Danzo: Let Konoha suffer a little, I'll bear the infamy!

Within the Konoha ranks, Danzo was the first to stir up trouble.

"Uchiha White Dove, is your Uchiha clan attempting to betray the village?"

As the primary culprit who had personally moved against Shisui, he was well aware of what the Uchiha were demanding, and thus, he was practically praying for both sides to break out into open conflict.

If a real fight were to break out, he could seize the opportunity to eliminate the evil Uchiha and, incidentally, restock his own collection of Sharingan.

The key was that if this battle occurred, Sarutobi Hiruzen would undoubtedly have to take responsibility and step down, allowing him to seize the position of power.

As for Konoha suffering heavy casualties?

Konoha will just have to suffer for a while; I shall bear the infamy.

Holding this thought, it was no wonder Danzo's aggression was so high.

"Danzo, the Hokage hasn't even spoken yet, yet you rush to speak first. It seems you are the true Hokage?"

With a single sentence, White Dove caused the atmosphere on the opposite side to shift drastically.

After all, there were very few in the Konoha upper echelons who were unaware of Danzo's ambition, so everyone truly began to wonder if he had once again developed some improper intentions.

"Cough, cough!" Sarutobi Hiruzen gave two light coughs to break the awkward atmosphere, stepped forward to the front of the line, and said in a gentle tone, "White Dove, I may address you as such, may I?"

It must be said that while he might be lacking in other areas, when it came to superficial pleasantries and social graces, Danzo still had much to learn.

Sarutobi Hiruzen himself was not exactly clean; he had done plenty of dirty work and had reaped even more benefits, yet in the eyes of everyone, he remained the "gentle and kind" Lord Hokage.

But what about you, Danzo?

Your reputation is so foul it stinks to high heaven, and everyone avoids you like the plague.

Yet you are the one carrying the black pot, while the benefits you reap are far less than those of Sarutobi Hiruzen—this is the gap in superficial performance.

Yes, in White Dove's heart, Sarutobi Hiruzen was a "hypocrite."

It wasn't that the man had personally caused him any trouble or committed any specific evil acts against him.

To judge a person, one should not look at what they say, but at what they do.

Looking at the suicide of White Fang, the defection of Orochimaru, the death of Hizashi Hyuga, the indulgence of Danzo, the treatment of Naruto, and his decades as Hokage—along with the three thousand-strong Sarutobi Army—one could clearly see what kind of person he was.

Either he was stupid, or he was evil; one must choose between the two, though it was also possible he was both evil and stupid.

Three thousand Sarutobi Army!

White Dove had originally thought this was just a meme, but after establishing the One Heart Chamber of Commerce and slowly gathering intelligence, he had uncovered the true strength of the Sarutobi clan and was genuinely stunned.

It wasn't a meme!

They really did have a three-thousand-strong Sarutobi Army.

The reason no one knew about it was entirely because the majority of the Sarutobi clan lived in residential areas scattered around the outskirts of Konoha, and these ninjas were not on the official registry but were stationed outside the village, making them incredibly low-profile and devoid of presence.

To understand what this number meant, one only needed to know that the Uchiha clan had only about four hundred ninjas to realize the implications.

What does it mean to be the "number one clan in the ninja world"?

Of course, quantity aside, in terms of quality, most of these Sarutobi ninjas were Genin, and the number of Jonin was not significantly higher than that of the Uchiha.

With so many "Sarutobi Army" members, the resources consumed must be an astronomical figure, which was why weakening the major ninja clans was the core strategy of the Konoha F4.

If they didn't weaken the major clans that occupied the resources, how could their own families grow?

The excuse used was the Second Hokage's policy of "cultivating civilian ninjas."

As for how many civilian ninjas had actually been cultivated over several decades of governance?

No one dared to say, no one dared to ask, and if you asked, you would be treated to a "suicide by seventeen kunai in the back."

Therefore, White Dove would not be paralyzed by the man's superficial pleasantries; instead, his vigilance surged, and he replied with equal politeness.

"Lord Hokage, as long as you are happy~!"

White Dove had no intention of following the "acting" path of those fellow transmigrators—pretending to yearn for the Hokage faction while stabbing them in the back later.

He was directly stating that he was not pleased with the Hokage faction!

Only by clearly stating his own stance could he attract more "like-minded" people to attach themselves to him and cooperate.

Furthermore, this way, even if Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to scheme against him, he could simply refuse.

Even if you are the Hokage, I can agree to orders within a normal scope, but anything beyond that, I won't even bother to acknowledge you.

Although the Hokage is the shadow of the village, he must still follow the rules.

"..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression stiffened, but he immediately returned to normal.

After all, he was accustomed to the respectful attitudes of Uchiha Fugaku, Shisui, and Itachi; encountering an Uchiha like White Dove, who couldn't even be bothered to put on a superficial act, naturally caught him off guard and left him unable to step down gracefully.

In his view, as a dignified Hokage, he was communicating with him in such a manner—shouldn't the boy show some excitement?

Yet, who would have thought the other party would be this cold.

