A Huge Windfall!

He couldn't tell him. He would rather let Hiruzen Sarutobi keep suspecting him of killing Shinnosuke than let him discover that he had conspired with Orochimaru to assassinate the Hokage!

He could still argue against the former accusation and had a chance to find the real killer. The latter was a capital crime.

To Hiruzen Sarutobi, his silence was the clearest proof of guilt.

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave a cold laugh.

It was faint and icy. It echoed through the silent corridor, sending a chill down everyone's spine.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression changed. His fury gave way to something far more frightening: a deathly stillness!

It was killing intent, suppressed so fiercely that it had begun to collapse inward.

He began... to calculate.

Whether he should throw caution to the wind and kill Danzo right here.

How much damage Root could inflict on ANBU, whether those losses were acceptable, and what Uchiha Yongye might do in the chaos.

Cold sweat slid down Danzo's temples. He could feel it. The killing intent radiating from Hiruzen Sarutobi had not faded. It was growing stronger.

The Third Hokage was seriously considering killing him on the spot.

No... It can't end like this! I can't die here! I haven't become Hokage. I haven't wiped out the Uchiha. I haven't dragged Hiruzen Sarutobi out of that chair!

Panic burned through Danzo as his mind raced to find a reason Hiruzen Sarutobi would accept.

Then he found one.

"Hiruzen!"

Danzo's voice rose sharply, driven by a desperate will to survive.

"Don't forget the Impure World Reincarnation Tobirama Senju taught us! Have you used it to question Shinnosuke? Bring him back and let him tell you who killed him!"

Impure World Reincarnation.

Those words brought Hiruzen Sarutobi's killing intent to an abrupt halt.

The Forbidden Jutsu created by the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju could summon a dead person's soul back from the Pure Land and revive them in a living sacrifice in the Living World.

Though the revived dead were controlled by the caster, their memories, personalities, and abilities remained intact.

With Shinnosuke's body as a medium and a condemned prisoner as the sacrifice, they could summon him back and ask him directly who the killer was.

Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent.

Of course he knew the technique. As Tobirama Senju's disciple, he had studied its principles alongside Danzo.

He had never used it himself, but Danzo was right. It could reveal the truth.

More importantly, his rage had begun to ebb as he calmed down. Mitokado Homura's words, spoken while holding him back, had gotten through to him.

The Uchiha. Uchiha Yongye. They were the real threats.

Rather than fight Danzo to the death here, he could steady the situation, uncover the truth, and settle accounts afterward.

Hiruzen Sarutobi raised a hand.

The ANBU Ninja behind him withdrew their weapons in unison. Enma vanished in a puff of smoke.

The tension remained sharp, but that overwhelming killing intent finally receded a little.

Danzo breathed a quiet sigh of relief and gestured for the Root ninja to stand down. Baku, too, disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The standoff was over for now.

But the rift—the suspicion and resentment etched into their bones—had branded itself between the three members of the Konoha High Command like a scar that would never heal.

The era of Konoha's four elders ruling together was gone for good!

Meanwhile, at the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Yongye sat cross-legged on his bed, eyes closed.

Beside him, the sleeping Ayame murmured and rolled over. A faint blush still lingered on her face, as though she had just woken from a long, pleasant dream.

Yongye did not look at her. His consciousness was deep within his Mindscape, waiting for something to happen.

Sure enough, before long, two cold system alerts rang out in his Mindscape, one after the other.

[Ding—Target Hiruzen Sarutobi has suffered a severe emotional breakdown after his son was assassinated by his friend!]

[The loss of his son, the pain of betrayal, and the torment of uncertainty have struck all at once. Heartbreak points have far exceeded the threshold!]

[Congratulations, host! You have received one Advanced Blind Box. Open it now?]

The corner of Yongye's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

There it is. That old fox Hiruzen Sarutobi may look like an untouchable Hokage, but what he cares about most is his two sons.

Having Asuma's limbs broken and his chance of ever having children destroyed was painful enough. Now his eldest son has been "killed by Danzo." With grief over his son piled on top of betrayal by an old comrade, how could he not break?

This was exactly the reward he had expected!

"Open it."

[Ding—Premium mystery box opened!]

