Angry Danzo

"Deception!"

A roar of furious, violent rage echoed within the closed doors and windows of the Hokage's office, yet it was held fast by a powerful sound-dampening barrier, not a whisper leaking out into the silent, pre-dawn darkness.

The Hokage's office was brightly lit, yet it could not dispel a certain heavy gloom.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat behind his expansive desk, the pipe clamped between his fingers long extinguished, the wisps of lingering smoke dissipating powerlessly into the air.

His brows were locked in a deep furrow, his face displaying an unprecedented gravity. Spread out before him was a report scroll, the text rigorously worded, in which Uchiha Tiandao, in his capacity as clan head, reported that "Uchiha Shaoyu attacked Elder Setsuna and coerced eleven clansmen into defecting."

Before the desk, Shimura Danzo, who had just been urgently summoned, had almost lost his usual gloom and restraint.

His only visible eye was wide, bloodshot, and his uninjured hand gripped a brief copy of the report so tightly that the veins on the back of his hand bulged, his body trembling slightly from extreme fury.

"Uchiha Shaoyu... that naturally evil Uchiha brat! He actually... he actually dared!"

Danzo's voice was hoarse, every word sounding as if it were ground out from the depths of his throat.

"Attacking an elder, stealing clan secrets, inciting accomplices... defecting?! And he took twelve people with him! Twelve Uchihas who had awakened the Sharingan! Among them, three were Jonin!"

He slammed the copy in his hand onto Sarutobi Hiruzen's desk with a dull thud, causing the ashtray to jump.

"Hiruzen! Do you see this? This is the Uchiha! Wolves that can never be tamed! We gave them the authority of the Military Police Force, we gave them status in the village, and what is it they return to us?"

"It is the arrogance hidden beneath their courtesy, the rebellion written in their blood! Now, they don't even bother with superficial appearances; they defect directly! They even attacked their own elder! How brazen! How...!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen took another drag of his pipe, the smoke obscuring his face and preventing Danzo from seeing his expression.

"Enough, Danzo. Calm down."

Danzo's single eye burned with a raging fire as he tightened his grip on his cane.

"How do you expect me to calm down? The Uchiha clan is simply climbing all over us. And that Uchiha Setsuna—he was ambushed? What a joke. A fossil who has lived since the Warring States period, and he can't outplay a greenhorn? I can tell at a glance that this was orchestrated by that old thing."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's face was also gloomy. He knew Uchiha Setsuna well; he was among the oldest in Konoha, the Great Elder of the Uchiha clan, a man of deep schemes who had even once attempted to assassinate the Second Hokage.

For such a person to claim he had been hoodwinked by Uchiha Shaoyu was, to some extent, hard to believe. After all, the entire Konoha high command knew of Uchiha Shaoyu's reputation as a hothead; Uchiha Setsuna was not stupid enough to fall for that.

It was clear to him too that this was a scheme by Uchiha Setsuna, but at this moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen had no choice. Uchiha Setsuna had a self-consistent story, and Sarutobi Hiruzen had no excuse to move against him.

Seeing Sarutobi Hiruzen sitting silently with a dark face, Danzo grew anxious, slamming his cane heavily against the desk.

"Hiruzen, say something! In the end, you should have listened to me two days ago and signed the order directly. If I had gone to arrest that Uchiha Shaoyu, none of this would be happening now."

Listening to Danzo's roar, Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly exhaled the last puff of smoke and knocked his pipe heavily against the edge of the ashtray. The crisp "clack" cut off Danzo's agitated words.

"Enough, Danzo."

His voice was not loud, but it carried the authority of the Hokage.

"Is getting angry useful? You accuse Uchiha Setsuna of being calculating and self-directing, but do you have proof? Without evidence, it is all empty talk; it will only startle the snake and cause the remaining Uchiha to turn further against us!"

He stood up, walked around the desk to the window, and stood with his back to Danzo, looking out at the sky as it gradually turned a pale, fish-belly white, his tone heavy.

