"Ah, who?"
Hatake Satoru paid, still holding the cotton candy, and turned around, looking a little confused.
"Satoru-san, you really are clueless about what's going on..."
Tenzo glanced at Hatake Satoru, a few dark lines appearing above his head.
The situation was almost about to turn into a fight, and this guy hadn't even noticed.
"Oh, that's right, this is the sarcasm I taught you before."
"I just want to eat this."
Hatake Satoru replied casually.
While chewing on cotton candy, he tilted his head and looked at the chaotic scene in front of the street.
The people on the ground and their clothes with fan patterns basically revealed their identities.
"Oh, it's just the Uchiha police department catching a thief."
"But don't they think this is a bit too much for catching a thief?"
Even someone like Tenzo, who wasn't exactly full of common sense, knew that catching a thief didn't require beating them up like this in the middle of the street.
It was clear that even someone like Tenzo, who didn't understand the Uchiha, couldn't watch this without feeling uncomfortable.
Let alone the ordinary people who already had complaints about the Uchiha clan.
As more villagers gathered around, their murmurs grew louder.
Although the thief had done something wrong, the focus of their discussions was on the Uchiha clan.
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
The person lying on the ground either was faking it or really got hurt.
As soon as they saw the crowd gather, they started shouting loudly.
With the situation escalating, Tenzo couldn't help but step forward.
"Don't you think we should stop this?"
Hatake Satoru placed a hand on Tenzo's shoulder to hold him back and casually passed him a piece of his cotton candy.
"Oh? Which side do you want to stop? Or do you think one of them is wrong?"
"???"
"Looking at it this way, it's definitely the Uchiha."
Tenzo clearly didn't expect Hatake Satoru to respond so calmly, and his words hit him like a bucket of cold water.
Tenzo looked down at the cotton candy in his hand, confused.
"Oh, so if you helped those villagers and taught the Uchiha a lesson..."
"What if the next time someone steals a wallet, and the Uchiha don't step up to chase the thief?"
"Are you going to chase them?"
Hatake Satoru pointed with his half-eaten cotton candy at the people ahead.
"Well, that's true..."
Tenzo's voice weakened.
In fact, when Hatake Satoru asked him to pick a mistake earlier, he had hesitated.
After hearing this, Tenzo could see that Hatake Satoru did have a point.
Hatake Satoru released his hand from Tenzo's shoulder and turned to look at the rack nearby.
It had many different styles of sunglasses hanging on it.
Wearing an eye patch all the time could get a bit stuffy—maybe it was time to find something similar to replace it.
As for these people, neither side was good.
The Uchiha clan was being targeted and weakened, and everyone had this frustration inside them.
In this situation, it was hard to say there wasn't some misplaced anger.
And these civilians weren't behaving like normal people—they had their wallets stolen, yet they were defending the thief.
But this also showed that the Uchiha were continuing to lose the people's trust.
Whether with the higher-ups of Konohagakure or the civilians, they were becoming two opposing sides.
This opposition, as long as no one backed down, would only grow stronger, eventually leading to a complete divide.
Hatake Satoru had no interest in taking sides or judging who was right or wrong among them.
In his opinion, if the medical unit had enough people, both of these groups should be sent in to get their heads checked.
"Move along! Move along!"
"Nothing to see here! Stop gathering around!"
The Uchiha clan clearly had to deal with this kind of trouble often lately. After loudly dispersing the crowd, they took the offenders away.
After a brief commotion, the street quickly returned to normal as if nothing had happened. Aside from a few bloodstains on the ground, everything was back to the way it was.
Tenzo stood off to the side, watching everything in a daze.
After a long silence, he turned to Hatake Satoru as if snapping back to reality.
"So, we just stand by and watch when this happens?"
Hatake Satoru, wearing both a blindfold and sunglasses, casually stuffed his hands into his pockets and smiled indifferently.
"Of course not. I just don't feel like getting involved today."
"You can pick any side you want, as long as you won't regret it later."
"There's no right or wrong in a situation like this."
…
Inside the Hokage's office.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura sat behind the table.
In front of them, Shisui knelt on one knee.
"The conflicts between the Uchiha and the villagers are becoming more frequent."
"And the discussions about a coup within the clan are still ongoing—they have no intention of stopping."
The expressions of the four behind the table darkened.
"What do you plan to do, Sarutobi?"
"If we don't act now, we'll only be more passive in the future."
"This is the time for you, as the village leader, to issue an emergency order."
Danzo was the first to speak, making the issue sound as urgent and severe as possible before throwing it onto Sarutobi Hiruzen's shoulders.
Last time, not only did they fail to retrieve Kakashi's Sharingan, but they also lost a Wood Release user.
Danzo had been looking for a way to make up for that loss.
Now that the Uchiha problem was getting worse, if he could use this chance to take all those red-eyed rabbits down…
Losing Kakashi's eye wouldn't matter much anymore.
Kneeling before them with his head lowered, Shisui suddenly looked up with determined eyes and said,
"Please wait. There is still a way to stop this. I want to try."