Nobody knew what Fugaku discussed with Messenger Sato that day, but from the very next day, the Uchiha guard department started behaving abnormally.
"Hey, Uchiha brat! Why are you standing so far away from my stall? Do you want to ignore my shop? Don't you know how to protect people?"
An angry hawker cursed at an Uchiha guard; many Konoha citizens spoke to the Uchiha this way under Danzo and Third Hokage's push.
It was just another attempt to separate the Uchiha and the village. Normally, the Uchiha tried to talk everything out peacefully, but this time around, there was a change.
"What did you call me, you fat lard?"
The Uchiha guard turned back and glared murderously at the hawker. He was wondering who to beat up this morning when this moron jumped up by himself.
*Swish*
Flickering to the hawker, the Uchiha guard raised his hand and *Slap* slapped him so hard that the hawker turned a few times before falling down unconscious.
"Hmph, trash-talking is gonna bite you back."
'Thank you, Patriarch Fugaku, for allowing me to teach this guy a lesson, and thanks, Sato-sama, for taking us out of this hell.'
The Uchiha guard emotionally thanked them both. A day ago, Fugaku told the Uchiha that enough is enough; they have been oppressed for far too long, and it's about time they fought back.
As a result, today every Uchiha guard started looking for people to beat up. They remembered everyone who oppressed them, and now it was revenge time.
"You... you actually hit him! I'll tell the Hokage; he will punish you!"
Another stall owner on the side trembled and stammered fearfully. The Uchiha guard smirked at him and raised his hand again.
"Yes, I hit him! So what, you old dog!"
*SLAP*
Another slap and another shopkeeper down. The Uchiha guard happily picked up a banana from the shopkeeper's stall and walked away.
This kind of thing was happening at every corner of Konoha. The whole village was messed up when the Uchiha collectively started to act violently.
"This is your idea, Sato...? Didn't you say there would be no violence."
Tsunade twitched her eyes. Konoha looked as if it had been looted by bandits—broken shops, dirty roads, unconscious people. Konoha's streets were in ruins.
"I never said that; I only promised no bloodshed, and there was no bloodshed."
"You know that the Uchiha won't calm down without doing something like this. I am trying to solve everything in the most fair way."
Sato shrugged and ignored Tsunade's complaints. This incident was far from simple. It wasn't just Uchiha fighting back; Hidden Cloud and Konoha were playing a political game in the background.
Sato knew that the Raikage had personally decided to intervene. The Raikage was holding back the Hokage politically, or the Uchiha would have been attacked by ANBU long ago.
"Hokage won't do anything; Hidden Cloud considers Uchiha their property now, and Konoha wants to avoid attacking our men."
"All this will be over as long as Uchiha are satisfied. Fugaku won't let them mess around too much either. You can relax; everything is under control."
Sato smiled warmly. Tsunade didn't find any warmth around her, though. She helplessly shook her head and let it go.
She does love Konoha in her heart, but she didn't stop the Uchiha. What the Uchiha were doing wasn't hurting Konoha fundamentally; it was hurting the Third Hokage's rule.
She had a talk with her teacher before, and she was disappointed. The Third Hokage knew about Danzo's plan to massacre the Uchiha, but he pretended he didn't know anything and let the plan continue.
This wasn't the Konoha she knew and loved; this was a corrupt village that needed cleansing. The Uchiha were, in a way, fighting back against this injustice.
"Anyway, how are Itachi and Fugaku? Did the eye swap work as we expected? The eyes aren't rejecting their new bodies, right?"
Sato asked curiously. Tsunade patted her forehead and said.
"There is no rejection. In fact, their eyes became better for some reason. I haven't figured out how that makes any sense, but that's what happened."
"Both Fugaku and Itachi's eyes have increased in power, yet somehow their bodies no longer have a problem supporting this strength."
"The eye you call Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan is absurd. I want to research this phenomenon, but sadly it's Uchiha; they won't let me do it."
Tsunade muttered in a dissatisfied tone. Sato blinked and thought about something before giving Tsunade an invitation.
"You can come with us, come back to the Hidden Cloud. I am sure Itachi and Shisui won't have a problem if you want to learn more about Mangekyo."
Tsunade laughed angrily and rubbed Sato's head.
