Ninja Clans and the Hokage

If Konoha were compared to a towering tree, then the ninja clans would undoubtedly be its sturdiest branches.

Even though the Senju Clan, one of the two clans that had founded the village, had already faded into seclusion, the deep foundations of great ninja families led by millennium-old prestigious clans such as the Uchiha and Hyuga still remained. They provided Konoha with most of its jonin and laid the foundation for Konoha's position as the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Though the Hokage was deeply wary of the ninja clans' growing influence, he could only suppress them in secret and strengthen the Ninja Academy's training efforts. Yet academy education was never something that could bear fruit overnight. Moreover, the Uchiha Clan had intercepted a share of the students through its so-called Konoha Military Police Force Reserve Training Academy, and the other ninja clans followed suit. The Ninja Academy never gained much momentum, nor did the Hokage Faction get many chances to indoctrinate the second generation of those ninja clans. In a world where lineage and bloodlines mattered, searching for civilians with talent capable of surpassing those born into ninja clans was simply too inefficient.

After all, not every civilian was fortunate enough to be taken in by a Hokage successor like Orochimaru and Jiraiya, two of the Hokage's three disciples.

By the time news reached the Hokage that the Uchiha clan members had directly detained every Root ninja sent to retrieve their people at the Konoha Military Police Force and accused them of being spies from an enemy nation, nearly an hour had passed. But there was No Choice. Root had gone to retrieve its Own People, and no Anbu would be foolish enough to insist on tagging along. Besides, the Konoha Military Police Force was famously difficult to deal with. Whenever it found an opportunity, it had never spared the Anbu any face either. Thus, it was only when the Anbu Captain on duty noticed that the Anbu sent to complete the formalities and order the Uchiha to severely punish the assailants had yet to return that he sensed something might be wrong and hurriedly dispatched someone to inquire.

After learning the full story, even the battle-hardened and well-traveled Anbu Captain was left dizzy by the Uchiha's Arrogant and domineering conduct and the Root ninja's stupidity and ignorance.

The Uchiha were Arrogant and domineering because they had actually twisted right and wrong in broad daylight, treating Root as enemy agents and arresting them. Even if those people were unregistered ninja without Konoha Proof of Identity, they were still members of the Anbu! And the Uchiha had simply detained them like that?!

The Root ninja were even more speechless. That was the Uchiha! They were famous for relying on their immense strength to act wild and unruly. Charging straight into the Uchiha's headquarters, the Konoha Military Police Force, to cause trouble like this—damn, they were bold!

Even the Third Hokage, a man with mountains and rivers in his chest and deep schemes in his heart, felt his head ache more and more after receiving the news. It was not only because of the Uchiha's defiance, but also because of the stupidity of the subordinates under Root, Commanded by Danzo. And based on his understanding of his old friend, his peace as Hokage was about to be thoroughly ruined...

"Hiruzen!"

Before the man arrived, his voice did.

It was another familiar scene.

Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen waved the Anbu Captain away. Though the Anbu knew how he and his old friend interacted, he still did not want others to witness him arguing with Danzo.

"Hiruzen, the Uchiha Clan is so Arrogant and domineering that they clearly don't regard you, the Hokage, as worthy of their attention!"

Shimura Danzō once again burst through the door, looking furious.

"That pack of red-eyed lunatics, so Arrogant and domineering and so contemptuous of the Hokage, actually dared to detain Anbu personnel! They have no regard for the Kage at all! The ringleader of this incident should be arrested, while the rest of the clan should all be exiled to the border to Serve as expendable soldiers and atone for their crimes!"

Hearing Shimura Danzō loudly spout such brainless words without even trying to Avoid People, Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen laughed in anger.

Not only had Danzo squandered a perfectly good chance to put the Uchiha in their place, but he had also botched things through careless handling and still had the nerve to accuse others. That was rare indeed.

"Danzo, how many jonin does your Root have?"

The Third Hokage replied in a strangely mocking tone, reminding him that his actions needed to be based on actual strength.

