Shimura Danzō stared coldly at Hiruzen Sarutobi, while Hiruzen met his gaze without the slightest sign of retreat.
Danzō suddenly realized something.
His old comrade had changed.
Hiruzen was no longer as cautious about protecting his reputation as before. He had also become far more decisive.
In the past, when dealing with external affairs, Hiruzen often hesitated out of concern for the so-called greater good.
When handling internal matters, he would also hold back for the sake of the Hokage's reputation.
But now—
Danzō saw something in Hiruzen's eyes he had never seen before.
A resolve to shatter jade rather than live as broken pottery.
It shocked him.
And it made him uncomfortable.
Was it because Hiruzen had lost the position of Hokage?
But why was this resolve directed at him, a comrade who had fought alongside him for so many years?
A complicated emotion surfaced in Danzō's heart.
For a brief moment—
He even felt wronged.
Danzō took a deep breath and forced the distracting thoughts from his mind. His gaze hardened once more.
This was the closest he had ever come to becoming Hokage.
And perhaps the last opportunity he would ever have.
No matter what happened, he would not give up.
He had no path of retreat left.
With that thought, Danzō snorted coldly.
"In that case, I'm curious what else Jōnin Sarutobi wishes to question me about."
"But let me make one thing clear beforehand."
"If I answer your next question as well, then I expect you to stop targeting me."
"After all, the purpose of this Jōnin Council meeting is to select the Fourth Hokage, not to conduct an endless interrogation of me."
Danzō understood something very clearly.
If Hiruzen continued throwing accusations at him—
Even if he successfully explained every one of them—
He might still lose his chance at becoming Hokage.
Because each accusation was like throwing a bucket of mud onto him.
Even if he washed himself clean, some stains would always remain.
Hiruzen thought for a moment.
Then he nodded.
"Very well."
This time, Hiruzen was confident he could finish Danzō completely, so he accepted the condition.
Danzō gestured toward him.
"Then go ahead. The stage is yours."
Hiruzen cleared his throat.
His gaze left Danzō and slowly swept across the faces of everyone in the conference room. His expression grew solemn.
"Before discussing the problems concerning Elder Danzō," he said, "I would first like to apologize to everyone present."
With that, Hiruzen stood up—
And bowed deeply to the entire room.
Most of the people present were immediately flustered.
They didn't know whether they should accept such a gesture.
"Lord Hiruzen, please don't do this! We cannot accept such a bow!"
"Yes, yes! If there's something to say, please just say it directly!"
"Please rise, Lord Hiruzen!"
The civilian shinobi and those from clans close to the Hokage faction hesitated briefly before quickly standing up to avoid the bow.
Meanwhile—
The shinobi from clans such as the Uchiha, Hyūga, and Kurama clans—who were not particularly close to the Hokage faction—remained seated calmly.
Whatever the matter was, they clearly intended to accept the bow first.
After another brief commotion, Hiruzen straightened up.
Those who had stood also sat back down.
Hiruzen, however, did not return to his seat.
He continued speaking.
"Perhaps many of you have heard certain rumors about the village over the years."
"Some were good, some bad. Some were true, others false."
"But among them, there is one rumor in particular that had enormous consequences."
"In fact, it directly led to members of a certain clan attempting a coup against the Hokage."
As he spoke, Hiruzen looked toward someone behind Uchiha Ren—
Uchiha Setsuna, the clan's elder.
The identity of the clan that had attempted the coup was now obvious.
Hiruzen's words immediately stirred an uproar in the conference room.
Aside from a few veteran shinobi—who had already guessed what rumor he was referring to—
Most of the others were completely stunned.
Some even stood there with their mouths open.
For them, it wasn't just the rumor that shocked them.
They hadn't even known that a coup had ever taken place in the village.
Following Hiruzen's gaze, many of them turned to look at Uchiha Setsuna.
Their expressions were strange.
There was surprise.
But also… a hint of understanding.
Somehow, the idea that the Uchiha clan might attempt a coup did not feel entirely unexpected to them.
And yet—
Even after launching such a rebellion, the Uchiha clan could still sit here today in the village council meeting.
Truly worthy of being one of Konoha's founding clans.
Uchiha Setsuna snorted coldly and stood.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi," he said sharply.
"You and I both know exactly what the situation was back then."
"Since you dare to bring up that incident in this meeting…"
"Then tell me this—"
"Do you dare place your hand on your conscience and say whether I should or should not have launched that coup?"
Hiruzen fell silent for a moment.
Finally, he spoke.
"All I can say is that the village was indeed at fault first in that incident."
"But your reaction… was too extreme."
"Ha!"
Setsuna clearly wasn't satisfied with that answer.
He stood up fully, speaking with agitation.
"At the time, the Hokage faction was conducting human experiments using the village's children!"
"Which clan here wasn't affected by your actions?"
"Even the Senju clan suffered enormous damage because of it and gradually declined!"
"And you think all of that can be summed up with a single phrase—'the village was at fault first'?!"
His voice rose sharply.
"If I hadn't launched that coup and forced the truth into the open—"
"Would you have kept going until the entire village collapsed before you stopped?!"
The moment Setsuna finished speaking—
The entire conference room exploded into chaos.
"Human experimentation? How could that be?!"
"Why would the village do something like that?!"
"They used children for experiments? That's inhuman!"
"There are plenty of enemy ninja and death-row prisoners in Konoha's prisons—why weren't they used instead?!"
"Why have I never heard about this before?"
"No wonder Elder Setsuna attempted a coup… If it were me—well… Elder Setsuna really had guts!"
"I know a little about this incident," another ninja said quietly.
"Back then, most of the clans in the village were aware that something was wrong."
"But only Elder Setsuna actually took action."
"I heard that the Second Hokage originally wanted to execute him."
"But every clan in the village owed him a favor for exposing the truth."
"So they pleaded for mercy on his behalf."
"That's why his sentence was reduced to imprisonment instead of execution."
"Typical Uchiha…"
"When something happens, they really step forward."
The conference room buzzed with discussion.
Many people expressed disgust toward those responsible for the human experiments.
Some who knew the truth remained silent.
And quite a few now looked at Uchiha Setsuna with newfound respect.
It had to be said—
Because of this revelation, the reputation of the Uchiha clan had been significantly restored.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70+ chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789