"Just because I am helping you doesn't mean I like the Hidden Cloud village! I dislike them as much as the rest of Konoha."
"Don't forget, I am helping you because it's the right thing to do and won't hurt Konoha fundamentally. I am not your ally; I am just a helper."
Tsunade straight-up rejected Sato. This way he couldn't do much to convince her anymore. She obviously did not want to join him—a shame, but it is what it is.
"That's a shame; having you in my company would have helped a lot."
Sato shook his head. He wanted to take Tsunade away, but that was not possible.
"Ou, don't hit me!"
A voice suddenly caught Sato's attention. He turned around and saw a yellow-haired boy being hit with something.
A woman was pelting Naruto with rotten apples, releasing the anger and fear in her heart on Naruto. She was afraid of the Uchiha, so she targeted Naruto to feel better.
*Boom*
Before Sato could do anything to stop this, Tsunade punched the woman so hard that her teeth shattered. Ignoring her, Tsunade bent down and started healing Naruto.
She didn't know him; she just didn't like a kid being stoned by a grown woman. Konoha was rotten to the core.
"Thank you, thank you."
Naruto stammered a thank you. He was hungry and wanted to eat something, but he didn't know why everyone in the village was fighting everywhere.
He wanted to hide for a while, but the woman started to beat him up.
"Yo, Naruto, long time no see."
Naruto's desire to hide was broken when he heard a familiar voice he had heard two years ago.
Turning towards the voice with disbelief, Naruto saw the face he thought he would never see again.
"Sato... Why, why didn't you come to see me again? You promised me back then! You liar!"
Even if Naruto said this, he ran towards Sato and tackled him into a hug. Sato stumbled back but didn't resist.
Back then, he had to break his promise with Naruto because Konoha banned him from roaming around the village. He forgot about it, but Naruto himself always remembered that promise.
Naruto always looked forward to meeting with Sato. For two whole years, he kept waiting. This was why he insisted on going out of the house every single day.
He was so happy that he decided to go out today as well; if he decided to stay home, he would have missed Sato.
"I am sorry, Naruto. Your Hokage didn't want me around Konoha. They banned me from approaching you."
"If I came near you, they would have killed me or worse, hurt you."
Sato apologized with a wry smile, and Naruto looked shocked at the reason. How could that be? Why would Grandpa Hokage do this?
"What? There must be a misunderstanding. Grandpa Hokage won't do this!"
*Swish*
But Naruto wasn't able to finish his thoughts because four ninjas in black suddenly surrounded them.
These guys had white masks and fully covered bodies.
"Don't approach the jinchuriki, Cloud messenger. Danzo-sama wants to meet you. You come with us."
"You approached the Nine Tails with malicious intent. We suspect you have colluded with the Uchiha clan. Konoha needs to take you into custody."
The Anbu, or Root Ninjas to be exact, drew their swords as a threat. They quickly surrounded both Sato and Tsunade. Judging from their eyes, they wanted to kill Sato right here and now.
This was all too sudden; it surprised Sato. He totally didn't expect this to happen. Everything was going fine, but this happens out of nowhere!
'What the hell, Danzo is a complete moron or what? Doesn't he understand why Hokage is letting it all happen?'
'No, I should have expected this. Danzo doesn't understand politics. He is just a dirty rat. He only knows how to kill.'
When the Hokage and Raikage were playing politics, Danzo the idiot thought that Hiruzen was 'too soft' and attacked Sato himself.
Sato was sure that Danzo must be thinking that this was a great opportunity to kill him, the rising genius of the Hidden Cloud.
But if everything was so simple, the Third Hokage wouldn't sit quietly and let Sato do what he wanted.
"There is a reason nobody tried to stop me, you know. Stopping me will have horrible consequences, much less attacking me."
"There is a price to pay for such stupidity. I hope you are ready to pay the price, Root Ninja."
Sato was upset. Danzo really wanted to kill him. It seems plans don't work on people who are too dumb to understand them, and Danzo was such a person.
Very well, Danzo had almost killed him last time using Kakuzu. This time Danzo attacked him in plain sight. He had successfully made Sato mad.
Sato was going to mess this old man up!
Advanced chapters ahead on patréon
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