins, he could not kill Sarutobi Hiruzen now.
If Sarutobi Hiruzen died at this moment, he would immediately become Konoha's hero, the kind whose heroic status could not be changed even if Konoha were destroyed.
At the very least, Xuanye needed to smear them first and completely ruin their reputations.
[The host's intense desire has been detected. Main Quest Three has been issued: Shadow of the Village] [Quest Requirement: Become Konoha's Fifth Hokage within one year] [Quest Reward: One Myriad World Lottery chance, Yang Release chakra transformation]
Seeing the task issued by the system, Xuanye revealed a meaningful smile.
The system had truly sent him a pillow just as he was feeling sleepy, issuing a task the moment Xuanye had been considering it.
But this task was rather interesting. Not only did it have a time limit, but it specifically required him to become the Fifth Hokage.
He could not wait until someone else took office, kill them, and then become Hokage afterward.
He even had to guard against something like Shimura Danzō realizing that all hope was lost, leading Root in a forced coup, then declaring himself the Fifth Hokage.
Who knew whether the system would recognize something like that?
Overall, however, the difficulty was not great, especially now that Xuanye had practically pinned the blame for being the mastermind behind the Night of the Nine-Tails squarely onto Danzo.
Did Sarutobi Hiruzen truly think that a single sentence from him could make everyone put aside their misgivings?
Negative emotions like suspicion and hatred would ferment. The longer they were suppressed, the more fiercely they would rebound.
And that was precisely the effect Xuanye wanted.
After all, prestige was not something fixed. Strictly speaking, it was a consumable. The more it was used, the more it would eventually run out.