Clash at the Hokage Building, Sosuke's Perfect Victim Act

The top-floor office of the Hokage Building was thick with the pungent, choking smell of tobacco.

The incandescent light overhead cast a deathly white glow, stretching the shadow of the gaunt old man behind the broad mahogany desk. Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed steadily on his pipe and exhaled a dense cloud of smoke. Through the haze, his seemingly cloudy yet keen eyes remained fixed on Sosuke, who had just stepped through the door.

Across from the desk, Uchiha Fugaku did not even pause to catch his breath before stepping forward and pointing at Sosuke's nose as he launched into a fierce accusation.

"Lord Hokage! You must severely punish this lawless madman!" Fugaku's eyes were bloodshot with rage, and his voice echoed through the spacious office. "Senju Sosuke not only used despicable genjutsu to bewitch Mikoto, a core member of the Uchiha clan, but he has also secretly hidden a large number of terrifyingly powerful armed death warriors within the Senju Clan Grounds! He intends to rebel and undermine Hidden Leaf's foundations!"

Faced with Fugaku's hysterical roar, Sosuke did not immediately refute him.

His already unsteady steps suddenly faltered, and his entire body pitched forward without warning like a dead tree snapped by a gale.

"Cough... cough, cough, cough!"

The heart-rending coughs instantly drowned out Fugaku's shouts. Sosuke dropped to one knee on the hard wooden floor, one hand clutched tightly over his chest and the other covering his mouth, his thin shoulders shaking violently. When he struggled to pull his hand away, vivid red blood trickled through his fingers and splattered across the polished floor in several grim blossoms.

He gasped for air, his forehead covered in a fine sheen of cold sweat. Even tears had been forced from the corners of his eyes by the violent coughing. He looked exactly like a dying man with one foot already in the grave.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. He set down his pipe and said in a grave voice, "Sosuke, get up first. What do you have to say regarding Captain Fugaku's accusations?"

Sosuke refused the hand extended by the ANBU beside him. With trembling legs, he forced his broken body upright. He raised his head, and there was not the slightest trace of panic at being exposed on his paper-pale face. Instead, it was filled with the utter grief and indignation of someone wrongfully accused.

"Undermining Hidden Leaf? Rebellion?" Sosuke gave a bitter laugh, his hoarse voice like two rough sheets of sandpaper grinding together. "Captain Fugaku, even if you want to smear a dying man like me, you should at least come up with a somewhat believable excuse."

He turned and stared straight into Fugaku's bloodshot eyes, his tone carrying a desolate challenge. "Tonight, I dragged this ruined body to the banks of the Naka River to clear my head, where I happened to meet Mikoto. She tearfully told me that the Uchiha leadership was forcing her to marry someone she did not love in order to secure political bargaining chips, treating her like merchandise to be traded at will."

"As a ninja of Hidden Leaf, do I not even have the right to listen to a comrade's suffering and comfort her?" Sosuke abruptly turned toward Hiruzen Sarutobi, tears glimmering in his eyes. "Lord Hokage, the First Hokage founded Hidden Leaf to protect comrades, so that the children of this village would no longer become sacrifices to clan interests. I was merely upholding the Will of Fire and telling Mikoto that she had the right to choose her own life. Is that a crime too?"

That grand invocation of the "Will of Fire" made Hiruzen Sarutobi's fingers tighten slightly around his pipe.

Fugaku was practically smoking with rage. He abruptly swung his arm. "Stop twisting the issue! We can set Mikoto's matter aside for now. What about those black-clad death warriors in your courtyard who instantly subdued the elites of my police force?! Do you dare deny that the Senju Clan has been secretly stockpiling military strength?!"

"Elites of the police force?" Sosuke looked as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world. The grief and indignation in his eyes instantly turned into the madness of a man driven into a corner. "Captain Fugaku, you brought a fully armed police force, kicked open the gates of the Senju Clan without Lord Hokage's warrant or any search authorization, and drew your blade to cut off the head of me, the last male heir of the Senju!"

Sosuke drew a deep breath and violently tore open the collar of his pale blue yukata.

Bandages wrapped around his emaciated chest, and beneath them, the hideous old wounds from the battlefield in the Land of Rain could still be faintly seen.

"For Hidden Leaf, nearly all the young men of the Senju Clan died in the meat grinder of the front lines! The only people left in that ruined estate are the old, weak, sick, and disabled who were maimed on the battlefield and cannot even refine chakra anymore!" Sosuke's voice suddenly rose, carrying an accusation stained with blood and tears. "You, Captain Fugaku, charged in with a blade to kill me. The uncles who watched me grow up risked their lives to shield me. They bit and clawed with their hands just to barely stop your sword!"

