Do You Deserve a Key?

The Asura of the Ninja World, who had once stood shoulder to shoulder with the First Hokage. A legendary powerhouse whose name alone could make countless ninja tremble!

The Masked Man who had slipped into Konoha undetected on the Night of the Nine-Tails, unleashed the beast, then vanished without a trace.

Even if Danzo was right and the man was far weaker than he had once been, it would still be a brutal fight. One wrong move, and those sent to kill him would suffer terrible losses.

But Danzo had a point. With a threat like that lurking in the shadows, who could rest easy?

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time. The tobacco in his pipe burned down bit by bit, smoke curling before him and blurring his wrinkled face.

He was weighing his options.

How much of Danzo's story could he believe? Could the plan to kill the man work? And if it was a trap, how should he respond?

More importantly, he was weighing whether the Masked Man really was Madara Uchiha.

If he was Madara Uchiha, then he was a mortal threat to Konoha. He had to be eliminated, whatever the cost!

And if he wasn't Madara Uchiha, the Masked Man was still responsible for the Nine-Tails' Rampage. That alone was enough to condemn him to death.

Uchiha Fugaku was silent too.

His concerns were different from Hiruzen Sarutobi's.

He didn't care whether the Masked Man was Madara Uchiha. What mattered was whether the Uchiha Clan could finally clear its name.

Ever since the Nine-Tails' Rampage, Konoha High Command, the other ninja clans, and Konoha's villagers had suspected the Uchiha Clan of being behind it.

There was no direct evidence. But the Sharingan mark that had appeared in the Nine-Tails' eyes was enough to pin the blame on the Uchiha.

If they caught the Masked Man, read his memories, and proved that the Uchiha Clan had nothing to do with the Nine-Tails' Rampage...

Then the Uchiha would finally have a way to overturn years of exclusion and persecution!

Danzo watched the two men sit in silence. They were still hesitating. He needed to give them one more push.

"Can you really rest easy with a threat like him still out there?"

"Or do you think he'll take your side?"

The words cut straight into a wound Hiruzen Sarutobi and Uchiha Fugaku shared.

Whether or not the Masked Man was Madara Uchiha, one thing was certain: he was an enemy of both Konoha and the Uchiha!

On the Night of the Nine-Tails, he had killed the Fourth Hokage and his wife and saddled the Uchiha with blame they could never shake!

He had set Konoha High Command and the Uchiha against each other. He would never stand with anyone in Konoha.

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, the hesitation was gone.

The Night of the Nine-Tails alone gave him a hundred reasons to kill the Masked Man, whether he was Madara Uchiha or not!

Uchiha Fugaku felt the same way.

For five years after the Nine-Tails' Rampage, the Uchiha had carried the blame. For five years, they had been shunned and suspected.

If they caught the Masked Man themselves, they could clear their name completely! The Uchiha could finally live in peace in Konoha, like every other ninja clan.

But Fugaku did not agree at once. He raised his head and asked the question he needed answered.

"Where did you arrange to meet him?"

He wasn't afraid of a fight. He was afraid Danzo was using him. If Danzo lured him and Hiruzen Sarutobi into a trap and joined forces with the Masked Man, the Uchiha would be finished.

Danzo slowly shook his head.

"That stays secret. I'll tell you when the time comes."

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned at once. Uchiha Fugaku's face darkened too.

He wouldn't even tell them where the ambush would take place in seven days?

What was that old bastard plotting?

Danzo gave them no chance to press him. He changed the subject at once. "Now, let's discuss my terms."

His lone eye moved slowly from Hiruzen Sarutobi to Uchiha Fugaku, then away from Fugaku, settling at last on someone else.

Everyone followed Danzo's gaze. In an instant, every eye was on the same person.

Uchiha Yongye.

Yongye stood behind Fugaku with his hands in his pockets, looking as relaxed as if he had come on a picnic.

When he felt every gaze land on him, he raised an eyebrow. A teasing, almost-smile crossed his face.

"What are you looking at me for? Got nothing better to do?"

His tone was airy, his indifference obvious—Talk among yourselves. Don't bother me.

Danzo stared coldly at him. Long-suppressed malice churned in his lone eye.

"Once this is done, I want my Elder position restored!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt the insult keenly.

His face turned livid.

Danzo's demand itself did not surprise him. He did not even object; it would only happen after the plan succeeded.

But when Danzo said it, he wasn't looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He was looking at Uchiha Yongye.

The position of Hokage Advisor was at the heart of Konoha's highest leadership, yet Danzo had asked a Uchiha boy to restore him to it!

His attitude, his tone, his gaze—they made it seem as if Uchiha Yongye was the one who could decide, while Hiruzen Sarutobi was merely there to watch.

The nerve of him!

He was Konoha's strongest Hokage!

What made it worse was that Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't argue.

After all, it was Uchiha Yongye who had forced him to dismiss Danzo in public two nights earlier.

Now that Danzo wanted his position back, Uchiha Yongye's approval really did matter. Danzo wasn't humiliating him. Reality was.

What a failure I am as the strongest Hokage!

He could not even appoint his own advisor without an Uchiha boy's approval. No amount of glowing publicity could hide that from anyone but ignorant villagers.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression grew uglier by the moment. His pipe creaked in his grip. But he said nothing.

He wanted to hear Uchiha Yongye's answer. Did this Uchiha boy care at all about the greater good? Did he have any Will of Fire in him?

Danzo's humiliation ran deeper still.

He had proposed these three-way peace talks. He had proposed killing Madara Uchiha. He had swallowed his pride and sought peace with two enemies he despised. That alone was humiliating enough.

Now, in front of everyone, he had to meekly ask terms of the Uchiha bastard who had kicked him, cursed him, and killed his men!

Today, his dignity had been trampled into the dirt!

But for the sake of what came next, he had to endure it.

Lose my temper now, and I'll ruin the whole plan. Once this act is over and the next stage succeeds, I'll repay today's humiliation tenfold—a hundredfold!

Danzo drew a deep breath, forced down the humiliation threatening to boil over, and spoke as steadily as he could:

"Madara Uchiha was behind all of this. I exposed the one pulling the strings, proved my innocence, and found the true enemy of both Konoha and the Uchiha.

"For that, my Elder position should be restored."

Yongye's Clear Sword Heart had caught something wrong the moment Danzo began speaking.

There's something seriously wrong with this old bastard's emotions!

On the surface, Danzo was making his request humbly, his tone sincere and his manner deferential. Beneath that, Yongye sensed trembling humiliation, helpless anger—and a strong, malicious anticipation.

This old bastard is putting on an act for me!

Fine. Let's see how he handles a dirty trick!

Yongye rolled his eyes and drawled, "Do you deserve a key?"