Boom!!
The entire Root headquarters shook violently.
Walls collapsed.
The underground chamber was instantly reduced to rubble as dust filled the air.
Danzo barely managed to raise his head—
Before a long golden staff came crashing toward him.
"Stop! Hiruzen"
Danzo shouted as he threw himself to the side.
Boom!
The ground exploded where he had been standing just a moment earlier.
"It was necessary!"
Danzo yelled as he struggled to regain his footing.
Hiruzen's bloodshot eyes never left him.
Heavy breaths escaped his mouth.
"You one-eyed bastard..."
His voice was low.
"For whom?"
Danzo's entire body was covered in bruises.
His robes were torn.
Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
The moment Hiruzen had arrived...
He hadn't asked a single question.
He hadn't listened to a single explanation.
He had simply summoned Enma...
And attacked.
Relentlessly.
The sudden assault had completely caught Danzo off guard.
This bastard has completely lost his mind...
Danzo cursed inwardly as he barely avoided another strike.
Around them...
Every Root shinobi had already been subdued.
ANBU surrounded them from every direction.
Kunai rested against their throats.
Swords pressed against their necks.
No one dared move.
Everything had happened so suddenly...
Not a single Root member had been given a chance to react.
"Both of you, stop!"
Homura shouted.
With a Body Flicker, he appeared between the two old friends.
Danzo immediately stepped behind him.
"Hiruzen!"
"The Fire Daimyo's envoy is still in Konoha."
"Don't make this situation any worse."
Homura stared directly at Hiruzen.
"Move aside, Homura."
Hiruzen's voice remained terrifyingly calm.
"He crossed every boundary."
His bloodshot eyes slowly shifted toward Danzo.
The moment he saw that one-eyed face...
The rage inside him surged once again.
"Hiruzen!"
"Everything I've done was for the village!"
Danzo shouted back.
"Do you think I'm blind?"
Hiruzen gripped the golden staff tightly as he took another step forward.
Homura still stood between them, keeping his distance.
"Don't think I can't see why you're doing all this?"
Hiruzen glared at Danzo with bloodshot eyes.
"Your greed for the Hokage's seat is clear to everyone."
"But because of your action..."
"The whole village became an enemy of the Noble Houses."
"The whole village is suffering because of your actions."
"You bastard..."
Hiruzen gritted his teeth as he stared at Danzo.
"Sensei was right..."
"You don't deserve to be Hokage."
Danzo froze.
For a brief moment...
He just stared at Hiruzen.
'You don't deserve it.'
Those words hit him exactly where it hurt the most.
His mind was dragged back to that cursed day...
The day of the Hokage selection.
Something inside him finally snapped.
He glared at Hiruzen and shouted,
"What do you know?!"
"Everything I've done was for the village!"
"Do you even know what the daimyo is doing..."
"...he is building his own shinobi force?"
Danzo immediately pulled a scroll from his robes and threw it toward Hiruzen.
The scroll landed on the broken ground.
Hiruzen never even looked at it.
His eyes remained fixed on Danzo.
Homura quickly picked it up instead.
His expression gradually became serious as he began reading its contents.
"You only care about your image..."
Danzo looked straight at Hiruzen as he spoke in a deep voice.
"I'm the one who's been dealing with the hidden threats."
"The fame has clouded your mind."
"You don't even know how many enemies this village is facing."
"You don't deserve that seat."
The moment those words left his mouth...
Hiruzen snapped.
His body flickered.
Bang!
His fist slammed straight into Danzo's face.
Danzo crashed into the broken wall.
"You bastard!"
Danzo roared.
A powerful gust of wind erupted around him as he immediately formed hand seals.
This time...
He didn't hold back.
"If either of you still cares about the little respect you have left..."
"Stop. Right now."
Homura's face had already darkened.
With the help of the ANBU, he forcefully separated the two before another clash could begin.
He was right.
Things had already gone far beyond what even Hiruzen and Danzo had imagined.
For both of them...
Their entire lives had revolved around Konoha.
Around the Hokage's seat.
But Homura had spent enough time dealing with the Fire Daimyo and the Noble Houses to understand something they didn't.
Beyond the shinobi...
There was another kind of authority.
The citizens of the Land of Fire.
The samurai.
The Noble Houses.
And finally...
The shinobi.
Reading the reports...
He could clearly see it.
The balance that had existed for decades had been shattered.
The Fire Daimyo creating his own shinobi force...
Meant he wanted a power capable of rivalling Konoha.
Whether it was for his own protection...
Or for something else...
Only time would tell.
"Danzo..."
Homura looked at him seriously.
"Even if we accept that you sent Root there for the village..."
"Why didn't any of us know about it?"
Danzo stared back at him.
"Are you an idiot?"
"Root are nameless shinobi."
"The darkness of Konoha."
"Do I really need your permission before every mission?"
"Or have you forgotten why all of you agreed to create Root in the first place?"
He pointed at the Root shinobi being held down by the ANBU.
"They're disposable."
"I'm not asking whether they're disposable or not."
Homura's voice turned colder.
"I'm asking..."
"Why didn't any of us know that Root had agents inside the Fire Daimyo's residence?"
He didn't let Danzo change the subject.
His eyes remained fixed on him, waiting for an answer.
Danzo remained silent.
He looked away.
He had no intention of answering.
That silence alone...
Told Homura everything he needed to know.
They all had different motives.
Those motives had pushed each of them to go to extremes without thinking about the consequences.
And that was the reason this day had come.
On the outskirts of Konoha...
New houses were being built one after another.
Toyoma and Raizen stood nearby, watching the construction.
"It would've been nice if there were a Wood Release ninja here."
Toyoma let out a sigh.
"For what?"
"To build houses?"
Raizen laughed.
"Haha... wouldn't it look funny?"
"Imagine the First Hokage using Wood Release just to build houses."
"Won't it look hilarious?"
Toyoma looked at him with a deadpan expression.
"Most of the houses and buildings in Konoha were actually built using the First Hokage's Wood Release."
"He even had a jutsu called Wood Release: Wooden House Technique."
"Hehehe..."
Raizen laughed for another second.
Then he stopped.
Seeing Toyoma's expression...
He realised he wasn't joking.
"...What?"
"No way."
"Seriously?"
His eyes widened in disbelief.
He had honestly thought Toyoma was making fun of him.
But judging by his face...
He was completely serious.
"A powerful Kekkei Genkai..."
"...used to build houses?"
Raizen muttered to himself, still trying to process it.
"Well..."
"That was also one of the reasons he became so famous among the civilians."
A voice came from behind them.
"Free houses for everyone."
The two turned around.
Grand Elder Setsuna slowly walked toward them.
"He used that jutsu to full advantage."
"And Tobirama used that fame to make him the First Hokage."
Setsuna stopped beside them and looked at the construction site.
"Do we really need this much accommodation?"
As of now...
Most of the clan already knew that Fugaku had become a Hokage candidate.
That alone had made many of them change their minds about leaving the clan compound.
"Yes."
"We'll need it."
"If not now..."
"Then very soon."
Toyoma answered calmly.
"Consider it our last help to them..."
"...as fellow clan members."
Hearing those words...
Setsuna looked at Toyoma with slight surprise.
He felt something was wrong.
But what Toyoma said next answered his question.
"The Fire Daimyo and the Noble Houses have already started making moves toward the Uchiha Market."
Setsuna's expression became serious.
Neither of them had ever believed the Fire Daimyo or the Noble Houses truly stood on anyone's side.
Something like this had always been expected.
"So..."
"They've become wary of us as well."
Setsuna muttered.
Toyoma nodded.
"In their eyes..."
"We're still shinobi."
"They don't support the Uchiha."
"They simply want to use us to keep Konoha in check."
Toyoma let out a quiet sigh.
"Everyone has their own motives."
"And things are only just beginning to change."
"No one is willing to back down anymore."
Raizen heard that and let out a sigh.
"Everything is happening too fast."
Their faction's final objective was already clear to everyone.
If things reached the point of no return...
They would ensure that as many Uchiha shinobi as possible escaped Konoha and disappeared into anonymity.
But even then...
Quietly leaving didn't sit well with them.
Raizen looked toward a group of shinobi working on the newly built houses.
The shinobi looked like ordinary construction workers.
One pressed a small paper tag into the wooden frame.
Another sealed it beneath a thin layer of plaster.
Moments later...
Fresh paint covered the wall.
No one would ever know it was there.
Raizen smiled.
"Well..."
"If things go wrong..."
"We'll at least leave them with one hell of a farewell."
**********************************************************************
If anyone wants to join P@treon, they're welcome to.
Right now, P@treon chapters are available up to (Chapter 159: The Beginning of the End)
P@treon - Hear_tteeth [18 +]
Thank you for the support and patience.