Just as Ren arrived and settled himself comfortably on the branch, all three figures below had already sensed him.
Ren hadn't bothered masking his presence in the slightest. His chakra signature was as obvious as a flare in the night sky, and the moment he pulled out popcorn and juice, the lips of the three men twitched almost in sync, Hiruzen with weary resignation, Danzo with raw irritation mixed with fear, and Kagami was still, he obviously knew that Ren would come, he lived for fun and for someone like Ren this would be the greatest fun.
Still, none of them said anything.
The mood had already been set long before Ren's arrival, and more importantly, there was nothing being said here that Ren shouldn't hear. If anything, it was fitting that a Senju heir watched this unravel.
Kagami took a slow, measured breath.
He didn't look at Danzo first.
Danzo lay near his feet, half-propped on one arm, his breathing uneven, eyes flickering between Kagami and Hiruzen like a cornered animal. Kagami ignored him completely, as if he were nothing more than a stain on the ground.
Instead, Kagami lifted his gaze and locked eyes with Hiruzen.
The anger in his voice wasn't explosive, it was heavy.
"You have disappointed not just me," Kagami said slowly, each word weighed down by years of restraint, "but Sensei as well."
Hiruzen's shoulders stiffened.
Kagami continued, his tone sharpening. "Do you have any idea how much he trusted you? How much Mito-sama trusted you? They believed in you enough to entrust the village to you, to entrust the lives of thousands to you."
His grip tightened around the hilt of his blade, knuckles whitening.
"We put aside the hatred between Senju and Uchiha. We buried decades of blood and suspicion because we believed the village mattered more. We stood beside you when others doubted you." His eyes narrowed. "And this is what you did with that trust."
He finally glanced down at Danzo and the look alone was enough to make Danzo flinch.
"You let this bastard run wild," Kagami said, voice dropping to a cold, cutting edge, "and rot the village from the inside."
He spat.
The saliva splattered against the ground inches from Danzo's face. Danzo scrambled back instinctively, heart pounding, but Kagami didn't even acknowledge the movement.
"So many capable shinobi died," Kagami went on, gaze returning to Hiruzen. "Why? Because your friend couldn't stand someone stronger than him. Someone with greater political weight. Someone who didn't need to hide in the shadows to be respected."
Hiruzen opened his mouth, but Kagami raised his voice just enough to cut him off.
"I am talking about that lad Sakumo Hatake."
The name hit like a hammer and even Ren paused mid-chew to take this in carefully.
"And don't insult me by pretending you were unaware," Kagami continued. "Danzo didn't spread those rumors in a vacuum. He dared to do so because you did nothing. Because your silence gave him permission."
Hiruzen's expression cracked, just a little.
"If you had acted," Kagami said, voice rising for the first time, "imagine what the village would look like now. Sakumo alone would have been enough to handle the Nine-Tails. Enough to prevent the catastrophe."
He took a step forward.
"The Fourth would still be alive. Kushina would still be alive. Minato had begun repairing what you let fester, he handled the Uchiha with respect, not suspicion. The clan was ready to stand with the village again."
Kagami laughed then but it was bitter and hollow.
"And yet, because of Danzo's actions, and your failure to stop them the village lost Sakumo. That loss led to the loss of the Fourth. And now," his voice hardened further, "the strongest military force the village has is tearing itself apart."
He gestured vaguely toward the Uchiha compound in the distance.
"My clan is fractured, brothers are killing brothers, children are staining their hands with the blood of their own kin." His eyes burned. "All because you chose comfort over action."
Kagami stopped directly in front of Hiruzen.
"Is this how you repaid my faith in you, Hiruzen?"
Silence stretched.
Then Kagami let out a quiet, humorless laugh.
"No," he said. "I shouldn't even be surprised."
Hiruzen's eyes constricted slightly.
"You didn't even protect Sensei's clan," Kagami went on, voice dropping into something dangerously calm. "You couldn't even protect his daughter."
