The Shopkeeper of Konoha

When Danzo recognized what the vial was, he didn't have greed in his eyes, but there was a hint of remorse. Aoto expected him to show greed but there was none. He then made a bow in Aoto's direction and remarked

"Aoto Yamazaki, I apologize for my impolite actions. I hope you will continue to support Konoha." Danzo said in a sincere manner. Hearing those comments astonished Aoto. No wonder this guy was able to manipulate everyone and he was doing the same with Aoto at the moment. This old fool's love for Konoha was his one small saving grace, but their relationship was the most twisted and toxic Aoto had ever witnessed.

Aoto remained silent and simply let Danzo, Fuu, and the masked Anbu go. The man felt both appreciative and upset with Aoto, yet he refrained from speaking to his boss for even a little moment. Aoto considered it a waste that he wasn't killed.

"His time will come." Aoto muttered to himself. Aoto, though, stayed put for the time being and simply observed the night sky. He spoke in a somewhat high tone after about three minutes.

"You can come out."

There was silence.

"You have been looking at me for such a long time. Even sent Shisui to monitor me. And you took the mission yourself once he told you there was a ruckus. It wasn't disappointing at all, Right?" Aoto kept waiting for a response.

Then, out of the shadows cast by the nearby water tank on the top of the roof, there was a movement as a guy came into view. Fugaku Uchiha was the one who had risen from the shadows.

"You are an enimga Aoto Yamazaki. A mystery box that I am not able to solve." Fugaku spoke gently as he got closer to Aoto. There was no fear in his steps and he seemed to be genuinely surprised by Aoto.

Aoto flung a medium-sized jar at him without offering an answer. Fugaku already had his sharingan turned on, so he could see what was coming at him. It was the sharingan eye that Aoto took away from Danzo. Fugaku arrived here shortly after the Anbu did. The system had alerted him that Shisui had been hidden and watching him for a considerable amount of time. This took place following Fugaku's previous stop. He was curious about the mysteries this man might be hiding. Sadly, Aoto lacked these traits and was one of the most uninteresting businessmen ever.

Either he was working, sleeping, or eating. Social life was nearly nonexistent. The only little social life he had was with Teuchi and Ayame along with his employers who lived with him. Out of nowhere Shisui showed up at Fugaku's doorstep and spoke of the Abu attack.

He immediately got into action. Even though he was upset with Aoto, he didn't have any particularly evil intentions for the latter. It was later he understood that Aoto had just saved his son. Itachi might have suffered a lot later and passed away young if he hadn't had thus early a diagnosis. So he wanted to safeguard Aoto from any harm.

Plus, it meant that Danzo was aiming at Aoto. He would never permit such a thing to occur. But it's enough to say that he was taken aback by what he witnessed. Danzo was defeated by Aoto without any difficulty. Additionally, he learned that Danzo had also taken a sharingan. It was probably from the battlefield. Though he wanted to confront Danzo, he wanted to wait and see how things went.

He was startled more and more as he observed.

"You flatter me Fugaku-san. How are the treatments with Itachi?" Asked Aoto.

"He is okay; his medication has made him a little frail, but he will make it. Do you not intend to use the sharingan for your research? Given your ability to do miracles, perhaps you will discover more secrets than you think." Fugaku continued to be in awe of the newly delivered vial.

"Hahaha, why? You trust me so much now that you want me to keep the sharingan?" Asked Aoto.

"You protected us against Danzo. I believe that is sufficient to gain our faith." Aoto observed that Fugaku didn't state he defended Fugaku specifically, but rather the clan. He unintentionally meant that Aoto had Uchiha's backing. He felt quite satisfied by this. At least the gamble paid off.

"What if I had purposefully changed the words to draw you in because I knew you were here?"

"Hahahah.. If I hadn't been here, I think you still would have carried out the same action. You wanted to take his eye from the get go." said Fugaku. Aoto felt embarrassed as he got exposed here. He had set the trap just so that he could get the eye of Danzo.

"Fine. However, I am not interested and I don't need the sharingan to know its mysteries. I don't have chakra anyways." Added Aoto. Fugaku rolled his eyes. This guy just wiped the floor with Danzo and he was saying that he didn't have chakra? Who was he kidding? But since he wasn't interested in the sharingan he wouldn't force him to do experiments.

He was still angry that Danzo had stolen the treasure of the clan. But he knew that he couldn't do anything with it. It could be just be used as leverage against the higher ups when needed and that was it. He was aware that Danzo was still crucial to the Hokage and that there was nothing he could do to permanently remove him from his position.

"Can I buy the vial..?" Fugaku asked in a very subdued manner, but Aoto answered before he could finish.

"Not now Fugaku-san. Imagine you having the vial and others not having it in Konoha. Do you think Konoha will spare you after that? Konoha won't even need Danzo to prosecute the Uchiha at the moment. Wait for the vial to be sold sparingly and to all. I promise it will be soon."