As a combat profession where Greatness lies within oneself, every strong ninja—especially every jonin—possessed firm resolve. Otherwise, they could never have cultivated themselves to such heights. Not to mention ninja clan ninja, even ordinary jonin from civilian backgrounds would simply obey orders selectively if the Hokage's Office Building did something against their wishes, and the Hokage could do nothing about it. Otherwise, there would have been no need to establish the Jonin Squad specifically to mediate and manage them. Ordinary jonin were already like this; there was even less need to mention the Uchiha Clan, whose strength was formidable and whose conduct was overbearing.

If those harsh words against the Uchiha reached the ears of the other ninja clans, they would only invite ridicule while further weakening the prestige of Danzo and the Hokage standing behind him.

Although Danzo often acted muddleheaded before his Hokage friend, he was actually a perceptive man. Once prompted, he realized that he had gone too far. But he was too embarrassed to lower his head and admit fault, so he stiffly replied, "Hiruzen, I'm only doing this for your sake. The Uchiha's actions are not merely defiant—they clearly don't regard you, the Hokage, as worthy of their attention!"

The Third Hokage did not answer directly. At this point, there was no meaning in continuing to assign blame. He merely slowly refilled his pipe, then rubbed his fingers together to produce a flame and carefully light it.

His movements were slow, but Danzo showed no intention of urging him.

"Why did you send unregistered Root ninja to negotiate with the Konoha Military Police Force again?"

The Third Hokage took a deep drag, then blew a sharp stream of smoke like an arrow toward Danzo, who was unusually sitting upright.

Even through the swirling smoke, his tiger-like eyes remained sharp and gleaming.

Not just Danzo—even Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Hokage himself, felt a stifling pressure in his chest from the Uchiha's actions.

Registered or not, Anbu were still Anbu. Root, the Training Department under the Anbu, was a force directly under the Hokage. Seeing its members treated like this tarnished his own dignity as Hokage.

"Root inherently doesn't have many people, and most of them have already been dispatched to investigate intelligence on Amegakure and the Lightning and Earth Countries..." Danzo hurriedly complained. "We are severely short-handed. The few jonin remaining in Root were all transferred in from my Shimura Clan. But gathering intelligence from the front lines is difficult, and personnel losses are immense. We truly cannot sustain this. If this continues, there will be no successors. It would be better to select young children from the ninja clans and bring them into Root to bolster our reserve strength. I would cultivate them carefully..."

Danzo, who immediately seized the opening, gradually twisted the conversation toward how to seize ninja clan children and bind them to Root as expendable soldiers for the next generation. The more he spoke, the more excited he became.

"Children of ninja clans have better aptitude to begin with, and this can also weaken those undesirable ninja clans. Especially the Uchiha. That Uchiha Tokimitsu who caused this incident is said to be Eight years old now. It would be ideal if he joined Root. It could also count as making him atone for the sins of that deeply cursed clan..."

"Enough!"

The more unreliable Danzo's words became, the worse the Third Hokage felt listening to them.

So Konoha's ninja clans were Danzo's personal field of chives, to be harvested however he pleased? Did he really think those ninja clans were Easy to Deal With? And the Uchiha in particular—he could not even defeat them openly, yet he wanted to secretly resort to underhanded schemes? Wasn't that simply courting death?

"The ninja clans are the foundation of Konoha's strength. This matter must never be mentioned again!"

"But those ninja clans are also Konoha's parasites! Especially the Uchiha—they are a clan that cannot be trusted! Teacher confined them to the Konoha Military Police Force precisely to guard against them. Now those lunatics are becoming more and more unrestrained. If we do not act early, disaster will inevitably strike one day! Hiruzen, have you forgotten Teacher's teachings?" Danzo shouted, red-faced.

"Then do you know how many jonin the Uchiha have?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen stared at Danzo and spoke in a sinister tone.

"Setting aside the others, even that Uchiha child Tokimitsu has twenty jonin in the Ninja army Old Man Setsuna assigned to him."

"Your Root, together with your Shimura Clan—how many jonin do you have?"

"Moreover, this is only a portion of the Radical Faction's strength within the Uchiha Clan."

The Third Hokage's words were as piercing as the depths of a polar winter.

Shimura Danzō had no answer.