"What?!!"
"You want me to protect Danzo in secret?!!"
"You know just how much he has it out for the Uchiha Clan, don't you?"
Fugaku stared blankly at Haruma, his face full of disbelief!
Haruma spread his hands. "Don't look so surprised. It's just a script."
"That sneaky bastard Danzo is definitely going to die."
"But wouldn't it be better to squeeze a little more value out of him first?"
Haruma pulled Fugaku aside and briefly explained the plan he needed him to act out.
After listening, Fugaku frowned and asked, "But how can you be sure Danzo will leave the village?"
Haruma smiled confidently. "After what happened today, Danzo probably isn't much different from us in the Uchiha Clan in Sarutobi's eyes."
"A life of being watched every day... Danzo won't just submit to that."
Fugaku continued, "Even so, what good would leaving the village do him?"
Haruma looked at Fugaku and said scathingly, "Why do I feel like your intelligence has regressed to Shisui's level?"
Shisui, who was busy saving the Shinobi World: "???"
Haruma sighed and explained, "Danzo probably has no hope of making a comeback within the village."
"Unless he's stupid enough to fight Sarutobi right here in Konoha."
"But he clearly isn't that stupid, so his only hope of making a comeback..."
Not wanting to rank alongside Shisui in intelligence, Fugaku hurriedly blurted out, "The Land of Fire's daimyo!"
"So your brain still works." Haruma nodded in relief.
Fugaku looked at Haruma with a dark expression, quite speechless.
After a long while, Fugaku, who still felt something was wrong, continued asking, "But... can Danzo escape the village right under the Third's nose?"
Haruma raised his head, his gaze distant. "You don't need to worry about whether he'll leave the village, or whether he can!"
"If I want Danzo out of the village, he'll have to leave even if he doesn't want to!"
Fugaku: "..."
"With that tone, anyone who didn't know better would think you were Konoha's Hokage."
"Hokage?"
"I wouldn't want the job even if they begged me."
Haruma looked constipated. "With that much strength, the village's very existence is nothing but a burden. Not to mention having a daimyo who doesn't know any Ninjutsu sitting above you."
Haruma scoffed. "It's just that feudal-monarchy mindset of yours. You even need an ordinary person's approval to become Hokage."
"I really don't understand why you all want to be Hokage, working yourselves to the bone and putting up with everyone."
With that, Seiten turned to look at the few scrolls remaining in the room and smiled brightly. "My goal is to become the richest man in the entire Shinobi World!"
"A mere Hokage..." Haruma shook his head with a chuckle. "Utterly ridiculous!"
Fugaku stared dumbfounded at Haruma as he spoke so confidently, his head full of question marks.
The Hokage position was worth less than being Fugo... How absurd!
But as a native born and raised in the Shinobi World, he naturally couldn't understand the thoughts of an outsider like Haruma.
The next day,
the sun shone brightly.
Fugaku rushed toward Haruma's little house, his face anxious.
Haruma, who was shoveling down his food, looked at Fugaku in confusion. "What is it now?"
"Danzo's been imprisoned!"
"Huh???"
Haruma, who still didn't know the specific details of what had happened yesterday, was utterly bewildered.
He had thought Sarutobi would, at most, confine Danzo to Root.
How had things fast-forwarded straight to imprisonment?
Haruma could never have guessed that Danzo had mouthed off at Sarutobi before opening the secret chamber.
Had he known, he might not have found it so strange.
The Hokage Building.
Having regained consciousness, Itachi was reporting to Sarutobi on the circumstances surrounding the earlier battle within the Uchiha Clan.
He recounted the script he and Haruma had fabricated.
Sarutobi, whose temples were graying, now looked even older than he had yesterday.
He had yet to sort out Danzo's mess, and now he had to figure out what to do with Itachi.
Spying on the Uchiha Clan was no longer an option, but if he kept Itachi in the Anbu, Fugaku certainly wouldn't let the matter rest.
He couldn't exactly say that Itachi had slaughtered nearly a hundred of Fugaku's clansmen on the Hokage's orders.
Puffing repeatedly on his pipe, Sarutobi pondered for a long time before looking up at Itachi and saying slowly, "Thank you for your efforts earlier."
"You don't need to continue your missions in the village. A very mysterious organization has recently emerged in the Shinobi World."
"I need you to infiltrate it and gather intelligence on the organization."
With the intelligence provided by Jiraiya, who was traveling the Shinobi World, Sarutobi felt that sending Itachi on this mission was a suitable arrangement.
"The organization is called the Akatsuki. Its members seem to be S-rank missing-nin from various villages."
"The people behind the organization and their objectives are things you'll need to uncover gradually."
Itachi kept his head lowered, an almost imperceptible gleam flashing through his eyes.
Was it a coincidence, or had that guy already predicted this?
The mission the Hokage had assigned him was actually the same as the one Haruma had given him.
Even more unbelievable was that Haruma's information on the organization was clearly far more detailed than the Hokage's.
Itachi couldn't stop analyzing it all,
analyzing Haruma's sources of intelligence, his identity, and his various relationships with Itachi's parents and Shisui.
Though surprised inwardly, his face remained calm.
Itachi nodded and said softly to Sarutobi, "I'll leave later today."
Sarutobi looked somewhat apologetically at Itachi, whose hand was still wrapped in bandages. "Thank you for your efforts."
Itachi shook his head, then discussed the details with Sarutobi before leaving.
Because his parents were still alive, and with the news of Danzo's imprisonment,
Itachi did not specifically ask the higher-ups to treat Sasuke well as he had in the original story.
Konoha, the Anbu prison.
A solitary cell, a wooden bed, a wooden table, and a one-eyed old man.
Danzo sat cross-legged on the bed, looking up expressionlessly at Sarutobi outside the door.
"What, has Lord Hokage come to pass judgment on me?"
Sarutobi frowned. "Danzo, you should understand the consequences of those things being exposed."
"I wasn't the only one who saw them."
"If I don't punish you even after that, those clans won't let the matter rest."
"Heh."
Danzo sneered. "You're becoming more and more hypocritical, Sarutobi!"
"All that talk, when you're just afraid this mess will threaten your hold on the Hokage position!"
Sarutobi sighed ruefully. "I simply hope this hard-won peace can endure."
"I warned you back then not to bring anyone inside."
Danzo ignored that and merely mocked him. "Don't tell me you know nothing about what was in there."
"Or have you spent so long basking in the sunlight that you've forgotten why Root was founded?"
"Do you need me to remind you?"
"Beneath the sunlight! Deep underground! Konoha's sword in the darkness!"