Late at night, at Konoha's psychiatric hospital.
The hospital grounds were pitch-black, with hardly anyone around.
In a bedroom, Danzo sat on his bed with vacant eyes, looking at the moonlight outside the window.
Having lost an arm, he had only recently begun to adjust his balance, and his sitting posture had become much steadier.
Opposite him sat an old man with a head full of white hair, his worried expression plain in the dim moonlight.
"Danzo, have you grown accustomed to life here?"
"Half a month, an entire half month! Hiruzen, to protect the secret between us, I, the great Danzo, went so far as to play the fool and pretend to be mentally ill, and this is how you treat me!"
Danzo was furious.
He had pretended to be mad to give Hiruzen Sarutobi an opportunity to take him away. He had thought he would return to headquarters, never expecting to actually be locked in a psychiatric hospital and spend half a month with a group of psychiatric patients.
Even someone sane would nearly go mad here.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was helpless too. "Danzo, the ninja under me are all very dissatisfied with how I handled this matter. I've been under tremendous pressure. Keeping both the secret and your life intact is already the best possible outcome..."
Danzo sneered. "For you! For me, this is the worst outcome! Hiruzen, let me out."
"No!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi refused categorically. "You cannot leave, no matter what. That is my bottom line."
"Hmph!"
Danzo had made up his mind. He stood, walked over to Hiruzen Sarutobi, and pulled aside the bandages over his right eye, exposing a bloody socket.
"Do you see? This is what Xia Yu did to me. In all my years, I've never suffered such humiliation. I will settle this score with him!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and countered coldly:
"Danzo, first answer me this... why did you have Shisui Uchiha's Sharingan...?"
"And what exactly was going on with that arm covered in Sharingan? That distinctive white skin was clearly made from Lord Hashirama's cells!"
"How much have you done behind my back? You must explain everything to me today!"
Faced with Hiruzen Sarutobi's three successive demands, the anger in Danzo's heart instantly dissipated...
He sighed softly. Now that he had fallen into such a sorry state, there was no point hiding it any longer.
"Shisui Uchiha didn't commit suicide. Two and a half years ago, I led Root to seize Shisui's right eye..."
"Why would you do that?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi roared, "Shisui was one of us, and a boy I thought highly of! If he were still alive, we would never have needed to resort to such extreme measures against the Uchiha Clan! Didn't you know what Shisui's Mangekyō could do...?"
"If we'd followed the plan and let him successfully use Kotoamatsukami on Uchiha Fugaku and those opposing clan members, so many people wouldn't have needed to die!"
"Of course I knew!" Danzo scoffed, his expression sinister.
"You say Shisui was one of us? That he could be trusted?"
"Hmph... stop showing off your benevolence. Don't you understand Lord Tobirama's will? The Uchiha will always be an evil clan. Once they awaken the Sharingan, even they struggle to control their diseased brains. There's no telling when they might have an episode!"
"If Shisui could use Kotoamatsukami to control Fugaku, he could naturally use it to control us too! Hiruzen, I don't want either you or me to become an Uchiha puppet. As Lord Tobirama's disciples, that would be an unspeakable disgrace!"
"So rather than pinning our hopes on a deranged Uchiha brat, it was better to hold that power in our own hands!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi: "..."
Danzo continued, "Only after obtaining Shisui's Sharingan did I realize how difficult it truly was to control the Mangekyō. So I implanted Lord Hashirama's living cells, solely to gain perfect control over that power..."
"Hiruzen, do you know who transplanted Lord Hashirama's cells into me?"
"It was your most cherished pupil, Orochimaru..."
Hearing that name, Hiruzen Sarutobi was shocked. "Orochimaru? Danzo! You... you actually colluded with him!"
"What? Surprised?" Danzo sneered again. "Hiruzen, do you understand why I believe I was the best candidate for Hokage, not you?"
"It's because you aren't as ruthless as I am! Your indecisiveness, your insistence on leaving room in everything you do-that is your fatal weakness!"
"If you'd hardened your heart and killed Orochimaru when he defected, none of this would have happened..."
"Although you had little direct involvement in all these disastrous consequences, ultimately, your shadow is in every detail-the shadow of your indulgence..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent. His pipe had long since filled with ash.
Learning so much at once was somewhat difficult for him to accept...
"As for the Sharingan on my arm, they were taken from the corpses of the Uchiha's elite ninja on the night of the massacre..."
"That's it. Those are all my secrets... I've said everything I should."
Danzo hid the bloody socket of his right eye beneath the bandages again. Looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was still in shock, he sighed and said:
"I told you these secrets partly to make my stance clear, and partly to tell you that you must never underestimate Uchiha Xia Yu!"
"He has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. Leaving aside his uncontrollable, diseased brain for the moment, I originally intended to take these secrets to my grave. Even you didn't know them, yet he knew them all! Doesn't that make you curious?"
"It could very well be connected to his Mangekyō's ability! If that's true, you'd be a blank sheet of paper before him too! You couldn't hide anything!"
"Hiruzen! Let me out. We'll join forces! We'll carry out another massacre of the Uchiha! This time, we can't leave a single one alive, not even Sasuke!"
"These evil Uchiha brats are far too frightening!"
"Just like before, I'll stain my hands with blood on the front lines, while you keep the people calm behind the scenes. Only by wiping out the Uchiha can Konoha truly be stable!"
"You can't manage alone without me. Only my ruthlessness can secure your position... otherwise, the day will come when Xia Yu takes your place..."
These words struck Hiruzen Sarutobi's face one after another like cold water.
After a long, long time... Hiruzen Sarutobi finally came back to his senses.
"Danzo, what you say makes a great deal of sense... I really am not ruthless... Actually, it isn't that I'm not ruthless, but that I can't bear it. I don't have the heart..."
Seeing that Hiruzen seemed to understand his words, Danzo said happily, "Whatever the reason, with my help, we can certainly make up for your shortcomings! Let me out, Hiruzen!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and shook his head. "Danzo, I'm very grateful for what you told me today. But I merely lack that ruthlessness. It doesn't mean I can't manage without you..."
"Hm? Hiruzen? What do you mean?"
"I mean... from now on, I want to try to find that ruthlessness I've been missing. Danzo, these secret little schemes you've carried out behind my back are a danger to me too. I can no longer indulge you. You... have crossed the line."
Hiruzen put away his pipe, drew a kunai from behind his back, and slowly approached Danzo.
"H-Hiruzen! What are you doing?"
"Don't blame me, Danzo. To make myself ruthless on the road ahead, I'm going to start by taking your life..."
"Hiruzen! You can't do this to me, you...!"
Shluk!
Danzo's rigid body collapsed into a pool of blood.
"I'm sorry, my old friend..."
"I'll remember your words and make myself ruthless..."
"For Konoha's sake, retire quietly for now. As for Xia Yu, rest assured. No matter what, I won't let him replace me..."
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