Chapter 68: Old Man Fugaku Has Done His Part for the Leaf Village! I've Bled for the Village!

Over twenty Uchiha Police Force ninja stood in a tight, tense formation around Danzō, their expressions hard and furious. Even the moderate members of the Uchiha clan wore grim faces. The atmosphere crackled with barely contained hostility.

At this point, Fugaku Clan Head knew he couldn’t stay silent any longer. If he didn’t step forward now, he’d lose face—and worse, he might lose control of his own clan.

He moved forward slowly. As he passed Uchiha Iizumi, he paused for just a breath, his lips barely twitching.

In a voice so quiet only Iizumi could hear, he said:

“Iizumi… let me handle this. I know what you’re thinking. But I’m the Uchiha Clan Head. I have a better way to deal with this. And the Hokage-sama is here now. He doesn’t want civil war in the village.”

Fugaku was terrified that Iizumi—driven by his unwavering belief in Absolute Justice—would escalate things beyond control. He knew this act would anger Iizumi, perhaps even betray him.

But he knew something even more critical: in this atmosphere of rising tension, if Iizumi clashed with the Hokage, Fugaku wouldn’t be able to rein in the clan’s extremists.

Those radicals would back Iizumi. They’d fight the Hokage.

That would mean the Uchiha and the Leaf Village were officially at war.

The tragedy of the future… could happen now.

The Uchiha clan couldn’t survive such a collapse.

Fugaku had to change the future—on his own terms.

As his thoughts raced, he reached Danzō. Their eyes locked—Fugaku’s steady and cold, Danzō’s sharp and venomous.

“Danzō-sama,” Fugaku said, voice low and heavy. “Give us—the Uchiha clan—a proper explanation. We’ve served the Leaf Village faithfully for years. We’re not lambs to be slaughtered. Where did your Sharingan come from?”

As soon as the words left his mouth, a thought struck him.

Would it be easier… to ask Iizumi directly?

The ability to see past and future evil… no secret could hide from it.

But then, Fugaku glanced at the ruined landscape around him—the scorched ground, broken buildings, the bloodstained earth.

He decided. Not this time.

It was better not to drag Iizumi into this.

“An explanation?” Danzō sneered, scanning the wreckage with cold eyes. Even surrounded, he showed no fear. “I need an explanation! What do you think you’re doing? Trying to assassinate me? Rebel against the village? Fugaku—what kind of aggression is this?”

“Danzō!” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s voice cut through the tension like a blade. “You do owe the Uchiha clan an explanation—where did your Sharingan come from? And you owe me one—why did you allow private warfare to erupt in the village, causing such devastation?”

Danzō froze. He turned, eyes wide with disbelief, staring at Hiruzen as if he’d been struck.

He couldn’t believe the Third Hokage was siding with the Uchiha.

His fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white. Teeth ground together in fury.

To explain—that meant surrendering to the Uchiha. To admit weakness. Even temporarily. The thought made his skin crawl. He wanted to kill someone—anyone—just to release the rage.

“…Found it during the Third Ninja War,” Danzō spat, each word forced through gritted teeth.

It wasn’t a lie.

Except for Shisui’s Mangekyō Sharingan, every other Sharingan he possessed had been taken from the eyes of fallen Uchiha warriors during that war—plucked by Root operatives under his command.

Hiruzen glanced at the simmering fury of the Uchiha ninja around him. He stepped forward, standing beside Fugaku, hands clasped behind his back, his stern face dark with anger.

“Danzō! The fallen on the battlefield—whether civilian ninja or clan ninja—were all heroes of the Leaf Village!”

He thundered, voice echoing across the ruins:

“Are you desecrating their graves?! They gave their lives for the village! And you—you—would use their corpses to feed your own ambition?!”

“Never! I will not allow a man like you to continue leading Root!” Hiruzen declared, voice booming. “From this day forward, you are no longer the leader of Root!”

His words rang through the air—clear, final, and furious.

Fugaku stared at the Third Hokage, stunned.

A high-ranking elder of the village… dismissed in front of everyone, by the Hokage himself?

This was the power of the Hokage.

The Uchiha ninja exchanged uneasy glances. Something felt off—but they couldn’t quite place it.

“Monkey!” Danzō roared, his fury now redirected. “What are you talking about?! You don’t have the right to remove me!”

His eyes trembled. He felt betrayed—utterly and completely—by the man he once trusted.

“You’re calling me monkey?” Hiruzen’s voice turned icy. “I am the Hokage of the Leaf Village. I have the authority to remove anyone from any post.”

He paused, each word deliberate.

“I am the Hokage.”

…

“Is the Hokage-sama… really considering the feelings of the bloodline clans?” murmured a Hyūga jōnin, puzzled.

“No,” Hyūga Hiashi replied, expression blank. “He’s playing a three-pronged game.”

He looked at Hiruzen’s back, distant and commanding.

“First—by removing Danzō, he tempers the Uchiha’s outrage. Their anger is a storm; this act is a dam.”

“Second—exposing Danzō’s secret harvesting of bloodline eyes… it gives us—the other bloodline clans—some peace of mind.”

He turned slightly, his gaze landing on a young Uchiha ninja—this night’s central figure.

“Third… he’s protecting Danzō.”

A beat.

“Because if Iizumi had his way, he’d fight Danzō to the death. The last time, the Hokage stepped in. But the next time? Who knows if he’ll arrive in time.”

“Hiruzen-sama must break the cycle. Dismiss Danzō. Silence him. Keep him from ever facing Iizumi again.”

The Hyūga jōnin behind him fell silent, thoughtful.

Was it possible… that to the Hokage, Iizumi mattered more than Danzō?

“Lord Hiashi… will this chaos end tonight?” one of the Hyūga asked.

“Hmm.” Hiashi gave a small nod. “By all reasonable standards… yes. It should be over.”

But…

Would Iizumi follow reason?

The thought remained unspoken.

And then—answer arrived.

“Third Hokage,” came a cold, flat voice. “Have you had enough?”

Uchiha Iizumi’s words cut through the air, silencing both Danzō and Hiruzen mid-argument.

Hyūga Hiashi’s expression darkened. He let out a quiet sigh.

“A man impossible to read. He refuses to take the Hokage’s offered way out.”

He murmured to himself:

“Tonight… won’t end so easily.”

…

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end