Controlling the Situation

In front of the Hokage Building.

The air felt like it was on fire.

Uchiha Shingetsu stood in the center of the plaza.

Nine years old.

Still recovering from serious injuries.

Yet those scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan eyes, like three sharp black blades, forcefully suppressed the entire scene.

Everyone was stunned.

Two-Tomoe yesterday.

Three-Tomoe tonight.

This was no longer genius.

It was a monster!

Uchiha Tekka's face flushed with excitement.

"Nine years old, Three-Tomoe!"

"Hahahaha! Danzo, did you see that?"

"This is the Uchiha you wanted to capture as a specimen!"

"Now, are you scared?"

Danzo's face was as dark as water.

Scared?

He would never admit it.

But deep within his single eye, there was indeed a tremor.

Nine years old, Three-Tomoe.

This growth rate was too dangerous.

He must be eliminated.

If not eliminated tonight, he would surely be a great threat in the future.

Danzo slammed his staff down, shouting angrily:

"Uchiha Shingetsu publicly slandered Konoha's higher-ups and incited the Uchiha to force their way into the Hokage Building!"

"Hiruzen, how long are you going to indulge him?"

The Third Hokage's face turned ashen.

"Danzo!"

"Who just ordered the Root to make a move?"

Danzo said coldly:

"I was merely trying to control the situation."

Shingetsu smiled.

"Control the situation?"

He raised his hand and pointed to the three Root ninjas lying on the ground, knocked down by Shisui.

"The three of them just attacked all my vital points."

"Throat."

"Heart."

"Back of the neck."

"Danzo, you call this control?"

Danzo snorted coldly.

"Accidents happen in combat."

Shingetsu's eyes turned icy.

"Then it's also an accident if I kill a Root ninja now, isn't it?"

As the words fell, Shingetsu suddenly moved.

Fast!

Under the capture of the Three-Tomoe, all the movement trajectories on the ground became incredibly clear.

He took a step forward, gripping his kunai backward, and stabbed directly at the nearest Root ninja.

The Root ninja was about to get up, his pupils contracting sharply.

He had not expected Shin-getsu to dare make a move in front of the Hokage and Danzo.

He had expected even less that Shin-getsu's speed would be significantly faster than it had been moments ago.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan locked onto his shoulder, his knees, and the flow of his chakra.

Every opening was exposed.

Puchi!

A kunai pierced the Root Ninja's right shoulder.

Shin-getsu did not kill him.

But the next second, he stomped down, snapping the man's wrist.

Crack!

The sound of bone fracturing was crisp and jarring.

The Root Ninja let out a muffled groan, the poisoned senbon falling from his hand to the ground.

Shin-getsu kicked out.

The poisoned senbon slid to a stop in front of the Third Hokage.

"Lord Hokage."

"Does controlling the situation require poisoned senbon?"

The Third Hokage looked down at the needle, which shimmered with a dark purple luster, and his expression shifted completely.

The surrounding ninjas erupted in an uproar once more.

"A poisoned needle?"

"The Root really came here to kill!"

"Isn't this going too far?"

"He's only nine years old!"

The Uchiha Clansmen were even more incensed, their rage soaring.

Tekka drew his blade immediately.

"Danzo!"

"If you don't give us an explanation today, don't think about leaving!"

Dozens of Sharingan turned toward Danzo in unison.

The killing intent was almost tangible.

Danzo narrowed his single eye.

The situation had spiraled out of control.

He had originally intended to forcibly label Shin-getsu a dangerous element and then silence him in the ensuing chaos.

But Shin-getsu's reaction had been too fast.

The Third Hokage had seen the Root make their move with his own eyes.

The poisoned needle had been kicked out on the spot.

The Root operative was still alive.

This situation could no longer be suppressed by mere stubbornness.

He had to cut off the tail.

Danzo made his decision in an instant.

He looked coldly at the Root Ninja pinned down by Shin-getsu.

"Using poisoned needles without authorization is a violation of orders."

"You deserve to die."

As soon as the words left his lips, a cold glint flashed from Danzo's sleeve.

A shuriken tore through the air.

