Orochimaru was arrested

Gua was brought back to the clan grounds by Clan Head Fugaku.

Clan Head Fugaku had not fought Orochimaru on the spot, but Gua heard that, that very night, he had taken a group of core Uchiha members to the Hokage's office.

The Third, already well advanced in years, had been dragged out of bed by Clan Head Fugaku to discuss Orochimaru.

Clan Head Fugaku had toughened up.

For the first time, he had confronted Konoha head-on.

Of course, it was not entirely for Gua's sake. Gua was merely a pretext. As clan head, Fugaku had also realized that they could not keep backing down.

If they kept yielding, the Uchiha's fate was all too predictable.

They would inevitably be pushed out of the village.

Or they would remain in Konoha and be squeezed for every last bit of their worth.

The old Third had been startled. He had even suspected Fugaku had come to fight him to the death and immediately urged him to calm down.

Danzo had abandoned his early bedtime too and hurried over.

Utatane Koharu, Minato, and Homura had come along as well.

For the first time, the Uchiha and the Konoha High Command faced off directly.

Though calling it a direct confrontation was not entirely accurate. Orochimaru stood between them as a buffer.

Fugaku's point was, "You can target the Uchiha, but you cannot persecute us! Orochimaru is conducting human experiments! And now he wants to capture our Uchiha!"

Just like that, Orochimaru's activities were brought out into the open.

At a time like this, Danzo could only claim the moral high ground and attack Fugaku. "Is that how you speak to the Hokage?"

Uchiha Tekka flew into a rage. "Are you the Hokage, you fucking idiot?"

Danzo seethed with fury. He had said all along that the Uchiha were evil.

Everyone's gaze settled on Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Finally, Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe against the desk, as though he had made up his mind.

"Investigate!"

"I will give the Uchiha an answer."

Gua heard all this from his father, Dashan, after getting up the next morning.

His father, Dashan, had also been among last night's group. Though he was not a core member, he was a relative of the Uchiha victim in this incident, which made him a compelling witness.

Dashan grew especially excited as he recounted what had happened yesterday.

His face glowed.

"This is the beginning of our Uchiha counterattack!"

"The Third and the others have already backed down over Orochimaru!"

"Clan Head Fugaku really is someone we can count on."

Dashan had nothing but praise, which showed just how deeply yesterday's events had affected him.

"Our son nearly got hurt yesterday! And you still have the heart to talk about this? What about the Uchiha? Even if an Uchiha becomes Hokage, if something happens to our son and he dies, he's gone! What good is the Uchiha's glory then?"

Nai's expression remained grim, a stark contrast to Dashan's.

As a mother, she thought very differently from Dashan.

She cared more about her son.

"Mom, I'm fine."

Gua spoke up to reassure his mother, Nai.

Nai managed a smile for her son. She felt yesterday must have terrified him, yet Gua was still being so considerate today. What a wonderful son he was.

Nai felt that Gua was nothing less than a gift from heaven.

Gua said nothing more and simply chewed his rice dumplings. Today, his mother had made a bowl of vegetable soup. It was light, without miso soup's strong flavor, and Gua found it quite tasty.

Gua felt that his mother was nothing less than a gift from heaven.

Before long, Gua finished breakfast.

When he tried to leave for school, his father, Dashan, stopped him.

"Don't go to school today. Stay home and rest."

Dashan was afraid the incident had left Gua emotionally shaken.

He wanted Gua to take some time at home to recover.

Gua wanted to say, I'm really not that fragile.

But faced with his mother's unusually stern gaze and his father's rarely seen tenderness, Gua gave in.

If his father said to rest, then he would rest.

Gua returned to his little room.

Today would be another day of reading extracurricular books while idling.

Today's reading was:

Hero Jiraiya braves the Red-Light District.

It told the story of Big Slug Naruto being abducted by villains and hidden in the Red-Light District. Left with no other choice, Hero Jiraiya went against his true wishes and entered the Red-Light District. After battling its working girls for three hundred rounds, he rescued Big Slug Naruto.

The story was very moving.

It was just written rather obliquely.

Still Jiraiya's brand of smut.

He spent a day idling at home.

The next day, his father, Dashan, and his mother, Nai, finally let him go to school.

Not going to school when he should have been there had actually left Gua feeling a little bored.

That was a first.

But things were back to normal today, and he felt much better.

Since he had abandoned his plan to assassinate Itachi two days earlier, the overall direction of Gua's life had veered off course.

Previously, his goal in life had been to kill Itachi and enjoy a happy life.

Now, he could no longer do that.

Itachi had bought him off with two crackers.

For the sake of those two crackers, he had decided to try to reform Itachi.

He had read an extracurricular book that said the bond between men could make them lay down their lives for a cup of cola.

Gua thought that was a little melodramatic.

Still, those crackers really were delicious.

Besides, Clan Head Fugaku was a very good clan head.

On the way, Gua also heard some news. Apparently, the Third had thoroughly investigated Orochimaru, exposing all his human experiments and the like.

However, that had not completely nailed Orochimaru to the pillar of shame.

That was because his human experiments were not quite full-fledged human experiments. He had not yet become that deranged.

He drew blood and studied human tissue, but he had not yet reached the point of utter depravity.

In this shinobi world, where human life was already worth little, Orochimaru's actions were instead rationalized as being "for science!"

In his previous life, Gua would never have accepted that.

But in Konoha, he was much more willing to accept it.

Just look at the original story: Orochimaru stopped treating people as human beings and launched into utterly insane experiments, yet he still managed to whitewash his past and land on his feet as Konoha's top scientist. That alone showed how far the ninja world's core values diverged from Blue Star's.

If you wanted to live in this environment without wearing yourself out, you had to learn to accept it.

But overall, it was a good thing that Orochimaru had not gone completely mad.

Apparently, he had locked up all those missing ninja, regularly drawing their blood and taking tissue samples so they could contribute to his science.

Although Orochimaru had hidden them well, the Anbu had still uncovered them.

Word was that Orochimaru's trial would take place soon.

"He actually didn't defect."

Gua could not help feeling surprised.

Was it because he hadn't had time?

Or had Orochimaru not turned completely evil yet? Did he still firmly believe what he was doing benefited the village, that he was the Darkness of Konoha, just like Danzo?

Gua did not know.

But Gua did not care either.

He had reached school.

"Gua!!"

Today, Izumi was even more delighted to see him than usual.