Newspaper Prelude

Back at the Uchiha compound, Uchiha Izuna waved his hand, and the entire clan sprang into action. They gathered paper and printing presses, then started editing the content.

After five hours, a newspaper bearing the bold words Konoha Daily in its upper-left corner was born. Everyone cheered.

Uchiha Izuna picked up the paper and read it from beginning to end.

"Hero's Son or Demon Fox? Let's Revisit the Nine-Tails Incident!"

"Shocking! The Hero's Son Can't Even Afford to Eat on His Monthly Allowance! Is This a Distortion of Human Nature or a Collapse of Morality?"

"Were Orochimaru's Human Experiments His Own Doing, or Did the Village Elders Turn a Blind Eye?"

"White Fang Clearly Saved That Person Back Then, Yet After Returning to the Village, They Joined the Ranks of Those Mocking Him. Was Someone Behind It?"

"Why Did the Senju Clan Disappear, Leaving Tsunade as the Last One? Does the Tree in Front of the Senju Clan Compound Look a Little Like a Human Figure?"

Uchiha Izuna looked at the newspaper with a cold smile. "Okay, everyone, use this as the template and start printing. Today's target is ten thousand copies. We'll charge one silver coin per copy."

"Yes!" The Uchiha civilians and shinobi quickly got to work. Now that Uchiha Izuna had brought the Uchiha together, there was no longer any factional infighting.

So everyone had quietly begun to treat him as the new clan head. As for Uchiha Fugaku...

Three hours later, the ten thousand copies were ready. Uchiha Izuna split them into twenty groups of five hundred, and told them to go sell the papers at seven tomorrow morning.

Uchiha Itachi stared at the newspaper, his pupils trembling. He looked at Uchiha Izuna. "Second Brother, are these things really true? If they are, then..."

"Then what? Too crazy? Too dark?" Uchiha Izuna seemed to see right through him.

"Yeah." Uchiha Itachi nodded. He had never imagined the village's secrets were like this. The lofty image of the Third he'd held in his heart came crashing down in an instant.

A chill ran through him. Someone like that was rotten to the core, and he'd been in league with him for so long! All that kindness he showed every day had been an act!

Uchiha Shisui frowned. "Some of the content here must be fake, right?" He pointed to the story about Uchiha Fugaku and his son.

Uchiha Izuna looked over and nodded. "Aside from the serious stuff, we need some lighthearted stories to liven things up. That way, the paper will spread far and wide. Men and women, young and old, will all buy a copy. It's not expensive—they can just have a look."

Uchiha Shisui nodded. He studied the headlines on the front page and the things the Third and Shimura Danzō had done, and fell silent.

Those two really were birds of a feather!

Hokage's Office

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in the main seat. For some reason, he felt as if the chair were burning beneath him, and a shadow seemed to hang over his heart.

Across from him, Shimura Danzō slapped both hands on the table. "Hiruzen, I don't know what you're hesitating about. So what if Naruto Uzumaki has Minato Namikaze inside him? Killing him would solve the problem all the same."

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep drag on his pipe, then exhaled. "And then? If we kill Naruto, we'll confirm all those accusations. What good would that do either of us?"

"By then, relations between the shinobi clans and the village will be completely broken. Konoha might even split apart. Wouldn't that destroy everything the First built? We'd both become criminals!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen rose and walked to the window. He pushed it open, and the thick white smoke drifted out. From a distance, it looked almost as if the building were on fire.

"Then what? We do nothing and wait for Minato Namikaze to gather the clans and stage a coup?" Shimura Danzō could hardly believe Sarutobi Hiruzen was hesitating over something like this.

"A coup?" Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath and gazed blankly at Konoha's thriving streets. For a long while, he said nothing.

"Danzō, which would be better: a coup or Konoha splitting into four? Do you think you can silence the millions of people in this village?"

Shimura Danzō lowered his head. He knew Sarutobi Hiruzen was right, but he had ambitions of his own. He'd waited so long, only for the Hokage Position to slip away from him.

Why? He didn't want to give up! He had to do something!

He looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen's Hokage Haori, longing in his eyes.

"I hope you won't regret this!" Shimura Danzō turned and strode out the door.

This time, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't say, "I'm the Hokage." He simply kept his pipe between his lips and gazed into the distance.

At Naruto Uzumaki's home

Minato Namikaze didn't bring up the coup. Instead, he asked the heads of the various clans to look after Naruto and make sure he didn't have to live such a difficult life.

Uchiha Fugaku asked if he'd ever considered reclaiming the Hokage Position. Minato Namikaze gave a bitter smile. "I'm only a soul now. I could disappear at any moment."

"Even if I took the position now, how long would I have to run things?" Minato Namikaze said helplessly. He understood Uchiha Fugaku's intentions.

He'd seen from Kurama just how hard things had been for the Uchiha over the years. But there was nothing he could do. He was already dead, and his remaining soul could vanish at any time. He couldn't stage a coup.

Uchiha Fugaku fell silent. Everyone else there did too. They'd suffered under Sarutobi for long enough. Even those who hadn't suffered before were now worried, after learning what Sarutobi Hiruzen had done to Minato's family. Would Sarutobi Hiruzen come after them in the future?

In the end, everyone went home. But many clan heads found ways to bring up a coup with Uchiha Fugaku, and they were clearly trying to draw closer to the Uchiha.

Uchiha Fugaku didn't turn them away. He chatted with them with a smile.

Only Minato Namikaze gave Uchiha Fugaku a long, searching look. He'd just passed Fugaku a note. He hoped Fugaku would read it.

Back home

Uchiha Fugaku took out the note. It read: "My dear friend Fugaku, the one who claims the Hokage Position now will surely be an Uchiha. I only hope that once you take Konoha, you'll look after my son."

"If you need anything, just ask me. I'll do everything I can to help you claim that position!" It was signed, Minato Namikaze.

Uchiha Fugaku looked at the note, his feelings complicated. Just then, a small, fair hand snatched it away. Uchiha Fugaku's expression changed. "Who's there?"

Uchiha Izuna smiled. "Me."

"Why so worked up? Let me guess—did you want Minato Namikaze to stage a coup, but he refused?" Uchiha Izuna's words hit the mark.

Uchiha Fugaku sighed. "That's right. You guessed it. Minato doesn't know how long he'll be able to hold on, so he's not suited to staging a coup and seizing power."

Uchiha Izuna nodded. Minato Namikaze had been telling the truth. He looked down at the note in his hand, the corners of his mouth lifting. "I see.