Undercurrents in Konoha
After returning to Konoha, A immediately sought an audience with the Third Hokage.
A, who had expected to be treated coldly, was surprised to be received by Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately. What Hiruzen Sarutobi said next left A completely baffled.
Hiruzen Sarutobi agreed to allocate a large sum of money to Danzo to rebuild Root, and the number of Root members would be the same as before the war.
This was something Danzo couldn't even imagine at the moment, and A was equally baffled. However, since it was beneficial to Lord Danzō, A immediately went back to report to Danzo.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's political skills were very sophisticated, and he saw much further ahead than Danzo. After hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's reply brought by Danzo, Danzo was stunned for a while before he reacted.
Danzo, realizing what was happening, slammed his fist into a large tree beside him. "Damn it, Hiruzen Sarutobi doesn't want to step down! He still wants to be Hokage!"
Danzo was right; Konoha's situation is good now. Although Konoha has experienced several defeats, only the two defeats against Sunagakure and Iwa ninja were related to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
His disciples and followers have already avenged their defeat against the Sunagakure.
The success of the Mist ninja resulted in the loss of the Hyuga Clan that disobeyed the Hokage's orders and was not part of the Hokage's direct line.
Danzo's defeat only resulted in the loss of his Danzo confidants; it had nothing to do with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
If these two matters had occurred before the peace talks with Iwa ninja, or even before the defeat of Sunagakure, Hiruzen Sarutobi would have been worried, since the losses were all due to Konoha's strength.
After all, Konoha was short-handed and lacked strength at that time. But now, Konoha's victory is assured, and even the Cloud ninja chose to withdraw after gaining some advantage.
Conversely, after the Hyuga Danzo suffered heavy losses due to Hyuga's defeat, the only internal force capable of threatening Hiruzen Sarutobi was the Uchiha Clan.
As for external threats? Konoha made peace with Iwa ninja, then defeated Sunagakure, Cloud ninja withdrew its troops, leaving only Mist ninja. Konoha's crisis had effectively been resolved.
Without the threat of external threats, how much trouble can the mere Uchiha Clan cause?
As long as Danzo, my good buddy, doesn't continue to associate so closely with the Uchiha Clan, everything will be fine.
Previously, Danzo and Uchiha No's sudden and frequent contact had kept Hiruzen Sarutobi awake at night.
But now things are different. Danzo's forces have been wiped out by that brute Third Raikage. With just a flick of his finger, Hiruzen Sarutobi can make Danzo obediently stand on his side.
Therefore, Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that he had regained control of the situation.
He is still the Hokage with absolute power, and he is about to lead the Third Shinobi World War to victory. As long as victory belongs to Konoha, his prestige will rise to another level.
As for his previously stated intention to abdicate after the war, who would bring that up under these circumstances?
Even if there were schemers trying to cause trouble, Hiruzen Sarutobi could easily resolve the situation by having a few subordinates manipulate public opinion.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stated, "I'm still young; I can serve Hokage for another twenty years."
Danzo understood Hiruzen Sarutobi's intentions, but he was helpless; having lost a large number of elite subordinates, he could only cooperate with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
When Danzo returned to the village, Hiruzen Sarutobi personally came out to greet him, giving him a look that said, "Little brother, you've worked hard. I'll make it up to you later," which made Danzo feel incredibly annoyed.
During subsequent talks, whenever Danzo brought up the cost of rebuilding Root, Hiruzen Sarutobi always avoided the topic.
This infuriated Danzo, but he had no choice but to patiently deal with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Because he knew that Hiruzen Sarutobi was waiting for him to make a statement.
Danzo eventually gave in. To secure his Hokage position, he needed his own power base. The funds for rebuilding Root were still in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands, leaving him with virtually no power to resist.
Finally, Danzo agreed to help Hiruzen Sarutobi suppress the Uchiha Clan, willingly playing the villain in exchange for the first wave of funds for Root's reconstruction.
The turmoil in the Ninja World did not bring about significant changes to the overall situation. Apart from the Third Raikage's ruthless actions, other parties remained relatively quiet.
The only puzzling thing is that the Mist ninja haven't made any moves either. The other villages are silent because they have already withdrawn from the war, but the Mist ninja are different. They are clearly still in a state of de facto War State, yet they haven't made any moves.
Keep in mind that Konoha has already dealt with three enemies. If the Mist ninja doesn't retreat soon, their fate will be the same as that of the Sunagakure.
No ninja village can escape unscathed when targeted by Konoha with all its might.
Everyone in the Ninja World knows this principle, except for the Mist ninja.
The Mist ninja seem to still be basking in the glory of defeating the Hyuga Clan leader.
That's right, almost all the Mist ninja believe that Hiashi Hyuga was Mist ninja by them.
It is estimated that only a few ninjas, such as the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist of the Mist, who participated in that battle, vaguely felt that a third party had intervened in this incident.
Although they had their doubts, they were indeed the main force behind the attack, and they had already obtained the Byakugan, so the Mist ninja didn't care about taking the blame for something else.
Furthermore, the War State the Mist ninja and the Konoha is still ongoing.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist naturally wouldn't go to the Hyuga Clan to explain, "We only killed a few dozen of your elite ninjas and took one of your clan leader's Byakugan. We didn't kill your clan leader."
And so the matter passed by in a murky manner, and Yichen was never exposed.
In any case, the Mist ninja have not retreated yet, but instead continue their military standoff with Konoha.
They seemed completely unconcerned that Konoha would treat them the same way they treated the Sunagakure.
What's surprising is that Konoha didn't actually take any action against the Mist ninja, as if the Mist ninja, as an enemy, didn't exist in the eyes of Konoha High-ranking officials.
