Chapter 251: Exposing Danzo!
Menma hovering in the air spoke through the White Three-Eyed Fox Mask, his voice striking heavily on the heart of every Konoha ninja.
The air seemed to freeze, leaving only the sporadic crackling of distant flames and the faint groans of the wounded.
The Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, directly named, had his face instantly turn extremely grim.
His hand gripping the Adamantine Staff turned white at the knuckles from the force, but years as Hokage allowed him to quickly suppress the raging storm in his heart, his face showing a heavy and dignified expression.
“Absurd! Shameless slander!” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s voice boomed with offended anger as he stepped forward, his gaze sharply fixed on Shura in the air.
“The Uchiha Clan’s tragedy was caused by internal rebellion due to swollen ambitions! The root of all this is you—’Shura’! And that Uchiha woman by your side! It was you! You used sweet words to bewitch the Uchiha, inciting ambitions they shouldn’t have! This must be the vicious backup plan left by the long-dead Uchiha Madara! He’s been dead for so many years, yet his ghost and his conspiracies continue to plague Konoha!”
He precisely shifted all responsibility onto the dead Uchiha Madara and the “outsiders” before him, trying to regroup Konoha’s morale.
“That’s right!” Danzō Shimura immediately echoed coldly, slamming his cane heavily on the ground: “Hoshigakure’s ambitions are wolf-like, coveting Konoha for a long time! All of this is their conspiracy!”
The clan heads and elite jonin of major ninja clans present, such as Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Hiashi Hyuga, though harboring doubts about the Uchiha’s fate and even some complaints about the high-level officials, instinctively sided with the village when facing the mysterious and powerful external enemy Shura, as well as the truly “rebellious” Uchiha and Hyuga Branch Family.
The enemy’s enemy is not necessarily a friend, especially when this “enemy” is so unfathomably deep.
However, their silence and inclination did not last long.
“Bewitching? Forcing?!” A blood-soaked Uchiha survivor with deep knife wounds on his arm let out an indignant roar, pointing at Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō.
“It was you! Konoha step by step backed us into a corner! You never trusted us! You drove us from the village center to the outskirts, treating us like thieves!”
“Now you even want to exterminate our entire clan! Sending that beast Itachi Uchiha to slaughter his own parents and kin! Was this also forced by Shura?!”
“That’s right! If the Star Ninja hadn’t arrived in time, we would have died at the Konoha Military Police Force, died at that masked monster’s hands!” Another jonin who survived the bloody battle at the Konoha Military Police Force shouted excitedly, his words resonating strongly with the other surviving Uchiha, roars of anger and accusations rising one after another.
At that moment, Itachi Uchiha standing in the crystal on the forehead of the towering emerald Susanoo spoke clearly from above, his voice filled with irrepressible pain and deep disappointment:
“Third Hokage-sama…”
Shisui’s gaze pierced through Susanoo, falling on Hiruzen Sarutobi: “Once, the person I admired most was you. I believed you could bring peace and understanding to the Uchiha and the village… But now, please look at me and tell me… When Danzō Shimura ambushed me with men, took my eyes, and tried to silence me… Did you truly… know nothing about it?”
This question was more devastating than any accusation.
It directly interrogated Hiruzen Sarutobi’s conscience and credibility.
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s body swayed slightly, his face flashing with extremely complex emotions—heartache, helplessness, and a trace of barely perceptible guilt.
He was silent for a moment, finally turning it into a heavy sigh: “Shisui… I deeply regret your ordeal. When you went missing back then, I did send a large number of Anbu to search for your whereabouts, but… I really didn’t know who was behind it.”
His words sounded sincere, yet cleverly avoided the core issue—whether he had suspected or learned of it afterward.
“Hmph!” Danzō Shimura beside him abruptly interrupted Hiruzen Sarutobi, his single eye flashing with cold light as he stepped forward, his voice sharp.
“Hiruzen, there’s no need to hide it anymore! It was I who discovered Shisui Uchiha secretly colluding with the Land of Stars, intending harm to the village, so I ordered his capture as a traitor! Unfortunately, he luckily escaped and was rescued by Shura, who then slanders me in return!” He turned the tables, splashing dirty water back, then immediately turned his spear elsewhere.
“And the Hyuga! Shura’s coveting of the Hyuga Clan is no secret! He attacked the Hyuga Main Family twice, digging out Byakugan, and now he’s bewitched the Hyuga Branch Family into rebellion! All of this is Shura’s conspiracy! They are Konoha’s greatest enemies!”
Danzō tried to muddy the waters with the Hyuga Branch Family’s rebellion and the Uchiha’s “collusion,” redirecting everyone’s attention to the external threat.