Actually... if White Dove hadn't transplanted the Mangekyo, he would have been better at bootlicking than anyone else. If Sarutobi Hiruzen were willing, he wouldn't have minded calling him "Foster Father." If the benefits were high enough, changing his name to "Sarutobi White Dove" wouldn't have been out of the question. As long as it didn't cross his bottom line, he had never cared about his integrity.

But with the Mangekyo, he had the power to protect himself, and naturally, he had no desire to compete in acting skills with these old schemers.

He was no match for them!

Ninjas might lack the foresight and wild imagination of a transmigrator like him, but when it came to acting and schemes, they were not a whit inferior—if anything, they were even more formidable.

Consider it a baseline that everyone here is an Oscar-level actor.

Therefore, while he lacked strength, he could play along, but now that he had the power, he naturally had to establish a new faction and confront them with open, undeniable schemes.

Uchiha White Dove chose to build the New Uchiha rather than simply kicking Uchiha Fugaku off his throne to take the seat of clan head because he wanted a "clean" faction. It was better suited for his ambitions than inheriting an old organization riddled with hidden dangers and acting as a mere patch-worker.

Just as the atmosphere grew awkward and Sarutobi Hiruzen found himself unable to step down, Utatane Koharu, standing behind him, spoke up.

"Uchiha White Dove, what is it that you Uchiha are trying to do?"

With a single sentence, she diverted everyone's attention, provided a stepping stone for Sarutobi Hiruzen to retreat, and cut straight to the point.

Though White Dove did not recognize her authority as a consultant elder, the others did, which gave her the standing to issue the challenge.

"We merely want the truth regarding whether Shisui was secretly harmed by the higher-ups!"

Uchiha White Dove's tone was firm, as if he had truly come for the sake of Shisui.

Yet, while this performance might have fooled others, it could not deceive Danzo, the "Darkness of the Shinobi."

What is this wicked Uchiha brat actually planning?

After Shisui escaped last night, could he have seized the opportunity to strike? Did the other Mangekyo fall into his hands?

Should I take this chance to drag him down with me... No, I have no evidence, and he would never admit to being the one who gave me the intelligence—besides, I cannot admit to it either!

Various thoughts flashed through his mind.

In the end, these thoughts transformed into wariness toward White Dove.

Because he realized at this moment that he had no way to voice his suspicions.

To speak them aloud would be tantamount to admitting that he was involved in Shisui's fate.

That alone would be bad enough, but the real problem was that he had no evidence to link it to Uchiha White Dove.

When they had communicated yesterday, no one outside of Root had known.

"Insolent!" Mitokado Homura shouted sternly. "You Uchiha are far too insolent! Just because of a rumor, you dare to assemble so many people to coerce the Hokage? Are you planning a rebellion?"

He was using his status to suppress them.

Because by now, everyone had a hunch about whether Shisui was truly in trouble or not.

If it were truly just a rumor, the higher-ups would have had him stand out long ago. If he had appeared, the Uchiha's actions would be a provocation against the village and would certainly be suppressed by everyone working in unison.

The problem was that Shisui had not appeared... which, in reality, was a tacit admission that something had happened to him.

Therefore, even though clans like the Ino-Shika-Cho, Hyuga, Inuzuka, and Aburame were present, they remained deathly silent. Whenever a clansman wanted to step forward, they were stopped by a single look from their respective heads.

No one here was a fool!

Even if they didn't know exactly how Shisui had met his end, they were certain it involved the village higher-ups. Otherwise, the Uchiha wouldn't be this agitated. Let the Hokage Faction carry this burden themselves; they had no intention of being cannon fodder for them.

White Dove had been observing the reactions of these clans, and a flash of realization crossed his eyes.

Everything was as he had expected!

As long as the Uchiha weren't actually trying to rebel, these clans wouldn't act as cannon fodder for the Hokage Faction.

After all, the higher-ups had long advocated for "weakening the clans to benefit civilian ninjas," and after decades of this, the clans were already fed up.

Add in the events of the Third Great Ninja War, and it was a miracle they hadn't personally moved against Sarutobi Hiruzen already; expecting them to help was pure delusion.

Much like in the original plot, before Orochimaru killed Sarutobi Hiruzen, these clans had acted as if they were invisible. Once Sarutobi Hiruzen died, they had tacitly worked together to crush the Sand ninjas.

From this alone, one could see just how cold the relationship between the clans and the F4 truly was.

Knowing the stance of these clans, White Dove felt at ease and opened his mouth to lash out.

"Insolent? You old geezer, how dare you bark like a rabid dog in my presence?"

Don't suppress yourself when there's no need; when there's trouble, go straight to madness.

Now that White Dove had the strength, he wouldn't endure it. Unlike Uchiha Fugaku, who was willing to play the patient turtle even with power, he had no such inclination.

He had been restrained the night before only because he had possessed mere quasi-Kage strength, while Uchiha Fugaku was a Kage-level heavyweight. If he had gone too far, he would have been crushed in an instant.

But things were different now.

After transplanting the Mangekyo, he stood at the very pinnacle even among Kage-level experts, so naturally, he had few scruples left.

His previous maneuvering had been precisely to pave the way for this moment of unrestrained defiance.