Danzo and Konoha's Advisors Launch Their Attack!

Danzo abruptly rose from his chair, half his face still badly swollen and marked with a handprint.

Seeing him like this, everyone around him found it amusing, but none dared laugh. They could only hold it in.

Danzo ignored the looks around him. His sole remaining eye fixed on Gengetsu, seated at the head of the table in the Hokage's seat, with undisguised jealousy and malice.

Danzo had long disliked Uchiha Gengetsu.

Or rather, he disliked the entire Uchiha Clan.

Moreover, he, Shimura Danzō, had coveted the Hokage position for years and dreamed of taking that seat. How could he possibly stand by and watch a teenage Uchiha brat lord it over him?

The Hokage's seat belonged to me. No one could take it away.

"I oppose Gengetsu becoming Hokage!"

Danzo stepped forward, pointed at Gengetsu, and shouted, "Not just Gengetsu-no one from the entire Uchiha Clan must ever become Hokage!"

Danzo's words echoed through the quiet meeting room.

The elite jonin and clan heads around him were not particularly surprised to see Danzo step forward in opposition.

Among Konoha's upper ranks, many knew full well that Danzo, a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, had been ravenously eyeing the Hokage position all along.

One could say that everyone knew what Danzo wanted.

It would have been truly bizarre if Danzo had not stepped forward to object at a time like this.

But no one had expected him to speak so categorically, or so offensively!

This was no longer merely an attack on Gengetsu personally. It was an open disparagement, even an outright denial, of the entire Uchiha Clan's standing in Konoha!

Seated on the left side of the conference table, Uchiha Clan Head Uchiha Fugaku turned livid at those words.

Bam!

A tremendous crash rang out!

Uchiha Fugaku slammed his palm onto the solid wooden tabletop before him and shot to his feet. The tremendous force left clearly visible cracks running through the hard surface.

"Shimura Danzō, what is the meaning of this?!"

Fugaku's eyes widened with rage. His black pupils instantly transformed into scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan and locked onto Danzo as an incredibly violent surge of chakra erupted from his entire body.

Although Uchiha Fugaku was usually somewhat indecisive and had repeatedly backed down for the sake of so-called peace in the village,

even the meekest person had a temper!

Now Danzo was openly naming and viciously disparaging the Uchiha Clan before all the village's leaders and clan heads, trampling their dignity beneath his feet.

As the head of the Uchiha Clan, no matter how much Uchiha Fugaku could endure or how timid he might be, he could not possibly stomach this!

"Hmph! Naturally, I have my reasons for saying this!"

Rather than backing down in the slightest, Danzo sneered and continued.

"According to confirmed intelligence my Root just obtained, the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, was attacked by a mysterious enemy while giving birth!"

"And that attacker possessed the Sharingan!"

At those words, the air in the entire meeting room seemed to freeze.

Yet Danzo gave no one time to react before immediately revealing something even more shocking!

"Furthermore! When the Nine-Tails rampaged through Konoha last night, many Anbu and jonin saw with their own eyes the unmistakable Sharingan markings in its enormous eyes!"

"I have every reason to suspect that the Nine-Tails breaking free of its seal and bringing such a tremendous disaster upon the village were all secretly orchestrated by your Uchiha Clan!"

Danzo abruptly turned, pointed at Fugaku and Gengetsu, and thundered, "Your aim was to create chaos and cause Minato Namikaze's death so you could seize the Hokage position!"

"Your Uchiha Clan has no right to sit here in this meeting! Every one of you should be imprisoned and subjected to rigorous interrogation by the Anbu and Root!"

"..."

Danzo's words struck the Uchiha Clan like a relentless barrage, each accusation viciously damning, pinning the enormous blame for the Nine-Tails' Rampage squarely on their heads.

"Exactly! Danzo is right!"

No sooner had Danzo finished than Utatane Koharu eagerly rose and loudly echoed him. "I believe this Nine-Tails' Rampage was a conspiracy carefully planned by your Uchiha Clan to seize power!"

Mitokado Homura stood immediately after her and said coldly, "Your Uchiha Clan is under far too much suspicion! Until this matter has been thoroughly investigated, Gengetsu has no right to become Hokage! Much less to sit in that seat!"

The two Konoha advisors worked seamlessly with Danzo, instantly branding the Uchiha Clan as rebels.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in a chair beside them without saying a word.

