Conflict Escalates

"Does Father trust my brother that much?" A flicker of disappointment flashed through Itachi's eyes.

"Heh heh, Itachi! You really underestimate your father. How could I just watch your brother shoulder this pressure alone? I've already sent your Uncle Yashiro to support him!" A faint smile curled at Fugaku's lips.

Yet Fugaku's words did not comfort Itachi. Instead, they felt like the sky had fallen. "So Father knew the entire truth all along. Then why didn't you stop it beforehand?!" Itachi suddenly demanded loudly.

Fugaku was momentarily stunned. He had thought Itachi had said that out of concern for his brother, but Itachi's reaction was rather bizarre.

"Itachi, what nonsense are you talking about? This was a test for the Hokage from the very beginning!" Fugaku rebuked him sternly.

"A test? What is there to test about Lord Hokage? Doesn't Father know that Brother Shisui has already joined the Shadow Guard? The bridge between the clan and the village has already been opened. Wasn't that what Father once hoped for?"

Seeing the faintly pained expression on Itachi's face, Fugaku did not know what to say for a moment. Was this son of his leaning too much toward the village?

Fugaku's expression gradually turned serious. "Itachi, that kind of bridge only allows one-way passage!"

After saying that, Fugaku said nothing more. Instead, he hurried toward the Hokage Building. He needed to observe the situation closely, lest this test truly turn into a large-scale conflict.

Itachi's heart turned cold. He stood there in a daze, recalling what Brother Shisui had told him when they were together.

"Itachi, you need to keep a close eye on your brother. Unlike you, your brother does not trust the village. He is deeply wary of it. As his younger brother, you must persuade him in time. Don't let Hane walk down the wrong path."

But now, not only was his brother like this, even his father's once-friendly attitude toward the village was slowly changing. Itachi felt a suffocating pressure in his chest.

Hokage Building.

Hane had already led the clan members to the foot of the building. There were no earth-shaking slogans as imagined. The Uchiha Clan appeared exceptionally disciplined in this regard, with the ninja standing in front to protect the ordinary clan members behind them.

They merely stood silently beneath the Hokage Building, waiting for the Hokage to come out and explain. The ordinary civilians around them had gone from confusion at the start to there being no one left nearby.

It had to be said that the Uchiha Clan's reputation was astonishingly terrible. Everyone who saw the Uchiha march treated them as though they were enemies.

Hane's heart chilled slightly. At first, he had thought some of these civilians would speak up for the Uchiha after learning of the injustice they had suffered.

But in the end, they all acted as though it had nothing to do with them, guarding against the Uchiha as if they were enemies. No wonder Konoha's higher-ups dared to do this without fearing the village's outrage!

Sometimes, Hane could not help wondering what exactly the Uchiha had done to make the villagers treat them this way. Yet after thinking about it for a long time, he still could not understand.

Hane acknowledged that the Uchiha were emotionally extreme. After all, ordinary Konoha villagers only gave +1 Malice Points even when they felt hatred, while clan members casually gave +10 or +100 emotional points at a time, whether they felt gratitude or hatred. Hane truly could not deny that.

But even so, the Uchiha had never oppressed ordinary civilians! They rarely even interacted with civilian ninja. It could be said that the Uchiha were extremely closed-off. Even when they did interact with others, it was usually criminals, or they were merely somewhat arrogant before civilian ninja. And that alone made them targets of the villagers' hatred!

As for evil, Hane sometimes felt that the Uchiha's evil was not worth mentioning before Konoha's villagers. Not to mention anything else, simply transferring hatred onto a newborn baby was beyond human understanding.

At least from the original story, it was clear that the Uchiha were indifferent toward Naruto. They had no intention of getting close to him, but neither did they maliciously mock him.

Just as Hane was lost in thought, several notification chimes suddenly rang in his mind.

"Malice Points +10000"

"Malice Points +5000"

"Malice Points +2000"

The notifications abruptly pulled Hane back to reality. His expression froze, and he hurriedly looked around to see who had given him such enormous rewards at once.

He saw three elderly people in their sixties or seventies emerge, two men and one woman. They were Anbu ninja led by the Elder Council: Utatane Koharu, Danzo, and Mitokado Homura.

The moment Hane saw Danzo's cold, sinister gaze, he understood who had produced such powerful malice.

