Taking the Fall

Uchiha Yato entered the Hokage's office and found everyone looking somewhat terrified.

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, "Yato, did you catch the peeping tom?"

At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi did not dare act rashly, because the person standing before him was Uchiha Yato.

He dared to do anything—and was capable of doing it. Uchiha Yato could not be judged by common sense.

Uchiha Yato nervously swept his gaze across the room. When he looked at Danzo Shimura, his eyes narrowed sharply.

Quite a few people noticed that expression, and each had their own thoughts.

Hiruzen Sarutobi thought: This is bad. He's going after Danzo Shimura. This is trouble.

Tsunade thought: This is bad. Danzo Shimura is about to clash with Uchiha Yato. They really never let anyone have a moment's peace.

Uchiha Kei thought: This is bad. They're about to go up against Danzo Shimura. What a shame I didn't bring popcorn.

Then Uchiha Yato said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "As the inheritor of the Will of Fire, Lord Hokage, I would not dare deceive you."

Danzo Shimura nearly jumped to his feet when he heard that.

He had thought he would not get the chance to dump this mess on the Uchiha Clan. Who would have expected Uchiha Yato to walk right into it himself? Wasn't that practically delivering himself to the gun barrel?

At this point, Danzo Shimura was even secretly nodding, showing his agreement with Uchiha Yato's words.

Then Uchiha Yato abruptly changed course. "Lord Hokage's Advisor, I cannot conceal the fact that you are a peeping tom."

"This seriously damages Konoha's reputation!"

Danzo Shimura, who had just been nodding, froze instantly.

After carefully processing Uchiha Yato's words, his face turned pale.

Seeing his expression, the people around them all had different thoughts once more.

Chiyo thought: Sure enough, this is the man who has it out for the Sand Shinobi. He must be killed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi thought: Sure enough, Uchiha Yato wants to kill Danzo. I need to find a way to pull him out of this.

Uchiha Kei thought: Sure enough, this is exactly the kind of thing Uchiha Yato would do. I need the firsthand gossip.

Danzo Shimura took a moment to calm himself before saying coldly, "Uchiha Yato, there is no need for you to make baseless accusations here."

"You say this old man is a peeping tom?"

"Then show me the evidence. When did I ever peep on anyone? Where are the witnesses and physical evidence?"

Uchiha Yato said, "I have no physical evidence, but I have a witness."

That statement left everyone present dumbfounded. If there was a witness, why were they arguing here at all?

Uchiha Yato continued, "Ryoma Aburame was sent to that hot spring by Lord Hokage's Advisor. I do not know what he was doing there."

"I used my Sharingan to interrogate him a little..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, "What did you get out of him?"

Uchiha Yato immediately switched to the classic innocent act.

"Elder Danzo."

"He..."

"Wants..."

"To..."

"Kill..."

"Me!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was instantly rendered speechless.

By now, Hiruzen Sarutobi had pieced together the chain of events behind the incident.

Jiraiya had likely been overcome by temptation and gone to peep into the women's bathhouse. Danzo Shimura had then taken advantage of it, intending to frame Uchiha Yato.

By sheer coincidence, Uchiha Yato had found the person trying to frame him and had now come to turn the tables.

Hiruzen Sarutobi could only follow the usual procedure and check whether Uchiha Yato was still a suspect. He asked about Uchiha Yato's movements.

Uchiha Yato answered calmly, "At first, I was with Lady Tsunade at Konoha Hospital. Many people can testify for me."

"Later, because I feared this might be a spy uprising, I went to protect the First Hokage's wife."

Hiruzen Sarutobi had been relatively composed, but when he heard that Mito Uzumaki had taken notice of this matter, his previously calm heart began pounding again as he continuously considered countermeasures.

The problem had become serious. Originally, they could have solved it by finding a scapegoat.

But disturbing Mito Uzumaki was different. She could be considered the mother of Konoha Village.

Danzo had privately mentioned that the Konoha Court established by the Uchiha Clan was connected to Lady Mito Uzumaki.

That was also one reason the Konoha F4 had continued to preserve the Konoha Court. After all, the Konoha Court was effectively stripping away their authority.

Chiyo could tell that several factions in Konoha were beginning to make moves.

