Rebuking the Leadership

Danzo's old face flushed the color of pig's liver. His supposedly flawless scheme of killing with a borrowed knife had been seen through by Lu Ming at a glance.

Relying on his status as part 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 I did? Everything I've done was for Konoha!"

Danzo pointed at Lu Ming and roared,

"Sacrificing one or two people can make two great ninja villages withdraw their troops and bring peace to the tens of thousands of civilians in the village."

"This is the highest expression of the Will of Fire! Since you Uchiha are shinobi of Konoha, you should have the resolve to sacrifice yourselves for the village!"

"Are you really going to drag all of Konoha down with you just for your own selfish desires?"

Faced with Danzo's moral blackmail, Lu Ming raised his head and let out a wild laugh that reverberated throughout the hall.

"Hahahaha, what a fine 'for Konoha.' What a fine Will of Fire!"

Lu Ming 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 hold on to that pitiful scrap of power in your hands, and for the hypocritical peace you keep talking about, you actually want to turn the shinobi who risked their lives to protect the village into sacrifices for a political deal!"

Lu Ming shouted,

"You've trampled the dignity of shinobi into the dirt! You're completely unfit to be part of the Konoha Leadership!"

"Outrageous!"

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted angrily,

"Lu Ming, you're too arrogant! How dare you spout such nonsense here when the Leadership has already made its decision!"

"I'm arrogant? Then who exactly is committing these utterly inhuman deeds?"

Lu Ming turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi and tore away the dirtiest fig leaf covering the Konoha Leadership's shame.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, stop putting on that righteous act."

"You indulged that old dog in all the despicable things he did in secret. Don't think no one knows!"

Lu Ming pointed at Danzo's nose, each word striking at his heart,

"Back then, Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, slew enemies with a short blade until enemy nations trembled. How much meritorious service did he render for 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!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of the elite ANBU standing to the side widened behind their masks, and they sucked in a cold breath.

"And then there's Orochimaru!"

Lu Ming pressed forward step by step, his momentum surging like a rainbow,

"If you, Danzo, hadn't fanned the flames from behind, even providing funding and cover while using your fellow villagers as human test subjects, would Orochimaru have ever gone so far as to defect?!"

"You parasites sitting high above everyone else, your mouths are full of benevolence and morality, but your bellies are full of thievery, adultery, and depravity."

"The Root of Konoha was corrupted rotten long ago by a bunch of old fossils like you!"

Lu Ming's tirade left Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo unable to refute him.

The two of them were scolded until their faces flushed red, cold sweat trickling down their foreheads.

Lu Ming actually knew these sealed-away, top-secret scandals inside out—and he had dared to expose them directly in front of so many people!

"Complete nonsense! You're slandering me!"

Danzo flew into a rage out of shame. Relying on his position as part of the Leadership, he threatened Lu Ming harshly,

"Uchiha Lu Ming, don't refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit!"

"I'm Konoha's supreme councillor. I have the authority to deal with anyone who endangers the village! If you dare defy my orders, you'll be openly betraying the village!"

"Deal with me?"

Lu Ming let out a cold laugh.

"Vmmm—!"

The black pupils in his eye sockets turned scarlet, and three black blades joined head to tail spun furiously! The Mangekyō Sharingan had been activated!

Terrifying killing intent erupted, directly forcing Danzo to fall backward and land heavily on the ground.

"I'll make myself perfectly clear today!"

Lu Ming stared at the Konoha Leadership and said,

"The Uchiha's affairs will be handled by us ourselves! Anyone who dares lay a finger on even one of my Uchiha clansmen will become an enemy of the entire Uchiha!"

Before his voice had even faded, Lu Ming's figure vanished from the spot amid a flash of lightning!

"This is bad!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the empty seat of honor and realized what had happened.

"That direction... His target is the Kumogakure Delegation's compound!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was scared out of his wits, and even his voice had changed pitch.

"Quick, stop him! If he attacks the Kumogakure Delegation, Konoha and Kumogakure will be at total war. There won't be any room for negotiation anymore!"

Danzo also scrambled to his feet and shouted in panic,

"ANBU! Mobilize! Stop Uchiha Lu Ming at all costs!"

However, just as Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo led the ANBU toward the entrance of the hall,

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Dozens of figures dressed in dark combat uniforms appeared, blocking the doorway.

The elite shinobi of the Uchiha Shrine, led by Tekka Uchiha and Nanami Uchiha, stood in a line. Their short blades slid from their scabbards in unison, the chilling edges pointed straight at the Konoha Leadership!

"Vmmm!"

More than forty pairs of scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan lit up simultaneously in the dim hall, and an immense mental pressure swept outward.

Immediately afterward, Nanami Uchiha, standing at the very front, gave a cold snort. The chakra within her, which had just been completely transformed after being tempered by the Bloodline Tempering Elixir, erupted!

A terrifying pressure no weaker than Hiruzen Sarutobi's surged into the sky from the body of this girl who was only twenty years old, directly sending several elite ANBU at the front flying!

"K-Kage Level?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo stared at Nanami, their eyes nearly bulging from their sockets, their hearts overwhelmed by shock.

How was this possible?!

At the banquet last night, this girl had clearly only been a Jonin.

How could she have, in the space of a single night,

stepped into the Kage Level realm that countless shinobi could never reach in their entire lifetimes?!

Under this genuine Kage Level pressure and the gazes of dozens of Three-Tomoe Sharingan,

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo were actually so intimidated that their legs went weak and they could not move an inch!

"Everyone, get out of my way!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was frantic with anxiety as he shouted sharply,

"I'm the Third Hokage! Are you trying to rebel?"

"Hokage-sama, you can't pass this way."

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.

Seeing Shisui, Hiruzen Sarutobi anxiously tried to persuade him to stand down.

"Shisui! You've always understood the greater good. Do you really intend to stand by and watch Lu Ming push the village into the abyss of war?"

"Move aside! There's still time to stop him!"

Faced with the Third Hokage's moral blackmail, Shisui did not retreat in the slightest.

He looked straight ahead.

"Hokage-sama, in the past, I believed that sacrificing a few people was necessary for the sake of the village's greater interests."

Shisui looked directly at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said,

"But Lord Lu Ming made me see the truth completely."

"Never sacrifice the innocent!"

Shisui confronted the Third Hokage's attempt to persuade him with the most unyielding stance.

"If so-called peace has to be obtained by selling out one's 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!"