Naruto: Uchiha Rejects Konoha

"Sarutobi! Stop this charade. What have I done that you haven't been part of?"

Danzō sneered coldly. "Sarutobi Hiruzen, you want to burn bridges and pin everything on me, but it's not that easy."

If you want to be the pristine Hokage, fine—I, Danzō, have dealt with the village's dirty work. But if you think you can just rip out the roots buried deep underground, you're mistaken. You live in the light, and you need me to manage the shadows.

I've done countless terrible things already, so a few more won't bother me. But you, Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, revered by all—can you bear that kind of stain?

"That's enough, Danzō! Your use of war orphans and villagers for human experiments has been exposed. I know you erased those records before your arrest, but Jiraiya uncovered them before you did. You and Orochimaru were involved—this has nothing to do with me!"

The Third Hokage bit his lip, his expression softening slightly. Hearing Danzō's words, he realized the weight of the situation.

The man in front of him knows too many of his secrets. Now that Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Uchiha Yagami are present, if any of it comes to light, he would truly be hard-pressed to explain.

"What? How could that be…? Third Hokage, was it you or Orochimaru?"

Danzō was stunned for a moment, and as he saw the cold looks from Jiraiya and Tsunade, he panicked.

This was extremely confidential. He was the only one with the data; only Orochimaru and the Third Hokage even knew it existed, and he stored the records himself. How did Jiraiya uncover it?

One of them—Orochimaru or Sarutobi Hiruzen—must have betrayed him. Since Orochimaru was caught because of him, it was unlikely to be him. That left only Sarutobi Hiruzen!

Danzō looked at the Third Hokage with resentment. Since his imprisonment in the police department prison, Sarutobi hadn't visited him once, hadn't even acknowledged him. And now he had warned him, only to be cast aside?

If Danzō's gaze could kill, the Third Hokage would have been dead several times over.

"Hmph! Neither of you are clean, and, Danzō, you're even worse. You'd dig up the roots of the village just for a taste of Wood Release!"

Tsunade scolded, and while the conversation between the Third Hokage and Danzō wasn't fully transparent, she could tell these two had undoubtedly committed numerous dirty deeds.

"What do you know! Everything I do is for the village!" 

Like a rabid dog, Danzō roared at Tsunade, his frail body straining against the iron chain that bound him.

"Attacking your own people in the name of the village… I really can't understand it.

Danzō-san, you always say we Uchiha are evil. Yet in my eyes, your actions seem far more malevolent.

You target war orphans for Wood Release. To gain control of Wood Release, you target us Uchiha. Who knows how many more atrocities you've committed beyond that?"

Yagami sneered. "Third Hokage and Danzō—what a pair of allies. Everything you do, all in the name of the village."

The Third Hokage's eyelids twitched involuntarily at Mingfeng's words. Had Jiraiya disclosed the investigation's findings to Yagami? This was not good news.

"But Danzō is targeting the Uchiha for the Sharingan, so this doesn't make sense!"

Isn't it the will of the Second Hokage, our teacher, to keep the Uchiha in check? So then… what is Danzō…

The Third Hokage lowered his gaze. As far as he knew, Danzō and Orochimaru were only studying Wood Release and conducting human experiments, without any involvement concerning the Uchiha's Sharingan.

Jiraiya hadn't mentioned it either.

So, this was the first time he heard of Danzō using Sharingan to suppress the Hashirama cells.

"Idiot! You knew all along, and now you're deliberately tormenting me with this knowledge?"

Danzō flew into a rage, recalling how desperately he tried to hide his secrets, even protecting the bandages on his arm every time he was under genjutsu. And now, they already knew what he had been concealing.

"Did you really think all your secrets could stay hidden? If your aim was only to obtain Uchiha power, I might have ignored your motives. But you already have Sharingan in your possession, and yet you still keep your eyes fixed on us Uchiha. I'm not blind."

"In any case, the Uchiha are one of the oldest ninja clans in Konoha, with knowledge and history you outsiders can't match."

Yagami spoke calmly, though he sighed internally. As a time traveler, he knew more than he could easily reveal and had to find an excuse to expose the truth. It was truly challenging.

"Damn it! You b*****d!"

"You old rat! I'll kill you!"

The surrounding Uchiha members, upon hearing Yagami's words, grew furious. If it weren't for the cell door, they might have already attacked Danzō.

"Danzō, why…why are you doing this?"

The Third Hokage took a deep breath. He had thought that Danzō, like himself, targeted the Uchiha to uphold the Second Hokage's vision. But in reality, this wasn't the case. It was difficult for him to accept that a comrade in arms would turn into someone so unrecognizable.

"Why? Everything I do is for Konoha! The Uchiha clan is an evil clan, and their very existence is a danger to Konoha! They will never coexist peacefully with the village. They—"

"Enough! I don't know if the Uchiha are truly evil, but everything you do, Danzō, seems much closer to it!"

Tsunade interrupted Danzō's hysterical rant. The Uchiha members activated their Sharingan and glared silently at Danzō through the cell bars.

The Anbu, who had come with the Third Hokage and the others, exchanged helpless glances. Regardless of Uchiha's contentious history within the village, Danzō's words crossed the line!

Aside from the Nine-Tails incident, the Uchiha had been part of the village since its founding, and they hadn't committed any openly hostile acts.

As for the Nine-Tails incident, while Uchiha was suspected, there was no direct evidence implicating the Uchiha within the village. All that was known was that the one responsible had possessed the Sharingan. But to condemn the entire clan for that?

That was a dangerous leap in logic.

"Hokage-sama, I heard that Orochimaru has been captured. Where is he?"

As the tense atmosphere continued, Yamanaka Inoichi arrived with members of the Intelligence Department, looking stunned at the scene unfolding in the police department prison.

----------------

You can read advanced chapters here: patreon.com/GregariousLion