Danzo's old face turned liver-colored. The supposedly flawless scheme he had devised to kill with a borrowed knife had been seen through by Ren at a glance.
Relying on his status as a member of the Konoha Leadership and the pressure of declaring war on the four great ninja villages, Danzo slammed his cane against the floor and began shouting.
"So what if it is? Everything I've done was for Konoha!"
Danzo pointed at Ren and roared,
"Sacrificing one or two people can make two great ninja villages withdraw their forces and secure peace for tens of thousands of civilians throughout the village."
"This is the highest embodiment of the Will of Fire. Since you Uchiha are Konoha's ninja, you should have the resolve to sacrifice yourselves for the village!"
"Are you going to drag all of Konoha down with you just for your own selfish interests?"
Faced with Danzo's moral coercion, Ren lifted his head and let out a wild laugh that echoed through the hall.
"Hahahaha, what a fine 'for Konoha,' and what a fine Will of Fire!"
Ren reined in his laughter and advanced toward Danzo step by step. His overwhelming presence forced Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi to retreat again and again.
"You rotten politicians! To preserve that pitiful scrap of power in your hands, and for that hypocritical peace you keep talking about, you're actually willing to turn the ninja who risked their lives to protect the village into a sacrifice in a political bargain!"
Ren shouted,
"You've trampled on the dignity of ninja completely! You aren't fit to be the Konoha Leadership!"
"Impudent!"
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, shouted angrily,
"Ren, you're far too arrogant! How dare you spout such nonsense here when the Leadership has already made its decision!"
"Arrogant? Then who exactly is committing these utterly unconscionable deeds?"
Ren turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi and tore away the dirtiest fig leaf covering the Konoha Leadership's secrets.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, stop putting on that righteous act."
"You indulged that old dog in all the filthy things he did in secret. Don't think no one knows!"
Ren pointed at Danzo's nose, every word striking at his heart.
"Back then, Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, slew enemy forces with a short blade until the enemy nations trembled in fear. How much meritorious service did he render the village?"
"And what happened in the end? It was you, Shimura Danzō, who spread rumors behind his back, forcing a hero who had protected Konoha to commit seppuku!"
The moment these words were spoken, the eyes of the ANBU elites standing nearby widened beneath their masks, and they sucked in a cold breath.
"And then there's Orochimaru!"
Ren pressed forward step by step, his momentum surging like a rainbow.
"If you, Danzo, hadn't fanned the flames from behind the scenes—hadn't even provided funding and cover while he used villagers as subjects for human experimentation—would Orochimaru have reached the point of defecting?!"
"You parasites who sit high above everyone else, your mouths are full of benevolence and morality, while your bellies are stuffed with every kind of vice."
"The Root of Konoha was corrupted rotten through long ago by you old relics!"
Ren's tirade left Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo unable to refute him.
The two men flushed red with shame and anger as cold sweat slid down their foreheads.
Ren actually knew all about these sealed, top-secret scandals—and dared expose them directly in front of so many people!
"Nonsense! You're slandering me!"
Danzo flew into a rage from embarrassment. Relying on his position in the Leadership, he threatened Ren harshly,
"Uchiha Ren, don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!"
"I'm Konoha's Senior Councillor. I have the authority to deal with anyone who endangers the village! If you dare disobey, you'll be openly betraying the village!"
"Deal with me?"
Ren let out a cold laugh.
"Buzz—!"
The black pupils in his eye sockets transformed into a scarlet hue, and three black blades joined end to end spun furiously within them. His Mangekyō Sharingan had awakened!
Terrifying killing intent erupted, directly forcing Danzo to fall hard onto his rear.
"I'll make myself perfectly clear today!"
Ren stared at the Konoha Leadership and said,
"The Uchiha will handle our own affairs! Anyone who dares touch even a single hair on one of my Uchiha clansmen will make an enemy of the entire Uchiha!"
Before his words had even faded, Ren's figure vanished from the spot amid a flash of lightning!
"Not good!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the empty seat of honor and realized what had happened.
"That direction... His target is the Kumogakure Delegation's residence!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was so terrified that his courage nearly shattered, and even his voice changed pitch.
"Quick, stop him! If he attacks the Kumogakure Delegation, Konoha and Kumogakure will go to all-out war. There won't be any room for negotiation anymore!"
Danzo also climbed to his feet and shouted in panic,
"ANBU! Mobilize! Stop Uchiha Ren at all costs!"
However, just as Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo were leading the ANBU out of the hall,
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Dozens of figures in dark combat uniforms appeared and blocked the doorway.
The elite ninja of the Uchiha Shrine, led by Tekka Uchiha and Nanami Uchiha, stood in a neat line. Their short blades flashed from their sheaths in unison, their chilling edges pointed straight at the Konoha Leadership!
"Buzz!"
More than forty pairs of scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan lit up simultaneously in the dim hall, and immense mental pressure swept outward.
Immediately afterward, Nanami Uchiha, standing at the very front, let out a cold snort. The chakra within her, which had just undergone the Bloodline Tempering Elixir's baptism and completely transformed, erupted!
An overwhelming pressure no weaker than Hiruzen Sarutobi's surged into the sky from the body of this girl who was only twenty years old, sending several ANBU elites charging at the front flying!
"Kage... Kage Level?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo stared at Nanami, their eyes almost bulging from their sockets, their hearts filled with extreme shock.
How is that possible?!
At the banquet last night, this girl had clearly only been a Jonin.
How could she have entered the Kage Level realm that countless ninja could never reach in their entire lifetimes in the span of a single night?
Under this genuine Kage Level pressure and the gaze of dozens of Three-Tomoe Sharingan,
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo were actually so intimidated that their legs went weak, leaving them unable to move an inch!
"Get out of my way!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was frantic with desperation as he shouted,
"I'm the Third Hokage! Are you trying to rebel?"
"Hokage-sama, you shall not pass."
A voice came from the rear of the hall.
Fugaku Uchiha and Uchiha Shisui walked forward with steady steps, reaching the front of the Shrine's formation and blocking Hiruzen Sarutobi's path.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Shisui and urgently tried to persuade him to surrender.
"Shisui! You've always understood the greater good. Are you really going to stand by and watch Ren push the village into the abyss of war?"
"Move aside! There's still time to stop him!"
Faced with the Third Hokage's moral coercion, Shisui did not retreat in the slightest.
He looked straight ahead.
"Hokage-sama, I once believed that sacrificing a minority was necessary for the greater good of the village."
Shisui looked directly at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said,
"But Ren-sama made me completely awaken."
"Never sacrifice the innocent!"
Shisui confronted the Third Hokage's attempt to persuade him with the most forceful stance possible.
"If this so-called peace has to be obtained by selling out our comrades and trampling on their dignity, then we're better off without such peace."
"I, Uchiha Shisui, will never become an accomplice to the tyranny of the majority!"
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