One at a Time, Starting with Danzo!

"Finished?"

Bai Ye's voice was flat, without a hint of emotion, yet for some reason, Danzo suddenly felt uneasy too.

He actually knew the truth.

No one knew better than he did what had happened back then.

Besides, Bai Ye had come here to fight him. If he had no backup plan, that would be completely out of character.

With any other Uchiha, he might have explained it as them following him here, discovering what was happening, and lashing out in the heat of the moment.

In that case, he could still pin the blame on them.

But Bai Ye was different!

After this clash, Danzo understood perfectly well that Bai Ye never did anything without a plan.

Take this attack on him, for instance. Could Bai Ye possibly not know that making such a huge commotion would alert the village?!

Root was right beneath Konoha's Hokage Rock.

And they were close to the Hokage's Office. So many people were there today, attending the handover ceremony initiated by the Uchiha Clan.

As clan head, Bai Ye could not possibly be unaware of that.

Since he knew and had still gone ahead, Danzo would find it very strange if he had made no other preparations.

Earlier, however, he had been too eager to distance himself from the incident.

That was why Danzo had not considered it at the time. Once he came to his senses, he immediately realized that he seemed to have overlooked something.

"If you're finished, then let me show everyone something."

With that, Bai Ye took a camera out of his pocket.

The moment Danzo saw it, his expression changed. He opened his mouth to stop him, but it was already too late.

The footage had started recording before Bai Ye entered Root.

At first, the footage of his entry into Root seemed harmless, but as it continued, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression grew darker and darker.

It clearly showed how Danzo had tried to take Shisui's eye.

Then Bai Ye appeared to stop him. Although there was no footage after that, everyone knew what followed was Bai Ye's battle with Root.

And this incident was nothing like Danzo had claimed.

Bai Ye had indeed broken into Root.

But he had only acted because Danzo was about to steal Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan!

And Shisui actually had a Mangekyo Sharingan too!

That revelation shocked those present as well.

The Uchiha actually had two pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan?!

But now was not the time to focus on that.

Danzo's actions had struck a nerve with many of the clan heads present.

Was this some kind of joke?!

What were you doing, Danzo?!

They might usually have their differences with the Uchiha.

But they absolutely could not accept Danzo stealing the Uchiha's Sharingan!

Whether secret techniques or bloodline abilities, those were a clan's treasures, secrets never shared with outsiders. That was especially true of the Hyuga Clan.

To prevent their Byakugan from falling into outsiders' hands, they even placed a cursed seal on members of the branch family.

They valued the Byakugan more than anyone.

Yet what was Danzo doing?!

He was actually stealing another clan's kekkei genkai?!

If Danzo's methods were acceptable, then there was nothing left to discuss. Everyone would have to watch their backs from now on.

After all, if Danzo could steal the Uchiha's bloodline ability today, who could say he would not target another ninja clan's tomorrow?

This was worse than anything else. They could never accept someone coveting their clan's bloodline abilities and secret techniques.

That immediately caused the shinobi who had been wondering whether the Uchiha had truly lost their minds to turn questioning looks on Danzo instead.

This was no longer something he could explain away.

They had to know exactly why he had done it!

At that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi was growing anxious too. What was he supposed to do?!

Was Danzo an idiot?!

Someone had infiltrated Root and even recorded everything.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had originally thought he had everything under control.

But faced with the current situation, he finally understood. Everything had gone wrong.

Once this recording was shown to the public.

Every previous claim fell apart.

He could not even step forward to protect Danzo now.

After all, what he had done was simply too reprehensible.

If Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward to defend Danzo now.

He would at least need a very good reason. Otherwise, the reputation he had built over all these years would be utterly ruined.

Even Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu had no idea what to say now.

Just moments ago, each of them had been brimming with righteous indignation, as though the Uchiha had committed some unforgivable crime!

Now, they had all fallen silent.

Despite the situation turning increasingly against him, Danzo did not appear anxious at all.

He looked around, lingering on Hiruzen Sarutobi for a moment longer before turning to Bai Ye and Shisui. "His Mangekyo Sharingan can silently control people's thoughts at will.

"And relations between the Uchiha and the village are so tense right now.

"I only did this to destroy that Mangekyo Sharingan. Who knows what Shisui might do if he used that ability!"

Danzo revealed Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan ability without hesitation.

At this point, he could think of no other way to clear himself of suspicion.

If he revealed it, he might never obtain Kotoamatsukami.

But if he did not, he would never get through today.

So even if he could not steal Kotoamatsukami, he would destroy it, or make the villagers distrust the Uchiha.

Anyone who understood how Kotoamatsukami worked would be wary of it.

After all, no one wanted to be controlled without even realizing it.

Once he finished speaking, the people around them began discussing Kotoamatsukami.

Although they still questioned Danzo's actions, if Kotoamatsukami really existed...

A chill ran through them. If the Uchiha ever wanted to control Konoha, they would only need to use Kotoamatsukami to control them all.

"You!!!"

Seeing the looks directed at him, Shisui glared furiously at Danzo, a wave of sorrow rising in his heart.

When he had told Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others about his ability, his intention had been to resolve the conflict between the Uchiha and the village.

Yet now, it had become ammunition for them to attack him.

So my thinking back then really was that naive!

Shisui truly did not know what to say.

That was indeed how his Kotoamatsukami worked!

He had never intended to reveal any of this. He had only told them because he trusted them.

How could he have imagined things would turn out like this?

"Shisui, perhaps that really was what Danzo intended. Your Kotoamatsukami is too dangerous. I trust you, of course. After all, you're a child who has inherited the will of fire.

"But for the villagers, this might indeed cause unnecessary concern. We can sit down and discuss it properly later. Perhaps there's been some misunderstanding?!