The ninja clan heads present furrowed their brows; though not fully believing Danzō’s words, the intervention of a powerful external enemy and the defection of two major internal ninja clans left them no other choice.
They had to stand with the village; that was the foundation of Konoha’s existence.
However, Danzō overlooked one thing—or rather, he underestimated the evidence and determination Shisui held.
“Danzō!” Shisui’s voice suddenly rose, laced with icy mockery: “You say you captured a traitor? Then, do you dare, right now, in front of everyone, to remove the eyepatch from that eye! Unwrap the bandages on that arm!”
“Let everyone see for themselves… what unspeakable thing you’re hiding underneath?!”
These words exploded like thunder!
All eyes instantly focused sharply on Danzō Shimura!
Even Hiruzen Sarutobi beside him whipped his head around, his eyes filled with shock and scrutiny!
Danzō’s body stiffened instantly, a flicker of barely noticeable panic in his exposed single eye.
He instinctively covered his bandaged right eye and right arm, blustering threateningly: “Shisui Uchiha! Don’t spout nonsense here to disrupt morale!”
“Nonsense?” Shisui sneered coldly, his voice echoing across the field: “When you ambushed me back then, you used the Sharingan forbidden jutsu—Izanagi! That three-tomoe Sharingan that let you successfully launch Izanagi and ambush me was one you seized from the Uchiha!”
“I swear on my honor as Shisui Uchiha and these eyes! Beneath the bandages on your right eye and right arm, Danzō Shimura, you have transplanted more than one Sharingan from our Uchiha Clan! Even my eyes might have been transplanted onto you!”
“As a Konoha high-level official, you stole the Uchiha’s bloodline limit, conducting taboo experiments desecrating the dead! Hokage-sama, did you Konoha high-level officials truly know nothing?!”
These words carried massive information, direct and specific, instantly causing an uproar!
Stealing bloodline limits?
Desecrating corpses?
Taboo experiments?
These terms hammered like heavy blows on the nerves of the ninja from various families!
“Danzō! What is the meaning of this?!” Hiruzen Sarutobi’s voice carried shock and anger as he stared deadly at Danzō, feeling for the first time a loss of control over the situation.
Though he knew of Danzō’s cooperation with Orochimaru, he had thought everything settled after Orochimaru’s defection.
If what Shisui said was true, Danzō’s actions were simply horrifying!
As Danzō stammered, the scene extremely awkward and tense, Kisame Hoshigaki’s towering figure silently appeared beside Uchiha Hikari, handing her a thick scroll and reporting a few words in a low voice.
Uchiha Hikari took the scroll, her scarlet Mangekyo faintly sweeping over the opposing Konoha high council, then slowly unrolled it.
Her cold voice rang out, like reading a verdict:
“Perhaps words alone lack proof. Then, please listen to this… an experimental archive record seized from the deepest part of the Konoha Root Base.”
She began clearly reading the contents of the scroll, each one shocking:
“…Year X Month X Day X, Experimental Subject No. XXX, implanted with three-tomoe Sharingan from a Uchiha battlefield casualty, strong rejection reaction occurred, died three hours later…”
“…Attempted fusion of First Hokage Hashirama Senju cells with Sharingan, experimental subject burst apart and died…”
“…After Orochimaru’s defection, experimental progress stalled, new researchers unable to comprehend core data…”
“…Feasibility report on Sharingan transplantation and Izanagi application…”
One cold record after another, like the sharpest knives, sliced open the pus beneath Konoha’s glossy exterior!
Stealing Uchiha Sharingan!
Desecrating First Hokage’s cellular tissue!
Conducting inhumane human experiments!
All of this had happened in the “Root” that guarded Konoha!
After reading several key records, Uchiha Hikari flicked her wrist, hurling the heavy scroll like a kunai precisely toward Hiruzen Sarutobi!
Hiruzen Sarutobi instinctively caught the scroll, his hands trembling slightly.
He eagerly opened it, his gaze rapidly scanning the familiar Root format and the outrageous contents; the more he read, the paler his face grew, his fingers trembling more violently.
Finally, he snapped the scroll shut, closed his eyes, his face filled with pain and a chill of utter betrayal.
He knew Danzō was finished; once these things were publicly exposed, facing the fury of the other ninja clans, even he couldn’t protect Danzō!
Konoha’s reputation would suffer unprecedented damage!
The surrounding ninja clan heads and jonin, though unable to see the scroll’s specific contents, could infer the truth from the Third Hokage’s drastic change in expression and the snippets Uchiha Hikari read aloud.
Their gazes toward Danzō instantly filled with shock, disgust, and deep wariness.
Menma hovering in the air spoke again at this moment.
