Chapter 48

Sasuke stared at his back and could not help clicking his tongue.

This guy really had no idea how to comfort people.

If it had been any ordinary kid, there was no way he could have calmed them down after suddenly hearing about so much crap.

Still, after listening to Iruka, Sasuke more or less understood where his mission had gone wrong.

The cannon of public opinion was still aimed at the Uchiha.

Danzo clearly had not stopped yet. It was just that this time, Sasuke had no idea what method he had used to muddy the waters again. "I'll go back and take a look first." Sasuke turned around and headed toward the compound. "My cheap old man probably has intel."

On the way back, several probing senses swept over him.

Root's people?

Sasuke shook his head, then rejected the guess.

If Danzo really was behind this, he should be hiding as deeply as possible right now. Why would he throw himself into the line of fire?

Then were they people from the Hokage's side?

Why would Anbu be keeping an eye on a kid?

Sasuke muttered inwardly, but his feet did not stop. He quickly walked out of the village center.

Once he was farther from his own turf, the several presences behind him became even more glaring instead. They were clearly coming for him. "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Several figures suddenly flashed out from the side and blocked the road ahead. Every one of them wore an animal mask and standard ninja gear.

Sasuke blinked his round, wide eyes, backed up half a step, and said with a hint of fear in his voice:

"You... who are you?"

"Why are you stopping ** me?"

The masked man in the lead spoke. "Uchiha Sasuke, the little genius of the Uchiha family. We have something to ask you."

"Come with us. Lord Hokage wants to see you."

After hearing that, Sasuke rolled his eyes hard in his heart.

That made no damn sense. Was this really how sloppy Root's people were when they worked?

"I'm not going."

"I have to go home and eat. I'm hungry."

After saying that, Sasuke twisted and darted to the side, planning to bolt.

Whether they were Root or Anbu, he did not want anything to do with them right now.

If these people planned to use him as bait to enrage his old man, Uchiha Fugaku...

"Sasuke, you even dare to disobey Lord Hokage's orders?"

The moment the words fell, a tall figure blocked Sasuke's path. "Asuma Sarutobi?"

Sasuke froze and forcefully slammed on the brakes.

Why was it him?

Why was this guy here?

Just now, he had thought it was Root's people pretending to be Anbu... could it be that these ninja really were Anbu?

"Teacher Asuma?"

"Why did you come here?"

Sasuke's face was full of suspicion as he sized up Asuma in front of him.

He did not know much about this person. He only knew that this guy later died quite heroically and married a beautiful wife.

Back when he watched the anime, he had wondered about it—Hiruzen Sarutobi loved power so much, so why had he not passed the Hokage seat to his own son?

"Sasuke, Lord Hokage wants to see you."

"Come with me."

Asuma spoke and reached out his hand. "Sasuke, he's talking nonsense!"

Susanoo's voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

The two of them had signed a contract, so they could connect directly on a spiritual level. "Lightning God Mode!"

Sasuke said nothing else and directly activated Lightning God Mode.

He also pushed his Armament Haki to the limit.

His entire body instantly vanished from where he stood, his speed absurdly fast.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose hand was still outstretched, froze with his hand hanging in midair just like that.

The masked ninja around him were all dumbfounded.

Just now... what happened?

"He... ran?"

Only after several seconds of shock did Asuma Sarutobi come back to his senses.

But by then, Sasuke had already rushed far away.

If they were talking about chasing him, Asuma could catch the kid if he went all out.

The problem was, if he ran into an Uchiha clansman on the way, there would be no explaining this. "This is the six-year-old kid you said could be taken down casually?"

Asuma Sarutobi's face was ashen as he turned and glared at the people around him.

They had clearly already stopped him, and he had personally made a move.

And the result?

He ran!

The few of them were scolded into not daring to lift their heads, remaining silent.

With no other choice, the group could only withdraw for now.

On Sasuke's side, he did not dare stop at all. He sprinted the whole way, heading straight for the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Only when Sasuke saw the outline of the Uchiha Clan Compound from afar did he finally let out the breath he had been holding.

