Chapter 79: Crisis of Trust

Hokage Tower.

At this moment, a large number of people from various clans had gathered here, and the crowd was only continuing to grow.

Minato's sudden appearance after his recovery had taken the entire village by surprise.

Upon receiving the news, the heads of all the clans arrived in person without any delay.

They had no choice—this meeting between the Third and Fourth Hokage also involved members of the Uchiha clan.

There was a very real possibility that this meeting would determine the future of the village.

"Clan Leader Hiashi, your Hyuga have been quite close to the Uchiha lately. Did you receive any advance information?"

The current heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio exchanged glances, and Nara Shikaku spoke up.

If any clan cared most about who held the position of Hokage, it was these three—after all, they had always been the right arm of the Hokage.

At Shikaku's question, the other clan leaders turned their attention to Hiashi, all hoping for some insight.

But Hiashi simply shook his head calmly. "I'm afraid not. This whole affair happened suddenly. The Hyuga have no idea what exactly is going on."

It wasn't that he was unwilling to speak; he truly didn't know.

Though the Hyuga and Uchiha had begun to form an alliance, mutual trust would require a long journey yet.

Still, Hiashi instinctively felt that with Uchiha Rei involved in this incident, certain matters might be unavoidable.

"Very well," Shikaku said, giving up on further questioning.

Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Choza also looked on helplessly.

At that moment, all eyes turned to the distance, and the hum of conversation died at once.

Minato Namikaze appeared outside the Hokage Tower, accompanied by Uchiha Rei and Uchiha Fugaku.

"What should we do? Should we go up and stop them?"

"Are you crazy? That's Lord Hokage! How could we possibly block his way?"

"But... Lord Hokage likely isn't here with friendly intentions. Aren't we under the Third's command...?"

As the Fourth Hokage drew ever closer to the tower, the Anbu on duty below found themselves caught in a dilemma.

Ordinarily, it was perfectly natural for Minato as Hokage to come to the tower.

But now, their true leader, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was inside.

They had never faced a situation like this before and had no idea what to do.

Fortunately, at that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi himself emerged, letting the Anbu breathe a sigh of relief.

But the atmosphere only grew more tense.

All gazes drifted between the Third and Fourth Hokage, each mind awash with its own thoughts.

At last, Hiruzen broke the silence, wearing his signature gentle smile. "Minato, if you were coming, why didn't you let us know in advance?"

Minato looked at the Third, opened his mouth, then spoke with resolve. "Lord Third, this happened so suddenly that I had no choice but to come in person. I ask for your understanding."

Hearing this, Hiruzen sighed inwardly, a trace of sorrow flickering across his face.

Though little had yet been said, he knew some things had to be brought to light.

He drew out a fresh pipe, took a puff, and nodded. "It's all right. Whatever the matter, just say it. There's no need for formality between us."

Minato nodded, then turned without further hesitation to Uchiha Rei.

All eyes now landed on Rei.

Such a scene was far from new to Rei, so he stepped forward and let his voice carry across the crowd:

"This time, my clan leader and I have invited Lord Minato here out of dire necessity."

"The main reason is that there are problems within the village leadership and the Anbu."

"To put it plainly, their actions already constitute betrayal of the village!"

The crowd erupted at Rei's words.

Disbelief shone in their eyes—they wondered if they had heard correctly.

For the leadership and Anbu to be accused of betraying the village was a grave charge indeed.

"Uchiha Rei, do you have any concrete evidence? This is a serious matter—such claims can't be made lightly."

Someone in the crowd voiced the question, clearly unconvinced.

"Of course I do. If I didn't, I wouldn't have come here."

Rei had anticipated this and, without further ado, unsealed a scroll, revealing the corpses of Root members, which tumbled onto the ground.

Pointing to the bodies, Rei spoke in a calmer tone, recounting the story of how he was ambushed upon his return to the village.

"These are Root members who should have been disbanded long ago. Some are from your own clans—you should have no trouble recognizing them."

Though Danzo branded his Root operatives with 'the Curse of Ultimate Loyalty' to prevent information leaks, their faces beneath the masks could not be hidden.

These Root members had been chosen with care to ambush Rei; for the sake of strength, they could not all be mere civilian shinobi.

Given Danzo's character, he likely never considered the possibility of failure.

Now, this very flaw gave Rei grounds for his accusation.

And even if Danzo and Hiruzen denied involvement, it no longer mattered.

As he said, every deed leaves traces—everyone understood that well enough.

Root was a branch of the Anbu, and the mobilization of dozens could not escape notice if someone truly wished to investigate.

Seeing everyone still examining the bodies, Rei continued:

"To be frank, if the village believes I, Uchiha Rei, am guilty of any crime, you are welcome to put me on trial."

"If the verdict is guilty—if my life is required—I would die without complaint."

"But to send Root after me in secret like this—does it mean that I, Uchiha Rei, and the Uchiha clan are no longer considered part of the village?"

"Or is it," Rei said, "that if the village judges someone to be at fault, they can be erased outright?!"

With those words, the debate among the crowd erupted uncontrollably.

"Rei is right—even if someone is guilty, there should be a fair trial, not summary execution!"

"That's true. But why does Root, which was ordered to disband, still exist—and why are they doing this?"

"Root is supposed to be subordinate to Anbu. Without orders, they couldn't possibly act."

"Do you all remember, last time, someone stole Uchiha corpses from the battlefield? Those people were Anbu too. They said it was spies, but the truth..."

"Shh! Don't talk like that, do you want to get yourself killed?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, listening to the swelling murmurs, gripped his pipe tighter, his heart sinking.

There was nothing he could do—last time, the Anbu had already caused a problem on the battlefield.

Though he had managed to suppress the incident through various means, trust had not been restored.

Trust, like a nail hammered into the wall, leaves a mark even after it is removed.

And now, with a similar incident erupting again, the resulting crisis was sure to be even more severe.

With this realization, Hiruzen quickly stepped forward, preparing to explain.

No matter what, he could not let these accusations be confirmed as truth.

Otherwise, the clans and villagers would lose all trust in the village—and in him.