The lights of the Hokage's office did not go out even deep into the night.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's silhouette was rendered somewhat indistinct within the drifting haze of smoke.
After Itachi left, the words "his ocular power is stronger than mine" echoed over and over in Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind.
Yet another Mangekyō Sharingan.
And one that had appeared on an Uchiha Shinsuke whom Sarutobi Hiruzen had absolutely no control over and could not see through at all.
This was no longer merely a threat.
This was a sharp blade hanging over Konoha's head, ready to fall at any moment.
Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his throbbing temples.
His gaze drifted instinctively toward another dossier on the desk, the one submitted by Danzō.
Elimination.
Perhaps Danzō's method was the simplest and most effective after all.
That thought flashed through his mind for only an instant before Sarutobi Hiruzen forcibly pushed it back down.
No.
That could not be done.
Uchiha Shinsuke was now the spiritual pillar of the Uchiha clan, and moving against him would be tantamount to igniting the entire Uchiha directly.
That would be a civil war Konoha could not bear.
Another way had to be found.
The following day, the streets of Konoha were as lively as ever.
Sunlight filtered through the gaps between leaves and scattered a patchwork of light and shadow across the ground.
Yet there was a slightly different quality in the air.
"Did you hear? That Uchiha elder who just rose to power, Uchiha Shinsuke."
"I heard his ambitions are enormous, he wants the Uchiha to break away from the village!"
"That's putting it mildly! I heard the Nine-Tails incident had something to do with him, the Uchiha clan has been planning a revolt for ages!"
At the entrance of a ramen stall, several housewives had gathered, voices lowered but faces alight with excitement as they gossiped freely.
A guard unit member on patrol, Uchiha Miki, happened to pass by and overheard the conversation.
Uchiha Miki's face turned ashen in an instant.
"What nonsense are you people spouting!"
Uchiha Miki lunged forward and roared.
Elder Shinsuke was the hero leading the Uchiha toward greatness.
He, Uchiha Miki, would never allow these ignorant villagers to slander him in such a manner.
The women were startled by the fierce killing intent radiating from Uchiha Miki, but the stout woman at their head quickly composed herself.
Emboldened by the fact that they were in the center of the village, she planted both hands on her wide hips.
"Oh my, what did I say? We were just having a little chat, does your guard unit control everything under heaven? Are you going to stick your nose into this too?"
"You are spreading slander! You are defaming the elder of our Uchiha clan!"
"Slander?"
The stout woman's voice pitched sharply upward, drawing the gaze of even more passersby in the surrounding area.
"Who doesn't know you Uchiha? Every one of you walks around like you own the place! That one called Uchiha Shinsuke, just because he has a little power, I say he's the Nine-Tailed Fox in disguise!"
"You!"
The one-tomoe Sharingan in Uchiha Miki's eyes appeared beyond his control.
"What? Are you going to hit me?"
The stout woman was not frightened in the slightest, and instead thrust her face forward with an air of total impunity.
"Go on then! Let everyone see! This is how you Uchiha bully us ordinary villagers!"
The surrounding villagers pointed and whispered among themselves, and unfriendly eyes turned one by one toward Uchiha Miki.
Humiliation.
Fury.
Helplessness.
This made Miki think of one person.
Konoha's White Fang, Sakumo Hatake.
That man who had once been a hero of Konoha, was he not driven to his death by exactly this kind of rumor and slander?
Was Elder Shinsuke also going to repeat that same fate?
No.
Absolutely not.
At that moment, a cold and steady voice carried over from behind the crowd.
"What is going on here."
The crowd parted of its own accord to open a path.
Uchiha Shinsuke walked forward at an unhurried pace, with the expressionless Kenji and Shunichi following at his back.
Shinsuke's arrival instantly cast an invisible pressure over the entire scene.
The guard unit member who saw Shinsuke appeared to find his anchor, and stepped forward immediately to report the entire sequence of events without omission.
Uchiha Shinsuke listened to the end with no change whatsoever in his expression.
His gaze settled on the stout woman, who still stood with hands on hips and a face full of provocation.
"Was it you who said Uchiha Shinsuke is the Nine-Tailed Fox in disguise?"
A flicker of unease stirred within the stout woman, but her mouth remained stubborn.
