“TILL NOW, no one except me and Kaida,” Shisui said.

  “Why didn’t you go to Fugaku?” Hiruzen asked, wanting to know what was on Shisui’s mind.

  “I don’t want the retionship between the Uchiha d the vilge to deteriorate any further than it already has. I know the sequences would be disastrous, not just for my , but for the vilge as well,” Shisui said solemnly.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll see this through. You have my word,” Hiruzen replied. Normally, someone in his position didn’t o be polite, but the ninja in front of him was not only ae jonin but also the son of his old friend, Kagami Uchiha.

  (A.N: They were in the same squad uobirama Senju.)

  Shisui was also one of the few Uchiha who had ied the Will of Fire rather than the Curse of Hatred.

  Shisui visibly rexed after hearing Hiruzen's reassurahanks to his father, Shisui knew a thing or two about Danzo. There was a reason he was called the Darkness of Konoha. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Danzo had been instrumental in keeping Konoha safe during two great ninja wars. Every time all four major ninja vilges tried to attack Konoha together, it was Danzo who used his Root ninjas as disposable tools, f those vilges to fight amongst themselves and giving Konoha room to breathe.

  This was one of the reasons why Hiruzen often turned a blio Danzo’s darker deeds, though those deeds were now slowly weakening the vilge.

  Hiruzen looked at Shisui and said, “You go baow. Rest assured, I’ll make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

  Shisui nodded a, but instead of going home, he headed to the Uchiha headquarters.

  “Hello, Uncle. How are you?” Shisui asked as he entered Fugaku’s office.

  “This better be important, Shisui. I’m not in the mood for jokes,” Fugaku said without looking up.

  “Does the ow about the rumors spreading around the vilge about us?” Shisui asked.

  Fugaku stopped w and looked at him. “What rumors, exactly?”

  “A rumor has been spreading that the Uchiha were involved in the ails attack, and that we don’t see Konoha as our home,” Shisui expined.

  Fugaku, an experienced politi, quickly grasped the implications. His expression darkened as he thought about the possible reasons behind it.

  Seeing this, Shisui quickly added, “Don’t worry, Uncle. Lord Third has assured me that he will stop this.”

  “I want to know all the details,” Fugaku said in a serious tone.

  Shisui nodded and told him how Kaida had discovered the rumor, how he nearly got into trouble, how a Root ninja was involved, and how Hiruzen had dealt with it.

  “You should have e to me with that body,” Fugaku said.

  “You know the retionship between the d the vilge isn’t ght now, Uncle, and much of that tension stems from our relocation to the outskirts,” Shisui replied.

  “I ’t bme them. We have every right to be angry. The vilge is punishing us for a crime we didn’t it. And you expect our ninjas to smile and just let them do whatever they want?” Fugaku said, a hint of anger in his voice.

  “Then do you want to leave the vilge, Uncle? With our strength, we could,” Shisui said.

  Even though they couldablish a new ninja vilge, there were many ways for them to survive as ninjas.

  “We would only have two options after leaving the vilge: either create a small ninja vilge or join forces with the daimyo. I’m not going to let the Uchiha bee hunting dogs for the daimyo, and creating a small ninja vilge isn’t an optioher. We’d bee targets for every other vilge during times of lus, we ’t leave Konoha—we’ve ied too muto it. The situation hasn’t reached that poi,” Fugaku said.

  “That’s why I didn’t bring you the body. I don’t want things to escate. Going against the vilge wouldn’t be a good decision. We might win, but the cost would be too high,” Shisui said.

  “Do you think I don’t uand that? Don’t worry. I don’t want our retionship with the vilge to worseher,” Fugaku said. Then he added, “Tell that brat I’ll give him five acres of nd as a reward for disc this so early. I only imagine what would’ve happened if this tinued for a year. Knowing Danzo, we wouldn’t have known about it until it was too te.”

  Shisui nodded but found something odd. “Since when do you give out nd as rewards, Uncle?”

  “Ask your brother. He suggested we start using the unused nd we have as rewards, so we put it to good use.”

  Shisui nodded again, liking the idea.

  “Fine, you go,” Fugaku said.

  “Uncle, please don’t take any a for now. Let’s give Lord Third some time to hahe issue,” Shisui requested.

  Fugaku simply nodded, and Shisui used Body Flicker Jutsu to head bae.

  After Shisui left, Fugaku muttered to himself, “I just hope this situatio escate any further,” before returning to his paperwork.

  ---

  **At the Hokage’s Office**

  Hiruzen took the Root ninja’s body out of the scroll and exami. He quickly found a seal on the body’s head—the kind used to prevent anyone from reading a e’s memories.

  Hiruzen sighed. He reized the seal immediately. It was a Root ninja.

  ‘I’ve stopped you, Danzo, but it seems your ambitions are at their limit now that we’re getting older. I nning to let you tinue for a while longer, but your as are now putting the iy of Konoha at risk. Looks like the time for us old-timers to retire is drawing near,’ Hiruzen thought, before calling in an Anbu ninja.