Chinya dragged Danzo along Konoha Street, with Danzo nearly unconscious and dangling from Chinya's grip.
Danzo looked truly pitiful—his right arm was broken, the sharp bone piercing through his skin, gruesomely exposed. His right eye socket was hollow, blood continuously flowing out. And because Chinya dragged him across the ground, his skin rubbed raw against the rough surface, leaving it a bloody mess.
Bystanders watched in fear as Chinya and Danzo passed, shrinking to the edges of the street and barely daring to breathe.
Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived with five Anbu not far from Chinya.
Seeing Danzo in such a battered state, anger flared within Hiruzen and he demanded furiously, "Chinya! What are you doing?!"
Chinya let go of Danzo's hair and allowed his head to crash onto the ground. He brushed his hands together, shaking off strands of hair caught between his fingers. Then he placed his foot on Danzo's head and said to Hiruzen, "I was just going to look for you, Third Hokage. Since you're already here, that works perfectly. This despicable coward tried to ambush me. I was only defending myself. I'd like to ask you, what punishment will you give him?"
"Punishment?!" Hiruzen's voice rose sharply. "How could Danzo possibly ambush you when he knows full well he can't beat you?!"
Chinya pressed down hard on Danzo's head several times.
Danzo groaned painfully.
Still pressing his foot down on Danzo's head, a mocking smile spread across Chinya's face as he spoke to Hiruzen, "Exactly. He knows he can't defeat me, so he should've run at the sight of me. But this fool believed he could control me using Kotoamatsukami—a real joke. Tell me, Third, do you think it's funny?"
Hiruzen froze, disbelief flashing across his face as he stared at Danzo.
He got Kotoamatsukami?!
Looking at Danzo's empty eye socket, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately realized what Danzo had done.
Suddenly, Hiruzen felt a terrible headache coming on, almost wishing he'd just leave Danzo behind to die.
Everything had been carefully planned—only for Danzo to go ahead and steal Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan, trying to ambush Chinya and use Kotoamatsukami to control him.
If he had succeeded, none of this would matter. But now... he failed.
Luckily, Chinya only mentioned Kotoamatsukami without revealing the Mangekyo Sharingan or Shisui himself. Very few people knew about Kotoamatsukami; even if the Uchiha clan discovered it, they wouldn't know it belonged to Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan. Otherwise, things would get really complicated.
With a heavy expression, Hiruzen asked solemnly, "What do you want?"
Chinya kicked Danzo toward Hiruzen. "Hokage-sama, isn't that question better directed at you? You should be asking what this rat scurrying in the shadows wants—he ambushed me, not the other way around. Right now, I'm simply curious what punishment you plan to give him. If you, the Third Hokage, aren't willing to deal with your own friend, then allow me to handle it. Don't worry—I'll do you the courtesy of leaving him alive."
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Danzo, who had been kicked to his feet by Chinya. He couldn't help but wish he could land a few kicks himself.
Danzo must have stolen Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan. Otherwise, he wouldn't have attacked Chinya from behind.
And without the Mangekyo Sharingan, Shisui Uchiha's plan tonight—to use Kotoamatsukami to control Fugaku Uchiha—was guaranteed to fail.
Such a brilliant plan: once Fugaku was controlled, they could stop the coup d'état, propose cursed seals as binding measures, and convince part of the Uchiha clan to follow Fugaku. The rest of the stubborn Uchiha could then be gradually dealt with.
The troubles of the Uchiha Clan might have ended right there, leaving only a loyal Uchiha Clan—faithful to Konoha, and to him.
But now, all of that had been ruined by Danzo.
Although Fugaku's current stance remained unclear, the fact that it was unclear already said everything.
It meant Fugaku was seriously thinking about rebellion.
As other Uchiha clan members pushed for rebellion day after day, Fugaku's inner balance would surely tip further toward revolt.
But...
Hiruzen frowned down at the battered Danzo lying on the ground.
He was the Leaf basking in sunlight; Danzo was the root buried deep in the earth. Both were indispensable.
Besides, they'd trained together since childhood, gone on missions together, faced death together, competed fiercely, and protected Konoha together. They were longtime friends—and rivals.
Few of their old generation comrades still remained, and Hiruzen valued his bond with Danzo more and more.
Even though Danzo had committed many mistakes, Hiruzen chose to tolerate them.
Thus, now, he didn't want Danzo to die either. If handed over to Chinya, Danzo might as well be dead.
Moreover, Chinya knew about Kotoamatsukami but hadn't mentioned Shisui or the Sharingan, which meant Chinya had no intention of revealing it either.
Dragging Danzo here was probably just meant as a warning shot across the bow.
Hiruzen sighed deeply. "I will punish Danzo myself. I'll give you an explanation for this matter."
What Hiruzen worried about most right now was that Danzo's right eye socket should have previously contained Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan, which he must have used against Chinya.
Now that the socket was empty, where had that Mangekyo Sharingan gone?
If it was in Chinya's possession, that would be a serious problem.
But there were too many people around now—it was clearly not the time to ask.
Even if he asked, Chinya probably wouldn't answer anyway.
Chinya had no interest in hashing this out any further with Hiruzen.
Even if they argued endlessly, Hiruzen would likely just come up with some half-hearted excuse for punishing him.
Chinya just wanted to make fools out of both Danzo and Hiruzen.
With a mocking sneer, Chinya remarked, "Third Hokage, you ought to thank me. You let such a beast who attacks fellow villagers from behind serve as your advisor? You really have terrible judgment."
"Thankfully, after I kept pushing for it, The Third finally got rid of his position as Advisor to the Hokage. Otherwise, this would have left a permanent stain on your reign as Hokage."
The villagers who didn't know Danzo's identity were shocked as they looked at the unconscious Danzo.
They never imagined that this battered man had once served as Advisor to the Hokage.
The villagers nearby were whispering in hushed tones.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned dark with fury, but he still held back his anger and said, "Take him back."
Several Anbu members behind Hiruzen carried Danzo away.
After Danzo left, Hiruzen didn't want to say anything else to Chinya and turned away at once.
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