Hiruzen's breath caught.
"You forced her hand," Kagami said, each word a blade. "Cornered her with politics and fear until she broke. And that path, your path, led her to her death."
The clearing was utterly silent.
It was at that exact moment when the weight of Kagami's words still hung heavy in the air that Danzo finally steadied his breathing and spoke.
His voice was calm, too calm.
"Twisting the facts," Danzo said, lips curling upward, eyes sharp and calculating. "That's what you Uchiha do best."
Kagami's head turned slightly, just enough to acknowledge him.
Danzo continued, his tone growing sharper, more venomous. "You claim Hiruzen led Sayaka to her death. You claim negligence, weakness, hesitation." He let out a low, manic chuckle. "But I saw it very clearly."
Everyone felt it then, a subtle shift, like something ugly crawling out of the dark.
"It was you," Danzo said, pointing shakily at Kagami. "You stabbed her heart. You ripped her apart. You killed her."
The words slammed into the clearing.
Danzo's expression twisted into something almost ecstatic as he threw his head back and laughed, then turned his gaze upward, straight toward Ren.
"You heard it right, brat," Danzo shouted, voice cracking with glee. "The one you trust so much? He's the one who killed your mother. He's the one you should kill for revenge."
For a brief second, Danzo allowed himself hope.
If Ren turned on Kagami, if these two monsters clashed, then everything would change. Kagami and Ren tearing each other apart would give him the opening he needed. Hiruzen might talk about justice, might steel his heart, but he would never truly be able to kill Danzo himself.
Not after everything, this way chaos would be his escape.
But before anyone else could speak, before Kagami could move, before Hiruzen could react, a voice cut cleanly through the tension.
"Don't listen to that little bitch, Ren."
Ren paused mid-chew.
Popcorn halfway to his mouth, he froze, confusion flickering briefly across his face, not shock, not anger, just mild curiosity, like he'd heard something that didn't quite add up.
'Hm,' he thought lazily. 'That can't be true.'
His gaze drifted down to Kagami, instinctively flicking to the faint status overlay only he could see. The information there was immediate and absolute.
'He didn't kill her,' Ren concluded. 'Or more accurately, he couldn't have.'
His mind clicked through the timeline effortlessly. 'If my conjecture is right, he wouldn't even have been alive in the village at the time of her death.'
Then Ren heard Juichi's voice and he turned his head slightly.
Juichi was approaching from the far side of the clearing, Utakata walking beside him. Juichi's expression was tight with concern, eyes locked on Ren as if gauging his reaction.
Ren blinked once.
Then smiled.
"Oh," he said casually, waving a hand in their direction. "Hey, Dad, Sensei."
He tossed another handful of popcorn into his mouth like nothing of importance had just been said.
"Don't worry," Ren continued around a mouthful, swallowing before speaking clearly again. "I obviously won't listen to him, even if he were telling the truth. Much less when he's lying."
Danzo's eyes widened.
Ren leaned back against the tree branch, utterly relaxed, legs swinging slightly. "Though," he added thoughtfully, "the commander is involved in her death in some way. That much is obvious."
"But," Ren went on, completely unfazed, "it's not as simple as 'he killed her.' There's a whole mess of variables there. A proper mystery, really."
He tilted his head toward Juichi and Utakata. "Come sit beside me. Let's wait until they finish yelling at each other, then we can talk about Mom properly."
The clearing fell into stunned silence.
No one, absolutely no one, had expected that reaction.
Danzo stared in disbelief. Hiruzen looked utterly lost. Even Kagami faltered for the first time, his expression betraying something dangerously close to surprise.
Ren, after hearing that the man standing below might have killed his mother, was… snacking.
Either he knew something he shouldn't, or he truly didn't care.
Both possibilities were unsettling.