He slowly paced in the air, as if inspecting his territory, his voice through the mask carrying a cold indifference and mockery that saw through everything:
“See? This is the Konoha high council you pledge loyalty to. Perhaps Uchiha Madara back then had already foreseen all this, foreseen that Konoha’s founding would ultimately lead to suspicion, exclusion, and even complete purge and plunder of the Uchiha… So he wanted to take the Uchiha away, but the clan members at the time chose to believe Konoha and betray their clan head.”
His gaze swept over the Uchiha survivors below, their faces filled with confusion, anger, and sorrow.
“But in these years, what has the Uchiha gotten? Suspicion, surveillance, isolation… Even the clan territory was moved from the village’s core area to the outermost periphery. Those who don’t know might think this Konohagakure was founded solely by your Sarutobi Clan.”
“Shura! Don’t bewitch hearts here!” Hiruzen Sarutobi forcibly suppressed his inner shock, shouting sternly: “I deeply regret the Uchiha Clan’s ordeal, but this is absolutely no reason for you to incite rebellion and split the village!”
“Bewitching? Splitting?” Menma’s voice carried a trace of disdain: “Compared to how you step by step backed the Konoha-founding Uchiha to the brink of extermination, even inciting Itachi Uchiha to slaughter his blood kin… what I’ve done is nothing?”
His gaze slowly swept over Shikaku Nara, Choza Akimichi, Inoichi Yamanaka, Tsume Inuzuka, and other family clan heads, his voice carrying some bewitching power:
“I still remember, in the distant Land of Water, Kirigakure… They first found excuses to strike at the Yukigakure Clan, nearly slaughtering them under the name of rebellion… Then they tightened the screws, pushing the Kaguya Clan to launch an unbearable rebellion, righteously exterminating the Kaguya afterward…”
“So, the next ninja clan the Konoha high council sees as a thorn in the side, to be removed… which family will it be?”
This sentence, like an icy venomous thorn, instantly pierced the hearts of all the ninja clan heads present!
Especially those non-Hokage direct lineage clans with average relations to the Sarutobi Clan.
They involuntarily felt a chill; even the Uchiha Clan that founded Konoha was treated this way…
Once the seed of suspicion was planted, it would grow wildly.
Menma seemed to feel the timing was right; he lightly waved his hand, his tone returning to prior indifference: “Enough, words are pointless; debate won’t yield results. Now, let those willing to leave make their own choice.”
Simply killing Danzō and Hiruzen Sarutobi and hitting Konoha with a Great Spiraling Ring Yu was too lenient.
Killing was too simple; he wanted to strike at the heart!
He wanted to trample Konoha’s corrupted Will of Fire into the mud!
With Menma’s words falling.
Hizashi Hyuga suddenly stepped forward, ripping off the now-useless Konoha headband from his forehead and smashing it to the ground!
His gaze swept over the ashen-faced Hiashi Hyuga and Hiruzen Sarutobi, his voice firm and resounding:
“The Hyuga Clan has long rotted from within! The so-called Main Family and Branch Family are just shackles around our necks! And Konoha is the biggest accomplice maintaining these shackles! Such a village is better off abandoned! I, Hizashi Hyuga, on behalf of all Branch Family members seeking freedom, declare—withdrawal from Konoha!”
“From now on, we pledge our lives to follow Lord Shura, seeking true belonging!”
Immediately after, Shisui Uchiha within Susanoo also declared loudly, his voice spreading in all directions: “The Konoha high council has decayed to this point, chilling the heart! I, Shisui Uchiha, withdraw from Konoha!”
Then, he looked down at the silently observing Uchiha Fugaku and urged: “Fugaku Clan Head! Konoha can no longer tolerate the Uchiha! Look at our fellow clansmen around, look at the dead kin! It’s time for the final decision! For the Uchiha’s future!”
Uchiha Fugaku stood in the center of the devastated clan territory, looking at the expectant, angry, and survival-desiring eyes of the surviving clansmen, then at the mysterious and powerful Shura and Uchiha Hikari atop the high wall.
He had originally resolved to die, prepared to trade his and the clan’s blood for Sasuke’s future, but the Star Ninja’s intervention and the exposure of Danzō’s crimes let him see a different possibility in the darkness.
A completely different path that might preserve the Uchiha bloodline and power.
He took a deep breath, as if shedding a thousand-jun burden, or gathering all his determination; his heavy yet utterly clear voice resounded across the battlefield:
“I… as the Uchiha Clan Head, declare…”
“The Uchiha Clan, effective immediately—”
“Withdraws from Konoha!!!”
These resounding words, like the final death knell, for this bloody night and the decades-long grievances between the Uchiha and Konoha, drew a fractured rest note.