"As for what you said two days ago about signing an order for you to arrest Uchiha Shaoyu..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen turned around, his gaze sharp as a blade, staring straight into Danzo's remaining eye.

"Danzo, tell me, what grounds did you have then? Based on that report of yours, full of holes, claiming Uchiha Shaoyu colluded with Sunagakure and intentionally failed to assassinate the One-Tail Jinchuriki Bunpuku? Do you take me for a fool, or do you take Sunagakure and the entire ninja world for fools?"

"That kind of clumsy excuse wouldn't hold up to scrutiny! Do you have any idea what kind of turmoil would be caused by rashly arresting an Uchiha genius without concrete evidence of defection? The Uchiha clan would immediately strike back, and other ninja clans would fear for their own safety! You would be pushing Konoha to the brink of civil war!"

Danzō was left livid by the barrage of questioning from Sarutobi Hiruzen. He stiffened his neck, the malice in his single eye intensifying.

"In extraordinary times, one must use extraordinary measures! Why bother with evidence or procedure when dealing with a clan as naturally evil and rebellious as the Uchiha? They should be suppressed and purged with thunderous force!"

"Hiruzen, you are simply too indecisive, too obsessed with that hypocritical Will of Fire! Look at the result now! You let an evil Uchiha escape and lost eleven pairs of Sharingan! Can you bear the responsibility for this loss?!"

There was another thing: the three Root operatives he had sent to capture Uchiha Shaoyu had inexplicably disappeared, undoubtedly dealt with by Shaoyu.

Primarily, this was a matter he could not tell Sarutobi Hiruzen.

He became more agitated as he spoke, his cane thumping heavily against the floor once more.

"We cannot hesitate again! Uchiha Shaoyu's defection is the best excuse! We should immediately launch a comprehensive purge of the Uchiha clan!"

"Root has already grasped a list and signs of activity for some of their internal radicals. We can take this opportunity to round them all up! Completely eradicate this unstable tumor! Otherwise, once they catch their breath, or once Uchiha Shaoyu establishes a foothold outside and coordinates with them from within, Konoha will be in danger..."

"Enough!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen barked, cutting off Danzo's increasingly dangerous and extreme rhetoric.

Clear anger finally appeared on his face. "Danzo! Put that away! A comprehensive purge of the Uchiha clan? Round them all up? Do you know what that means?"

"It means civil war! It means Konoha collapsing from within! It means we will become a laughingstock and a target for the entire ninja world!"

He walked quickly back behind his desk, braced his hands on the surface, leaned forward, and stared intensely at Danzo.

"The Uchiha are one of the founding clans of Konoha! Despite the conflicts and suspicions, they have not yet openly rebelled, and most of their clansmen are still serving the village! They are still our partners, partners of the village."

"What excuse do you want to use to round them up? Just because of one Uchiha Shaoyu's defection? That will only force every Uchiha to take desperate risks! When that time comes, who will bear the consequences? You, me, or the entirety of Konoha?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down, though his tone remained ironclad.

"Pursuing Uchiha Shaoyu and his accomplices is the current top priority. But the overall policy toward the Uchiha clan must maintain the status quo, focusing on appeasement and surveillance. I absolutely will not allow you to use this as a pretext. Do you understand, Danzo?"

"Bullshit!"

"Hiruzen, you really are becoming weaker and weaker. The evil Uchiha are climbing all over us, and you're still enduring it!"

"Enough, Danzo. From now on, your Root's funding will be cut by thirty percent. If you dare to move against the Uchiha, I will dissolve your Root directly."

"Hiruzen, you will regret this!"

"Danzo, I am the Hokage now!"

Bang!

The door was slammed shut by the furious Danzo, leaving Sarutobi Hiruzen behind, his face dark as he puffed on his pipe.

"Danzo, don't blame me. It is a time of war... the Uchiha... are still useful."