Sarutobi Hiruzen Appears

Uchiha Fugaku watched as the members of the Uchiha Clan finished their retreat, then, to the astonishment of Shimura Danzō, he swung his blade back toward him.

????

Just as Shimura Danzō was about to be struck, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been watching from the shadows, immediately rushed out, wielding the Enma King to block the blow.

Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen standing before him, Uchiha Fugaku's eyes brightened even further.

Finally, the main event he had been anticipating had arrived.

Following an angry shout, Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke first.

"Uchiha Fugaku, what do you think you are doing? Are you trying to kill the Hokage's advisor?"

Hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice, Uchiha Fugaku smiled; if it were the Fugaku of the past, he might have lowered his head and backed down.

But the current Fugaku would do no such thing.

"Lord Hokage, although I, Uchiha Fugaku, respect you deeply, I am also the head of my clan, and naturally, one must speak with evidence."

"Everything at this scene proves that it was our Hokage's advisor, Lord Shimura Danzō, who attacked the Uchiha Clan first."

"Furthermore, there is no telling how many times our Hokage's advisor has committed such acts."

As he spoke, Uchiha Fugaku picked up the arm he had severed from Shimura Danzō earlier and slowly unwound the bandages wrapped around it.

It revealed a pale arm covered in Sharingan; there was only one pair of two-tomoe Sharingan, while the rest were single-tomoe and two-tomoe eyes.

Even though they had been severed from Shimura Danzō's body, the Sharingan on that pale arm remained active, constantly twitching and shifting.

Sarutobi Hiruzen was stunned at the sight of the arm, but upon seeing its properties, he immediately recalled something.

Hashirama Cells? Only Hashirama Cells could possess such an ability.

He had not expected that Yamato was not the only experimental product.

Shimura Danzō and Orochimaru had actually kept him in the dark while creating something like this.

Watching the somewhat silent Sarutobi Hiruzen, Uchiha Fugaku naturally did not intend to leave him any room for contemplation.

"Lord Hokage, and this is merely a fraction of what Lord Shimura Danzō has been doing in the shadows."

"I wonder, if news were to spread throughout the village tomorrow that the Hokage's advisor has been stealing the bloodline limits of the village's clans..."

"How would you, Lord Hokage, respond?"

Hearing Uchiha Fugaku's coercive words, Sarutobi Hiruzen grew furious and summoned the Enma King, saying, "Clan Head Fugaku, you are forcing my hand."

Hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen's words, Uchiha Fugaku realized that he still failed to grasp the situation, still clinging to the hope that he might back down.

Uchiha Fugaku then summoned his Complete Body Susanoo, soaring above the Uchiha compound to look down upon Sarutobi Hiruzen, speaking without a shred of mercy.

"Sarutobi Hiruzen, you still fail to see the situation; it is not I who is forcing you."

"It is you who are forcing my hand—you seduced my son into wanting to kill me."

"Shimura Danzō has constantly manufactured conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the village."

"And he has secretly moved against my Uchiha Clan."

"The current situation is the result of you, Sarutobi Hiruzen, indulging Shimura Danzō in his oppression of our Uchiha Clan."

Seeing the massive Complete Body Susanoo flying in the sky and hearing how Uchiha Fugaku addressed him, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt the weight of his resolve and understood that he had lost the power to engage with Uchiha Fugaku as an equal.

For what Uchiha Fugaku displayed was the ultimate power of Madara Uchiha, who was once on par with the God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju—the Complete Body Susanoo.

The Anbu hidden in the shadows, after a moment of shock at Uchiha Fugaku's sudden activation of the massive Complete Body Susanoo, immediately prepared to launch an attack to protect Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Watching the Anbu prepare to act, Sarutobi Hiruzen ultimately chose to stop them.

After halting the Anbu, Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to lose all his strength, and with a tone of resignation, he said in a low voice, "I never imagined that the one hiding the deepest was you, Uchiha Fugaku."

"I wonder what it is you want, Clan Head Fugaku."

Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen concede, Uchiha Fugaku dispelled the Susanoo and descended from the sky.

Hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen's question, Uchiha Fugaku smiled.

"What do I want? I want everything you have taken from the Uchiha Clan."

"I want the innocent lives of the Uchiha clansmen taken by Shimura Danzō."

Seeing that Uchiha Fugaku was asking for things the village could not possibly provide, Sarutobi Hiruzen understood that he was making an exorbitant demand.

However, to appease Uchiha Fugaku, he would have to satisfy him even if his appetite were that of an elephant.

But he still had to negotiate the price; otherwise, if Uchiha Fugaku demanded the entire village, would he have to give that to him as well?

"Clan Head Fugaku, I truly had no knowledge of any of this."

"Furthermore, the Uchiha Clan suffered minimal losses in this battle, with zero casualties."

"How about this, Clan Head Fugaku? I will allocate a portion of funds from the village to help the Uchiha Clan renovate their compound, how does that sound?"

Upon hearing Sarutobi Hiruzen's words, Uchiha Fugaku knew exactly what kind of petty scheme he was plotting.

However, Uchiha Fugaku had no intention of forcibly seizing the position of Hokage right at this moment.

Firstly, Konoha was currently in a dire state thanks to the Konoha F4, and there would be no benefit for the Uchiha Clan to take over now; they might even end up having to clean up Konoha's mess, so it was better to extract more benefits for the clan instead.

Secondly, Uchiha Fugaku had his own private agenda—what if the system were to issue a mission to seize the Hokage position later?

What if he completed it early and didn't receive a reward?

Finally, leaving a somewhat challenging opponent for the Uchiha Clan would give him time to better consolidate his control over the clan.

As for the future targeting by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzō, with Uchiha Fugaku himself present, it naturally wouldn't be much of a problem.

Of course, Uchiha Fugaku had no intention of letting Shimura Danzō off the hook; although he wasn't afraid of him, the man was too dangerous. What if he decided to charge into the Uchiha compound with the Reverse Four-Symbols Sealing?

Thinking of this, Uchiha Fugaku put forward his own demand.

"I want to move back to the Uchiha Clan's original compound."

Hearing the mention of the original compound, Sarutobi Hiruzen found himself in a bit of a bind, as the Uchiha's former territory had already been repurposed for other uses.

Getting the Uchiha Clan to move back there would be extremely difficult.

Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen's reaction, Uchiha Fugaku understood what he was thinking and immediately continued.

"If that's truly impossible, it wouldn't be out of the question for you to give us the former Senju Clan Compound instead."

Hearing the mention of the Senju Clan Compound, Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes lit up; it seemed that wasn't entirely out of the question.

However, that belonged to Tsunade. Would it be inappropriate for him to just hand it over?

But then again, the village had been helping her pay off her gambling debts for so many years, and she still couldn't pay them back. Perhaps he could just use the Senju Clan Compound as a deduction?

Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen still hesitating, Uchiha Fugaku spoke up to force him into making a choice.

"Well, is it a yes or a no? Look at how my Uchiha Clan's compound has been destroyed by that person behind you; how are we supposed to live there?"

Hearing Uchiha Fugaku's words, Shimura Danzō, who was already severely injured and had forced himself to activate Kotoamatsukami despite his ordinary physical state, felt his rage boil over and couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood, feeling rather aggrieved.

That was clearly you intentionally baiting me into destroying it, you bastard.