Controlling the Situation

In front of the Hokage Building.

The air felt like it had caught fire.

Uchiha Shingetsu stood in the middle of the square.

Nine years old.

Still recovering from serious injuries.

Yet his crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan looked like three sharp black blades, forcing the entire crowd into silence.

Everyone was stunned.

Two-Tomoe yesterday.

Three-Tomoe tonight.

This was no longer genius.

It was monstrous!

Uchiha Tekka was so excited his face flushed.

"Nine years old with Three-Tomoe!"

"Hahahaha! Danzo, did you see that?"

"This is the Uchiha you wanted to take away as a test subject!"

"Are you scared now?"

Danzo's face was as dark as water.

Scared?

Of course he wouldn't admit it.

But deep in his single eye, there was indeed a flicker of alarm.

Three-Tomoe at nine.

That rate of growth was too dangerous.

He had to be eliminated.

If he wasn't dealt with tonight, he would surely become a serious threat in the future.

Danzo slammed his cane down and shouted angrily:

"Uchiha Shingetsu publicly slandered the Konoha High Command and incited the Uchiha to besiege the Hokage Building!"

"Hiruzen, how much longer are you going to let him get away with this?"

The Third Hokage's face turned livid.

"Danzo!"

"Who was it that ordered Root to attack just now?"

Danzo replied coldly:

"I was only trying to control the situation."

Shingetsu smiled.

"Control the situation?"

He raised a hand and pointed at the three Root shinobi Shisui had knocked to the ground.

"All three of them were aiming for my vital points."

"My throat."

"My chest."

"The back of my neck."

"Danzo, you call that control?"

Danzo snorted.

"Accidents happen in battle."

Shingetsu's gaze turned icy.

"So if I accidentally kill a Root shinobi now, that's understandable too, right?"

As soon as he finished speaking,

Shingetsu suddenly moved.

Fast!

With the Three-Tomoe Sharingan tracking his movements, every trajectory on the ground became crystal clear.

He stepped forward, holding a Kunai in a reverse grip, and stabbed straight at the nearest Root shinobi.

The Root shinobi was just getting up when his pupils shrank.

He hadn't expected Shingetsu to attack in front of the Hokage and Danzo.

Even less had he expected Shingetsu to be so much faster than before.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan locked onto his shoulder, knee, and chakra flow.

His openings were completely exposed.

Squelch!

The Kunai pierced the Root shinobi's right shoulder.

Shingetsu didn't kill him.

But in the next instant, he stamped down on the man's wrist.

Crack!

The sound of breaking bone rang out, sharp and clear.

The Root shinobi grunted, and the poisoned needle fell from his hand.

Shingetsu kicked it.

The needle skidded 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's dark purple sheen, and his expression changed completely.

The watching shinobi erupted into another uproar.

"A poisoned needle?"

"Root really did come here to kill!"

"This is going too far!"

"He's only nine!"

The Uchiha were even more furious.

Tekka drew his sword at once.

"Danzo!"

"You're not leaving until you give us an explanation!"

Dozens of Sharingan turned toward Danzo at once.

Their killing intent was almost palpable.

Danzo narrowed his single eye.

The situation had gotten out of control.

He had planned to brand Shingetsu a dangerous criminal, then take advantage of the chaos to silence him.

But Shingetsu had reacted too quickly.

The Third Hokage had also witnessed Root's attack firsthand.

The poisoned needle had been kicked out into the open.

And the Root liaison was still alive.

He couldn't talk his way out of this anymore.

He had to cut his losses.

Danzo reached a decision in an instant.

He looked coldly at the Root shinobi pinned beneath Shingetsu's foot.

"Using a poisoned needle without authorization was a violation of orders."

"He deserves to die."

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of steel flickered from Danzo's sleeve.

A Shuriken shot through the air.

Its target wasn't Shingetsu.

It was the Root shinobi's throat!

Silencing him!