A smile involuntarily appeared on Hane's lips. "Oh! Isn't this Lord Danzo? What a coincidence! We actually met twice in one day."

"Brat!"

Hane felt another surge of intense malice, and delight rose in his heart. What a harvest! What a harvest!

"Is this the Uchiha's attitude? You actually sent a child to cause trouble at the Hokage Building." Utatane Koharu gave Hane an indifferent glance.

"Elder Koharu, you jest. This is our Uchiha Clan's young clan head. The clan members came here because they trust him." Uchiha Yashiro hurriedly stepped forward to explain.

As Fugaku's trusted subordinate, he naturally would not object to Hane being called the young clan head.

"Hmph! You attacked the Hokage Building without cause. Do you Uchiha know your crimes?" Utatane Koharu ignored Hane and looked directly at Uchiha Yashiro.

"Attacked without cause?" Uchiha Yashiro's expression froze as he looked at Utatane Koharu with an ugly expression.

"Elder Koharu, have you misunderstood something? The village canceled our clan's relocation funds for no reason. Are we, the Uchiha Clan, not even allowed to come and ask about it?" Uchiha Yashiro gradually raised his voice.

Hearing this, the clan members began waving their hands and shouting in agreement.

"Yeah! Why cancel it?"

"We need a reasonable explanation!"

Utatane Koharu could not help frowning. It seemed that words alone could no longer placate the Uchiha Clan. Damn it, this kid started it all. Utatane Koharu resentfully glanced at Hane, who stood among the crowd, well protected by the young clansmen brought by Uchiha Retsuyō.

Hane merely grinned. He wished he could receive more looks like that. Two thousand points each time—after a few more, he could upgrade another skill.

Just as the crowd was clamoring, a cold snort rang out.

"An explanation? Koharu, we cannot allow this to continue. Leave the rest to me!"

Seeing the smiling brat, Danzo's anger immediately surged. After speaking, Danzo turned toward Uchiha Yashiro.

"Konoha is currently facing off against Hidden Cloud, yet instead of thinking of how to serve Konoha, you brought people to gather at the Hokage Building and cause trouble. You have no sense of the bigger picture, and you still have the nerve to demand an explanation from the village."

Danzo truly knew how to twist black into white. With just a few words, he shifted all the blame onto the Uchiha.

Uchiha Yashiro's face turned completely cold.

"The village broke its word first. How can you blame the Uchiha for making trouble without reason? On the front lines, our Uchiha clansmen are fighting desperately against the enemy, yet the village bullies their elderly, weak, women, and children in the rear. If the village does not give us a reasonable explanation today, do not blame the Uchiha Clan for refusing to let this go."

Danzo looked coldly at the Uchiha clansmen, who had fallen completely silent. At this moment, quite a few Uchiha ninja had already assumed attacking stances.

Hane, meanwhile, also looked coldly at Danzo.

"If that is the case, let us see whether the Uchiha still have that strength." The moment Danzo finished speaking—

A large number of Root ninja leaped out from both sides of the street.

The Uchiha ninja immediately reacted. The young ninja in the front row surrounding Hane drew their swords one after another, activating their Sharingan as their scarlet eyes warily watched the ninja around them.

Seeing Retsuyō about to unleash his Mangekyō, Hane hurriedly grabbed his arm and shook his head, signaling him not to act rashly.

Though the atmosphere seemed to have reached its breaking point, Hane knew they could not truly fight. Within his Divine Sense, Sarutobi the Third and Fugaku were both still hidden in the shadows.

Though he did not understand Hane's intentions, Uchiha Retsuyō faithfully carried out Hane's order. The redness in his eyes immediately faded.

"Elder Danzo, are you determined not to give the Uchiha an explanation?!" Powerful killing intent radiated from Uchiha Yashiro. As one of the clan's top experts, he possessed the pride unique to the Uchiha.

Even a clay figure had some temper. Though he too belonged to the moderates who leaned toward the village, this matter was clearly no longer a conflict between the moderates' and hardliners' ideals. It concerned the interests of the entire clan.

A dangerous gleam flashed in Danzo's single eye.

"Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!"

Without another word, Danzo rapidly formed hand seals and spat out sharp currents of wind resembling sickle weasels, slashing toward Uchiha Yashiro.

A fierce gale swept forth, and the enormous wind blades were sharper than swords.

Utatane Koharu's calm expression instantly changed. "Danzo, what are you trying to do?!"