Arguing in Bad Faith

Anger surged through Elder Ishihara. "This is absurd! An incident that may have left an elder disabled, and the Security Force calls it an accident?"

Uchiha Saki shot back, "You're talking about the consequences. I'm talking about what happened. Two villagers collided. There's no basis for calling it an assassination attempt.

"You can't treat it as an assassination attempt just because an elder was injured. Do you think your position in Konoha makes your life worth more than a villager's?

"Don't forget, Konoha existed before any of you became elders. Without its villagers, the title of elder would be a joke."

The Uchiha standing guard outside the meeting room laughed to themselves. Within the clan, Uchiha Saki was a senior figure.

He was powerful and carried considerable influence. Outside the clan, though, he was utterly unreasonable and a headache to deal with.

Yet he was strong and had won Konoha plenty of victories. That made him a difficult man to handle.

The Third Hokage had not said a word since arriving. He had been considering every possibility.

Hearing Uchiha Saki's remarks, he glanced at him in surprise.

Saki's argument was unexpected, but it was true.

Without its villagers, Konoha would not be Konoha. Elders—and even the Hokage—would be meaningless.

Judged solely by what had happened, it was a clash between two villagers in which one had accidentally injured the other.

Of course, all manner of schemes might still lie behind it.

"Why did neither villager collide with anyone else?" Ishihara asked. "Why Elder Ize, of all people? There may be a conspiracy behind this.

"And don't tell me it was a coincidence. There aren't that many coincidences in the world. More than half are engineered."

Uchiha Saki sneered. "If Elder Ishihara insists it's a conspiracy, let's work out who the