He had just spent half an hour talking about the Will of Fire, and the audience's response had been lukewarm.
Uchiha Minamoto had spent less than two minutes onstage talking about his "grand opening promotion," and the audience had exploded.
How could the gap between people be so huge?
"Lord Third, thank you for your hard work."
Uchiha Minamoto walked over to Hiruzen Sarutobi and handed him a cup of hot tea.
"Have some water to soothe your throat."
"...Thank you."
Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted the teacup, his heart a jumble of emotions.
He instinctively glanced toward the other side of the stage-Shimura Danzō stood there with a dark expression, his lone eye fixed on Uchiha Minamoto as though he wanted to bore holes through him with his gaze.
"Oh, Elder Danzo is here too."
As though he had only just noticed Shimura Danzō, Uchiha Minamoto smiled and nodded at him.
"Thank you for coming, thank you."
The corners of Shimura Danzō's mouth twitched twice, and he forced himself to remain silent.
He feared that the moment he pursed his lips, out would come Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!
He would blast this inherently evil Uchiha dead in one breath!
Uchiha Minamoto looked at Shimura Danzō.
He had thought that if this old dog had fled overnight yesterday,
he would make today's headline-
"Shocking! Senior elder flees overnight with Anbu in mass exodus!"
But to his surprise, Shimura Danzō had actually managed to resist fleeing.
A ninja indeed!
"Lord Third, Elder Danzo, the Love Newspaper Office's first edition has been printed. Please, take a look."
Seemingly remembering something, Uchiha Minamoto beckoned and had someone bring over two newspapers.
"Great Love Group members! Hand out today's newspaper to all our guests! One copy each!"
Upon receiving the order, the Great Love Group members immediately sprang into action, distributing stacks of newspapers still smelling of ink to the villagers present, free of charge.
Not just the audience here.
Before the day was out, Uchiha Minamoto intended to put this newspaper into every household in Konoha!
Hiruzen Sarutobi took the newspaper immediately, and his pupils abruptly contracted as he looked at it.
"What the hell is this supposed to say!?"
"Exclusive exposé!"
"The person who abandoned the Second Hokage on the battlefield back then is now one of the village's senior leaders!"
Beneath the headline was a black-and-white photograph.
In the photograph, a figure with short silver hair stood with his back to the camera, facing an entire ninja force alone, the atmosphere of "heroic martyrdom" turned up to the maximum.
Who else could this be but the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju?
Behind Tobirama Senju's back, several other retreating figures were faintly visible.
Of the only two people whose faces were visible, one's features were indistinct, while the other had red eyes.
Hiruzen Sarutobi recognized the scene in the photograph at a glance.
Wasn't this the moment when the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, had been surrounded by Kumogakure's Kinkaku and Ginkaku Force!?
Shimura Danzō, standing nearby, also saw the newspaper.
His face went from black to white, from white to green, from green to purple, before finally settling into an indescribable, ashen hue.
Unbidden, the scene from back then surfaced in Shimura Danzō's mind-
It had been decades ago. Konoha had taken the initiative to travel to Kumogakure to sign an armistice, only to unexpectedly encounter internal strife there.
Kumogakure's Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers had ambushed Konoha's peace delegation. To protect his subordinates, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, had stayed to cover their retreat, while he, Shimura Danzō...
He, Shimura Danzō, had not stayed.
He had not even possessed the courage to ask to stay!
At that moment of life and death, he had hesitated for an instant.
And in that very instant,
Hiruzen Sarutobi had spoken up, wanting to stay with Lord Second and fight alongside him.
It was precisely because of those words that Lord Second had chosen the Third Hokage on the spot.
Hiruzen Sarutobi!
Not him, Shimura Danzō!
This was the past Shimura Danzō least wanted to mention in his entire life, and the darkest secret within his heart.
But now,
Uchiha Minamoto's newspaper had made it public.
For a moment, Shimura Danzō's head spun so badly that he almost lost all sense of the world around him...
