I Never Tear Into Someone Who Isn't Ready

Down below, Danzo made a gesture that said everything was under control, and Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura immediately sat back down.

They knew their old comrade far too well. They had lost count of how many times Danzo had turned the tables against the odds.

Moreover, the reason Danzo had only just arrived was that he had gone to interrogate that Root member. Presumably, he had already obtained an answer favorable to him.

Across from him, Uchiha Fugaku pretended to be calm, though he was panicking inside. It was only years of training that allowed him to remain as unmoving as a mountain.

He was facing Danzo, after all! To avoid bringing shame upon the Uchiha Clan, he had already pushed himself to the limit!

Danzo said leisurely, "The traces of a battle can be fabricated. Besides, so much time has already passed. The incident occurred in the middle of the night, within the territory of your Uchiha Clan. It wouldn't have been easy for anyone to notice if you took your time preparing everything."

Several Uchiha elders and Inabi had come along as well. Inabi wasn't afraid of Danzo at all. He raised his head and angrily spat, "You're slandering us! You're the one making baseless accusations! Is this all the village leadership is capable of?"

Danzo not only failed to get angry, he even smiled as if victory were already in his grasp. "The intelligence I collected is what supports my suspicions. Now I'll show you exactly what the village leadership is capable of. Uchiha Retsuo, you entered that forest early in the morning. Am I wrong? Why did you leave your home at night and enter a forest? And after staying there for so long, you were suddenly ambushed at midnight? Anyone would have reason to doubt both what happened and your motives."

Uchiha Kanzan racked his brains trying to defend Retsuo. "That was the territory of our Uchiha Clan. What's wrong with Retsuo going there to train in the middle of the night? If anything, it proves how diligent he is. Training in the forests is a tradition among Konoha shinobi. Otherwise, why would we be called the 'Konoha' Hidden Village?"

Danzo ignored Uchiha Kanzan completely and continued staring at Retsuo. In his domineering tone, as though he owned Konoha, he said, "I wonder if everyone has noticed that Uchiha Retsuo has suddenly become extremely strange over these past ten-odd days, doing many things that are impossible to understand. Scrubbing Hokage Rock as if he were cleaning a toilet, provoking the Root Anbu, ignoring the village's orders to visit Uzumaki Menma, and so on. I won't list them all. He's caused the village a great deal of trouble. Why is that? Was it all to lay the groundwork for today's false accusation?"

After hearing this, even the Uchiha elders couldn't help frowning. They had heard about these incidents as well. Retsuo had caused the entire village to descend into chaos.

But in the Uchiha's eyes, this had been something that brought them tremendous glory. No one had thought much of it before.

But at this moment, it truly did arouse suspicion.

At that point, Fugaku, as the clan leader, had no choice but to speak. Otherwise, what was he even doing in his position?

"Elder Shimura Danzo, how did you obtain this so-called intelligence? Could it be that your Root Ninja really were spying on our Uchiha Clan?"

Danzo let out a cold laugh. "My intelligence came from none other than your eldest son, Uchiha Itachi. By every measure, he's a good child. He returned late after training and happened to see Uchiha Retsuo leaving and entering the forest."

With that, he looked at Fugaku.

Fugaku was panicking badly.

By contrast, the Konoha F4 all wore relieved expressions. This was what a good Uchiha should be like.

Mitokado Homura was extremely satisfied with the situation. He put on an expression of explosive anger and said, "Uchiha Retsuo! You keep mentioning Root Ninja. I'm afraid you made all of that up yourself, didn't you?"

Uchiha Kanzan said anxiously, "There must be some misunderstanding!"

Utatane Koharu followed up with another blow. "There is no misunderstanding! Captain Inabi was absolutely right just now. Baseless accusations are slander. Fugaku, you can't even see something so obvious, yet you still went along with Uchiha Retsuo's nonsense. Your supervision has been inadequate, and you bear inescapable responsibility for this! In consideration of the fact that you have a good son, we won't say anything more about that. But Uchiha Retsuo—what crime should he be charged with?"

Shimura Danzo said nothing. He merely sneered.

However, just as Uchiha Fugaku was struggling desperately, Retsuo suddenly smiled. It wasn't a loud laugh, but a gentle smile.

"I once believed that Konohagakure was a village built upon the Will of Fire. For a village like that, I was willing to pay any price and give everything I had. But you've made me question my own convictions."

After delivering those heartfelt words, Retsuo abruptly changed his tone. "Hahahaha—you're all so certain that I have no evidence? Shimura Danzo, could it be that your man didn't tell you after leaving behind irrefutable evidence and fleeing back to Root?"

"N-no! No one fled back at all!"

Danzo's expression changed dramatically. He gritted his teeth and said, "You're still stubbornly resisting even with death at your doorstep. What irrefutable evidence could you possibly have?"

Uchiha Retsuo reached into his Ninja Tool Pouch and tossed eight Kunai onto the long table with a clatter. "What are these? Open your eyes and look!"

"Flying Thunder God Kunai?" ×N

Shimura Danzo looked as though he had been struck by lightning. Sarutobi Hiruzen had remained silent all this time, but now he leaned forward and stared intently at the pile of Kunai, looking rather bewildered.

Although he had been unable to learn the Flying Thunder God Technique—a lifelong regret—he was still capable of identifying Flying Thunder God Kunai. He couldn't help asking, "Uchiha Retsuo, what do you mean by this?"

"Third Grandpa, surely you don't know who collected Teacher Minato's Flying Thunder God Kunai? I remember that ANBU and Root went together to collect the belongings of Teacher Minato and Aunt Kushina. There should at least be records of them being filed away, right?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately felt that the situation had become extremely troublesome. Even guessing with his legs, he knew that Root had taken them.

Retsuo's voice gradually became teasing. "I discovered something interesting. The Root member who came to kill me used Teacher Minato's Flying Thunder God Kunai to shoot at me before he escaped. And he shot so many of them, as if he had gone out of his way to deliver Flying Thunder God Kunai to me. Shimura Danzo, why don't you ask him why?"

"This—"

Every member of the Uchiha Clan was bursting with excitement! Just now, they had felt as if disaster were upon them. From Shimura Danzo's attitude, it was obvious that he would never let Retsuo off, and they had all been thinking about how to protect him. But now...

Some smiled maliciously, while others activated their Sharingan directly.

It was absolutely necessary. This wasn't the first time Shimura Danzo had been driven into a corner and lashed out.

Only Retsuo thought to himself, If I weren't certain you couldn't get an answer out of him, I'd never have dared to ask that question.

Obito is my own brother, after all. If you can break his Genjutsu, then I'll be the one playing dirty this time!

Sarutobi Hiruzen had no choice but to make a statement. "Minato left behind quite a lot of Flying Thunder God Kunai, didn't he?"

Retsuo calmly stated a fact. "It's simple. As long as Root can produce the Flying Thunder God Kunai listed in its records, we'll consider this matter never to have happened. Otherwise..."

He turned toward Utatane Koharu. "There is no misunderstanding. Baseless accusations are slander and should be punished. Then what about when there's evidence?"

"Hmph!" Shimura Danzo forced a cold snort out of his throat to bolster his nonexistent authority. "This batch of Flying Thunder God Kunai was stolen the night before last!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen made a decisive judgment. "There are far too many suspicious points in this matter. The village will conduct a detailed investigation."