Unhappy

Outside the woods, Tenshen decided the winner with a single strike, but this battle was never going to be a fight to the death.

The Yellow Flash of the Leaf had lost to the White Fang of the Leaf.

Tenshen had cleared Sakumo's name. The Flash wasn't all that impressive after all.

Inside the woods, Danzo's brazen behavior left Uchiha Kei feeling deeply conflicted.

"By weighing, one knows what is level; by setting a compass, one knows what is round. Everything in the world must follow rules."

As expected, all of Konoha's chaos stemmed from one despicable beginning.

Just as the first person to break the rules in every dynasty planted the seeds of its future decline.

But Danzo's actions had put Kei in an awkward position. He didn't want to be the one to lance this boil.

At least, he couldn't be the one right now.

Given Sarutobi's reputation compared to his own, even if he tried to make an issue of this, it wouldn't accomplish much.

He wouldn't gain anything, and the Third Hokage would see it as a challenge to his authority.

At this point in time, even if the Third Hokage's actions were exposed, as long as he denied everything, people would only be left uncertain—and no one had the power to punish him.

At least, Sarutobi, who had four Kage Level fighters under his command, wasn't someone Kei could target in the name of justice for punishing a traitor.

So, watching Danzo's deranged performance, Kei decided he couldn't let him keep going.

"Well, if it isn't Lord Danzo! What are you doing here?"

Danzo had still been flailing about, but now he froze as if someone had pressed a button. Was this boy called Uchiha Kei really that composed? How had he recovered so quickly from learning such a huge secret?

After all, Danzo had kept this secret buried in his heart for decades. To prevent it from getting out, he had personally killed his childhood friend, Uchiha Kyō. Sarutobi had also used the secret to force Akimichi Kufeng to bring the Akimichi Clan completely under his control.

Why did Danzo hate the Uchiha so much? It wasn't because the Uchiha had some deep grudge against him. Rather, once you started wronging someone, guilt gradually turned into hatred, until you decided to keep wronging them and their family forever.

This greatest secret among the six of them, this lifelong nightmare, had just been exposed before a young man without the slightest reservation.

Yet the young man before him had only been shocked for a moment. He hadn't even pressed for details. Instead, he'd put on a worldly, calculating face and acted as if he'd heard nothing.

It was as though time had gone back to when Danzo had spoken his second sentence.

"The younger generation is formidable. I'm getting old!"

What could Danzo do? Since the boy was pretending not to know, it meant he'd already made up his mind.

Danzo didn't believe for a second that the boy didn't understand: once a secret was known by so many people, it was no longer a secret.

Since the boy knew what was going on, he could decide for himself how to keep the secret.

Danzo figured he'd already shown Kei how afraid he was of dying, and it seemed Kei had accepted it. Now all he had to do was come up with a reasonable excuse for his encounter with Kei today, one he could use to answer Sarutobi.

Surely Sarutobi wouldn't expect him to blurt out the secret in front of everyone.

All that remained was to buy time. The longer he stalled, the better it would be for him and Kei.

"Oh, Lord Danzo. A pleasure to meet you!"

Danzo dragged his badly injured body along, playing along with Kei.

"Lord Danzo, did you hear we were moving and come to pay us a special visit? You're too kind. We're only moving from our clan grounds in Konoha back to the Uchiha shrine. It's not really a proper housewarming, so please don't prepare too many gifts!"

Kei kept up his grinning, casual nonsense. He couldn't stand people showing off in front of him. Seeing that Danzo had put on enough of a show, Kei decided to tell him the truth.

A truth that would crush Danzo even more.

The truth was that the massacre had started because of a misunderstanding.

Just as Kei had hoped, the moment he said it, Danzo nearly spat up blood.

"So you weren't actually planning to attack Root's main base?"

Kei waved a hand in front of his face, as if he'd smelled something foul.

"Don't joke like that, Lord Danzo. We have no grudge against each other. Why would I attack you? We're just moving."

As soon as Kei finished speaking, Danzo's vision went black and he fainted.

What a disaster!

Danzo believed Kei was telling the truth. But he couldn't bear to believe Kei was telling the truth at a time like this.

More than a hundred people had died. He'd thrown in everything he had, and even risked the lives of his entire clan to protect the secret. And then he'd gotten this result.

Who could accept that?

On the other side of the woods, Tenshen stopped fighting once Kei and Danzo had reached an understanding.

Ninjas naturally had their own ways of sending messages. After receiving Lord Kei's instructions, Tenshen, who had defeated Minato, had no reason to keep fighting him.

Kei's original plan had been to prevent needless casualties by having the Uchiha Genin and other lower-ranking ninja stay far away from Minato.

With Tenshen there, Minato could be held off long enough. If anyone else joined in, it would only add to the casualties. For Minato, fighting one person was no different from fighting a group.

