What Kind of Logic Is This?

The moment Yun Yan uttered those veiled malicious words, the Hokage's office fell silent once more.

It was an eerie silence, an unsettling silence, as though some great danger and terror lurked within it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi broke the silence. The old man still put on a perfectly foolish act, smiling lightly as he said:

"How could that be? Yun Yan, you really know how to joke."

After brushing it off with that line, Hiruzen Sarutobi's smile faded, and his expression turned serious once more.

No matter how unwilling he was, he had no choice but to confront the matter now. After all, Yun Yan had thrown a Root ninja's head right in front of him. Hiruzen Sarutobi could not ignore it.

With a soft sigh, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face showed helplessness and regret.

"Yun Yan, I am deeply sorry about the incident you encountered today. I never expected Root to once again..."

Yun Yan had no patience for this and cut him off directly.

"Lord Hokage, this could not have been an accident. Do not rush to define it as one.

"I let it go last time. This time, you will not be able to brush it aside so easily.

"Last time, Lord Hokage, you said it was an accident, some sort of misunderstanding. I gave you face and did not pursue it further.

"But this time, Root ninja came again, and they used poison right from the start. It was even worse than last time. This absolutely was not an accident, nor could it have been some misunderstanding. Lord Hokage, do not treat me like a three-year-old child you can fool."

Same old formula, same old feeling.

When dealing with anyone else, whoever they were, they would more or less give him, the Hokage, some face. Whatever Hiruzen Sarutobi said was basically final.

But when it came to this Uchiha Yunyan... no, he would never act that way.

Interrupting the Hokage was child's play to him. Directly refuting him without giving him even a shred of face—that was his usual style.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened at Yun Yan's blunt retort. He was both angry and troubled.

How was this matter supposed to be resolved? This time, it had practically been laid out in the open.

That Danzō... utterly useless when it mattered.

Of course Hiruzen Sarutobi knew Root would make another move against Yun Yan, because he himself had provoked Danzō into doing so.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had also been mentally prepared for Root to fail again. After all, even he could not gauge Yun Yan's true strength.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's real goal had been to use Root's hand to test Yun Yan and uncover the depths of his true abilities.

Whether the test had succeeded aside, Root ninja had fallen into Yun Yan's hands again. One had even had his head cut off and thrown in front of him. If that was not ruining things through incompetence, then what was?

For a moment, the silent Hiruzen Sarutobi once again vented his resentment toward Danzō internally.

He did not stop to consider that he had been the one who provoked Danzō into doing this in the first place.

If that old bastard Danzō was vicious and despicable to the extreme, then Hiruzen Sarutobi was shameless to the extreme!

He raised his head and looked at the cold-faced Yun Yan, then lowered it to look at the severed head. Taking a pull from his pipe, Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to stall for time and spoke unhurriedly.

"Yun Yan, do not be so impatient.

"The moment you arrived, you threw this thing onto my desk. I will not pursue such rude and reckless behavior for now.

"Right now, in your anger, you have only said that Root attacked you again. I know nothing about the specifics or what exactly happened.

"How about you explain the whole matter first? Once everything is clear, I will certainly give you a satisfactory answer."

Sensing that the old man seemed intent on smoothing things over again, Yun Yan's expression turned unfriendly.

Yun Yan was already in a bad mood. He had no desire to explain the details or the entire sequence of events to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

However... someone suitable had arrived at just the right time.

After exerting himself greatly and traveling at full speed the entire way, Kakashi finally arrived late.

Panting heavily, he flashed anxiously into the Hokage's office, revealing himself the moment he entered.

Kakashi stopped abruptly in the office, gasping for breath as he raised his head and took in the scene before him.

The first thing he saw was Yun Yan standing before the desk, confronting the Hokage. The second was the dead man's head lying on the Hokage's desk.

What was there to guess? The situation was already obvious. Yun Yan had definitely gone off the rails again. As expected, Kakashi had failed to stop him in time.

Once he had caught his breath, Kakashi sighed and was the first to apologize to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"My apologies, Lord Hokage. Yun Yan was too fast. I could not catch up to him."

Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could say anything, Yun Yan pointed at Kakashi beside him.

"Perfect. Kakashi is back.

"Lord Hokage, you can ask Kakashi about the specifics. After all, he witnessed the entire incident firsthand."

It sounded as if he was merely asking Kakashi to recount the facts, but Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank.

Kakashi had appeared directly in his office without bothering to hide from Yun Yan. What did that mean?

It meant Kakashi had probably been exposed long ago. Yun Yan likely already knew that he had frequently sent Kakashi to monitor him during this time.

That made things troublesome.

And Kakashi had just said that Yun Yan was too fast for him to catch up with.

That meant Kakashi had already come face-to-face with Yun Yan. Perhaps, after being discovered, Kakashi had already laid everything out with him. He might even have been involved in this incident.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed softly again, looking helplessly toward Kakashi.

"Very well, Kakashi. In that case, explain what happened."

Kakashi glanced at Yun Yan, then finally looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Facing these two big shots, Kakashi was under considerable psychological pressure.

Since he had been told to explain the course of events, then he would do so. Kakashi did not play any tricks at this moment. He honestly and truthfully recounted everything that had just happened.

This included how the two Root ninja had intended to poison them, only to be discovered by Yun Yan from the very beginning and trapped in his genjutsu, as well as how the two Root ninja had then been killed one after another. It also included how Kakashi had later revealed himself to stop Yun Yan, but had failed.

He explained every relevant detail and every point he believed was important.

Moreover, throughout his account, Kakashi spoke from an impartial standpoint and did not let personal feelings favor either side.

And so, Kakashi finished his account.

Just as Yun Yan was about to open his mouth and continue questioning him, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had become somewhat accustomed to Yun Yan's directness, unexpectedly spoke first this time.

And the moment he opened his mouth, it was with the sort of routine that disgusted Yun Yan.

"Yun Yan, based on Kakashi's account, those two Root ninja were under the control of your genjutsu from beginning to end.

"Forget poisoning you—they probably never even entered your room before you killed them one after the other.

"They never succeeded. In fact, they never even made a move. They merely had the intention...

"Hmm... In order to prevent yourself and your friend from falling into danger, you acted first and dealt with those two Root ninja. That was rather bold, even somewhat overstepping.

"But considering that you needed to defend yourself, and that the Root ninja were indeed at fault first, I will not pursue the matter of you harming those two fellow village ninja for now.

"So... I think we should just let this matter end here."

After Hiruzen Sarutobi's whole routine, Yun Yan was practically dumbfounded.

He had seen shameless people before, but never anyone this shameless.

He had seen people with no sense of shame, but never an old man this utterly shameless.

What the hell? Just let this matter end here? Are you joking?

And you will not pursue my responsibility? I was forced to defend myself and strike back, taking care of those two threats first, and somehow I am the one at fault?

Yun Yan was not the only one who found it absurd. Even Kakashi at the side could barely stand to watch.

Lord Hokage, that is not how you keep the peace by smoothing things over. Yun Yan definitely will not accept this.

Sure enough, since Hiruzen Sarutobi had taken that attitude, Yun Yan did not feel like saying anything nice anymore.

He planted both hands on Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk and leaned forward slightly, his expression extremely hostile.

"Lord Hokage, where is your shame?

"Can you have at least a little dignity?

"Just let this matter end here? This is utterly ridiculous.

"I noticed something was wrong in advance and acted first to deal with those two Root ninja, preventing Izumi and me from being poisoned to death. That should have been perfectly natural self-defense.

"So why does it sound like I am the one at fault?

"Those two Root ninja used despicable methods. They planned to poison Izumi and me, and afterward they even intended to gouge out Izumi's and my Sharingan.

"Fortunately, they did not succeed.

"But just because they did not succeed, because I stopped them in time, does that mean they are innocent?

"That logic is utterly laughable!

"Deliberate murder is a crime, but attempted murder is not?

"You express regret when self-defense fails, but successful self-defense—killing them before they can act—is somehow wrong!?

"What fucking kind of logic is that!?"

By the end, Yun Yan could no longer contain his fury and slammed his palm down on the desk!