"Yes... so what if it was me? I don't believe you dare to..."
Her words were not yet finished.
Uchiha Shinsuke tilted his head slightly and gave Kenji behind him an order.
"On the charge of openly defaming a Konoha jonin and guard unit elder, and spreading rumors harmful to the village's stability and unity, place her under arrest."
"Sentence: fifteen days of confinement in the guard unit's detention facility."
The entire scene plunged into a silence like death.
Everyone present thought they had heard wrong.
"You... what did you say? You dare to arrest me?!"
Kenji's figure flickered and appeared behind the stout woman, a cold kunai pressing against her neck.
"This way, please."
"Ahhh! Murder! The Uchiha are murdering someone in the street!"
The stout woman let out a shriek like a slaughtered pig, attempting to provoke an even greater disturbance.
Uchiha Shinsuke's brow furrowed slightly.
"Too noisy."
Shunichi stepped forward and delivered a precise knife-hand strike to the back of her neck, and the pig-slaughter screaming cut off abruptly.
Kenji dragged the unconscious stout woman away like a dead dog.
Uchiha Shinsuke's gaze swept across the dumbstruck villagers surrounding him.
He thought of what he had seen in a past life about the fate of Sakumo Hatake.
That White Fang of Konoha, who had abandoned his mission to save his comrades' lives, only to be condemned by both villagers and comrades alike, and who ultimately, under the weight of endless defamation and slander, chose to end his own life.
How pitiable.
How absurd.
To hand one's own fate over to a crowd of ignorant and foolish ordinary people for their judgment.
That was the behavior of the weak.
And he, Uchiha Shinsuke, would never place his hopes in the understanding or charity of others.
'Reputation is the shackle of the weak.'
In less than half a day, over a hundred agitated villagers had gathered at the entrance of the guard unit's building.
At their head were the stout woman's family members, screaming themselves hoarse as they denounced the Uchiha's so-called brutality.
Within the crowd, Root spies were also continuously stirring the flames, attempting to escalate the situation completely out of control.
"Down with Uchiha tyranny!"
"Give us justice!"
"Uchiha, get out of Konoha!"
Public outrage was running high.
Several guard unit members moved to maintain order, but were shoved and jostled by the furious crowd.
Inside the guard unit building, a Uchiha jonin reported to Uchiha Shinsuke with a grave expression.
"Elder Shinsuke, the people outside are highly agitated, and there are a considerable number of unidentified agitators mixed in among them, most likely Root operatives."
"Should we... take a step back for now? Release her and calm things down?"
A trace of hesitation colored his words.
This was the habitual way of thinking the Uchiha had developed over years of facing the village, to compromise and concede.
"Step back?"
"That word does not exist in the vocabulary of Uchiha Shinsuke."
Shinsuke rose to his feet, walked to the window, and looked down over the clamoring crowd below.
'They think that making the most noise gives them the right?'
'They think that I have no recourse against them because no law can punish an entire mob?'
'How naive.'
"Kenji, Shunichi."
"Here!"
"Lead the elder guard unit and apprehend every ringleader and suspicious agitator down there."
"Leave not one."
"Yes!"
Twelve figures swept rapidly out of the guard unit building.
Below, the unruly crowd was still shouting.
The elder guard unit members plunged into the crowd in a manner bordering on brute force.
The ringleaders were subdued in nearly an instant.
In the blink of an eye, over twenty people were effortlessly hoisted out of the crowd by the guard unit members and dumped at the foot of the guard unit building's steps.
The crowd that had been in uproar only moments before fell instantly silent.
Uchiha Shinsuke's figure appeared at the front entrance.
"Does anyone else have an objection to my decision?"
No one dared to answer.
Not a single person dared to shout, and none even dared to look Uchiha Shinsuke directly in the eye.
"Remember this."
"In Konoha, the guard unit is the law."
"Anyone who dares to provoke us, this is the outcome that awaits them."
With those words said, he did not spare those people another glance, and turned back into the building.
This scene caused the eyes of the young Uchiha clan members watching to blaze with fervent admiration.
This was the leader they had wanted!
Powerful! Domineering!
Someone who could defend the clan's dignity in the most direct way possible.
"Long live Elder Shinsuke!"
No one could say who called out first, but after that, a roar of cheering surged up like mountains and seas.