Those people just now were definitely not right—if they had not had a guilty conscience, how could they have stopped so readily?

"Mr. Susanoo, just now..."

"I could feel it. That guy was full of malice."

"As for anything else, I can't say for sure either."

Before Sasuke could finish asking, Susanoo directly gave him the answer.

Sasuke frowned. "Was it similar to the feeling from the Nine-Tails back then?"

"But how did Asuma get mixed up in this?"

"Is Hiruzen Sarutobi not going to rein in his own son?"

Unable to figure it out no matter how he thought about it, Sasuke simply turned and headed home.

At this time, Fugaku should be at home.

But the moment he stepped into the compound, he froze—there was a dense crowd of clansmen surrounding his house.

Sure enough, something had happened. "They actually dared to say that we sent clansmen to do that, then ** silenced them? What a convincing story!"

"Forget that we didn't even demand to move back to the original clan compound. Now look, they're dumping the blame right on our heads."

"We absolutely can't swallow this. The higher-ups have to give us an explanation! Does my Uchiha Clan just deserve to be bullied like this?"

"Right! The clan head can't always think about smoothing things over!"

Listening to the waves of angry curses outside, Sasuke basically sorted out the situation.

This trap had been set for the Uchiha's explosive temper.

One link led to the next, and they had even wanted to take him, Sasuke, away as a hostage to force Uchiha Fugaku to make a move.

Asuma had gotten involved too... was that on Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders?

Or had Asuma been used by Danzo as a tool?

No matter ** which it was, for the Uchiha, it ** was not a good thing.

Sasuke slipped into the house through the side door and headed straight for the study. "Father."

Pushing open the door, Sasuke swept a glance around the room—several people were already seated inside.

Uchiha Natsume and Nagasawa Uchiha were red in the face and neck, looking as if they had just finished arguing.

Shisui and Itachi stood at the side, their faces full of helplessness.

Uchiha Fugaku looked like he had a pounding headache.

Sasuke sneered inwardly.

This scene did not seem to be the first time he had seen it. "Father, just now, Teacher Asuma brought Anbu people and tried to take me away."

Sasuke directly laid out what had happened just now.

Nagasawa, who had still been bickering with Natsume, immediately changed expression when he heard this. "Anbu?"

"Asuma Sarutobi?!"

The moment those two names came out, every gaze in the room instantly turned cold!

Once Asuma Sarutobi ** got involved, the nature of the whole matter changed completely.

The Uchiha had originally planned to use the great tree of the Hokage to suppress Danzo's arrogance.

But now even you, Hiruzen Sarutobi's own son, had jumped out and gotten involved. How was Uchiha Fugaku supposed to trust you?

"Sasuke, are you all right?"

Itachi was the first to come back to his senses, nervously staring at his younger brother and looking him up and down. "I'm fine."

"They probably didn't expect me to turn around and run without saying another word."

"But... the Anbu around Lord Asuma were a little off."

"They looked like... people from the Root Organization."

Sasuke shook his head and voiced the guess in his heart.

Shisui narrowed his eyes. "Root Organization?"

"It looks like Danzo has chosen a new piece."

In that case, the previous disturbances were, at most, a smokescreen.

The real setup Danzo wanted to arrange was the piece called Asuma Sarutobi.

For Uchiha Fugaku, this arrangement was practically a reenactment of Danzo's move back then, when he placed his bet on Orochimaru.

Only, this time, Orochimaru had been replaced with Asuma.

In terms of talent, Asuma really could not compare to Orochimaru. But he was easy to handle—obedient and easy to control. "Clan head, the Third definitely knows something about this."

Nagasawa Uchiha leaned back in his chair, his voice unhurried. "If you ask me, we should keep following the previous path. Don't change."

When he said this, there was no emotional fluctuation on his face.

Whether anger or dissatisfaction, those were all emotional things.

But people could not be led around by emotion.

This point was something Sasuke had repeatedly mentioned in the things he had written down before. "I..."

Uchiha Natsume had just been about to refute him when a person suddenly flashed through his mind.