To most, Ren's reaction bordered on heartless. Sayaka Senju had died at the moment of his birth; he had never known her, never spoken to her, never felt her presence. It wasn't impossible to believe that he simply didn't care. Cold, perhaps, but understandable.
And yet.
Juichi understood.
Kagami understood.
The two men exchanged a brief, almost imperceptible look.
Because if anyone in the world knew the full truth of Sayaka's death, every hidden thread, every buried decision, it was them.
And in that moment, both of them realized the same unsettling thing.
The secret they had kept buried for twelve long years…
Ren might have already uncovered it.
For a few long seconds, no one spoke.
The silence wasn't peaceful, it was heavy, oppressive, like the air before a storm finally broke. Ren noticed it immediately, his brows knitting together as he slowly finished chewing, eyes moving from face to face.
"…Why'd you all stop?" he asked, genuinely confused.
He swallowed, then pouted a little, clearly dissatisfied. "Hey! Continue, continue," he urged, waving the hand holding his popcorn bucket. "I wanna hear old man Hiruzen's side too."
That did it.
Every gaze snapped toward Hiruzen.
Ren leaned forward slightly on the branch, elbows resting on his knees, tone still casual, but his words were anything but.
"C'mon, old man," Ren said lightly. "Tell us your excuse. One founding clan your teacher's clan, wiped out, gone. Now the other founding clan was this close to following the same path."
He tilted his head, tapping the rim of the popcorn bucket against his knee. "Was this all part of some elaborate plan? A grand scheme to consolidate power? Or was it just… neglect stacked on top of neglect until everything rotted?"
He pointed at Hiruzen with a fistful of popcorn.
"What's your answer?" Ren asked, his voice still calm. "Tell us. We want to know. The village wants to know. Hell," he spread his free hand wide, "the nation wants to know."
The words landed hard.
Even with the casual delivery, there was no mistaking the weight behind them. This wasn't mockery anymore. This was an accusation laid bare in front of witnesses who mattered.
Hiruzen stood very still.
His lips parted slightly, as if he wanted to speak, but no words came out.
Before that silence could stretch any further, before Hiruzen could even gather himself.
Danzo moved.
A violent surge of wind chakra erupted from his hands, shredding the ground beneath him and blasting outward in a violent arc. Dust, debris, and broken leaves exploded into the air as Danzo forced distance between himself and Kagami, his body already twisting as he turned to flee.
For the briefest instant, it looked like he might actually make it.
Then every instinct he had honed by decades of survival screamed.
His vision tilted.
There was no pain at first. Just a strange sensation, like the world spinning faster than it should.
A cold voice followed, close enough to brush his ear.
"Don't ruin my fun, you old man."
Danzo's world inverted.
The ground rushed up.
And then, nothing made sense to the people gathered here.
A heartbeat later, reality snapped back into place.
Danzo found himself sitting on his ass again, legs splayed awkwardly in front of him, lungs heaving as if he'd just woken from a nightmare. His head was still attached, his body was intact.
Ren stood directly in front of him, sword in hand, looking down at him with utterly indifferent eyes.
Danzo froze as Ren glanced at Danzo for exactly one more second, then turned away as if the man beneath him had already ceased to matter.
"Let's ignore this one," Ren said casually, sheathing the sword with an easy motion.
He looked back toward Hiruzen, his expression shifting, not angry, not mocking, just expectant.
"Please speak, Gramps."
~~~~~
{As per my research Danzo has 13 Sharingan, including Shisui's Mangekyo, out of the 13, he has now used 2, one when he was coming out of hiding and one just now as Ren killed him once, so there are 11 more.
I am planning on having different people kill him each time with Ren neutralizing him, people like Naruto, Kakashi, Fugaku, Itachi, Kagami/Yoru, Hiruzen (the final kill), Juichi for fun, so that's seven, do you anyone else in mind? I would've used Tsunade and even Pain if Ren had full mastery of the FTG but we gotta work with what we have, so tell me if you want anyone else to kill him, I'll see what I can do.}