The Hokage's Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was handling village affairs when an Anbu appeared and reported:
"Third-sama, a group of ordinary civilians is heading toward the Hokage Building. They say they want justice for Fourth-sama."
"Justice? What justice?!"
Hiruzen frowned in confusion.
The Anbu quickly explained what had just happened—Kiyosuke's speech in the shopping district.
Hiruzen pinched the bridge of his nose.
"That damn brat… always stirring up trouble for me."
"Go investigate that person from the Shimura clan."
"Yes."
The Anbu disappeared.
Hiruzen walked over to the window and saw a growing crowd approaching—dense and dark like a sea of people. There were quite a lot of them.
He hurried down to try and pacify the civilians.
Unfortunately, they were riled up.
They were demanding that Hiruzen remove Danzō from his position.
That guy never did anything worthwhile and was constantly up to shady business, which brought nothing but harm to Konoha.
As more and more people joined the protest, Hiruzen struggled to hold them off.
In the end, he had to promise them he'd give a proper explanation in a few days.
After sending the crowd away, Hiruzen's face was black with anger.
"Bring Kiyosuke to me!"
...
Not long after, Kiyosuke arrived at the Hokage's Office.
Seeing Hiruzen's grim expression, he asked:
"Third-sama, you called me here in such a hurry. Is there an S-rank mission?"
"There's no S-rank mission. What mess have you made now?"
"I didn't do anything."
"Then what's with all those people today?"
"I have no idea. They came on their own. Maybe they're just fed up with Elder Danzō?"
Kiyosuke still wore a cheerful smile.
Anything that upset Danzō brought him joy.
"What was the point of your speech today?"
Kiyosuke acted like he'd just remembered.
"Oh, that? I just wanted to tell people not to take their hatred for the Nine-Tails out on a child. Naruto deserves a healthy environment to grow up in—one where he can see himself as part of Konoha. After all, the Hokage wouldn't want him to grow up filled with resentment and eventually betray the village with the Nine-Tails, right? That wouldn't end well."
"The environment for a jinchūriki is always harsh. People don't hide their malice toward them. Kushina grew up under the same conditions."
"But that doesn't mean Naruto should suffer through the same thing."
Kiyosuke shook his head.
"A child is like a blank canvas. The environment paints who they become. Would you really have Naruto grow up under the weight of everyone's hatred? Do you want him to become someone with a heart full of darkness?"
"No, that's not what I meant."
Hiruzen shook his head. From his point of view, Kiyosuke's intentions were good.
But the problem was that it involved Danzō...
"Danzō has done a lot for this village. I know you resent him because of the Nine-Tails incident, but you shouldn't let uninformed civilians stir up trouble."
"I didn't. It was someone from the Shimura clan who was instilling fear in people about Naruto—turning the villagers against him. That's bad for Konoha."
Just then, an Anbu returned.
He whispered something into Hiruzen's ear and then vanished.
Hiruzen let out a sigh.
"I see. In that case, Danzō brought this upon himself. It was someone from his own clan."
The Anbu had investigated.
The Shimura clan member really had attended Kiyosuke's speech and made those comments.
Later, when the Anbu interrogated him, they found no signs of genjutsu—which meant he truly said those things of his own accord.
So this wasn't Kiyosuke's fault after all.
"You made a trip for nothing. You can go back now."
"Okay."
...
The next day, the Konoha bulletin board bore a bold headline:
[Due to dereliction of duty, Shimura Danzō has stepped down from the position of Konoha Elder.]
Hiruzen had given the villagers a satisfying answer, and peace was temporarily restored.
Kiyosuke snorted.
"Third-sama really knows how to play the game."
Danzō had been stripped of the Elder title—but he still held the positions of Hokage Advisor and head of Root.
The title of Elder was symbolic at best.
The real power lay in being Hokage's right hand and the leader of Root.
And above all, Root was the most crucial post.
Root operated in shadows even deeper than the Anbu.
Its actions were even more unspeakable.
Officially, it was just a "training department" of the Anbu, but in truth, it was Danzō's personal black ops force.
He was the darkness of the village.
Hiruzen had silently allowed this for a long time.
"Tch. Got off easy. If they try anything again, I'll have the entire Shimura clan relocated."
The relocation plan never came to pass.
Danzō would never allow his clan to be moved to somewhere like the Konoha prison.
Still, he'd taken a hit—and that was all Kiyosuke wanted.
Time to let things cool down for now.
...
Later that day, Kiyosuke once again dropped by Fugaku Uchiha's home for a free meal.
But to his surprise, Fugaku wasn't home.
Mikoto had gone out as well, leaving Itachi in charge of the two younger kids.
Talk about having guts as parents!
Though Itachi was very mature for his age, was it really okay to leave the children in his care?
Naruto was still fast asleep.
Itachi sat with baby Sasuke in his arms, gently rocking him.
The doting older brother wore a look of quiet satisfaction.
No surprise there. The Uchiha were practically a factory for obsessive older brothers.
Come to think of it, this might actually be hereditary.
The Sage of Six Paths himself had been a doting big brother.
His son Indra inherited that trait—starting off as a caring older brother before Black Zetsu and the changes from his Sharingan warped him into a twisted one.
It passed down through generations.
Uchiha Madara was another one.
And now, the torch had been passed to Itachi.
"Say, Itachi... are you really able to handle looking after both Naruto and Sasuke?"
"It's not too bad. Naruto eats a lot and sleeps a lot, so he's easier to take care of. The only issue is... he and Sasuke don't seem to get along. Even when they sleep together, they fight."
Just two newborns bickering.
Nothing to worry about.
"By the way, aren't you almost old enough to start school?"
"Mm. I'll be starting soon."
Itachi nodded.
"Wow. Time really flies. It's been years since I was in school... though now that I think about it, what did I even learn back then?"
Digging through his memories, Kiyosuke realized he'd basically returned everything he'd learned in the Academy back to his teachers.
"Itachi, is school fun?"
"It's... okay, I guess. At the very least, you'll make friends. You're at the age where that's important."
"You can't go through childhood without a single friend. It'd be way too dull. Childhood's meant to be enjoyed—it only happens once, after all."
"Friends, huh..."
"Alright, let's go eat. My treat."
"But what about Sasuke and Naruto?"
"Let them sleep at home. I refuse to believe Third-sama hasn't posted Anbu around here to protect Naruto."
"Got it."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo