"Shut up…!"
"The Uchiha of that year…"
"Shut up!"
Lightning flared violently as a ninja blade, flickering with electric arcs, pressed against Shimura Danzo's throat in the blink of an eye.
Sasuke raised his crimson eyes, staring deathly at the old man before him.
"You can kill me, but do you think killing me will cover up the entire truth?"
Shimura Danzo looked at the youth and sneered incessantly, his words never pausing.
"You're afraid."
"Afraid that the man you've hated for seven years had a hidden reason."
"After all, considering how much he cherished you back then…"
"How could his personality change so drastically overnight?"
"Right?"
"Are you unwilling to accept the facts, or are you trying to run away?"
"Is this really the younger brother of Itachi Uchiha—that man who was so strong it was pathetic?"
Sasuke looked at Shimura Danzo, his expression not shifting in the slightest.
"I think you've misunderstood one thing."
Sasuke's reaction was outside of Danzo's expectations. The old man frowned.
"What thing?"
The youth's expression remained unchanged as he continued:
"Regardless of Itachi Uchiha's reasons or his goals."
"He killed my father. He killed my mother. He killed the entire Uchiha clan."
"These are indisputable facts."
Sasuke silently closed his eyes. When he opened them again, a pair of seven-pointed Mangekyo Sharingan were spinning slowly within his sockets, causing Shimura Danzo to freeze instantly where he stood.
An unknown Mangekyo…
And at this very moment, he was making eye contact with them!
Danzo's face remained stoic, yet his entire body had grown slightly stiff.
"No matter what his goal was."
"He must die."
Sasuke spoke slowly as he watched the man before him.
Hearing Sasuke continue to talk about Uchiha matters, Danzo felt a slight sense of relief. Although he was surprised by Sasuke's absurdly stable mental state, Danzo was clearly not going to give up so easily.
"But… what if I told you that on the night of the massacre, there was another culprit?"
!!!
Sasuke couldn't help but widen his eyes at those words.
"Who?!"
"Konoha's Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi."
What?!
The black-haired youth felt as if he had been struck by lightning, his entire body paralyzed on the spot.
"That's not…"
"That's impossible, isn't it?"
A triumphant curve pulled at the corner of the man in the black kimono's lips.
"How old was Itachi Uchiha back then?"
"Thirteen."
"He was nothing more than an ANBU Squad Leader. Even if he had the Mangekyo Sharingan, so what?"
"The Uchiha were Konoha's strongest clan."
The man's voice was like a heavy hammer slamming into Sasuke's heart.
"In all of Konoha, who had the ability to silently wipe out the Uchiha clan?"
Shimura Danzo's voice was like a demonic melody piercing his ears, preventing Sasuke from steadying his mind.
The Hokage…
The Hokage…
Only the Hokage would have the power to silently annihilate the Uchiha…
Why?
Why the Hokage!
Dazed, helpless, distraught…
Sasuke fell into a state of total confusion.
What this man was saying made sense.
But it was precisely because it made sense that Sasuke was unwilling to believe it.
Because the Third Hokage was Sakura's master.
"So then, what is your purpose in telling me all this…"
Sasuke lifted his head slightly, the Mangekyo in his eyes emitting an eerie light.
"It's simple. I want to become the Hokage."
Faced with the man's bluntness, Sasuke was caught off guard.
Shouldn't an ambitious goal like this be kept in the depths of one's heart, hidden from everyone while moving toward that position step by step?
"Hiruzen and I have been teammates, friends, and brothers for a lifetime."
Shimura Danzo's words were deep and sorrowful, regretful yet decisive, firm yet tinged with a hint of complexity.
"He is the leaf bathed in sunlight, while I am the root buried deep in the darkness."
"Now, I, the root, continue to provide nutrients to the great tree of Konoha from the darkness, but it seems there is a problem with this leaf."
In the eyes of the man named Shimura Danzo, an imperceptible glimmer of a tear flickered.
"During his many years in power, the White Fang of the Leaf committed suicide due to rumors."
"Among the Sannin, Orochimaru defected, Tsunade was disheartened, and Jiraiya left."
"The Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash Minato Namikaze, perished in the Nine-Tails Incident."
"Each of these events shows that he is no longer the Hiruzen who would sacrifice everything for Konoha."
Unspeakable sorrow was hidden within Danzo's words, yet he forced himself to speak with a forced composure.
"Are you saying the Hokage did all of this?"
Sasuke's brow furrowed tightly in deep confusion.
"Yes. Even I am unwilling to believe he did all of this."
Shimura Danzo sighed softly.
"But…"
A look of incomprehensible complexity appeared on Sasuke's face.
"Why would the Hokage do this? What does he gain?"
Sasuke truly did not understand. The current Hokage was already seventy years old.
According to this man's words, the Hokage killed the village's pillar, the White Fang, in his forties, and then drove away his three students in his fifties.
Then in his late fifties, he used the Nine-Tails to kill the Fourth Hokage.
But… why?
What benefit was there for him to do these things?
He was already the Hokage; all of Konoha belonged to him.
Shimura Danzo's expression froze for a moment before he quickly reacted, a look of sadness appearing on his face.
"This… is likely the corruption of power."
This brat is more troublesome than his brother!
"Power…"
Sasuke frowned, subconsciously muttering the word.
Regarding the man's words, he neither disbelieved them nor believed them entirely.
Having awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, Sasuke understood its power clearly. The Mangekyo provided an extraordinary boost to an Uchiha's strength.
But trying to take on the entire Uchiha clan with just one pair of Mangekyo was no different from seeking death.
He believed the man's words regarding there being another culprit.
However, he was highly skeptical of the accusation against the current Hokage—especially since this Hokage was the master Sakura trusted implicitly.
Particularly when the motive given for the Hokage's actions was just some nonsensical "corruption of power."
"Exactly!"
"It is the corruption of power!"
"Power can easily change a person's nature!"
The Shimura Danzo before him spoke with such forceful conviction that Sasuke couldn't help but look at him a few times more.
"Even a man with a heart of steel like Hiruzen could not resist the corruption of power."
"Now, only I, the existence of the Underground Root, have the hope of leading Konoha back to the right path!"
Looking at the man before him, Sasuke was utterly bewildered.
This man claimed to be the Hokage's teammate, friend, and brother—wasn't he likely the same age as the Hokage?
At seventy years old, you're still dreaming of becoming Hokage?
"No. The next Hokage is Sakura."
Sasuke shook his head and sheathed his blade; he already intended to leave.
Once dawn broke, he would go and ask Sakura about this.
This person was a bit strange.
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