Konoha Village!
At this time, undercurrents also surged. It had been 57 years since Hashirama Senju founded the village.
Because of the formidable strength of Hashirama and Tobirama, Konoha enjoyed stability for many years.
During this stable period, ninja clans of a dozen people grew to hundreds. The resources allocated previously were no longer enough to support the families, so they could only expand outward and seize more benefits.
As time passed, internal benefits of all kinds were almost completely carved up by the upper echelons, leaving ordinary ninja relegated to mere breeding machines and battlefield consumables.
There were no ownerless benefits left, but the expansion of the ninja clans did not stop, meaning their struggles could not stop either.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was not an ambitious monarch, leaving the village under his rule unable to translate internal contradictions through outward expansion. Consequently, the privileged class that had developed could only set its sights inward.
Yet unless the cake was made larger, its benefits would always remain fixed. All the benefits belonging to commoners were soon basically snatched away, leaving them no choice now but to turn their eyes toward other ninja clans within the village.
And the fat sheep targeted by all the ninja clans was naturally the Uchiha Clan.
Or rather, the one targeting the Uchiha Clan was Danzo Shimura.
Other ninja clans would only take a share of the spoils when the Uchiha Clan fell into dire straits, and would not make the first move.
Danzo Shimura: disciple of the Second Hokage, classmate of the Third Hokage, leader of the Root, and the Darkness of the Shinobi.
His strength was also at the Kage level!
He was the quintessential standard of a Kage level—a Kage without a bloodline limit, without special secret techniques, and without special