Danzo Stomped with Rage: "Kill Him! He's Definitely a Spy!"

After a brief deathly silence, a beastlike roar suddenly erupted in the conference room.

It was Shimura Danzō!

He pointed at Uchiha Xuan. His one uncovered eye was filled with terrifying bloodshot veins from the sheer fury and agitation.

His face twisted grotesquely, spittle flying everywhere. He looked like a rabid dog ready to tear into anyone.

"Utter nonsense! Deceiving the public with wicked lies!"

Danzo's voice had become shrill and piercing with emotion, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

He abruptly turned toward Senju Tobirama at the head of the table. His posture was respectful, but his words brimmed with the most vicious speculation and incitement.

"Lord Hokage! Did you hear that?! This is no longer some simple guess or analysis!"

He thrust out his bandaged hand, pointing viciously at Uchiha Xuan as if he wanted to punch a hole through his chest with his finger.

"He! He can state the Third Raikage's future movements! His future location! Even... his future ending with such precision!"

"What does that prove?!"

Danzo's voice abruptly rose, overflowing with unquestionable "righteous indignation."

"It proves that he is a Kumogakure spy! This is all Kumogakure's conspiracy!"

"He wants to use this absurd nonsense to lull us into complacency! To delay our decision-making! So Kumogakure will have enough time to complete their military deployment along the border, allowing them to... strike when we're vulnerable!"

His speech sounded remarkably "logical" and "well-founded."

It made the high-ranking officials present, who had already harbored doubts, change expression one after another.

That was right!

If he were not a spy, how could he know so much so clearly?

A prophecy?

What a joke!

How could such a vague, illusory thing possibly exist in this world?!

"Lord Hokage!"

Seeing that his words had taken effect, Danzo immediately pressed his advantage, a cruel and excited gleam flashing in his eyes.

"This concerns the village's safety. There can be no leniency whatsoever! I implore you to immediately issue the order to apprehend this Uchiha traitor!"

He licked his dry lips, his tone becoming even more sinister.

"Leave him to me! Leave him to my newly established Root! I guarantee that with the most 'effective' interrogation methods, I'll dig out every last secret he's hiding from his mouth!"

Everyone present understood perfectly well what those so-called "effective" methods meant.

They would be torture countless times more painful than death.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face instantly turned paper-white.

"Danzo! Stop slandering him! Xuan is still a child!"

"A child?" Danzo sneered, his voice like an owl's cry in the night. "A 'child' who infiltrated our highest-level meeting and attempted to subvert the village's decisions? Sarutobi, I think you're the one who's had your mind clouded by lard!"

"You!" Hiruzen Sarutobi trembled with rage.

As the two argued, several Root shinobi wearing masks silently emerged from the shadows of the conference room. An ominous aura radiated from them as they waited only for Danzo's command to pounce.

The atmosphere was tense to the extreme.

Everyone's eyes once again focused on Senju Tobirama.

They awaited this iron-blooded Hokage's final judgment.

Senju Tobirama's gaze became increasingly dangerous and profound.

To be honest, he did not believe a single word of Uchiha Xuan's nonsense.

A prophecy?

It was utterly ridiculous!

He was more inclined toward Danzo's judgment—this boy was most likely a spy, or perhaps a pawn being used by Kumogakure.

But...

In his mind, the look in Uchiha Xuan's eyes when he had spoken those words resurfaced uncontrollably—so certain it was almost indifferent.

That look did not resemble a lie at all.

It was more like he was stating an... established fact.

Those words were simply too bizarre, too unimaginable.

Yet it was precisely that strangeness that made the naturally suspicious Senju Tobirama feel a trace of hesitation, one he himself was unwilling to admit.

What if...

What if he was telling the truth?

The thought flashed through his heart like a demon's whisper.

Killing him would be easy.

But if they missed out on vital intelligence because of it, or if they truly killed by mistake a "talent" with some special ability, it would be an enormous loss for Konoha.

Senju Tobirama's fingers lightly tapped the tabletop, producing a tap, tap, tap.

Each tap seemed to strike everyone present directly in the heart.

After a long while, he finally stopped tapping.

He raised his head, cold light flashing in his red eyes.

He spoke in an icy voice.

"Uchiha Xuan."

"Before the results of your 'prophecy' come to pass, in order to prevent you from passing intelligence to the outside..."

His voice paused. Every word carried unquestionable authority.

"You will stay at home and properly 'reflect on yourself.'"

This confinement order, called "reflection," was in truth the highest level of house arrest and surveillance!

"Lord Hokage! You can't!" Hiruzen Sarutobi hurriedly protested.

"What?" Tobirama shot him a cold glance. "Do you have objections to my decision?"

"N-No, sir." Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately wilted.