Naruto: The Uchiha They Should Have Killed Chapter 141: Maybe You Should Look for the Problem in Yourse

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression had turned extrely ugly.

Beside him, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado also looked grim.

Only Shimura Danzō appeared relatively calm.

Danzō had already reached an agreent with Orochimaru, and although the Hyūga clan had not explicitly agreed yet, they had also not rejected the proposal. With a little more pressure, they would likely fall in line.

Under these circumstances, Danzō had spent the last two days busy courting Konoha's small and dium-sized clans, leaving him with little interest in the Uchiha matter.

In his view, the Uchiha clan was troubleso by nature.

Once he took power, he could simply deal with them directly. There was no need to waste energy on them now.

"Third Hokage," Ren said calmly, "would you say it is reasonable for to call Uchiha Fugaku negligent in this matter?"

Seeing Hiruzen remain silent, Ren pressed the question again.

"…Reasonable."

Hiruzen's cheek twitched slightly.

After taking a deep breath, he continued,

"But rumors are inherently difficult to handle. Most people only repeat such words because they have been misled."

"Even though Fugaku is the Chief of the Konoha Military Police Force, he cannot arrest everyone who spreads rumors."

"So this matter cannot be blad entirely on him."

After a pause, Hiruzen looked at Ren aningfully.

"In my opinion, the best way to deal with rumors is to prevent them from arising in the first place."

"After all, there is no smoke without fire."

"As long as one's conduct is beyond reproach, even those with ulterior motives would find it difficult to spread rumors."

"So perhaps the Uchiha clan should reflect on their own problems."

"Think about why the civilians of the village hold so much resentnt toward the Uchiha."

"Reflect on ourselves?" Ren laughed coldly.

"Ridiculous!"

He looked straight at Hiruzen and snapped back without hesitation.

"Third Hokage, do you even think before you speak?"

"You want the Uchiha to examine ourselves—fine."

"But what exactly did the Uchiha clan do wrong?"

"Was Uchiha Fugaku wrong for refusing the village's request to suspend pensions for fallen shinobi, disability subsidies, and battle rit rewards?"

"I won't even ntion the rit rewards."

"But Third Hokage—do you know how important those pensions are to families who have lost their sole provider, leaving behind only widows and orphans?"

"Do you know how important those disability subsidies are for shinobi who have lost limbs and can no longer serve?"

"Perhaps you've sat in your office for too long to understand the hardships of small people like us who fight and bleed on the battlefield."

"But you should understand sothing."

"A single word from you—one command—could shatter dozens, even hundreds of families in Konoha, leaving them holess and desperate."

"If shinobi shed blood on the battlefield yet cannot even guarantee their families' daily survival—"

"Then who would still risk their lives for the village?"

"We are already bleeding for Konoha."

"Does the village now want us to shed tears as well?"

Ren 's words struck like hamr blows.

Not only did they make Hiruzen and the others look even worse, but many of the departnt heads from small and mid-sized clans felt the words deeply.

Compared to the wealthy Uchiha clan, their own families lived far more modestly.

They understood exactly what Ren ant.

Hiruzen gritted his teeth.

"Uchiha Ren , stop exaggerating the situation!"

"The village also has its difficulties. At the ti, that decision was made only as a last resort!"

Ren sneered.

"That explanation is even more laughable."

"If the village truly faced financial difficulties, you could have issued a public notice and temporarily suspended the pensions and subsidies for all casualties of the war."

"The Uchiha clan is not unreasonable."

"To be frank—our clan is wealthy. We could even compensate our fallen and injured ourselves."

"We are not lacking that small amount of pension money."

"But instead—"

"You ca specifically to the Uchiha clan alone to discuss this matter."

"So I would like to ask the Third Hokage sothing."

"Was this a deliberate move to target the Uchiha clan?"

"Or is it that the so-called strongest village in the ninja world, Konoha, truly depends on the Uchiha clan's pensions and disability subsidies to survive?"

Hiruzen froze.

For a mont, anger surged through him so strongly that he was rendered speechless by Ren 's rebuttal.

Seeing the situation deteriorate, Homura Mitokado hurriedly stepped in.

"Uchiha Ren , don't jump to conclusions!"

"The village truly faced difficulties at the ti. We also knew suspending pensions and subsidies would be controversial."

"To show our sincerity, we planned to explain the situation personally to each clan one by one."

"The Uchiha clan is Konoha's most prominent clan, so naturally we approached you first."

"We simply never expected the matter to cause such a misunderstanding and lead to everything that followed."

When they had approached Fugaku before, they had indeed asked the Uchiha to set an example.

Although it had originally been a trap, the explanation still sounded plausible now.

Ren said calmly,

"So Elder Homura is admitting that the village's handling of this matter was flawed, which led to all the subsequent events?"

At this point Homura only wanted to move past the issue as quickly as possible.

So he nodded.

"Yes. The village did not consider the matter carefully enough."

Ren imdiately laughed coldly and raised his voice.

"If even you admit this was the village's mistake—"

"Then why should the Uchiha clan be the ones reflecting on ourselves?"

"The villagers say we are narrow-minded and never treat them as our own."

"But look at the First Shinobi War, the Second Shinobi War, and now the Third Shinobi War."

"When the village needed us, when did the Uchiha clan ever fail to stand up and fight?"

"Were the Uchiha who died defending Konoha in those wars just illusions?"

"Or would any of you risk your lives for strangers?"

"The villagers say the Uchiha are cold and heartless."

"But isn't it because they violated the village's laws first?"

"The Uchiha simply enforce the rules as the Konoha Military Police Force."

"If civilians violate the rules and we enforce them—"

"Then who exactly has the problem?"

"Is it the Uchiha?"

"The villagers?"

"Or the village's own laws and regulations?"

"You want us to reflect on ourselves for this."

"You want us to reflect on ourselves for that."

"Why don't you start by reflecting on yourselves first?"

"…Damn it."

◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇

◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comnt!

◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.

◇ Read 100 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon/Sagamaster789