Having just suffered a major setback in the dispute over seating, Hiruzen Sarutobi was in no hurry to speak now.

He continued smoking his pipe, but a close observer would have caught a gleam flash through the depths of his lowered eyes.

Gengetsu, oh, Gengetsu. So what if you're powerful? So what if you've awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan?

Against absolute political skill and "irrefutable evidence," a teenage stripling like you doesn't stand a chance!

The Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes was an undeniable fact no one could erase!

As long as we hold fast to that point, the Uchiha Clan will lose all moral standing and have no right to compete for the Hokage position.

At that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi calmly exhaled a smoke ring, looking as though victory was already assured.

Now, after hearing Danzo's shocking revelations, the elite jonin and clan heads around them sent the entire meeting room into an uproar!

Everyone could not help discussing it in hushed voices.

"Heavens... could the Uchiha Clan really have orchestrated the Nine-Tails' Rampage?!"

"That can't be! The Uchiha Clan is part of Konoha too. How could they do something so utterly depraved?!"

"Who knows! But there really were Sharingan markings in the Nine-Tails' eyes back then!"

"Exactly! Didn't Madara Uchiha once use the Sharingan's power to forcibly control the Nine-Tails?"

"Well... if that's really true, then the Uchiha Clan is absolutely terrifying!"

"..."

For a moment, the entire meeting room's mood shifted completely.

Although the clan heads present found it hard to believe the Uchiha Clan would be foolish enough to seize power through a method that harmed both sides,

the Sharingan markings in the Nine-Tails' eyes were an indisputable fact, irrefutable evidence!

In this Shinobi World, who else could control the Nine-Tails besides the Uchiha Clan with their Sharingan?!

Everyone's gazes toward Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Gengetsu began filling with wariness and suspicion.

"Damn it! That damned Danzo!"

Hearing the whispers around him and feeling everyone's suspicious gazes, Uchiha Clan Head Uchiha Fugaku's expression grew extremely ugly.

Fugaku wanted to loudly refute them, only to discover that he had no grounds for a rebuttal!

The Sharingan was indeed a kekkei genkai unique to the Uchiha Clan, the symbol of their clan.

And he, Uchiha Fugaku, simply could not explain the fact that Sharingan markings had appeared in the Nine-Tails' eyes!

At that moment, Fugaku felt deeply powerless.

Yet just as the atmosphere throughout the meeting room turned extremely unfavorable for the Uchiha Clan, Gengetsu remained utterly composed in the Hokage's seat.

Gengetsu leaned back in the spacious Hokage's chair, propping his chin on one hand as he calmly watched Danzo and the others put on their performance before him.

Gengetsu had long anticipated this attack from Danzo.

One could even say that Gengetsu had already worked out how to deal with him.

"Well? Are you finished?!"

Gengetsu asked in an exceptionally level tone.

Although his voice was not loud, it instantly drowned out all the noise in the meeting room.

Seeing Gengetsu remain so composed, without the slightest panic or even a trace of anger, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help frowning.

Something's wrong!

How could Gengetsu be so calm?!

Normally, faced with such irrefutable accusations and doubts from the village's entire leadership, a teenage boy should already have become flustered and lost all composure!

Could my plan be flawed?

Could Gengetsu have a way out of this predicament?

No... there couldn't be any mistake!

Hiruzen Sarutobi inwardly shook his head, instantly rejecting the thought.

The Sharingan markings in the Nine-Tails' eyes were a fact that absolutely could not be changed!

As long as that fact remained, Gengetsu could never inherit the Hokage position!

At that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi steadied himself again. That hypocritical smile returned to his face as he looked at Gengetsu and said earnestly:

"Gengetsu, don't get worked up."

"As the Third Hokage, I naturally don't believe the Uchiha Clan would do anything to harm Konoha..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi first offered a few soothing words, then abruptly changed tack.

"But what Danzo said is also true! ..."

"Sharingan markings did indeed appear in the Nine-Tails' eyes, and that has made everyone in the village very uneasy!"

"Could you explain properly, in front of everyone, just what happened?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's maneuver of retreating to advance was executed beautifully.

On the surface, he was speaking up for the Uchiha, but in reality, he was forcing Gengetsu to explain an impossible deadlock that could not be explained!

Hearing this, Gengetsu gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a disdainful glance, then said, "Who said only our Uchiha Clan possesses the Sharingan?!"