There had always been a legend circulating in the shinobi world: only those who possess the Sharingan can defeat the Sharingan.
Although this statement was a bit too absolute, it did show the absolutely strong and special status of the Sharingan. Only when one had the same power could they fight against it.
And among the Sharingan, only a Mangekyō Sharingan could fight against a Mangekyō Sharingan!
The moment Hiashi spoke, Fugaku, who had subconsciously activated his Mangekyō Sharingan due to his excited emotions, suddenly felt the same level of ocular power, and it was on Hiashi!
"Who is it?!"
The skeletal form of Susano'o erupted around Fugaku at once. Under the astonished eyes of the high-level Konoha jōnin around him, Fugaku's expression was solemn, and his killing intent soared.
"What are you doing, Uchiha Fugaku?!"
"A Susanoo?! This is the Hokage's office!"
"Calm yourself, clan head!"
Fugaku's extreme reaction left everyone stunned. Danzō in particular narrowed his eyes, his voice cold:
"I know that the Elder Council voting for the Fifth Hokage to step down has never happened before, but the Fifth Hokage doesn't need to be so emotional, does he?"
"Now you've revealed your Mangekyō Sharingan and activated your Susanoo. Are you trying to use force to resist the Elder Council!"
"Shut up!" Fugaku growled, searching rapidly for the source of that alien ocular power.
But disappointingly, that ocular power flashed and disappeared. Even with his Mangekyō activated, Fugaku found nothing.
Fugaku already had a guess in his heart. He looked at Danzō with a grim gaze.
There was no doubt—the only reason Danzō dared strike at him so brazenly today was because he had found an ally with the Mangekyō. And most likely, that ally was none other than the masked man from before!
But it wasn't a big problem. As long as he stabilized the situation now, none of these would be a problem.
"Fifth Hokage, please deactivate your Mangekyō and give up resisting with force." Danzō spoke again. His cane made a thud sound as it hit the ground: "You should know that you are going against the rules of Konoha and against all of Konoha!"
"No matter what, please deactivate your Mangekyō first, Hokage-sama."
"That's right, Fugaku. You need to calm down."
"Don't do something that you will regret, Fifth Hokage!"
Everyone also spoke up one after another. Although they were also surprised that Hiashi would stand on Danzō's side, they were even more afraid of Fugaku going berserk.
They had seen the power of the Mangekyō and the Susanoo too many times, so they naturally didn't want this power to be used on them.
"Silence! Can't you see Hiashi is under genjutsu?!" Fugaku roared.
He wasted no more words on fools. With his Mangekyō blazing, his eyes locked on Hiashi, attempting to shatter the illusion that clouded the Hyūga's mind.
His ocular power—enhanced by Hashirama's cells and reinforced with spiritual power—was no longer what it had once been. He was no longer weaker than that masked man.
Now, he had absolute confidence in suppressing another Mangekyō.
An immense tide of ocular power poured forth, striking Hiashi directly.
"Ungh…" Hiashi groaned, his pure white Byakugan flashing with confusion and struggle. The sight left everyone around him stunned.
Could it be that Hiashi was really being controlled by a genjutsu?
It made sense. Otherwise, how could the one always aligned with Fugaku suddenly betray him to stand at Danzō's side?
Before long, the look of confusion in Hiashi's eyes slowly receded. Fugaku breathed a sigh of relief, and his expression relaxed.
"Finally handled… Hiashi, just now you were under genjutsu—"
"Controlled by what?"
Hiashi Hyūga frowned and looked at Fugaku with an expressionless face: "Fifth Hokage, your actions are probably really as Elder Danzō said. You are no longer the Hokage of Konoha."
"What?!"
Fugaku's face stiffened, while to the side, the corner of Danzō's mouth lifted slightly.
"Hiashi, have you gone crazy?"
"You're the one who's crazy, Fugaku." Hiashi Hyūga was expressionless: "Even if Elder Danzō's guess about you has some issues, your previous action of casually activating your Sharingan and using a genjutsu on me, a Konoha elder, is enough to show your problem."
"Fugaku, as a member of the Konoha Elder Council, I demand you to carry out the Elder Council's political order to step down! You, who have gone down the wrong path, are no longer suitable to be the Hokage of Konoha!"
"This is impossible..." Fugaku's body swayed, and he fell into the Hokage's seat. His face was full of disbelief.
He had clearly used his Mangekyō to dispel the genjutsu on Hiashi. How could Hiashi still say such a thing...
Wait, could it be!
The Mangekyō in Fugaku's eyes stared intently at Hiashi. He quickly saw a hint of confusion in Hiashi's pure white eyes.
Sure enough, the genjutsu on Hiashi had not been dispelled!
But how was this possible!
His ocular power had been acknowledged by Yuki Yoru himself—so strong it was said to rival the fabled Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan of his ancestor.
With such eyes, apart from Shisui and that ultimate weapon known as Hikari, who could possibly contend with him?
No one… no one at all!
And yet now—
If Danzō knew what Fugaku was thinking in his heart at this moment, he would definitely sneer.
It was true that the power of your dōjutsu had been greatly enhanced by spiriutal power, but my eye... had also long been reborn!
"It's you!"
Fugaku suddenly looked up at Danzō. The person who could solve the problem was the person who caused it. The beneficiary of Hiashi doing this was Danzō.
Since he couldn't dispel the genjutsu on Hiashi, why didn't he just take down Danzō directly!
"Hand over the person behind this, Danzō, or you won't want to see the consequences!"
"I don't understand." Danzō was expressionless: "Fifth Hokage, do you not have the guts to take responsibility?"
"You've also activated your Mangekyō. You said there was something wrong with Elder Hiashi, and you checked. Now you've come back to me."
"Fugaku... Fugaku... have you, as the Hokage, fallen to this extent under the corruption of Yuki Yoru!"
"Shut up!" Fugaku was too lazy to say more to Danzō. The Uchiha clan had never been good at talk no jutsu: "Since you are so stubborn, then I'll wake you up and make you understand what you should and shouldn't do!"
The skeletal hand of the Susanoo formed a fist. Under everyone's exclamations, it suddenly smashed down at Danzō.
Danzō twisted his body to dodge. The skeletal hand of the Susanoo smashed the floor into pieces.
"Susanoo!"
The Susanoo, which only had a skeleton, instantly transformed into its third stage under the activation of dōjutsu. A giant sword condensed from chakra fiercely fell toward Danzō.
Danzō's expression was grim, but a hint of a cold smile flashed in his eyes. He looked at the ninja who were noticing the situation here and shouted again.
"Do you understand what you are doing, Uchiha Fugaku?!"
Danzō shouted loudly: "Even as the Hokage, you have no right to use violence against a member of the Elder Council!
Let alone when you have already been voted to step down by the Elder Council and have lost all of your rights as the Hokage!"
"I'm warning you for the third time, Uchiha Fugaku, put down your force and accept the Elder Council's investigation, or else!"
BOOM!!
At that moment, Fugaku found himself riding the tiger, unable to dismount.
He too realized that more and more shinobi were gathering—and what his actions would mean.
But there was no point in saying more now. In his opinion, as long as he took down Danzō, he would naturally be able to handle everything with his status as the Hokage.
But today, Danzō seemed to have maxed out his dodging. His movements were especially showy. Even with his Susanoo activated, Fugaku was astonished to find that his attacks could not touch Danzō at all.
One or two times, Fugaku thought Danzō was lucky, but under his almost full-power attack, Danzō was still able to easily dodge. While dodging, he was also shouting loudly. This made Fugaku clearly realize that something was wrong!
"I can't drag this on any longer!"
Feeling the strange and scrutinizing gazes from all around him that were changing as Danzō continuously explained, the Mangekyō in Fugaku's eyes was suddenly activated. A vast ocular power roared out.
In an instant, his dōjutsu was unleashed, dragging both him and Danzō from the Hokage's office into a dim, gray space of illusion.
"Spill everything here, Danzō."
Fugaku looked at Danzō, who was covered in a gray light, with a cold expression. He said coldly: "Tell me the whole story and who the person behind you is!"
Danzō glanced around the gray illusory domain, then gave a low chuckle.
"So this is your Mangekyō's technique… rather ordinary, Fugaku."
"What?" Fugaku was stunned. Before he could say anything, a stinging sensation came from his eyes.
In the next moment, the gray world around him was covered in a dark red world. A blood-red moon covered the sky!
"This is—!!"
As the head of the Uchiha clan and a user of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Fugaku could not be more clear about what was happening at this moment.
This was Mirror Heaven and Earth Change. His dōjutsu had been reflected by Danzō and even overwritten!
And this technique at this moment was...
Fugaku suddenly looked up at Danzō. What came into his eyes was a pair of complex, blood-red eyes.