"And yet in your mouth, these disabled veteran soldiers who risked their lives to protect the young master of the main family became armed death warriors plotting to overthrow Hidden Leaf?!" Sosuke pointed at Fugaku's nose, every word cutting to the bone. "Captain Fugaku, to cover up your crime of abusing public power, disregarding village law, and trespassing into a private residence, can you really fabricate such an utterly absurd lie?!"

"Bullshit!" Fugaku completely lost his reason and roared at Sosuke, pointing at him. "Those people moved like ghosts and struck with ruthless force. How could they possibly be old, weak, sick, and disabled?!"

"If the Senju truly possessed such strength, why would my clansmen have died so miserably in the Land of Rain?! Why would I have been driven by Rain ninja to the point of shattered meridians, reduced to the cripple I am today?!" Sosuke roared back without yielding, then seemed to exhaust all his strength in an instant. He staggered back two steps, braced himself against the edge of the desk, and gasped frantically.

The office fell into a brief deadlock.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag from his pipe, a faint ache throbbing in his head. His shrewd old eyes remained locked on Sosuke as he tried to find even the slightest flaw on the young man's face.

Old, weak, sick, and disabled? Hiruzen Sarutobi knew better than anyone that the intelligence sent back by the ANBU could not be false. There was absolutely an exceedingly elite force hidden within the Senju estate.

Yet he could not refute Sosuke.

Every move Sosuke had made was too ruthless. First, he had invoked the Hidden Leaf Code and firmly seized on Fugaku's procedural violation of conducting an unauthorized search and trespassing into a private residence. Then he had brought out the "Will of Fire" and the "glory of the First Hokage," wrapping himself in the moral armor of a perfect victim.

If Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered a thorough investigation of the Senju Clan Grounds now, he would be confirming the vile reputation of "the Hokage allowing the Uchiha to slaughter the orphaned descendants of meritorious servants." Though the Senju Clan had declined, it still commanded great prestige among Hidden Leaf's civilian ninja. Not to mention Tsunade backing them from behind, ready to go mad at any moment.

He had used the system's own rules to strike down its representative. Sosuke's move of fighting magic with magic had placed Hiruzen Sarutobi directly over the fire, leaving him trapped between advance and retreat.

"Fugaku, you were indeed too impulsive." Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe, deciding to smooth things over for now and muddy the waters. "The police force has rendered meritorious service in maintaining public order, but barging into the main residence of a prominent clan without a warrant is a serious violation of village regulations. You must give the Senju Clan an explanation for this."

Fugaku's eyes widened in disbelief. "Lord Hokage! Do you truly believe his lies? Mikoto is still in his hands!"

"As for Mikoto..." Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Sosuke, a note of warning entering his voice. "Sosuke, it is understandable for young people to act on their feelings, but a core member of the Uchiha clan cannot remain at the Senju Clan Grounds without cause. Tomorrow morning, have Mikoto return—"

"Tap, tap, tap."

Just as Hiruzen Sarutobi was about to forcibly settle the matter, the dull sound of a wooden cane striking the floor suddenly came from the dark blind spot behind the bookcase.

A hidden door was pushed open from within.

With half his face concealed in the shadow of bandages, Shimura Danzō emerged slowly on his cane like a venomous snake drawn by the scent of blood. His sole remaining eye, filled with undisguised malice and greed, remained nailed to Sosuke's pale face.

"What a silver tongue, capable of turning black into white." Danzō's voice was hoarse and grating, carrying the chill of someone who had lived underground for years. "Senju Sosuke, you may be able to fool Hiruzen, who always considers the bigger picture, with this victim act of yours, but you cannot fool these old eyes of mine."

Sosuke leaned against the edge of the desk, his eyelids lowered to conceal the cold green gleam that flashed through his pupils. The real player had finally entered the game.

Danzō walked to the desk, completely ignoring Fugaku's livid expression, and directly pulled a scroll wrapped in black sealing formulas from his wide sleeve.

Smack!

The scroll was slammed heavily onto the mahogany desk with a dull thud.

"Since all you talk about is Hidden Leaf's interests and the First Hokage's glory." A vicious sneer tugged at Danzō's lips as his single eye bore into Sosuke. "Then why don't you explain to Lord Hokage exactly what this top-secret evidence of your secret collusion with the Hidden Rain Village and betrayal of Hidden Leaf's frontline deployment maps is all about?"

The instant those words were spoken, the pressure in the office dropped to freezing point.

Fugaku froze, then wild delight erupted in his eyes. Hiruzen Sarutobi's grip on his pipe abruptly tightened, and his gaze became razor-sharp.

Betraying the village was an absolute taboo that Hidden Leaf could never tolerate.

Danzō's withered fingers pressed down on the scroll. The black sealing formulas gave off a dim glow, and in that moment, killing intent completely locked onto Sosuke.