Its target was not Shin-getsu.

It was the Root Ninja's throat!

He was silencing him!

Shin-getsu's eyes turned icy.

"Shisui!"

He did not need to remind him.

Uchiha Shisui had already moved.

His Body Flicker Technique was so fast it was nearly a blur.

Clang!

A short blade precisely deflected the shuriken.

Tekka was furious.

"Danzo! You still dare to silence witnesses!"

The Third Hokage couldn't help but roar:

"Danzo, stop!"

Danzo remained expressionless.

"A Root traitor, executed according to protocol."

Shin-getsu sneered.

"Hasn't Root been disbanded for a long time?"

Danzo's expression stiffened.

That remark struck home.

He had just claimed Root was long disbanded.

Now, he spoke of a Root traitor.

The contradiction was a slap in the face.

The surrounding Konoha ninja looked at him with changed eyes.

Danzo knew he had slipped up.

But he did not panic.

He abruptly raised his left hand and formed a seal.

"Seal!"

The Root liaison on the ground suddenly began to convulse.

The Tongue Curse Seal glowed with a black light.

A painful, rattling sound emerged from his throat.

Tekka's expression shifted drastically.

"He's going to destroy the curse seal!"

Shin-getsu's Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly.

[Causality Perception] locked onto the line of death.

[Causality Retrospection] instantly replayed the trajectory of Danzo's hand seals.

He saw it.

Danzo wasn't trying to kill him just now.

He was remotely triggering the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal to render the liaison completely incapacitated!

Shin-getsu's hands moved in a blur.

Lightning Chakra erupted.

"Lightning Style: Earth Flash!"

Crackle!

The lightning surged along the ground, slamming into the liaison's jaw.

It wasn't an attack.

It was a forced disruption of the curse seal's chakra flow using Lightning Style.

The liaison's body shuddered and he spat out a mouthful of blood, but he did not die.

The black light of the curse seal was forcibly suppressed.

Kakashi emerged from the shadows, surprise flashing in his lone eye.

"Using Lightning Style to disrupt the flow of a curse seal?"

"This kid..."

The maneuver was crude.

And dangerous.

But it was effective!

Shin-getsu looked up at Danzo with a cold smile.

"Failed again."

Danzo's composure finally shattered.

Two consecutive attempts to silence witnesses had failed.

And it was all exposed in public by Shin-getsu.

Tonight, his face had been ground into the dirt.

The Third Hokage was thoroughly enraged.

"Danzo!"

"Just how much have you been hiding from me?"

Danzo replied in a cold voice:

"Hiruzen, now is not the time for infighting."

"The Uchiha have already surrounded the Hokage Building with their men!"

"Can't you see it?"

"This is a coup!"

Shin-getsu cut him off directly:

"Don't change the subject."

He walked toward Danzo step by step.

His Three-Tomoe Sharingan locked onto his opponent.

"What we brought tonight are witnesses."

"Physical evidence."

"Root Ninja markings."

"Cursed Tongue Eradication Seals."

"Hokage deputy seal orders."

"Poison needles."

"And your attempt to silence witnesses in public just now."

"Danzo, you say the Uchiha are staging a coup?"

"Then explain yourself."

"Which one of these things is fake?"

With every word, Danzo's expression grew darker.

Shin-getsu finally stopped ten paces away from him.

His voice turned abruptly cold.

"Can't explain?"

"Then stop the act."

"You are not the Darkness of Konoha."

"You are the Rotten Root of Konoha."

BOOM!

The entire crowd erupted once more.

That statement was brutal.

It tore apart the image Danzo had spent years cultivating—that of someone "shouldering the darkness for the sake of Konoha."

Darkness of Konoha?

No.

Rotten Root.

The killing intent in Danzo's single eye exploded completely.

"Uchiha brat!"

He violently flipped open his cane.

A short blade was hidden within it.

The blade's light struck straight toward the center of Shin-getsu's brow.

The speed was blinding!

The Third Hokage's expression changed drastically.

"Danzo!"

Shisui tried to move.

But Danzo had anticipated this, and two Root Ninja behind him moved simultaneously to intercept Shisui.