"Tsukuyomi!"
In the world that was like a blood-red abyss, Fugaku was nailed to a cross.
Shimura Danzō had one hand behind his back and the other on his cane. He looked at Fugaku, who was full of shock and astonishment, and seemed to be filled with grief and indignation.
"I told you not to use force, but you didn't listen at all. As expected, you guys with the Uchiha bloodline are dangerous and evil people with no brains."
"You're like this, and that masked man is like this. The same arrogance, the same foolishness."
Fugaku struggled, pouring out his ocular power to break free. Yet the bindings were beyond anything he had anticipated. No matter how fiercely he unleashed his eyes, the chains held fast, swallowing all resistance like stones vanishing into the sea.
This level of dōjutsu—so the one who controlled Hiashi earlier… was none other than Danzō?!
But how… how had Danzō acquired Sharingan of such monstrous power?!
"It seems you're very confused."
Danzō took out the hand that he had behind his back and condensed a sharp blade with Yin Release chakra. He pierced it into Fugaku's body.
"This world is never as simple as you see it, Uchiha Fugaku. You see Yuki Yoru as a god, but have you ever thought about why Yuki Yoru has never dared to implement his ambitions in the shinobi world, and has always been accumulating power?"
One sword after another pierced into Fugaku's body. Fugaku gritted his teeth. Veins popped out on his forehead, and he was covered in cold sweat.
"This world has too many existences that have surpassed your imagination, Fugaku. And you, who are so foolish and so blind, how can you occupy the Hokage's seat?"
"You should give up this position."
"Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
The unspeakable pain made Fugaku unable to bear it any longer. His painful wails echoed throughout the entire Tsukuyomi space.
After seventy-two hours of terrifying torture, Fugaku's body in the real world suddenly trembled. The third stage Susanoo shattered like a bubble.
At this moment, Danzō's hands quickly formed hand signs, and a dense amount of curses directly covered Fugaku's body.
"Triple Binding Sealing Technique!"
The weak Fugaku was completely unable to stop the sealing jutsu from spreading. In just a moment, his entire body was completely covered by the jutsu.
"Elder Danzō!"
"What's the matter, Elder Danzō!"
"The Fifth Hokage actually..."
The others arrived belatedly, only to witness Fugaku bound in Danzō's seal. Their shock was immense—but alongside it, a surge of respect as they saw the breathless, sweat-streaked Danzō still standing tall.
Originally, they were worried that the berserk Fifth Hokage would be unstoppable and cause large-scale destruction to Konoha.
But they never expected that Danzō would actually take on the Fifth Hokage who was using his Susanoo and seal him.
Was this the strength of the older generation?
Many people looked at Danzō. In their minds, they couldn't help but think of the era of Danzō and the Third Hokage.
In that era, it was Danzō and the Third Hokage and the others who propped up the entire Konoha!
The name of the Shinobi of Darkness was built with countless blood and glorious battle achievements!
"It's fine now."
Danzō took two deep breaths and calmed down his rapid breathing after the 'intense battle'. He said calmly: "The Fifth Hokage has a big problem. He has been jointly voted to step down by our Elder Council."
"Before everything about the Fifth Hokage is investigated and a new Sixth Hokage is elected, all of Konoha's affairs will be handled by our Elder Council!"
"Yes!"
Everyone had no objections.
A few people from the Uchiha clan wanted to say something, but everything that had happened before was too sudden. They didn't dare to act recklessly.
They had all seen the berserk and crazy Fugaku, and at the same time, they understood what conditions were needed for the Elder Council to have the Hokage step down.
Now was a time of war. There was nothing that could be done that was more correct than what Danzō had done at this moment.
"Someone."
Seeing that the situation was completely under his control, a subtle smile appeared on the corner of Danzō's mouth. He slammed his cane onto the ground and summoned two Root shinobi.
"Take the Fifth Hokage away and investigate him thoroughly!"
"Yes!"
Fugaku Uchiha, whose limbs and face were sealed by the sealing jutsu, had his Hokage robes stripped off by the Root ninja and was taken away like a criminal.
For a moment, many people's gazes went back and forth between Fugaku and Danzō. Their expressions were a little dazed. It was as if they had returned to the day when the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was taken down by Fugaku.
Times had changed. One person sang their part, and another came on stage. Who would have thought that Fugaku would suddenly collapse and that the new person to take the stage would actually be Danzō Shimura!