Who Was He Preparing to Control?

"Everyone, look closely. He attacked Shisui today, then immediately stuffed the Sharingan into his own eye socket."

"Someone who coveted everyone's Kekkei Genkai like this actually made it into Konoha's upper ranks!"

Zhengye's gaze swept over the ninja from bloodline clans such as the Hyuga Clan and Ino-Shika-Cho, and his voice sank:

"Why don't you all consider this—could Danzo have done something like this behind the Hokage's back on his own? Or did someone tacitly permit it?"

The Hyuga Clan and Ino-Shika-Cho members' expressions changed drastically, while the other ninja clans also revealed looks of shock and disbelief.

Their gazes toward the Third Hokage were filled with obvious distrust.

The Third Hokage's mind went blank. He truly had not expected Danzo to directly install the Sharingan in his own eye socket.

He was not even bothering to put on an act anymore.

If there had been no evidence, he could at least have tried to smooth things over. But now the evidence was right on Danzo's body—how could he argue his way out of this?!

And that was not all!

Inabi slashed with his blade. With a clang, the sealing iron band around Danzo's arm fell away, and the bandages completely came undone.

What was revealed beneath was a strange grayish-white arm. More importantly—

Three Sharingan were rotating on it!

"Sarutobi Hiruzen! What else do you have to say?! Exactly how many members of my Uchiha Clan have you secretly assassinated?!"

Zhengye's furious roar made the Third Hokage's head buzz.

The Third Hokage could not help taking a step back.

He genuinely had not known that Danzo had gouged out so many Sharingan and embedded them in his arm.

This was no longer merely a scandal. It was a devastating blow to the reputation of Konoha's leadership!

Even the ANBU who had rushed over had lost all will to fight, staring blankly at the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage gritted his teeth. "This matter... I... was unaware of it."

The moment those words left his mouth, even he found them powerless.

He was the Hokage. His deputy had been systematically plotting to seize the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan for years—and he knew nothing? Who would believe that?

Whether they were from Ino-Shika-Cho or the Hyuga Clan, they all stared deeply at the Third Hokage.

He immediately said, "But I will investigate Danzo thoroughly at once. I will definitely give your Uchiha Clan an explanation!"

"But Danzo needs to have his bleeding stopped immediately. If he dies, then there will be no proof!"

Looking at the pool of blood beneath Danzo, the Third Hokage's brow twitched wildly.

Although Danzo had made a colossal blunder today, he absolutely could not die.

If the strongest scapegoat died, the Third Hokage would be the only one left to shoulder the blame.

Besides, who would handle all the dirty work?

Zhengye could also see that Danzo was on the verge of death. After all, with both legs severed, the amount of blood he had lost was terrifying.

If Danzo had not been a ninja, he would already have been dead.

But he was not much better off now. Having lost so much blood, he could not even activate the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique.

His consciousness had sunk into the abyss, and he had completely passed out.

Zhengye lifted his chin, signaling for the medical ninja in the white cap beside him to go over.

The medical ninja had received instructions long ago and quickly ran over to stop Danzo's bleeding.

During this time, the Uchiha Clan's elites and the other clansmen led by Yashiro had already gathered behind Zhengye.

The Uchiha Clan members had basically learned what had happened here.

Especially since Danzo still had four Sharingan on his body.

After a simple examination, Konoha's medical ninja said:

"Lord Hokage, Lord Danzo's life is in critical danger. He must be transported to the hospital immediately, or he will not survive more than three hours."

The Third Hokage looked at Zhengye, but Zhengye showed no intention of letting Danzo off.

He beckoned to Izumi among the Uchiha Clan members.

Izumi was Itachi's classmate. Though she was only eleven, she had outstanding talent in medical ninjutsu and could already independently perform simple operations.

More importantly—Zhengye needed Itachi to watch Izumi personally gouge the Sharingan out of Danzo one by one.

"Go. Dig out every Sharingan on his body. One of them belongs to Shisui; help put it back in Shisui's eye."

"M-Me?" Izumi was a little nervous.

Izumi was surprised. She did not understand why he had called on her when there were medical ninja in the clan who were more skilled than she was.

