Everyone Was Holding a Meeting

Kazuna looked up and said seriously, "Clan Leader, I told you before, everything I do is to avoid war!"

"Let me ask you a question!"

"There are two tigers on one mountain. How can you prevent them from fighting?"

I know this one!

Shisui looked eager to answer.

After thinking for a moment, Fugaku said, "If the two tigers are evenly matched, it would be best if they had a common enemy, forcing them not to start an internal war."

"Wrong!" Kazuna rejected the answer without hesitation.

"Huh?" Shisui froze.

Was that answer wrong?

That was what you, Kazuna, told me last time!

Kazuna grinned. "One mountain cannot hold two tigers, unless one is male and the other female!"

Everyone froze, and then...

Fugaku: "Get out!"

Zongyi: "Get out!"

Shisui: "Get out!"

Itachi was about to speak, but one look from Kazuna made him lower his head at once.

Setsuna simply raised a chair.

"All right, all right, it was just a joke. Why do none of you have a sense of humor? Really, was what I said worth getting mad over? It was obviously a very cold joke."

Kazuna waved his hands repeatedly.

Fugaku rubbed his brow and said, "Kazuna, be serious!"

Your joke might have been cold, but it was full of provocation.

Couldn't you see how tense everyone was?

They were discussing the serious question of whether the Uchiha and the village would go to war. Put away your lame jokes!

Otherwise, you really were going to get beaten up!

Shisui glanced at Fugaku with sympathy in his eyes.

He used to be the one saying those words. He understood all too well the helplessness behind them.

"If you keep messing around, I'll beat you up, you brat!"

Setsuna Uchiha said those words with great gusto.

The old man had been feeling quite pleased these past few days.

Though his grandson was only the Vice Clan Leader, he held the real power of the Uchiha, and the Konoha Military Police Force was firmly under his control. This was practically a victory for the Hawk Faction.

On top of that, Kazuna's reforms of the Uchiha had left quite a few people suffering miserably.

Setsuna saw it all and secretly reveled in it.

Especially during their several clashes with the Hokage Faction, Kazuna had won every time.

That delighted Setsuna from the bottom of his heart.

After Madara Uchiha left, Setsuna Uchiha, as his follower, had not fallen silent. He had continued Madara Uchiha's methods, attempting to seize the village through force.

In the end, Setsuna Uchiha lost to the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi had not killed him. Instead, he allowed him to continue leading the Uchiha Hawk Faction.

To Setsuna, that was an unimaginable humiliation.

He understood Hiruzen Sarutobi's intentions.

It was simply that he was easier to deal with. With him leading the Uchiha Hawk Faction, they would be easier for the other side to handle.

From beginning to end, Hiruzen Sarutobi had never taken him seriously!

Now that someone else had taken over, Hiruzen Sarutobi, how did you feel?

How much of your confidence from back then remained?

Setsuna revealed a malicious smile.

Seeing that, Kazuna muttered softly, "Old man, that smile of yours is pure final boss material. If you go outside like that, someone's going to knock you out from behind."

Setsuna rolled his eyes and could not be bothered with his grandson.

"As if I were some kind and virtuous person. Back in my day, I also..."

Kazuna cut in and muttered, "Hiruzen Sarutobi!"

Bang!

The veins on Setsuna's forehead throbbed furiously as the table before him shattered outright.

Fugaku and Zongyi nearly burst out laughing.

That was his own grandson!

He had stabbed him right in the back.

"Hmph!" Setsuna snorted and said coldly, "I should really thank Hiruzen Sarutobi for sparing me back then. Otherwise, you brat would never even have had the chance to be born."

That worked too...

Zongyi was speechless.

"Ahem, Kazuna, I'm not saying you intend to do anything to the village." Fugaku steered the conversation back. "What I mean is, will the village do anything to us Uchiha?"

The others nodded one after another.

There were only a little over ten people here.

Every one of them was among the Uchiha's core members.

There were key members of the Clan Leader faction, the Hawk Faction, and the Dove Faction, along with Shisui, Itachi, Kazuna, and several of his subordinates.

They were all Uchiha who could be trusted.

These were the people keeping the Uchiha functioning.

Facing them, Kazuna did not hide anything and said directly, "No! There won't be any open conflict for the time being. There may be some minor tricks in the shadows, but that can't be avoided."

"Why?"

Kazuna curled his lip. "The one with the bigger fist gets to speak. The Hokage Faction doesn't have that strength right now."

"What do you mean by that?" Fugaku hesitated. "Our clan has already become vigilant, and the Hokage Faction most likely doesn't trust the Hyuga Clan either. But what about the other ninja?"

Konohagakure had hundreds of ninja clans, large and small.

In recent years, Civilian Ninja had also begun to emerge.

Several years had passed since the Third Shinobi World War. Not only had the other villages regained some of their strength, Konohagakure had as well.

Kazuna raised two fingers and said, "Over the past two days, I've made two moves and taken out twenty of their Jonin. A full twenty. Root alone couldn't produce that many Jonin; they must have borrowed some from the Anbu."

Root's full name was the Anbu Training Department!

It was a branch organization under the Anbu.

After Hiruzen Sarutobi became Hokage, he handed it over to Danzo.

Because Hiruzen Sarutobi had just become Hokage and lacked a solid foundation, he tacitly allowed Root to expand and become more sinister.

It could be said that Root had played no small part in helping Hiruzen Sarutobi secure his position as Hokage.

However.

As one of the Shinobi World's craftiest old foxes, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not possibly allow Root to expand without restraint. Thus, Root was powerful, but its strength was kept within certain limits.

If Danzo could pull twenty Special Jonin and Jonin from Root in one go, that bastard would have gone straight to heaven long ago.

The Hokage would not be able to sleep at night either.

"What?"

Fugaku and the others were so shocked that they stood up at once.

Even Setsuna stammered, "You said... this time, you took out twenty Jonin?"

"Don't make things up! People will misunderstand and think I'm too brutal."

Kazuna glared at Setsuna and explained very seriously, "This time, I only took out fourteen ninja, and several of them were Special Jonin."

"I'll be damned! At a time like this, you're still putting on an act?"

The room exploded into chaos!

Inside the small meeting room, the Uchiha were in an uproar.

A few had seen the Susanoo with their own eyes, while the others had heard from them how their Vice Clan Leader had displayed incredible might and crushed his enemies directly into pulp. Yet no one knew exactly who Kazuna's opponents were, or how many there had been.

Kazuna had caused such a huge commotion that they thought he had merely been intimidating the Hokage's people. Who would have known the enemy was this powerful as well?

Unable to hold back any longer, Setsuna turned to Fugaku and asked, "Can you do that too?"

Fugaku: "..."

Old man, what did you mean by that?

"Ahem!" Setsuna coughed dryly and said, "Don't glare at me, Fugaku. I only wanted to ask, is the Susanoo really that powerful?"

"Hmph!" Fugaku snorted and stared solemnly at Kazuna. "The Susanoo is the forbidden Dojutsu of the Mangekyo. That powerful Dojutsu combines offense and defense. I've only used it once myself. It is indeed powerful, but..."

Setsuna immediately asked, "So you can't do it?"

Fugaku: "...Damn it, you old bastard, I've put up with you for a long time. Fine, praise your grandson if you want, but why step on me? Is this payback for suppressing you back then?"