Sasuke.

This kid was a genius of the Uchiha Clan, quick-witted and mature in his thinking.

What he said now would definitely be able to steady the situation.

And Sasuke had just been attacked, so he would definitely stand on his side.

That way, he would not have to waste words arguing with that guy Nagasawa. "Sasuke, what do you think?"

Natsume turned his gaze toward Sasuke. "Me?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What thoughts could I have?"

"Getting angry here won't do anything except make ourselves miserable and throw our own ranks into chaos."

"If we're unlucky, this is exactly what the enemy wants to see."

"Don't move. Just do our own jobs properly. That's enough."

His tone was casual, as if he were talking about some trivial matter. "Exactly. Stay unchanged and deal with whatever changes come."

Nagasawa Uchiha slapped his thigh, his eyes lighting up. "Aren't they just trying to force us to make a move, then seize the excuse and crush us to death?"

"Clan head, when it comes to the Police Force, we should do whatever we're supposed to do."

"As for everything else, as long as it doesn't directly clash with us, ignore it all."

The more he spoke, the more excited he became, and even the way he looked at Sasuke changed.

One had to know, this kind of thinking was practically a fantasy within the Uchiha Clan.

Even conservatives like them had never dared to say it outright. "Sasuke's idea works."

Shisui Uchiha nodded. "This way, we can keep the initiative in our own hands."

"Even if we're forced to fight back, no one will be able to gossip."

"I agree too."

Uchiha Fugaku's tone shifted. "But for this matter, we need to find someone strong enough, someone who can carry out this task completely."

"Natsume, you'll do it."

The study fell silent for several seconds.

Natsume was stunned.

Shisui, Itachi, Nagasawa, and the others were all frozen.

No one had expected Fugaku to hand this task to Natsume.

This guy was practically a ticking ** bomb.

Endurance?

Those two words had had absolutely nothing to do with him since the day he was born.

If they really let Natsume handle this matter...

Just thinking about that scene made the corners of everyone's mouths twitch several times.

After arguing for a long time to no avail, Natsume could only accept it in dejection in the end.

When he came out of Fugaku's house, his lifeless look immediately drew quite a few people over to watch.

Someone came over curiously, wanting to know exactly what decision the clan had made.

As for Sasuke, he had slipped away long ago, back when Natsume and Fugaku were still arguing.

A meeting this long and tedious was purely a waste of his life.

Uchiha Sasuke filled his stomach while mulling over what he should do next.

Earlier, that old bastard Danzo had tried to steal Shisui's eye, and Sasuke had stopped him. Now, great—he had set his sights directly on the entire Uchiha.

To put it plainly, the biggest source of trouble for the Uchiha right now was that undying old bastard, Danzo Shimura. How about... having Susanoo just take him out?

The thought had only just surfaced before Sasuke pushed it back down himself.

Putting aside the fact that Danzo himself was no weakling, he also had a pack of Root lunatics under him. Even if Susanoo could fight, taking him down in a short time wasn't realistic.

If he alerted all of Konoha and got surrounded and beaten down, things could easily go wrong instead. Wait—

A flash of inspiration crossed Sasuke's mind.

Solving the Uchiha's problem didn't necessarily mean he had to lay a blade on Danzo himself. A public opinion war, huh.

The corner of his mouth lifted, and he muttered, "Danzo, today I'll let you taste what a dimensionality reduction strike from China feels like."

With that, he took a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and walked into the courtyard.

Night quickly swallowed all of Konoha.

A dark figure swept silently over the village.

Early the next morning, just as sunlight shone on Hokage Rock, the villagers of Konoha exploded into an uproar. "Huh? Isn't that Lord Danzo?"

"Does that mean the Fifth Hokage has already been decided? His face is already carved into the rock."

"Maybe... But Danzo's reputation... Forget it. Whoever becomes Hokage has nothing to do with ordinary folks like us. I'm off to set up my stall."

"You can't say that. The Police Force has finally gotten better, but if Lord Danzo takes office, will the Police Force still belong to the Uchiha?"