Preparing for War

To win this battle.

Uchiha Yato did not think it would be difficult.

After all, he had already laid quite a bit of groundwork, and those preparations had begun to bear fruit.

Take the simplest example.

Danzo Shimura had previously been secretly photographed by paparazzi.

It was the classic case of one picture at the start, with the entire story made up afterward.

A single photo of Danzo Shimura entering Root could be spun into all sorts of rumors.

Danzo Shimura naturally would not allow anyone to tarnish his reputation, so he specifically sought help from the Police Force, Root, and the Hokage to handle it.

Yet in the end, the matter simply faded away.

The reason was that the two people behind it were the two victims from the Ryoma Aburame incident—Sarutobi Kakuya and Hyuga Boya.

Hyuga Boya himself was among the paparazzi. All he had to do was take the pictures.

Sarutobi Kakuya was responsible for obstructing the subsequent investigation.

Under pressure from both sides, no one dared let the Yamanaka clan use their abilities to search memories.

As a result, the matter could only continue fermenting, while the perpetrators remained undiscovered.

Uchiha Yato intended to use the power of the masses to rub salt in Hiruzen Sarutobi's wounds once more.

Uchiha Yato went straight to the Konoha Newspaper and said to everyone, "I just came from the Konoha Police Force."

"A large number of infant corpses and severed limbs have been found somewhere."

"This should be major news. I hope the entire newspaper can mobilize and do its part for Konoha."

That was right. Uchiha Yato intended to make an issue of where Root's ninjas came from.

There were only two sources for Root ninjas: civilians and ninja clans.

For civilian ninjas, Danzo would spot promising candidates in the village, extend an "invitation," brand them with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, and put them through Root's training and brainwashing. They would then become qualified Root ninjas.

For ninja clan members, the process was simpler. A report would be submitted to the Hokage, the Hokage would approve it, and then people would go from clan to clan demanding recruits. After being branded with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and subjected to training and brainwashing, they would become Root ninjas.

Uchiha Yato had long since investigated these infant corpses thoroughly.

They were essentially all orphans from the Konoha Orphanage. Some had died in experiments.

It should have been Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura's doing, but Uchiha Yato had already cleared Orochimaru's name once.

There should basically be no issue on Orochimaru's side. Once he shifted a little more of the evidence onto Danzo Shimura, Orochimaru would be completely cleared.

The rest had died during Root's selection process.

Danzo Shimura had undoubtedly taken advantage of the fact that these orphans had no fathers, mothers, or relatives.

He had raised and trained them in order to turn them into loyal death agents.

And what happened to those who failed their training?

The children in this corpse pit were the best proof.

Inside the Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi also received word of this news.

He had always known about some of Danzo's actions, but he had never stopped them, because they were all for consolidating his position and developing Konoha.

Those dead children were orphans of civilian ninjas, not children from ninja clans.

They were even less likely to be children of the Shimura or Sarutobi clans, so he would naturally turn a blind eye.

But this matter could not be exposed. Once it was, the Hokage's prestige would suffer an enormous blow.

So he immediately sent ANBU ninjas to the Konoha Newspaper. They had to stop the matter from being made public.

Uchiha Yato would not leave such a foolish opening. He had already contacted civilian ninjas to investigate and report on the matter.

Ninja clans would more or less be indifferent to such things.

But civilian ninjas had no such luxury. They had to fight for the greatest possible protection for what might happen after they were gone.

If these civilian ninjas learned the truth behind this matter, they would surely fight to the end. After all, it concerned the arrangements for their orphaned children should they die in battle.

Not everyone was some Dragon King.

They would not return to find their wives and daughters living under a bridge, then play out some Dragon King scenario and overturn all of Konoha.

They were civilian ninjas, arguably only slightly better off than wandering ninjas among the ninja ranks.

The Konoha Court had been established precisely to protect their interests, which was why it had always received the voluntary protection of these civilian ninjas.

Uchiha Yato acted quickly. He directly led the Police Force and the paparazzi team formed by civilian ninjas to the scene.

Only after these ninjas arrived did they see how tragic the scene truly was.

Some of the more emotional female ninjas immediately vomited at the sight.

It could not be helped. The scene was simply too cruel and bloody.

A ninja from the Uchiha Police Force stepped forward and delivered their examination report.

"Lord Yato, these children were killed by sharp weapons after undergoing extensive training."

"We found numerous wounds on their bodies, including cuts and signs of poisoning."

The reporting ninja could not bear it and paused for a moment.

Then he continued, "Among the younger ones, the youngest we found was probably two years old."

"The oldest was no more than eleven."

Such data and intelligence fell upon the ears of everyone present.

It was difficult not to be moved.

At that moment, one ninja raised a question.

"This is not wartime. How could children so young have suffered such cruelty?"

"Could this be negligence on the part of your Uchiha Police Force? Did you fail to protect Konoha, allowing someone to brutally murder Konoha's children?"

This ninja was asking from an extremely objective standpoint.

Uchiha Yato was very pleased with his words.

Rather than blindly taking Uchiha's side, he had identified the responsibility Uchiha should bear. That was what a thoughtful ninja ought to do.

Uchiha Yato asked for the ninja's name.

"Steel Plate Sunpierce."

"Throw him out!"

The Uchiha ninja who had interrupted someone earlier was immediately shouted out by Uchiha Yato.

It could not be helped. The Uchiha ninja could not be blamed for laughing in a situation like this; that ninja's name was simply a little too...

The ninja explained, "My name is Gangban Richaun."

Enough. He could no longer bear to look at that name, but the man was indeed useful.

Uchiha Yato explained, "Protecting Konoha is indeed the Police Force's duty."

"But I must correct the error in your wording. Please do not call the Konoha Police Force the Uchiha Police Force."

"The Police Force does not consist solely of Uchiha ninjas; there are also civilian ninjas. This was publicly announced before."

"Please cast off such outdated thinking."

Since this matter was relatively important, Uchiha Yato had not brought the civilian ninja members of the Police Force into it.

If Danzo Shimura found an opportunity to turn things around, they would truly lose both the woman and the army.

Uchiha Yato continued, "We cannot yet confirm whether this brutal massacre was committed by outsiders."

"That is why we hope the Konoha Newspaper can help publicize this matter and warn everyone in Konoha Village to remain vigilant."

That was right. This was the killing move Uchiha Yato intended to use.

He would use public sentiment to force Hiruzen Sarutobi to abandon Danzo Shimura.

Hiruzen should not even think about defending Danzo Shimura in Konoha Court as he had before. This time, Uchiha Yato had cut off every route Danzo Shimura could take.

Either Danzo Shimura would be executed as the mastermind.

Or Danzo Shimura would betray Konoha and become a rogue ninja from that day onward.

Uchiha Yato truly looked forward to seeing what choice Danzo Shimura would make in the end.