[Congratulations, host! You have received: Uzumaki Constitution!]

The next instant, a vast surge of life force erupted inside Yongye like molten lava.

It was not an increase in Chakra or a doubling of his physical strength. It was a wholly different kind of life energy, welling up from the deepest reaches of his bones.

His Chakra pathways stretched wildly. Already widened by the reward that had doubled his Chakra, they grew thicker and more resilient. Every Chakra point expanded with almost savage force, pushing his Chakra capacity and output to an entirely new level.

His heart pounded in his chest. Every beat was steadier and stronger than before, as if each drop of blood burned with inexhaustible life force.

It was so abundant that Yongye could clearly sense that even if someone stabbed him, his wound would heal several times faster than an ordinary person's.

The Uzumaki Constitution.

The Uzumaki Clan's inherited constitution, renowned for extraordinary vitality and immense Chakra reserves.

Members of the Uzumaki Clan lived long lives and possessed far more Chakra than ordinary people. Their bloodline made them natural heirs to Sealing Jutsu and Sensory Ninjutsu.

The first Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Mito Uzumaki, along with Kushina Uzumaki, Karin Uzumaki, and Nagato Uzumaki, had all possessed this constitution.

And now it belonged to Yongye.

He slowly clenched his fist, feeling the life force surging through him, almost beyond his control.

The reward that had doubled his physical strength had already made his body far stronger than an ordinary ninja's. With the Uzumaki Constitution added to it, his vitality and Chakra reserves had reached heights most people could never hope to attain.

Before he could fully savor his new power, another alert sounded.

[Ding—Target Shimura Danzō has suffered a severe emotional breakdown from the unbearable frustration of being falsely accused!]

[Suspected by the companion who knows him best, yet unable to speak in his own defense—his heartbreak points have far exceeded the threshold!]

[Congratulations, host! You have received one Advanced Blind Box. Open it now?]

Yongye finally failed to hold back his laughter.

Danzo, you old dog. You really are my lucky star!

Every gift you bring is a surprise. What a generous man!

"Open it!"

[Ding—Premium mystery box opened!]

[Congratulations, host! You have received: Sealing Jutsu: Four Symbols Seal!]

The Four Symbols Seal was the Uzumaki Clan's signature Sealing Jutsu.

It could seal enormous amounts of Chakra, or even a Tailed Beast, within a human body or another vessel.

The Eight Trigrams Seal and the double Four Symbols Seal were both derived from it. Minato Namikaze had used this technique to seal the Nine-Tails years ago.

The seal holding the Nine-Tails inside Kushina Uzumaki was based on it, too.

A flood of profound knowledge rushed into Yongye's Mindscape: the Four Symbols Seal's array of symbols, how to guide Chakra through it, how sealing and release worked, and how to draw out its full potential with the Uzumaki Constitution.

Under the effects of Clear Sword Heart, that knowledge was swiftly broken down, reorganized, and absorbed until it became instinct.

Yongye slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his palm.

A pale-blue mass of Chakra gathered there and spun, tracing an intricate, arcane pattern of symbols.

It was the core formula of the Four Symbols Seal, a foundation of Sealing Jutsu.

He could feel it: given a suitable target, he could place an unbreakable seal inside their body.

The Uzumaki Constitution and the Four Symbols Seal.

The two rewards were a perfect match. The Uzumaki Clan's vast Chakra reserves and extraordinary vitality provided the ideal foundation for Sealing Jutsu.

Combined with the Flying Thunder God Technique, the Five Release Great Combo Technique, the Eight Gates Release, and the Indestructible Golden Body, it gave him another nearly unstoppable weapon.

Yongye let the seal formula fade from his palm and closed his eyes in satisfaction.

He knew the confrontation between Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo would end in a temporary truce of some kind. Both old foxes were too shrewd to let the Uchiha profit from their fight.

But that did not matter. The rift was there, and suspicion had taken root. Just because it had not erupted today did not mean it never would.

All he had to do was keep breaking them, keep reaping rewards, and keep growing stronger.

Until one day, he stood at the peak of the Shinobi World and tormented every person who had crossed him, one by one, until they... went mad!

He could hardly wait to make his next move, muddy the waters completely, and make all three of his enemies suffer!