I Am the Uchiha Clan's Mastermind!

"Phew..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Miss Hikari, what I'm about to say may make you unhappy, but I ask that you hear me out."

"You may feel that, as a ninja clan that helped establish Konoha, the Uchiha Clan has been treated rather unfairly. But there are reasons behind all of this."

"Konoha's previous Hokage, my late mentor, Lord Tobirama Senju, dealt with the Uchiha Clan for many years. He discovered that the Uchiha Clan was actually the clan most capable of feeling love. No other clan loved more deeply than they did. But once they lost that love, their original affection would be replaced by even more intense hatred, causing their entire temperament to change drastically..."

"The Sharingan allows Uchiha clansmen to grow stronger rapidly, but at the same time, it causes the hatred in their hearts to increase day by day until they are completely consumed by darkness, just like Uchiha Madara back then..."

"You are also a wielder of the Mangekyō Sharingan, so you should understand what I mean..."

"..."

As Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke,

Uchiha Hikari's expression remained as still as water.

Of course, she knew about Tobirama Senju's academic findings.

But she had not expected to hear them from the Third Hokage, used as grounds to persuade her to understand Konoha's higher-ups.

How should she put it...

Tobirama Senju's research did have a tiny bit of merit.

The proportion of extremists among the Uchiha was indeed not high, but those extremists were often extremely powerful.

And the crazier they got, the stronger they became—

Obito, whose descent into darkness had been the most severe, awakened his Sharingan with Two-Tomoe from the start, then skipped straight to the Mangekyō upon awakening it again... At the cost of sacrificing all reason, he gained a pair of Kamui abilities even more broken than Flying Thunder God;

By contrast, Sasuke, who had the strongest ability to withstand pressure, awakened a one-tomoe Sharingan in fury when his clan was massacred. Even after his own brother played a twenty-four-hour recording of their parents' deaths in his mind, he still failed to awaken the Mangekyō. When he finally did awaken it, his abilities were merely a pair of Amaterasu on par with the Great Fireball Technique...

However...

That was all the merit it had.

"Let me ask you something, Sarutobi brat."

Uchiha Hikari interrupted Sarutobi Hiruzen. "Are Orochimaru and Shimura Danzō members of the Uchiha Clan?"

"Hm?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen froze for a moment, not quite understanding what she meant.

"Not only are those two not members of the Uchiha Clan, they were also disciples carefully cultivated by two Hokage of Konoha, yet both went astray. Does that mean the teachings and example of a Hokage also make people more likely to be 'consumed by darkness'?"

"?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen instinctively wanted to refute her, but when the words reached his lips, he hesitated. "Orochimaru... was indeed a failed example. I was too occupied with official duties and overlooked the changes happening to him. But Danzo... he was also doing it for Konoha. His methods were merely somewhat excessive..."

"Pfft..."

Uchiha Hikari could not help but laugh. "It's one thing to fool others with that sort of talk. Don't fool yourself as well...

'For Konoha' means hiding away when the Nine Tails Riot arrived, then jumping out immediately afterward to make grand speeches; using his position as one of Konoha's higher-ups to capture fellow village ninja and civilians for human experimentation, while remaining in contact with Orochimaru even after he defected; secretly digging out the eyes of Uchiha clansmen who died in wartime, cultivating a Wood Release bloodline, and concealing it from everyone; and even plotting to assassinate you personally?"

As for colluding with Hanzō of the Salamander to wipe out Akatsuki, only to force out the Six Paths of Pain...

Uchiha Hikari could not even be bothered to mention it.

"Failing to judge people properly is incompetence. But discovering a problem and still not daring to admit it is simply hypocritical and laughable."

"By your logic, I should be the person in the Uchiha Clan most deeply corrupted by 'darkness.' So... why do you think you're still alive and sitting here talking to me?"

—That argument was actually a little dishonest. After all, Uchiha Hikari was a special case. If things had followed the original plotline, she would have been a lunatic final boss much like Obito. But the old man across from her did not know that, so there was no problem with deceiving him.

"Unable to solve the problem, so you solve the people who might cause it—is that the method your mentor taught you and Danzo brat?"

"..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent for a long time before speaking hesitantly. "What you've said does make sense, but..."

"But what?"

"..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen hemmed and hawed for quite a while without managing to say anything coherent. In the end, he could only change the subject. "Perhaps our understanding of the Uchiha Clan has indeed been inaccurate in some respects. But the fact that the Sharingan's power is prone to losing control remains true. Therefore, I believe we must proceed cautiously regarding the requests to expand the Military Police Force's authorized positions and jurisdiction, as well as allowing more Uchiha clansmen to enter the Anbu. We need to establish a strict screening mechanism acceptable to both sides..."

"The Military Police Force's authorized positions?"

Uchiha Hikari paused before realizing—those were probably demands Fugaku had made?

She had never discussed any of this with Fugaku before, but judging from Sarutobi Hiruzen's tone, he seemed to think she had secretly instructed him to make those demands.

Since Konoha insisted on thinking that way...

Fine, then I am the Uchiha Clan's mastermind!

"Fine."

"But I have one more demand."

Uchiha Hikari looked directly at Sarutobi Hiruzen and spoke slowly. "Open the path for Uchiha clansmen to serve as team-leading Jonin and Ninja Academy teachers, and allow them to leave the village to carry out missions. In exchange, members of Konoha's other clans will be permitted to join the Military Police Force. Their quotas and candidates must likewise undergo review by all three parties.

You said it yourself: the Uchiha are the clan most capable of feeling love. But now, the vast majority of Uchiha clansmen are confined within the Military Police Force, so naturally, the only people they love are their own clansmen. But if they can interact with people from other clans and form friendships and bonds with them, then the scope of those they love will gradually expand to encompass the entire village, won't it?"

The true purpose of this demand was actually...

Only by interacting with the other clans and forming emotional and material ties with them could they possibly develop them into allies and truly gain the qualifications to contend for the position of a village's Kage.

Rather than being like the current Uchiha—a group of arrogant loners whom no one would care about even if their clan were wiped out one day.

—Danzo's exit did not mean the Uchiha Clan's massacre crisis had been resolved.

Because apart from Danzo, there was still Obito, another heavyweight figure who had caused the massacre incident, wandering somewhere unknown. With that man's ambitions, he would never quietly accept the Uchiha Clan's continued peaceful existence.

Hikari had previously not wanted to involve herself in Uchiha matters not only because the Uchiha Clan was too weak to carry, but also because of Obito and Black Zetsu.

Once something as filthy as that set its sights on you, it became a troublesome matter.

But now...

She had changed her mind.