Meanwhile, beside him,
Hiruzen Sarutobi was also frowning as he read the newspaper.
It was a lengthy report spanning several thousand words.
The report described in detail how, when the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, had been pursued by Kumogakure's Kinkaku and Ginkaku Force, a certain person had "deserted in the face of the enemy," "abandoned his comrades," and "clung to life in fear of death."
In sharp contrast, Hiruzen Sarutobi had "acted decisively," "stepped forward," and "volunteered to cover the retreat," ultimately being designated the Third Hokage by Tobirama Senju.
Every line of the report praised Hiruzen Sarutobi's bravery and fearlessness while slyly mocking a certain person's cowardice and incompetence.
At the end, the article openly mocked how "a certain deserter" had now become one of the village's senior leaders.
Apart from Tobirama Senju and Hiruzen Sarutobi,
the newspaper did not mention any other Konoha ninja by name.
Oh...
Actually, there was one more.
Kagami Uchiha.
The report only briefly mentioned this ninja of the Uchiha Clan's older generation, saying that he had also been on the battlefield at the time.
It said nothing more about him.
As for the other "deserters,"
the newspaper did not name them at all, referring to them only as "a certain person."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow slowly relaxed.
Although the wording of this news report was somewhat exaggerated,
it certainly did a fine job of capturing his heroic bearing on the battlefield!
Lord Second really had been an excellent judge of character!
But had Kagami Uchiha wanted to stay back then too?
He had forgotten. That wasn't important...
"Mm."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stroked his beard and nodded with affected solemnity.
"This is the Will of Fire!
"Lord Second sacrificed himself back then so that our generation could carry on."
Deserter Danzo! Step forward!
Uchiha Minamoto glanced at Shimura Danzō. He had thought the old bastard would fly into a rage on the spot.
Instead, he found that the man merely stood frozen in place, his gaze unfocused, with scarcely a trace of life in him.
Has my article already touched his soul?
That was right!
Uchiha Minamoto had personally written this "Exclusive exposé..." news story.
Incidentally,
the "Tobirama Senju" in the front-page photograph was also Uchiha Minamoto, disguised using the Transformation Technique.
As for the "Kumogakure ninja force" opposite him, they were actually all disguised Great Love Group members.
Although it wasn't exactly true to life,
it was still true to life, in a way.
Shimura Danzō's reaction left Uchiha Minamoto somewhat dissatisfied.
Fortunately, the panel still came through with notifications.
[You have dealt a devastating blow to the prestige of Konoha's criminal forces!] [You have completed a great love action!] [You have received 100,000 great love points!] [You have received the A-rank genjutsu, Bringer-of-Darkness Technique!]
Chapter 38: The Uchiha love Konoha too! (Please keep reading! Please send monthly votes!)
[Bringer-of-Darkness Technique] [Rank: A] [Ability: Creates a dark space that completely deprives targets of sight. All targets within range will fall into absolute darkness. Even ninja with powerful ocular abilities cannot see through this darkness.] [Assessment: The skies over Konoha are far too dark!]
Ah~
The Uchiha Clan's sternest father had truly arrived!
Uchiha Minamoto stared at the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique on the panel.
He had only just "played" Tobirama Senju, and now he had obtained a top-tier genjutsu developed by Tobirama Senju.
Uh, could the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique have been developed by Hashirama Senju instead?
It didn't matter.
Both brothers of the Senju Clan could count as "stern fathers" to the Uchiha Clan anyway.
Mm, why wouldn't they count?
In any case,
the Bringer-of-Darkness Technique was an environmental genjutsu developed by the Senju Clan specifically to counter the Sharingan.
Uchiha Minamoto had previously felt that relying solely on the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and genjutsu such as Demonic Illusion: Mirror Heaven and Earth Change was not quite a safe bet against those potential "Mangekyō Uchiha."
For that very reason, he had specifically stockpiled an enormous number of Flash Tags.
Wasn't it all to blind those Mangekyō eyes?
Light taken to the extreme was impossible to look at directly.
Before you continue