Malphegor
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IUTT: Ch. 112
🕑 Added 2025-06-01 18:32:02 +0000 UTCFukuyama naturally guessed what Hiruzen was thinking, but he didn't care. Since he had placed his bet, he would not regret it.
This time, he was betting on Tsunade and Shin to win.
He was an extremely intelligent man, but even the smartest people have weaknesses, his was his body. Due to numerous old injuries from his youth and his hereditary bloodline illness, he didn't have many years left to live. This was also the reason he had hidden the fact that he possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Although he was being a bit hasty now, he could no longer afford to wait.
The changes within the Uchiha clan…
The rapidly shifting attitudes of Konoha's civilians…
The growing wariness and hostility from Hiruzen, Danzō , and Koharu toward the Uchiha clan…
And that glimpse of the future he had seen…
Taking all of this into account, he had deduced that the Uchiha clan's future would be either destruction or rebellion, there was no third option. As long as he was around, perhaps the Uchiha could still live in peace. But once he was gone, his seemingly mature but actually naive son probably wouldn't be able to hold things together, wouldn't be able to come up with any useful plans, and the others were likely even worse.
In his eyes, there were very few truly intelligent people in the entire Uchiha clan. Even if they had great talent for ninjutsu, they tended to have personality flaws and often got stuck in narrow thinking.
He himself was already something of an outlier. Rather than watching the Uchiha clan slide into the abyss, it was better to take a gamble for the future. Besides, after learning about the dirty deeds the village leadership had done in secret, he was filled with anger.
On one hand, they were suppressing families like theirs with all their might, while on the other hand, they were draining the village's lifeblood to benefit their own clans.
How could any self-respecting person tolerate that?
"It looks like we need to have a proper conversation sometime," Hiruzen suddenly calmed down, his gaze sharp.
But Fukuyama only smiled happily. "I await your summons at any time."
It seemed that all the attention and pressure had now focused on him. He planned to go find Shin quietly once this farce was over. From what he knew of Shin, the man responded to kindness rather than force.
Given everything he was doing now, and the fact that their goals aligned, the Uchiha clan's future should be safe.
So this was the bet he was making.
Cards on the table.
All in.
If he won this round, the Uchiha clan would surely have a bright future.
If he lost, he would take the opportunity to have the Uchiha clan break away from Konoha, to escape the terrible future he had foreseen.
As for whether they could actually leave Konoha?
Originally, he wasn't confident. But as long as Shin was willing, his Flying Thunder God Technique could absolutely make it possible. The reason he wagered so heavily wasn't solely because of his Mangekyō Sharingan's ability to predict the future.
It was because he trusted Shin's capabilities.
From just a single interaction, the shrewd Fukuyama had analyzed and deduced many things, making him one of the few in all of Konoha who truly believed in Shin.
"You! Go bring me that guy who confessed to Biwako!" Hiruzen ultimately did not have the ANBU personally arrest him. He suppressed all his anger and instead gave the order to Fukuyama.
"As you command!" Fukuyama answered respectfully.
Leaving the Hokage Building, he slowly made his way toward the scene of the incident. By the time he returned, more than twenty minutes had passed.
The events that had unfolded here had already spread throughout Konoha.
"Fukuyama-sama!" The Police Force's ninjas were on the verge of tears upon seeing Fukuyama finally appear.
The situation had escalated beyond control, and the younger members were clearly panicking.
The Police Force already had a terrible reputation. Many villagers disliked and distrusted them. After this incident, their name would likely be even more tarnished.
"What are you panicking for?" Fukuyama scolded. "This matter involves the Hokage's wife. Of course it's up to the Hokage to make the decision. Didn't you see that he himself isn't panicking?"
"Listen up!" Fukuyama suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "The Hokage said this man deliberately insulted him. We are to arrest him, escort him to the Hokage's office, and deal with him seriously. Make way!"
"On what grounds?" the middle-aged man who had confessed loudly retorted. "If my actions were intended to insult the Hokage, then didn't the Hokage do the exact same thing to Lady Tsunade? Wasn't that an insult to her too? I don't accept this! What's wrong with loving someone? Is this the kind of tolerance and broad-mindedness a Hokage should have?"
"You don't have to accept it, just hold it in. This is the Hokage's will. Take him away!" Fukuyama ordered, sounding like he was just doing his duty.
"Yes!"
By this point, everything he intended had already been accomplished. He didn't give the man who confessed any further chance to speak.
However, the last few sentences the man shouted still reached the ears of all the onlookers. Even those who had previously been confused or had just arrived now understood what the man was really doing.
The confession was fake, the real purpose was to speak out on behalf of Tsunade. It was also a way to expose and judge Hiruzen's recent actions and words toward her.
Simply put, he was telling everyone that Hiruzen's behavior was a blatant insult of Lady Tsunade.
And if you couldn't understand it, he would act it out for you. Weren't some people still defending Hiruzen?
He wanted to see how you'd react if this happened to you.
He wanted you to witness what it felt like to be humiliated like that.
At the same time this incident was spreading, news from the Hokage's office also began to circulate. Rumors said that in a fit of rage, Hiruzen had let out a thunderous roar in the Hokage's office, people walking past the building heard it.
And, it was said that Hiruzen was even planning to send ANBU to kill the man who made the confession. His justification? As the Hokage, he couldn't allow himself to be insulted like that.
But when Tsunade had been angry for the very same reason, he had shown a completely different face. He had tried to persuade her to be magnanimous, telling her to be broad-minded and composed.
This glaring double standard made those already unhappy with him loathe him even more. Even those who had previously been neutral now felt his actions were extremely dishonorable.
Tsunade was a great contributor to the village. And yet, as the Hokage, Hiruzen kept preaching to others about tolerance and grace, what about himself?
At this point, even a fool could see that the real reason Kumo came to Konoha was to sow discord. It would've been one thing if he didn't support Tsunade, but he actually tried to suppress her, and he used Kumo's actions as a convenient excuse to do it.
Was this really something a Hokage should do?
Such ugly behavior!
As resentment toward Hiruzen grew, more and more people began to sympathize with Tsunade.
What had she done wrong?
Nothing. Yet she was being insulted for no reason. Hiruzen was acting inhumanely.
Soon, an even more outrageous rumor began to circulate throughout Konoha: It was said that the Hokage was furious about the public gossip behind his back and planned to "make an example," he would dig up a group of villagers who had criticized him privately and frame them with fabricated charges to be punished.
As a result, the entire village fell into a state of anxiety, with everyone watching to see how he would deal with the man who had made the public confession.
