The Failure of Politics

When they heard that Tsunade was going to personally visit the Uchiha Clan, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other three were all shocked. Tsunade's actions were practically tantamount to the Senju lineage surrendering to the Uchiha, and almost like replacing the ever-unbeatable Hashirama Senju admitting defeat to Madara Uchiha.

Even Danzo, let alone Hiruzen Sarutobi, found it hard to accept. Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura exclaimed in shock. Danzo immediately stood up and shouted, "Tsunade, you are trampling on the honor of your two grandfathers!"

"Hiruzen, Koharu, Homura, have you all forgotten Teacher Tobirama's teachings?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was initially somewhat wavering, but Danzo's words made him hesitate again, because the strategy against the Uchiha was the Senju Tobirama back then.

"Hiruzen, I don't think Tsunade is suitable to be the Fifth Hokage." Danzo directly threw out his trump card.

"Danzo, the Fifth Hokage was chosen by all of us and all the ninjas in the village. Watch your words!" Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted at Danzo.

"Hmph." Danzo snorted softly, sat back down, and said nothing more.

Danzo's proposal to replace the Fifth Hokage was naturally impossible to pass; he never intended to remove a Hokage so easily. However, Tsunade to visit the Uchiha Clan also failed due to Danzo's interference.

Tsunade glared at Danzo with hatred, then said to Hiruzen Sarutobi, "The Anbu has another piece of information: among the missing Ninjutsu Scroll is a Flying Thunder God training scroll given to Tatami Iwashi, the Fourth Hokage's bodyguard. Also, the Flying Thunder God Kunai that should have been kept in the Fourth Hokage's house have been stolen."

"What?" Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others had just sat down when they were immediately startled and stood up again.

"The Iwa ninja are coveting Space-Time Ninjutsu?" Hiruzen Sarutobi said in a trembling voice.

At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally wavered. The Iwa ninja were developing too fast, and he couldn't let them continue to grow like this. But to resist the Iwa ninja, he had to integrate all the forces within Konoha. Konoha was no longer the Konoha that could fight among itself while crushing the other four countries.

Therefore, dealing with the Uchiha Clan problem became an urgent matter.

But at that moment, Danzo interrupted again, "Hiruzen, Koharu, Homura, have you forgotten the goal we've been striving for all these years?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two companions were initially taken aback, but they quickly realized that they had been suppressing ninja clans and supporting Civilian Ninja for years. If they were to bow down to the Uchiha Clan now, all their previous efforts would be in vain.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed deeply, then said to Tsunade, "Tsunade, let's reconsider visiting the Uchiha."

After saying this, Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to age ten years in an instant, and his once upright body seemed to collapse.

Tsunade also felt a deep sense of powerlessness. Although she had become the Fifth Hokage and Hiruzen Sarutobi had handed over the leadership of the Anbu and other organizations to her, she was still far inferior to Hiruzen Sarutobi in terms of control over the village.

Without Hiruzen Sarutobi's support, her ideas would inevitably fail to be implemented.

But Tsunade was unwilling to accept it. The village was clearly on the verge of collapse, so why were the higher-ups still unwilling to make changes?

After the meeting, Tsunade didn't say goodbye to anyone and went to the Uchiha Clan with Shizune.

Fugaku welcomed Tsunade's arrival, but when Tsunade subtly suggested accepting the Uchiha clan, Fugaku suddenly asked her, "Who's in charge of Konoha?"

Tsunade said a lot, but was stumped by a question from Fugaku Uchiha.

Back at the Hokage Building, Tsunade was lectured again by Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other three, who had received the news. This time Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura didn't consider Hokage's status Tsunade, because Tsunade's actions were tantamount to undermining them as advisors, which harmed their vital interests.

The Advisor Group's intervention infuriated Tsunade left behind a mountain of documents and went straight to Izakaya).

In this timeline, the Fifth Hokage Tsunade's power is more restricted than in the original story, because one of the Advisor Group is her teacher, the former Hokage who led Konoha for decades.

Whether considering the mentor-student relationship or seniority, she cannot ignore the voice of the Advisor Group.

Even after Tsunade returned, Fugaku Uchiha was still hoping that Tsunade could persuade Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others.

However, this wait was destined to be the same as the night of the Nine-Tails' Rampage; Fugaku Uchiha ultimately did not receive the result he hoped for.

"Jōichi, go to the Second Elder and ask him to come here. Tell him I have something to discuss with him," Fugaku Uchiha said to one of his guards.

"Yes, clan leader." Jōichi Uchiha responded and left immediately.

That afternoon, Fugaku Uchiha met with the Second Elder of the Uchiha Clan at his home. The First Elder of the Uchiha Clan was War Faction, the Third Elder was Peace Faction, and the Second Elder was a neutral faction.

Fugaku Uchiha viewed the neutral faction as relatively calm and open to discussion and communication.

At the same time, the neutral faction is also the faction that has the most contact with ninjas from other ninja villages.

"Uncle Yuhei, which ninja villages have contacted you recently?" Fugaku asked Gate of Opening.

The Second Elder Yuhei Uchiha, hesitated after hearing Fugaku's words, then said after a while, "Every village except Kirigakure has sent people. Even small ninja villages like Kusagakure and Takigakure have sent representatives."

Fugaku thought for a moment and said, "Uncle Yuhei, tell me your thoughts on these ninja villages."