"Wouldn't you agree, Bai Ye?!"

Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi hurriedly spoke up.

His thinking was simple: contain the matter first.

And in Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes, Danzo had handled this extremely well.

With that one statement, stealing someone else's bloodline ability had become an attempt to destroy it out of fear of its threat.

Granted, it was still a rather reprehensible act.

But when it came to Kotoamatsukami, even he feared it, let alone everyone else.

No one wanted to be controlled without knowing it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's words now were clearly an attempt to suppress the matter for the time being.

As long as they let it cool down for a while, they could later act as though nothing had happened.

Of course, Danzo would still have to be punished.

Then I'll remove him from his position as Root's leader.

As for Bai Ye...

Hiruzen Sarutobi was also considering whether he should impose some punishment on Bai Ye and the others.

After all, no matter how they put it, they had attacked Root.

No...

Punishing the Uchiha at a time like this would not be a good idea.

It would definitely provoke a fierce backlash from them.

With that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi shelved the idea for now.

For the moment, he had better refrain from taking action on that front.

"Let it go?! Are you Konoha's Hokage or Danzo's personal Hokage?!

"What?!

"You think you can brush this whole thing aside with a few words?!

"What do you mean, his ability is too dangerous, so it should be destroyed?

"The Fourth Hokage knew Flying Thunder God. He could put a mark on you, go home, and come check on you whenever he wanted. You'd have to sleep with one eye open, or you could be killed at any moment.

"Wasn't that ability dangerous?!

"You'd be fucking dead! Is being controlled somehow more dangerous than that?!

"By that logic, the First Hokage was once called the God of Shinobi. Weren't his abilities dangerous?!

"And all you clan heads, ask yourselves honestly: doesn't your clan have dangerous abilities too?!

"If you destroy an ability just because it's dangerous, what does that make this?!"

Bai Ye laughed!

Seriously?!

Just how shameless are you, Hiruzen Sarutobi?!

You can actually say something like that!

You're really standing here saying Kotoamatsukami should be destroyed because it's dangerous.

How could this guy even get those words out?!

Have you never seen a dangerous ability before?!

Granted, Kotoamatsukami's ability to control thoughts was indeed broken.

But was that ability really so dangerous in the Hokage World?!

Compared with Hashirama Senju, Madara Uchiha, and even plenty of other abilities, Kotoamatsukami was merely average.

After all, the thing had an absurdly long cooldown.

Besides, who would bother controlling you useless idiots?!

Even if someone wanted to control others, they would target the strong. But those powerful figures were not so easy to control.

Take Nagato, for example. The Rinnegan was outright immune to Kotoamatsukami.

Besides, didn't the other clans have dangerous abilities too?!

After hearing Bai Ye's words, both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo looked displeased.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately recovered after just a moment.

Danzo was another story.

His face had turned green.

What did he mean, Hiruzen Sarutobi was my personal Hokage?!

Was he out of his mind?!

"Yeah, I think he's right. That ability is powerful, sure, but compared with the Fourth's, it isn't all that strong, is it?!"

"Exactly. Once Flying Thunder God marks you, you're finished for life. Besides, we don't even know whether Shisui's ability really works like that, but Danzo's actions have already been confirmed!"

"Exactly! No matter what, someone who calls something dangerous while doing this sort of thing himself is the most dangerous one, isn't he?!"

As soon as Bai Ye finished speaking, the mood around them swung in the opposite direction.

Originally, everyone had been worrying about what would happen if they were controlled one day.

But things were different now!

First of all, they were all shinobi from the same village, and now they knew about Shisui's ability.

If anything unusual happened, they would quickly know what to suspect.

More importantly, compared with Minato being able to drop in on them at home.

This ability really was nothing worth mentioning!

After Bai Ye put it that way, everyone felt that if danger was truly the issue, Minato should never have been allowed to learn Flying Thunder God in the first place.

After all, who could know whether Minato might be in a bad mood one day and mark them? They would have to watch out even while taking a shit, wouldn't they?!

They had better not give Minato an opening, or they would not even know how they had died.

Viewed that way, wasn't Shisui just the same as Minato?!

Weren't they all shinobi of the village?!

Why should they suspect shinobi from their own village?!

Had Minato used Flying Thunder God against his own people after learning it?!

Obviously not!

That clearly meant Danzo's argument held no water.

"Elder Danzo, if that's your justification, I refuse to accept it. You still owe us an explanation!

"Even if Shisui Uchiha's ability is dangerous, he's still a shinobi of this village. Since we all belong to the same village, we should trust each other, not attack him over such an absurd excuse!"

When Hyuga Hiashi spoke up,

everyone present was rather surprised.

This was the Hyuga Clan!

The Hyuga Clan, which had always been at odds with the Uchiha, had actually stepped forward to support them!

This had clearly touched a nerve among the Bloodline Families, especially the Hyuga Clan, who also possessed ocular jutsu.

What a joke!

Who would believe an excuse like that?!

Regardless of whether anyone else believed it, Hyuga Hiashi certainly didn't believe such an absurd excuse!

After hearing what he said, everyone present turned to look at Danzo.

Under so many stares, Danzo's expression darkened.

They wouldn't accept that justification, so what else could he say?!

He only had so many excuses to begin with.

But there was absolutely no way he would admit that he wanted to seize the Mangekyo Sharingan.

He could just swallow this loss.

It wouldn't cause him any serious trouble, anyway.

At most, he'd just have to keep a lower profile for a while.

With that thought, Danzo was just about to say something when Bai Ye cut him off. "Before we discuss anything else, I think it's time I told you all a few of Danzo's secrets!"

One at a time!

Starting with Danzo...