Chapter 15: Danzo Appears

"Yōwan and Yōmei took heavy injuries. I'm taking them to the hospital first."

Seeing the two lying on the ground, unable to get up, the first arriving officer from the Police Force slung them over his shoulders. After receiving permission from Yakume, he left the scene.

"You go home first, Yōsi. Someone will come question you about this later."

Uchiha Yakume looked sternly at the still-sobbing Yōsi and gave him clear instructions.

"Okay, Yakume-san, but you better not go easy on that jerk Obito!"

Before leaving, Uchiha Yōsi made sure to throw a final diss at Obito.

With Yōsi and the injured gone, the atmosphere on the scene turned extremely tense.

"Obito."

Uchiha Yakume looked at Obito with a face full of disappointment.

"You fool... It was one thing to mess around before, but now you're conspiring with outsiders to harm your own clanmates?"

"For the sake of your aunt, we've tolerated you again and again. But what you did today has gone way too far!"

Yakume slowly walked up to Obito, raised his hand, and prepared to strike.

"Hey, stop it."

Unable to watch any longer, Takeshi spoke out when he saw that Obito was about to get slapped again.

But how could Uchiha Yakume listen to a child? He continued his action without a second thought.

"I said stop!"

Seeing that his words were ignored, Takeshi picked up a rock and hurled it at Yakume.

Pa! Pa!

Two crisp sounds rang out nearly simultaneously—one was the slap landing on Obito's face, the other was Yakume catching the rock with his free hand.

"Hmph, outsider. I didn't come for you—did that give you some sort of illusion?"

"I'm disciplining Obito because he's one of us. But you two..."

Yakume's sharp eyes scanned over Takeshi and Kakashi.

"You're both suspected of intentional assault. You're coming with us to the Police Force for questioning!"

"Hmph. What a joke—'Police Force'? You don't care about the truth; you just grab whoever you want."

"It was Obito who got ganged up on by the three of them, but you believe only that idiot's side of the story!"

Takeshi stood firm, his chest out, meeting Yakume's glare head-on.

"The 'noble' Uchiha clan... just a bunch of lunatics who don't care about right or wrong!"

"You little—!"

Hearing his clan insulted, Yakume finally lost all control and lunged straight at Takeshi.

But his clawed right hand didn't manage to grab Takeshi's slender neck.

Instead, it was Yakume's arm that got caught.

The remaining two Police Force members had no time to react before they felt cold metal pressed against their lower backs.

"Hmph, since when does the Anbu have time to get involved in kids' scuffles?"

Uchiha Yakume's expression twisted as he looked at the masked ninja in front of him.

Whew, I knew it.

Takeshi let out a long breath.

The reason he dared act so cocky was because he was betting that someone had his back.

Sure enough, the old man had sent someone to follow him.

"You say we're playing around, but didn't your Police Force butt in just the same? That slap just now looked pretty serious."

The Anbu—no, Root agent—spoke in a flat tone, though his grip on Yakume's arm didn't loosen at all.

Three Anbu. Who were they here for? The white-haired one? Or the black-haired one?

Wait a second... the white-haired brat... could he be...?

"So White Fang of Konoha really is something, huh. Got the Hokage to dispatch three Anbu to protect his son."

As part of the Police Force, Yakume quickly put the pieces together and realized Kakashi's identity.He immediately associated the Anbu with him.

"Oh? What a pity."

A deep voice sounded, sending chills through the Uchiha present.

From behind a tree, a figure no one wanted to see slowly stepped out.

"Dan... Danzo-sama..."

Yakume's face twisted further, and he practically ground out the name through clenched teeth.

Crap. Why did the old man show up in person?

Takeshi had thought at most a few Root agents would appear—never expected his cheap dad to come himself.

This is bad. Real bad. Did I go too far? Is he going to bring the Uchiha Massacre forward?

"Danzo? Oh, I've heard of him. They talk about him all the time in the clan. Supposedly the most evil guy in the whole village."

Obito jogged over to Takeshi and Kakashi, whispering quietly.

Seeing that neither of them responded, Obito got even more enthusiastic.

Are all you Uchiha children like this?

And seriously, how old do you guys think Danzo is?!

Takeshi couldn't help but complain internally.

"Ahem, cough cough."

Kakashi let out a couple of coughs.

Hey, Kakashi, don't try to hide it. I know you laughed. Seriously.

Takeshi sighed as he glanced at Kakashi, who had turned his head away.

"Uchiha Yakume, is this how your Police Force handles things? Arresting innocent villagers without any evidence?"

Danzo walked slowly toward him, his sinister gaze boring straight through Yakume.

"The Police Force has its own ways of enforcing the law! Even if you're an assistant to the Hokage, you have no right—"

"We also have our own ways of dealing with things. Don't we, Fugaku?"

Danzo halted and looked off in the distance.

At some unknown point, Fugaku had appeared.

Upon being called out, he stepped forward, gave Yakume a hard look, and then bowed slightly to Danzo in full view of everyone.

"I didn't expect the children's squabble to trouble you, Danzo-sama. This was my failure."

No matter how much people like Fugaku gossiped about Danzo behind closed doors, unless the Third Hokage gave the order, Danzo's position remained above the Uchiha.

Unlike Yakume, Uchiha Fugaku understood very well that Danzo commanded the Root, which followed him unconditionally.

Antagonizing such a power-wielding hawk was clearly not a smart move.

"It's fine. You came to the scene yourself, after all."

Danzo's lone eye narrowed, and the overbearing pressure from earlier disappeared.

At a glance, he now looked like a harmless old bureaucrat.

"You're too kind. I only came because Yakume's team hadn't returned. I wanted to check in."

Fugaku kept his respectful posture and quickly explained, trying to smooth things over.

"Yakume is still young. He may not have handled things properly. I hope you'll be understanding."

Fugaku's actions made Yakume and the others shut their eyes in shame.

Their own clan head bowing so submissively before Danzo—how could the proud Uchiha bear this?

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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