So she explained to Hiruzen Sarutobi that the Sand Shinobi still had duties to attend to and took her leave first, leaving the stage to Konoha's top-ranking powers to battle it out.

In any case, Konoha had to give the Sand Shinobi an explanation. No matter how it turned out, Chiyo's side would not lose out, and there was no need to worry about this matter causing any negative consequences.

If something like this happened again in Konoha, the other major nations would have grounds to launch a campaign against it. Konoha would not give those nations such an opportunity.

Tsunade also spoke up at this moment. "Yes, Yato told me about this earlier. I was worried about Grandmother too, so I think that was perfectly normal."

"So there is no issue with Yato's movements now, right?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded helplessly. He truly could not find any flaws in Uchiha Yato's alibi.

He had two extremely important witnesses, both of whom were part of Konoha's upper ranks. There was no way to make any accusation against him.

Seeing that the time was right, Uchiha Yato gave Uchiha Kei a meaningful look.

Then Uchiha Yato said, "What comes next is a private matter for Lord Hokage and the rest of you. As a junior, I will not take part."

"Actually, I do not believe Lord Danzo is a peeping tom either."

He turned to Uchiha Kei. "Clan Head, let's hurry and continue looking for the peeping tom."

"We must not let Lord Hokage and Lord Danzo's innocence be tarnished."

With that, Uchiha Yato directly left the Hokage's high-level meeting with Uchiha Kei.

After everyone had left, Hiruzen Sarutobi found an excuse to send Tsunade away.

The remaining Konoha F4 held a small meeting in the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately cursed, "Look at the mess you've made!"

"How many times have I told you? Don't stir up trouble. Don't stir up trouble."

"If you have to stir up trouble, don't target the Uchiha. And if you target the Uchiha, don't target Uchiha Yato."

"You gave them another chance to humiliate us, and this time we can't just sweep it under the rug."

Danzo Shimura had still been somewhat angry, but after hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, he understood the crux of the matter.

That was right. The main reason they could not simply bury this matter was because Mito Uzumaki knew about it.

Koharu Utatane immediately tried to draw some of the heat away. "Danzo definitely did not do this."

"He does not even have a wife. How could he possibly be interested in old women?"

Homura Mitokado also chimed in, "Exactly. How could a man without a wife possibly go watch someone bathe?"

Danzo Shimura felt that he truly did not want these two pig teammates. They could try to persuade people properly, but there was no need to rub salt into his wounds while doing it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's anger had not subsided as he continued, "You handled things so clumsily and gave Uchiha Yato another opportunity. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"He's got mud in his pants now. Even if it isn't shit, it looks like shit!"

There was no helping it. Uchiha Yato had made it abundantly clear that he had a witness, and that witness was someone who had framed him.

Though he had no concrete evidence proving that Danzo Shimura was the peeping tom, he could accuse Danzo Shimura of framing him.

Because of that, the initiative was now entirely in Uchiha Yato's hands.

Danzo Shimura could only admit defeat. "Find a peeping tom, and I will plead guilty on my end."

"Say that I was overly eager for results and wrongly judged the Uchiha Clan to be the culprits."

"Then I will go apologize in person, and this matter will pass."

Danzo Shimura had no other choice this time. If they thoroughly investigated the things he had done before, it would be easy for them to dig them up.

Only by sacrificing an arm to survive could he preserve the resources he was supposed to keep.

Those words struck right at Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe. "We'll do as you say. Have the Shimura Clan offer some benefits to the Uchiha Clan."

"At the same time, I will demote you one rank as punishment."

"Lastly, I'm warning you again: do not cause this kind of trouble for me again. It is really, really, really difficult to handle!"

This round had truly been a case of losing both the wife and the army—without gaining a single benefit.

Beside a street in Konoha.

Uchiha Yato said to Uchiha Kei, "Clan Head, just return to the clan. For a while, our Hokage's Advisor should behave himself."

Uchiha Kei replied, "That felt so good. Watching them get humiliated while being unable to say any nonsense back—so good."

Uchiha Yato said, "Next, I need to make a trip to the Senju Clan Grounds. You should head back first."

Although Uchiha Kei did not know why Uchiha Yato wanted to go to the Senju Clan Grounds, he still expressed his understanding.

Afterward, the two went their separate ways.