Zhengye glanced at Itachi, then nodded at Izumi.

"That's right. Don't worry, you're just taking out some eyes."

"Yes, I understand." Izumi took a deep breath, then went to remove Danzo's eyes.

Medical ninjutsu in the Shinobi World could forcibly stimulate body cells to divide and reconnect. Thus, reconnecting the optic nerve—the most difficult part in Zhengye's original world—had become the simplest step here.

All they needed to do was place the eyeball back into the socket in the correct orientation, then use medical ninjutsu to handle the rest.

Shisui's eye was quickly returned to its socket.

He checked it with his ocular power and confirmed that it was indeed his own eye before finally breathing a sigh of relief.

Having gone through so much tonight, Shisui was somewhat exhausted as well.

However, an accident occurred when Izumi removed the three Sharingan from Danzo's arm.

The moment the three Sharingan left that gray arm, it began swelling continuously. It looked as though countless worms were wriggling beneath its skin, while tiny saplings sprouted from its pores one after another.

The Third Hokage's pupils constricted sharply.

Hashirama Cells!

Danzo had actually performed this kind of experiment on himself!

If that arm went berserk in the center of Konoha, the consequences would be unimaginable!

He immediately gave the medical ninja beside him a meaningful look.

The other man understood. With a flash of his chakra scalpel, he severed the entire arm from Danzo's shoulder.

The severed arm hit the ground and rapidly twisted and deformed, turning into a warped tree stump in the blink of an eye.

Hyuga Hiashi's Byakugan stared fixedly at that stump, his brows tightly furrowed.

Hashirama Cells—Danzo had actually been using the First's cells for experiments.

He instinctively glanced at the Third Hokage, then silently looked away.

Now that Danzo had lost all four limbs, he had become nothing more than a human stump.

If someone did a little work on his head as well, he would be no different from a human swine.

After the many Sharingan on Danzo's body had been exposed, Fugaku said nothing. He merely stood behind Zhengye with a dark expression.

Yet his gaze toward Zhengye was extremely complicated, filled with shock, gratification, and more.

He knew that many things must have happened tonight for Inabi, Shisui, and Itachi to support Zhengye so wholeheartedly.

While the entire Uchiha Clan had mobilized, Zhengye's series of combined blows had all landed on Konoha's vital points.

Whether in rallying allies or wielding military deterrence, he had handled everything exceptionally well.

They had previously been bullied by Konoha until they could only move to the edge of the village, yet in one night, all their pent-up resentment had been swept away.

Fugaku could not help but wonder whether his former policies toward the outside world had truly been wrong.

"Uchiha Fugaku, regarding tonight's matter..." The Third Hokage tried to get Fugaku to pick up where he left off.

But Fugaku merely made a casual gesture for him to stop and pointed at Zhengye.

"Tonight's operation was commanded by Zhengye, the Fourth Elder of our Uchiha Clan. If you have anything to say, speak to him."

As he said this, his heart was filled with mixed feelings.

But he had to admit that Zhengye's performance tonight was far better than his own as clan head.

Fugaku's complete delegation of authority filled the Third Hokage's heart with gloom.

He had already realized that Zhengye was much harder to deal with than Fugaku.

The Third Hokage could only say solemnly to Zhengye, "Zhengye, we cannot remain here indefinitely. Have your clansmen return to the clan grounds."

Zhengye turned to look at the members of the other ninja clans. A smile appeared on his face. His goal was to make every other ninja clan in Konoha stand with him.

He wanted to define the nature of Danzo's actions:

"Fine. Have the Third Hokage publicly convict Danzo, acknowledge that the Uchiha Clan has been repeatedly targeted in the past, and hold a village meeting tomorrow to compensate us."

The Third Hokage's expression stiffened. Convicting Danzo would certainly not be a problem, but determining how severe that conviction should be to stop the Uchiha Clan from refusing to let the matter go would be a true test of skill.

Zhengye smiled faintly. "Third Hokage, Shisui's ocular technique does not work on Clan Head Fugaku, who also possesses the Mangekyō Sharingan."

"Who do you think he took Shisui's Sharingan to control?"

The Third Hokage's gaze suddenly froze.

Danzo... you wanted to control me?