Shingetsu's eyes turned cold.

"Shisui!"

He didn't need to say more.

Uchiha Shisui was already moving.

The Body Flicker Technique made him little more than a blur.

Clang!

His short blade knocked the Shuriken away with pinpoint accuracy.

Tekka roared with fury.

"Danzo! You're still trying to silence him?"

The Third Hokage also shouted angrily:

"Danzo, stop!"

Danzo didn't so much as blink.

"A Root traitor must be executed according to the rules."

Shingetsu sneered.

"Wasn't Root disbanded a long time ago?"

Danzo's face stiffened.

That cut too deep.

A moment ago, he'd said Root had long since been disbanded.

Now he was calling the man a Root traitor.

His contradiction had been exposed in front of everyone.

The Konoha shinobi around them looked at him differently now.

Danzo knew he'd misspoken.

But he didn't panic.

He abruptly raised his left hand and formed Hand Seals.

"Seal!"

The Root liaison on the ground suddenly began convulsing.

The Tongue Curse Seal glowed black.

A painful, choked sound came from his throat.

Tekka's face changed.

"He's trying to destroy the Curse Seal!"

Shingetsu's Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly.

[Causality Perception] locked onto the Death Line.

[Causality Retrospection] replayed Danzo's Hand Seals in an instant.

He saw it.

Danzo hadn't been trying to kill the man.

He was remotely triggering the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, trying to leave the liaison a broken shell!

Shingetsu formed Hand Seals at lightning speed.

Lightning Chakra burst forth.

"Lightning Style: Earth Flash!"

Crackle!

Lightning raced along the ground and struck the liaison hard under the chin.

It wasn't an attack.

He was using Lightning Release to forcibly disrupt the chakra flowing into the Curse Seal.

The liaison's body jerked. Blood spurted from his mouth, but he didn't die.

The Curse Seal's black glow was forcibly suppressed.

Kakashi appeared from the shadows, surprise flashing in his single eye.

"Using Lightning Release to disrupt the seal's chakra flow?"

"This kid..."

It was a crude technique.

And a dangerous one.

But it worked!

Shingetsu looked up at Danzo, his smile cold.

"Failed again."

Danzo could no longer keep his composure.

He had failed to silence him twice in a row.

He had even been exposed by Shin-getsu in front of everyone.

Tonight, his face had been ground into the dirt.

The Third Hokage was now completely enraged.

"Danzo!"

"How much have you been hiding from me?"

Danzo replied coldly,

"Hiruzen, this isn't the time for infighting."

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

"Can't you see?"

"They're trying to force a coup!"

Shin-getsu cut him off.

"Don't change the subject."

He walked toward Danzo, one step at a time.

His Three-Tomoe Sharingan fixed on Danzo.

"What we brought tonight are witnesses."

"Physical evidence."

"The Root Mark."

"The Curse Seal."

"The Hokage's Subordinate Seal Order."

"Poison needles."

"And your attempt to silence a witness in front of everyone just now."

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

"Then explain this."

"Which one of these things is fake?"

With each sentence, Danzo's expression darkened.

Shin-getsu finally stopped ten paces away.

His voice turned icy.

"Can't explain?"

"Then stop pretending."

"You're not the Darkness of Konoha."

"You're Konoha's Rotten Root."

Boom!

The crowd erupted again.

Those words were vicious.

They tore apart the image Danzo had spent years cultivating—that he "bore the darkness for Konoha."

The Darkness of Konoha?

No.

A Rotten Root.

Killing intent erupted from Danzo's one eye.

"Uchiha brat!"

He suddenly flipped open his cane.

A short blade had been hidden inside.

Its gleaming edge shot straight for Shin-getsu's brow.

It was incredibly fast!

The Third Hokage's expression changed dramatically.

"Danzo!"

Shisui tried to move.

But Danzo had anticipated that. Two Root shinobi behind him moved at the same time to block Shisui.