This time, the Second Elder didn't hesitate and said directly, "Takigakure is the most suitable among the smaller ninja villages. Takigakure also has a Tailed Beast. With the abilities of our Sharingan, the Tailed Beast can play a better role."

"Among the Great Ninja Village, Sunagakure and Iwa ninja are two good choices. Sunagakure offers a high price, as for Iwa ninja..." The Second Elder paused for a moment when mentioning Iwa ninja, then produced a letter.

Fugaku took the letter from the Second Elder, glanced at it, and said, "A letter from Sokai?"

That's right, this letter was written by Ōnoki Sokai Uchiha to Fugaku. The contents of the letter were entirely Sokai Uchiha's true thoughts, and even the letter itself was written by Sokai himself. There wasn't a single sentence in the entire letter advising Fugaku Uchiha to join the Iwa ninja.

After reading the letter, Fugaku sighed and said, "Then let's go with the Iwa ninja. You contact them and see what they want."

The Second Elder nodded and said, "Clan leader, what about the Hokage Building..."

"I will not defect, nor will I risk my clan. I have only one request: leave the Uchiha Clan a way out," Fugaku muttered to himself.

The Second Elder nodded and was about to get up and leave when Fugaku called him back.

"Wait a Sokai, let's send something to Zao Jie." With that, Fugaku got up and went to the study to fetch a scroll. He unrolled the scroll, wrote a few words at the beginning, and then handed it to the Second Elder.

The Second Elder hesitated for a long time, then sighed, took the scroll, said nothing, and turned to leave Fugaku's house.

After the Second Elder left, Fugaku sat quietly alone in the reception room. Before he knew Fugaku's eyes were bloodshot, and the three black Tomoe spun rapidly, forming a special pattern—it was Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan.

Then, a large amount of blood suddenly flowed from one of Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan. Then, scenes flashed before Fugaku's eyes, and finally everything returned to calm. Fugaku also closed his eyes.

After a while, a child walked into the drawing room and said to Fugaku, "Father, dinner is ready."

Fugaku slowly opened his eyes. At this moment, his eyes were clear and bright, no different from those of an ordinary person. However, if you looked closely, you would find that Fugaku's eyes seemed to be filled with a deathly stillness.

Fugaku looked at the tiny Itachi Uchiha, ignoring Itachi's earlier words, and asked, "Itachi, what has Shisui been doing lately?"

Itachi paused for a moment, then said, "Brother Shisui? Brother Shisui said he wants to join Root."

"Join Root? That's fine." Fugaku said casually, then got up as if nothing had happened and led Itachi towards the restaurant.

If Yichen had seen what had just happened to Fugaku Uchiha, he might have been able to guess one of Fugaku's abilities: seeing the future.

Fugaku awakened his Mangekyou Mangekyo during the Third Shinobi War. At that time, he couldn't see the future of the Uchiha Clan and desperately wanted to know where the Uchiha Clan's future lay.

He then awakened the Mangekyo. His Mangekyo Mangekyō Sharingan ability is related to time; he can see a certain possibility in the future.

However, judging from the lifeless look in Fugaku's eyes just now, the future he saw was not what he wanted.

Hiruzen Sarutobi might not have known that their stubbornness caused the Uchiha Clan to lose their last hope of integrating into Konoha. No, Hiruzen Sarutobi might have known.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi certainly didn't know that he had unintentionally given Iwagakure another assist.

A few days later, a High-Level Meeting was also held in Iwagakure, the topic of which was the Uchiha Clan.

Saka placed the scroll that Fugaku Uchiha had given to Sokai Uchiha on the conference room table and said, "The Uchiha Clan hopes we can take in some Uchiha children. As for their conditions, they are simple: do not make this public until the time is right."

"It was Uchiha Clan, the Second Elder of the Yuhei Uchiha clan, who personally told us to prepare some ordinary children to replace the Uchiha bloodline."

"Besides that, the Uchiha Clan will not provide us with any Ninjutsu, supplies, or intelligence. If we encounter Iwa ninja on the battlefield, the Uchiha Clan will also kill them without hesitation."

Yichen nodded and said, "Fugaku Uchiha is preparing for the worst."

Ming was somewhat shocked and asked, "Yichen, the worst-case scenario you mentioned, you don't mean...?"

Yichen nodded and said, "Fugaku Uchiha is preparing for the annihilation of his entire clan."

"Hiss~~" Everyone gasped.

Ikura asked incredulously, "Really? Even if the Konoha High-ranking officials and the Uchiha Clan have conflicts, the Uchiha are still the strongest clan in the Ninja World. They wouldn't be so foolish as to cut off their own arm, would they?"

Yichen shook his head and said, "The stubbornness of Konoha High-ranking officials is probably beyond our imagination. Moreover, these ninja villages, which are not lacking in Kekkei Genkai, have a very different attitude towards bloodline limits than we do."

"Take Kirigakure for example. The Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura, is currently suppressing the Bloodline Ninja Clan within their village. Clans like Yuki and Kaguya are having a tough time."

Everyone fell silent, a sense of the changing times washing over them. Decades after the end of the Warring States period, was the era of ninja villages no longer suitable for the powerful ninja clans of that Warring States Period?

Ōnoki suddenly asked, "Yichen, what do you plan to do?"

Yichen scratched his head somewhat awkwardly and said, "I want to meet Fugaku Uchiha in person."