Danzo stood outside the Hokage building, his shadow stretching long behind him.
Perhaps because the afternoon sunlight was too dazzling, he moved into the shade.
Toying with a fallen leaf, Danzo kept his gaze fixed on the far end of the street, as though he could still see the two figures who had disappeared.
The two he had been watching were Oto Uchiha and Zou Hyuga, each from one of the village's two great clans.
This was not the first time he had watched them. Once they had caught his attention, he had deliberately gathered intelligence on them. After all, it was rare for members of the antagonistic Hyuga and Uchiha clans to team up, and they had later even become the Fourth Hokage's guards.
After that, things had grown increasingly outrageous. Oto Uchiha had even mastered the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan and forcibly brought back the Uchiha who had joined Root.
By now, it was difficult for him to find a way to deal with the two of them. Their contributions could not be ignored.
If this continued, would Oto Uchiha become an elder advisor someday, or even the first Uchiha Hokage in history?
Danzo did not dare pursue that thought, nor could he imagine what the village would become under Uchiha leadership.
It would probably be the end-not just of the current Hokage Faction, but of the village itself.
He had always believed that all Uchiha were evil. Perhaps Oto Uchiha had bewitched the villagers, leading the Uchiha Clan in putting on a benevolent facade.
But the masked man who had attacked the village also possessed a pair of Uchiha Sharingan.
Unstable elements like these should be kept firmly suppressed, never given a chance to rise.
Just then, footsteps sounded behind Danzo. He turned to find the