Who could have guessed that Tenshen would grow stronger as the battle went on and even awaken the Mangekyo? He'd gone from being on the receiving end of Minato's attacks to overpowering him.

At the time, Kei had used twenty-four ten-pulls to get twenty purple cards. One major reason was that certain people had taken up two of the purple-card slots apiece.

Tenshen was one of them.

So, no matter how often Kei said Tenshen was only a fifty-fifty match for his opponents, Kei still valued his potential.

Now was the time to see the results. Tenshen had actually awakened the Mangekyo while fighting Minato.

Tenshen stood to one side, having knocked Minato's Forehead Protector flying. He had no intention of continuing.

"Minato Namikaze, Lord Kei wants to see you!"

Minato, looking a little worse for wear, stared at Tenshen with a conflicted expression.

The once spirited and self-assured Minato was growing less confident by the day. The young man who'd made his way through life crushing all opposition for the first time understood what it meant to fight a hard battle.

Specialists were bound to face other specialists who could counter them. Minato hadn't been able to deal with Tenshen before, and now Tenshen had the Mangekyo and the White Fang Sword Technique on top of that. Minato was even more helpless against him.

He'd thought this would be a long, drawn-out battle. Who knew that Tenshen would stop in the middle of the fight?

Minato seized the opportunity. Hearing Tenshen's words, he was happy to go along with it.

"What's your name, Uchiha?"

Minato was very interested in this ninja whose eyes had changed and whose swordsmanship was extraordinary.

Unfortunately, his question went unanswered. The silence seemed to say that Minato didn't deserve to know his name.

Feeling slighted, Minato reminded himself:

It's time to develop a powerful new jutsu.

Then he didn't press the matter and headed into the woods.

When Minato reached Kei, he kept an eye on Tenshen, who was behind him like a guard escorting a prisoner, and called out loudly.

"Uchiha Kei, I've come on behalf of Uchiha Clan Head Fugaku to tell you to return to the village."

Using one's authority strategically was a specialty of every Hokage.

Unfortunately, Minato got no answer again. All he received was a body.

It was the unconscious Danzo.

Minato hurriedly caught him, then saw the corpses of Konoha ninja scattered across the ground, their deaths painful and brutal.

Though they wore masks and he didn't know their names, Minato knew they were Root ninja from Konoha—and his comrades. The sight of them lying in such a terrible state filled him with rage.

How could anyone treat their comrades so cruelly?

Even in a battle between villages with deep-seated hatred, if one side had the ability to slaughter the other, that meant it had an overwhelming advantage. A village in that position had no need to massacre its enemies; it could simply take prisoners.

If that was true even of enemy villages, then how could the Uchiha, who were comrades, kill so indiscriminately?

Minato couldn't stand it.

Whether the Uchiha were truly trustworthy was something he'd have to discuss with Fugaku later.

"Uchiha Kei, did you do all this?"

The usually sunny Minato was rarely so stern. His tone even sounded accusatory. Even in danger, he was still willing to speak up against injustice.

When the strong got angry, they drew their blades against those stronger than themselves. When the weak got angry, they drew their blades against those weaker than themselves. Some people didn't care how strong someone was when they stood up for justice.

Minato was one of them.

Kei disliked Minato for no reason in particular. He'd hated him ever since the moment Minato had ignored him. He'd hated him for always managing to do the things Kei himself wasn't willing to do.

Minato was like the other people's kid everyone talked about, constantly making Kei look bad.

Without his subordinates stepping up to support him at crucial moments, Kei felt that facing Minato alone would make him no better than a stray dog on the street: filthy and useless.

"Minato, what gives you the right to question me?"

At Kei's words, Tenshen and the other ninja drew the swords they'd just sheathed.

Minato, who had been overpowered by Tenshen the whole way, wasn't afraid.

"Of course, as a Konoha Ninja."

Minato said it as if it were obvious. He firmly believed that being a Konoha Ninja gave him every right to question Kei.

"Damn, it's not like I'm not a Konoha Ninja too!"

Kei hated empty titles like that. He even swore aloud.

Minato dismissed Kei's contempt just as readily.

"So, as a Konoha Ninja, this is how you massacre your own comrades?"

I'm tired. Here we go again with the moral interrogation. What a pain.

Kei turned and walked away, speaking as he went.

How many times have Konoha ninja massacred their own comrades? One more or less makes no difference! Get lost, Minato. Don't bother me. This isn't something you should be worrying about.

No matter how cheerfully Kei smiled, he knew how unhappy he was.

He hadn't gone looking for trouble today. Danzo had dragged him into this for no reason, and after Kei had finally managed to get something out of it, Danzo had still managed to play him. Then Minato had come along to lecture him about morality.

Kei had run out of patience a long time ago.