Don't Be Too Arrogant, Young Man

With just a single glance from Uchiha Fucheng, the two grain shop clerks who had pulled out sharp knives turned around on the spot and began hacking away at their own shopkeeper.

The boorish shopkeeper, as if he had lost his mind, grabbed a scale weight and began smashing it wildly against the heads of the two burly clerks.

He shouted while he swung, "Murder! Someone is trying to kill me!"

Uchiha Fucheng watched Mikoto and the others with a beaming smile.

He then beckoned to the Uchiha Police Force standing behind the crowd, "The Shimura Grain and Oil shop is engaging in price gouging and forced sales, and the shopkeeper and clerks are attacking each other with malicious intent. Police Force, take orders: arrest all three of them and bring them in.

Their injuries aren't severe, so just bandage them up casually. Keep them alive; give the Shimura clan a two-day deadline to pay a fine of fifty thousand catties of grain if they want to redeem these three."

The farce at the grain shop had originally been sparked by Uchiha Fucheng's resentment toward Shimura Danzō after reading Kagami Uchiha's Notes. He had used Nonō as a pretext to intentionally pick a fight.

He hadn't expected this commotion to actually draw such a large crowd of Konoha villagers.

The skyrocketing prices had made the villagers of Konoha hate the members of the Shimura clan intensely.

In an instant, this incident had dragged Shimura Danzō's reputation down to the level of being "loathed by dogs and shunned by chickens."

Upon receiving the news immediately, Shimura Danzō felt he had been made to lose face.

The furious Pot Kage rampaged through the village, intercepting Uchiha Fucheng halfway before he could return to the clan compound.

Danzō's bandage-wrapped finger pointed angrily toward the sky.

"Young man, don't be too arrogant!"

Danzō glared with his single eye, his gaze filled with malice.

Uchiha Fucheng, however, showed no fear, staring back at Danzō unmoved.

"If a young man isn't arrogant, can he even be called young?!"

This retort made the veins in Danzō's temples throb violently.

"Don't be too reckless. Even with a Mangekyo Sharingan, you are only one person!

If you won't consider yourself, you should at least consider the other Uchiha."

Danzō practically ground his teeth as he spat out that final word, "consider."

Uchiha Fucheng raised an eyebrow. "Shi-mura-Dan-zō! Use your brain before you say things like that. I may have the Uchiha clan as a weakness, but what about you?

The largest clans in the village right now aren't the Uchiha or the Senju.

The clans with the most members right now are the Shimura and the Sarutobi. Has your brain been eaten by a Baku?

Are you so sure that only you are allowed to scheme against others, and that no one would dare take their anger out on your clan?"

Uchiha Fucheng, his eyes flashing with malice, hadn't even activated his Sharingan, yet he already exuded a terrifying aura.

His words instantly woke the dreamer.

It seemed Danzō had subconsciously forgotten that he wasn't the only one capable of scheming; others could threaten the Shimura clan as well.

Abandoning all moral limits to play at conspiracies?

The premise for such a game is that "others won't use these same dirty tricks against you."

Danzō fell silent.

But Fucheng would not let him off.

"Danzō, you had best maintain the most basic level of respect for me and the Uchiha clan.

Otherwise, I am not the kind of bleeding heart who only pursues fairness and justice."

As he said this, Fucheng's lips curled into a cold, sinister smirk.

"If I discover any action you take against the Uchiha, or if I even suspect you or the Shimura clan of such things, I'll apologize in advance.

With me, there is no need for evidence; whoever I suspect, I will simply make disappear."

Shocked that Uchiha Fucheng dared to threaten him in the middle of the street, Shimura Danzō widened his eyes, unable to believe what he was hearing.

To his surprise, Uchiha Fucheng was even more ruthless!

His eyes rotated directly into the shape of a Mangekyo, and a ninjutsu anchored by the core of a genjutsu was instantly implanted into the other man's mind.

This genjutsu didn't have much tactical significance, but it would make hypnotizing Danzō much easier next time.

Or, whenever Danzō thought of Uchiha Fucheng, he would feel an instinctive sense of tension.

With that done, the group of Uchiha ninja left the scene, leaving the shell-shocked Danzō behind.

A piercing hawk cry echoed over Konoha.

The four ninja hawks sent from the Land of Rain had all returned to the Hokage Office one after another.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzō passed the latest intelligence sent by Orochimaru from the Land of Rain among themselves.

Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped his pipe, his tone heavy as he spoke, "Salamander Hanzo has declared war after all!"

Danzo looked indignant. "We should have struck first, Konoha. We shouldn't have waited for Salamander Hanzo to declare war; we've lost the initiative."

Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head. "We just finished a battle against the Sand Ninja. Konoha needs time to recuperate. Being able to delay it for a few more days is a good thing."

Danzo sneered. "And now? What are we to do now that Konoha can no longer delay it?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen set down his pipe and said with a firm tone, "Then we fight!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the three advisors. "Since Salamander Hanzo has overestimated himself by declaring war on both the Sand Ninja and Konoha simultaneously, as long as we apply pressure on the Sand Ninja side, Konoha will surely win this battle."

The sky was overcast, and a fine rain fell like silk.

Sparse raindrops struck the roof tiles, creating a rapid tapping sound that seemed to herald the coming war.

Every ninja clan in Konoha received the war mobilization order.

The Land of Rain had officially declared war on Konoha and the Sand Ninja.

This topic spread through every street and alley of Konoha.

Within the Uchiha compound, Fucheng whispered, "The new Ninja World War has finally arrived."

Following the issuance of the mobilization order, the heads of the various large and small ninja clans in Konoha were once again invited to the Hokage Office Building.

The Uchiha clan, the Senju clan, the Hyuga clan, the Shimura clan, the Sarutobi clan...

The Ino-Shika-Cho trio, the Hatake, Inuzuka, Yuhi, Kurama, and Gekko clans...

For the smaller clans, the total number of men, women, and children combined amounted to only a few dozen or a hundred people.

As for the larger clans, the number of ninjas within them alone could reach hundreds or even thousands.

These ninja clans formed the very core of Konoha's combat strength.

Today, Sarutobi Hiruzen had summoned these clan heads to distribute the burden before the war.

They were to determine the number of troops to be sent based on the ninja combat power required for this war.

The quota discussed by the Konoha high command was basically referenced from the previous battle against the Sand Ninja, set at 70% of the number of ninjas allocated to each family last time.

To ensure fairness, ninja clans that had achieved significant results and earned honors in the previous war were allowed to reduce their troop numbers this time, bearing less of the mobilization responsibility.

This included the Hatake clan, the Hyuga clan, and the Uchiha clan.

In the previous battle against the Sand Ninja, Hatake Sakumo had essentially turned the tide of the war in a single stroke.

He had killed the enemy's two Kage-level ninjas, a husband-and-wife pair, earning the greatest merit.

Sarutobi Hiruzen arranged for Hatake Sakumo to be in charge of the logistics unit this time.

On the surface, this was a fair way to let more clans share the burden of war.

Being in charge of logistics was considered a reward for the Hatake clan.

But the Third Hokage's true thoughts were naturally that he feared Hatake Sakumo would achieve new merits; if Hatake Sakumo were to turn the tide again this time, then he, Sarutobi Hiruzen, would likely have to step down and yield his position to a worthier successor.

The Hyuga clan had also contributed significantly during the last battle against the Sand Ninja.

The casualty rate among the branch family members of the Hyuga had been high, leading the Hyuga clan to proactively request a reduction in the number of ninjas sent this time.

This request was not unreasonable.

After consulting with the Konoha elders, Sarutobi Hiruzen agreed to the request.

The critical impasse occurred with the Uchiha clan.

During the last battle against the Sand Ninja, because the Uchiha clan lacked a successor for the clan head, the Konoha high command had used the opportunity to sow discord among the different factions of the Uchiha.

They had even forced the Uchiha to send one-third more ninjas than requested.

In essence, the Konoha high command was in the wrong regarding this matter.

But since the matter was already a done deal, Sarutobi Hiruzen was certainly unwilling to back down if they tried to settle old scores.

Therefore, Fucheng had not dwelled on it too much at the time and had simply accepted the loss.

But this time, the high command of Konoha still wanted the Uchiha to send a number of ninjas based on the previous battle against the Sand Ninja.

Heh, they were truly dreaming!

Upon hearing Utatane Koharu read out the number of Uchiha ninjas, Uchiha Fucheng let out a scoff and kicked his chair over.

"Stop right there, Elder Utatane. If you keep talking, there will be no need to continue this meeting..."