Pressure

During his conversation with Uzumaki Menma, Danzo was reminded of Kagami Uchiha.

Back then, Danzo and Kagami Uchiha had both been members of Tobirama Senju's elite guard unit.

They had also been among the few Uchiha clansmen who had earned Tobirama Senju's trust.

Because Danzo had been far too aggressive in carrying out missions, he had repeatedly found himself in dangerous situations.

Kagami Uchiha had disregarded his own safety time and again to pull Danzo out of those predicaments.

Thus, Danzo, who had always detested the Uchiha Clan, became friends with Kagami Uchiha.

While Kagami Uchiha had still been alive, Danzo had not treated the Uchiha Clan so harshly.

But after Kagami Uchiha died, Danzo's suspicion toward the Uchiha Clan grew ever deeper, and his measures against them became increasingly extreme.

Danzo snapped out of his memories and narrowed his eyes at Uzumaki Menma.

Uzumaki Menma felt a chill run down his spine under Danzo's gaze.

"So... you want to protect the Uchiha Clan?"

Uzumaki Menma was startled out of his wits.

Protect the Uchiha Clan?

How was he supposed to protect them with his tiny arms and legs? With his head?

He had only wanted to try Naruto's Talk-no-Jutsu and see whether he could persuade Danzo.

Just as Uzumaki Menma was about to explain, Danzo spoke first. "Let me ask you this. Some members of the Uchiha Clan now wish to launch a coup. If it were up to you to change the Uchiha Clan's current situation, what would you do? If your answer satisfies me, I will give them a chance."

Uzumaki Menma was instantly dumbfounded.

The pressure of the entire Uchiha Clan had just been dumped on him?

He would not even turn four for another month. How could his little shoulders possibly bear that burden?!

Uzumaki Menma was under enormous pressure now, because he could tell Danzo was serious.

Uzumaki Menma fell into deep thought, wracking his little brain and drawing on every scrap of knowledge stored in his still-developing mind.

Uzumaki Menma remained in that position for nearly an hour.

Danzo did not urge Uzumaki Menma either.

Just as Uzumaki Menma had thought, he was serious.

If Uzumaki Menma's answer satisfied him, he would give the Uchiha Clan a chance.

The purpose was the same as when the Cloud Village Delegation had come to Konoha and Danzo had asked him those questions.

It was to cultivate Uzumaki Menma's methods.

But unlike before, this time Danzo had placed all the pressure directly on Uzumaki Menma.

Danzo wanted to see what kind of solution Uzumaki Menma could come up with under such pressure.

As for the Uchiha Clan, they were entirely under his control. No matter what they did, they could not cause any real trouble.

After thinking for a long time, Uzumaki Menma finally stirred.

Uzumaki Menma raised his head and said to Danzo, "Grandpa Danzo, I have an idea!"

"Go on."

After choosing his words carefully, Uzumaki Menma said, "Since some Uchiha clansmen want to stage a coup, then the rest either do not want one or are still undecided. We only need to focus on that group of Uchiha clansmen.

We should identify the Uchiha clansmen who do not want a coup or are still wavering, bring them back into Konoha's inner circle, and give them the treatment a ninja clan deserves. I believe those Uchiha clansmen will easily reintegrate into Konoha, since they were Konoha people to begin with."

"What about the Uchiha clansmen who want to stage a coup? We cannot simply abandon those people, can we?"

Uzumaki Menma shook his head. "Of course not. Arrest those Uchiha clansmen and give them ideological education every day until their thinking is unified, until they understand that a coup leads nowhere."

In truth, Uzumaki Menma felt that as long as Danzo stopped targeting the Uchiha Clan so much, the problem should be solvable.

But Uzumaki Menma did not dare say that out loud. He was afraid Danzo would beat him up.

After answering, Uzumaki Menma looked at Danzo anxiously.

However, Danzo remained expressionless, and Uzumaki Menma could not tell whether he was satisfied with his answer.

In the end,

Uzumaki Menma still did not know whether Danzo was satisfied. Danzo simply told him to return to his room and sleep.

Back in his room, Uzumaki Menma's heart pounded wildly.

He worried that the Uchiha Clan would not be exterminated because of his answer, right?

Alone in his office, Danzo sank into thought.

Danzo was fairly satisfied with Uzumaki Menma's answer.

However, he was not satisfied with Uzumaki Menma's arrangement for those Uchiha clansmen who wanted to stage a coup.

If Uzumaki Menma had answered that all those Uchiha clansmen should be executed, Danzo would have been very satisfied.

Danzo made up his mind.

Since Uzumaki Menma had racked his brains to come up with this method, he would carry it out accordingly.

He would let Uzumaki Menma experience early on what results came from a leader's plans after they were put into action.

But not yet.

Danzo guessed that Hiruzen Sarutobi was surely tearing his hair out as he tried to resolve the Uchiha Clan issue.

And no matter what solution Hiruzen Sarutobi came up with, he would not be able to get around Danzo in the end.

Hiruzen Sarutobi would definitely come to him on his own later.

Then he would propose that Uzumaki Menma's plan be carried out.

The next day.

"Sasuke, do you want anything to eat? My treat."

"I'm not hungry."

"Sasuke, are you thirsty? I'll get you a bottle of water?"

"I'm not thirsty."

"Sasuke, is there anything you want to play? I'll take you!"

Sasuke looked at Uzumaki Menma strangely. "Menma, what exactly are you trying to do? Why are you suddenly sucking up to me the moment we meet today? You look like you did something wrong to me."

Uzumaki Menma scratched his head and gave a dry laugh. "How could I possibly do anything wrong to you? We're partners!"

After Danzo's stunt last night, Uzumaki Menma had felt guilty all night.

He had finally soothed himself to sleep, only to feel guilty again the moment he saw Sasuke today.

Uzumaki Menma cautiously asked, "Say, Sasuke, just in case—I mean, just in case—I did something wrong to you, you'd forgive me, right?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Uzumaki Menma for a long while, then arrogantly lifted his chin. "I absolutely will not forgive you!"

Uzumaki Menma grabbed Sasuke's clothes and pleaded, "Come on, Sasuke, forgive me. I didn't do it on purpose."

Uzumaki Menma clung to Sasuke, begging him to forgive him.

With both hands behind his head, Shikamaru remarked, "Looks like Menma definitely did something wrong to Sasuke."

Choji and Naruto nodded in agreement. "He definitely did."

Neji curled his lip. "For shameless Menma to cling to Sasuke like this and beg for forgiveness, whatever he did to wrong Sasuke must have been pretty serious."

Ino suddenly grew excited. "I wonder what Menma did. I really want to know."

Although Hinata said nothing, she was thinking the same thing as Ino. She wanted to know what Menma had done.

After knowing Menma for so long, this was the first time Hinata had seen him beg someone for forgiveness like this.