The Konoha High-ranking officials seems to have forgotten about the battlefield of the Land of Whirlpools.
Uchiha on the front lines need supplies, the village will send them to them promptly without any delay.
If a ninja on the front lines is wounded, the village will send someone to bring the wounded back to the village so they can recover in peace. Even if the wounded are Uchiha, the village will not treat them specially.
However, whenever the Uchiha Clan requests reinforcements from the village, the higher-ups will definitely find various excuses to refuse.
After their repeated requests for help went unanswered, the arrogant Uchiha decisively gave up on seeking assistance.
The Third Hokage's actions indeed dealt a significant blow to the Uchiha Clan's power. It's conceivable that if the Uchiha and Mist ninja continued their stalemate, the Uchiha's strength would be greatly diminished.
However, the Third Uchiha group could not be suppressed indiscriminately.
The Uchiha clan possesses a gene for intense emotions, and this gene becomes stronger the higher the Sharingan level.
Yichen felt that the Uchiha group needed to be appeased; once their mindset was satisfied, Uchiha could be sent to the battlefield to fight for their lives.
The best way to appease them is to give them honor.
Of course, the Hokage position cannot be given out casually, unless you encounter a ninja like Kagami Uchiha, Shisui, or Itachi who have been brainwashed by the Will of Fire.
However, by not giving up the Hokage position, they can still create many heroic figures, making the Uchiha members content to sacrifice for the village and take pride in doing so.
The Uchiha clan doesn't care about power; those ninjas, obsessed with strength, don't understand politics.
Yichen estimated that after the Uchiha had served as Hokage, other Uchiha might develop a fear of the Hokage position.
The main purpose of the Hokage is to balance the various forces, and if the Uchiha were to do that, it would drive them crazy.
Hiruzen Sarutobi may not have seen clearly, or he may not have been able to let go of power, or he may not have been willing to abandon the policies left by the second generation.
In short, Hiruzen Sarutobi once again pushed the Uchiha away from the Konoha High-ranking officials leadership.
If Yichen knew all this, he would definitely persuade Ōnoki to prepare to make contact with the Uchiha Clan.
However, Yichen is currently unable to receive information from the outside world, nor can he see the turbulent undercurrents hidden within Konoha.
He was stumped by a seal in front of him.
These days, Yichen has been searching every inch of the area outside Uzushio Village.
Yichen was, after all, a high-ranking member of Iwa ninja and knew many of Iwagakure's secret bases.
By analogy, Yichen knew how to find the possible secret base in Uzushio Village.
So, after more than ten days, Yichen finally discovered a seal underground.
A seal that absolutely reaches S-rank.
Because of this seal, Yichen couldn't find any clues even after studying it for a whole day.
S-rank is the upper limit in the Ninja World, but if Yichen were to categorize it, he would say this seal should at least be classified as SS-rank.
After a whole day, Yichen finally realized that he could not break the seal on his own.
Yichen emerged from underground, repaired the disguise he had previously destroyed, and then left the Land of Whirlpools, flying towards the Iwagakure.
When Yichen returned to the village, he learned that the appointments for himself and Ikura as formal advisors had been made.
The daimyo was very satisfied with both him and Ikura, and agreed without hesitation.
In recent years, the Land of Earth has seen good development in all aspects, and these positive changes have all been brought about by the Iwagakure.
Therefore, the daimyo was very satisfied with Ōnoki, feeling that the Land of Earth was on a good upward trend and had a bright future.
Therefore, when Yichen entered the village, both the ninja guarding the gate and the passing ninjas addressed him as "Yichen Advisor."
Entering the Tsuchikage's Office Building and arriving at the door of Ōnoki's office, Yichen suddenly felt a little guilty. He raised his hand as if to knock, but hesitated to do so.
After hesitating for a moment, Yichen went to Ikura's office first.
Fortunately, Ikura didn't go out; he was staying obediently in his office.
However, Ikura wasn't at his office either; he was probably researching Ninjutsu.
When Yichen entered, Ikura was writing and drawing in his office, seemingly preparing theoretically for the development of Ninjutsu.
Seeing Yichen sneak in, Ikura remained silent for a moment.
When did you get back?
"Hehe, I just got back. I was on my way to see Lord Tsuchikage, but I came to see you first," Yichen said with a grin.
"What? Feeling guilty? You knew the Lord Tsuchikage would be angry, yet you still lingered outside for so long before coming back? You just abandoned so many things in the village like that?" Ikura ruthlessly exposed Yichen.
"I was held up by something, Ikura, come with me to the Lord Tsuchikage- sama's place." Yichen stated his purpose directly, since Ōnoki would convene the higher-ups to discuss the Byakugan matter anyway.
Ikura rolled her eyes and said, "Instead of wasting your time, you should be thinking about how to get scolded. A few days ago, the daimyo's envoy also came to the village and delivered our appointment letters."
"The envoy also said that the daimyo wanted to see you and originally hoped that you could accompany him to the capital. Who would have thought that you would leave the village?" Ikura shook his head.
"Um, the daimyo wants to see me? What about you? Did the daimyo say he wanted to see you?" This was something Yichen hadn't expected.
Ikura said, "The daimyo didn't mention me. He must have seen you because you proposed that the Land of Earth and the Land of Fire negotiate peace."
"This matter has brought enormous benefits to the Land of Earth. Especially after the Sunagakure's defeat, the Daimyo greatly admires your foresight in suggesting that we stop while we're ahead."
Yichen scratched his head and asked, "What about the envoy? Did he go back?"
When Ikura asked this, Yichen replied irritably, "Of course I went back. You only sent back a message at the beginning, and then there was no news at all. Who knows when you'll be back? We can't keep the daimyo's envoy waiting forever, can we?"