Impeach the Hokage! (Seeking Follow-up Reads!)

"Do not speak of things without evidence; it is easy to affect the harmony of the village..."

Although he wanted to see if he could play dumb, Sarutobi Hiruzen did not dare use the trump card he had heard recently while looking at Shimura Danzo's aged face.

"The village trusts the Uchiha, just as the village trusts Danzo. Although he is a bit impulsive, he still holds a firm stance when it comes to matters of great importance!"

"Furthermore, Danzo suffered a head injury on the battlefield years ago, and his mental state is sometimes unstable, so I hope the Uchiha and the Police Force will not hold it against him!"

At this moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen could only resort to banter. After all, although the situation was already passive, he still held the advantage in terms of political standing, and he truly wasn't afraid of Uchiha Jin acting recklessly.

Regardless, things had already reached this point; as long as he could drag today out, there would be plenty of time and opportunities later.

"Sarutobi, the evil Uchiha cannot..."

Danzo, having just regained his senses, happened to hear Sarutobi Hiruzen's compromise and immediately wanted to jump up to once again preach his "Uchiha Evil Theory."

After all, Danzo had never cared about consequences; if the sky fell, Sarutobi Hiruzen would be there to hold it up, and he only needed to eliminate all threats to "Konoha."

"Shut up!"

Before Danzo could fully speak, Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a sudden, explosive roar and delivered a masterstroke of a Groin Kick, causing Danzo to fall back into silence once more.

Foolish Danzo!

Sarutobi Hiruzen sneered, speechless in his heart that Danzo, with such a low level of competence, still wanted to covet his position as Hokage, and had even poked such a massive hornet's nest for him.

"The village absolutely trusts the Uchiha!"

Following this ironclad statement from Sarutobi Hiruzen, Uchiha Shisui, who had been lying on the ground like a corpse, couldn't help but have tears well up in his eyes.

"Lord Hokage!"

Although he was still shocked by Uchiha Jin's accusations against Sarutobi Hiruzen, he realized that his noble and righteous Lord Hokage also had such a side to him.

It's all that dog Danzo's fault!

But he figured that Lord Hokage must have been unable to let go of the years of bonds he shared with Danzo, which was why he had shielded this dog who sowed discord between the clan and the village time and time again.

But it's fine now!

Although Shisui lamented that the process was incredibly arduous and twisted, it had strangely achieved the result he had dreamed of: the resentment from the Nine-Tails Rebellion was wiped clean today, and the Third Hokage had even expressed his trust in the Uchiha Clan!

Jin... Jin really... he really understands...

It's just that this attitude of lecturing Lord Hokage needs to change; it doesn't look like a proper ninja at all. He would have to have a good talk with Uchiha Jin later.

Thud!

Before Uchiha Shisui could continue his self-indulgent emotions, Jin suddenly raised his foot and kicked him away again, then pointed at Sarutobi Hiruzen's nose and said calmly.

"Since you don't want to talk about who betrayed the village, let's talk about you, the acting Hokage!"

Accompanying Uchiha Jin's righteous words, his gaze slowly swept across every clan head present who was watching the fire from the other side of the river.

"Starting tomorrow, the Uchiha Clan and the Police Force will formally impeach the acting Hokage, and at the same time, we will nominate our clan head, Fugaku, as a candidate for the Fifth Hokage!"

(Uchiha Fugaku: What?)

Uchiha Jin's gaze remained fixed on Sarutobi Hiruzen, once again revealing that familiar, disdainful smile.

"Back then, it was to ensure that external hostile forces had no opportunity to exploit us that your claim of being 'acting Hokage' was barely enough to let you resume office and preside over Konoha."

"But now, the aftermath of the Third Great Ninja War and the Nine-Tails Rebellion has subsided, and even the Cloud Village, which had been causing trouble, has signed a peace treaty. Your Sarutobi Clan wouldn't still be wanting to hog the position of Hokage, would you?"

"If that is truly the case, my Uchiha Clan and the Police Force will absolutely not tolerate it. Even if we have to fight to the last man in the Police Force, we will completely eradicate such a family that endangers Konoha!"

Hiss... hiss... hiss...

Following Uchiha Jin's words, the clan heads who had originally been able to watch the fire from the other side could no longer sit still!

He really wanted to depose Sarutobi Hiruzen again!

And the reasons for deposing the acting Hokage were actually quite valid; the sheer amount of information brought out by that string of words was enough to deal a devastating blow to Sarutobi Hiruzen's political career.

But the more important point here was that the Uchiha Clan was clearly prepared to fight Sarutobi Hiruzen to the death, and the words were an open threat to the Sarutobi Clan.

It was almost explicitly stated: whether my Uchiha Clan becomes Hokage or not is one thing, but you, Sarutobi Hiruzen, definitely cannot!

How bold!

At the same time, this meant that they were not without the qualifications to get involved.

Hmm...

After being reminded by Uchiha Jin, some clan heads also realized that Sarutobi Hiruzen's greed was becoming a bit unsightly, especially the inhumane "Root" led by Danzo.

How many geniuses from their own clans had been lost over the years because of them, not to mention the rise of those commoner ninjas...

And now that the snipe and the clam were fighting, who would be the fisherman to reap the benefits?

It remained to be seen...

"Presumptuous!"

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu shouted sternly at the same time, while Shimura Danzo chose to remain silent after a flash of joy crossed his eyes.

"What?"

But Uchiha Jin ignored them, instead watching the now-silent Sarutobi Hiruzen with calm eyes once again.

"As the patriarch of the Uchiha Clan and the head of the Konoha Police Force, do I, Uchiha Fugaku, not even possess the qualifications to run for the position of Fifth Hokage?"

Heh.

Seeing that Sarutobi Hiruzen remained silent, Uchiha Jin continued without the slightest concern.

"Or was your claim about taking over as Hokage temporarily during an emergency just a pretext? I am starting to suspect more and more that Shimura Danzo's obstruction of my Uchiha Clan back then was done under your instruction!"

"Everyone knows that my Uchiha patriarch's wife and Kushina were best friends, and Fugaku even shared a deep bond of wartime camaraderie with the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato. Yet, in such circumstances, you insisted on blocking my clan from rescuing the Fourth..."

Uchiha Jin's gaze was profound, but the murderous intent he held in check leaked out like flowing water, causing the surrounding air to drop by several degrees.

"Furthermore, the death of the Second Hokage and the dereliction of duty by your Shadow Guard—I find those matters increasingly suspicious as well..."

Snap!

Each word struck Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart like a sharp blade, and the strange gazes from the high-ranking members of the various large and small ninja clans—the Hyuga Clan, Aburame Clan, Ise Clan, Kurama Clan, Gekko Clan, Inuzuka Clan, Ino-Shika-Cho, and others—were particularly piercing.

Finally...

As Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a deep sigh, this former "Ninja Hero" seemed to age a dozen years in an instant. He spoke with a forced composure, though his reluctance was evident.

"The village belongs to everyone; naturally, it is up to everyone to decide who shall serve as Hokage!"

"That's good then!"

Uchiha Jin had finally obtained the answer he wanted. Having no interest in wasting more breath on these people, he turned and spoke once more to the Uchiha ninjas behind him.

"Damn it, we came out to have some barbecue and ended up dealing with all this nonsense. What a pain in the ass!"

"All units, head to the Akimichi Yakitori House, let's go!"

"Huh?!"

Shimura Danzo: Damn it!

Alerted ninjas: (°ー°〃)!

High-ranking members of Konoha's ninja clans: (⊙ˍ⊙)!

Sarutobi Hiruzen: ...(╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻ (That damned Danzo!)