Danzo Has a Lot of Resentment

Generally speaking, major events are handled in small meetings, while trivial matters are handled in large ones.

Those who achieve great things fear indecision most. For major events that determine the life and death of the village, a few people in a core meeting are often enough to confirm the village's future direction.

But Mitokado Homura felt that four people in a meeting was still a bit too many.

Hiruzen and Danzo discussed the Uchiha every single day, yet they never offered any good solutions to the Uchiha problem; the only method was to delay resolving the issue as much as possible.

To let the Uchiha problem explode a little later.

This meeting was convened because of the appearance of the Masked Man, the suspected culprit of the Nine-Tails Night. Yet, Hiruzen and Danzo were arguing over an entirely irrelevant Uchiha, Uchiha Youhu.

It was just a minor Uchiha Chunin who wasn't even a Jonin—was it really worth it?

After grasping the crux of the matter, Mitokado Homura spoke with a cold face: "Danzo, if you two keep straying from the topic, Koharu and I are leaving. You can find your own ways to deal with the Masked Man."

Hearing this, Hiruzen and Danzo stopped arguing.

The meeting room suddenly returned to silence, but when it came to how to deal with the Masked Man, none of those present could think of any particularly good methods.

His Space-Time Ninjutsu was just too cheap.

Back then, the major villages had as much of a headache over the Flying Thunder God Technique as they did now with the Masked Man's Space-Time Ninjutsu.

Relying on their own strength, there would be no problem at all if they encountered the Masked Man in a one-on-one fight. Space-Time Ninjutsu was not invincible; as long as the body was pierced by a kunai, it would still bleed and die.

But the problem was that Konoha had no way to pin down a space-time ninja, nor did they understand the Masked Man's specific strength.

Danzo thought for a moment, then said:

"I have a way to deal with the Masked Man. We only need to ambush him beforehand. At the place where he appears, we have ninjas from the Aburame Clan release their insects, and we can make the Masked Man die from poison."

Mitokado Homura acknowledged Danzo's tactic and asked, pointing straight to the core:

"The problem is how to make the Masked Man enter our ambush site. We don't know the goal of his trip, we don't know why he came..."

"If his goal is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

"If we fight near the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, what if we accidentally hurt him?"

"He is, after all, the Fourth's child."

"Isn't the value of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to sacrifice for the village? Sacrificing one Jinchuriki is better than another Nine-Tails' Rampage occurring. Hiruzen, do you th..."

Danzo didn't care about this at all and made the most rational judgment.

Utatane Koharu interrupted Danzo, saying in a deep voice: "I don't think the Masked Man's goal is the Nine-Tails. In the years since Minato died, he could have easily attacked the Jinchuriki again."

"But the Masked Man did not do so. Even whether he is the killer of the Nine-Tails Night cannot be determined at this time."

"I suggest we dispatch the Anbu to contact the Masked Man and determine if he is truly the culprit."

"Koharu..."

Danzo glanced at Utatane Koharu and corrected her: "With his Space-Time Ninjutsu and Sharingan, I don't believe anyone else in the Ninja World could have orchestrated the Nine-Tails' Rampage. He is undoubtedly the culprit behind it."

"Danzo is right..."

The Third Hokage picked up his pipe, offering a rare show of agreement with Danzo, then continued: "The Masked Man is most likely the culprit behind the Nine-Tails' Rampage, but he didn't come here this time for the Nine-Tails; he came for the Uchiha Clan."

"The Masked Man has had only one goal from the very beginning: to weaken the strength of our Konoha."

"His Sharingan might have been intentionally revealed to us, all to make us associate him with the Uchiha Clan and force us to act against them."

"Hiruzen, you..."

Danzo tried to interrupt the Third Hokage's speech, but the Third Hokage cut him off, signaling for him to stay silent so he could state his true thoughts.

"I intend to have a trustworthy Uchiha contact the Masked Man to probe what exactly he is planning."

"If the Masked Man's goal is to incite an Uchiha Coup, he will inevitably expose something."

"If not, we can take the opportunity to uncover the Masked Man's true purpose."

"As for the candidate."

"Let's have Uchiha Itachi go. Itachi is not an Uchiha that Danzo values; entrusting this mission to him will also allow us to see his capabilities. You shouldn't have any objections, right?"

"I agree!"

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were the first to raise their hands. They had no way of dealing with the Masked Man, so having a relatively sound plan at the moment was good enough.

Danzo was unwilling, but he raised his hand nonetheless.

For one, the vote was three to one; there was no point in resisting now.

Secondly, having Itachi go to contact the Masked Man was better than sending Youhu or Shisui. If he sent those two, he wouldn't be able to gather any useful intelligence.

The Masked Man had orchestrated the Nine-Tails' Rampage, causing the village to suffer massive losses.

But for Danzo personally, he had gained a great deal from the Nine-Tails' Rampage. The death of the Fourth Hokage not only allowed him to return to the village's decision-making level, but the strength of the Root Ninja had also grown even more than before.

If he could make contact with the Masked Man, and if the other party had no designs on the Hokage position...

There might even be an opportunity for them to cooperate in the future.

With his proposal to have Uchiha Itachi contact the Masked Man to gather intelligence passed unanimously, the Third Hokage felt incredibly relieved. It had been a long time since he had passed a decision so easily.

Letting Uchiha Itachi contact the Masked Man was, indeed, a good idea.

Youhu had unexpectedly helped him formulate a brilliant strategy. Youhu really was a good kid, though he sometimes used his intelligence in the wrong places.

The ninja's strength and talent were also just right.

A Chunin at fifteen years old would certainly become a Konoha Jonin in the future, but he wouldn't be powerful enough to run for Hokage. Perhaps he should double his efforts in cultivating Youhu from now on.

With Youhu, Shisui, and Itachi in the future, they would surely be able to resolve the Uchiha problem.

If that happened, he would be able to surpass the achievements of Teacher Tobirama and become the first ninja to solve the Uchiha problem.

A village must have the younger generation surpass the older one to move toward glory step by step.

Thinking of this, the Third Hokage took a deep puff of his pipe and smiled with satisfaction.

Danzo was staring at the Third Hokage. The Third Hokage's smile made him restless; he couldn't understand how Hiruzen could possibly smile at a time like this.

The village was currently beset by internal and external troubles, all thanks to you, the Hokage. If he were the Hokage, he would have cut through the Gordian knot long ago and led the village toward prosperity and strength.

Moreover, Hiruzen had no realization of the importance of the Uchiha problem.

Externally, there was the Masked Man, an evil Uchiha eyeing them like a tiger, ready to recreate the Nine-Tails' Rampage at any moment.

Internally, there was a brat like Uchiha Youhu, who bewitched people's hearts.

Hiruzen, you have already been deceived by Uchiha Youhu, do you even know that?

It seemed that only he, the Root of Konoha, could take action. As long as he quietly eliminated this menace, You, the village could return to the right track.

And there would be no more villagers whispering about his relationship with Hiruzen in private.