Third Hokage Appears, Full of Majesty

Yamanaka Inoichi stared at Yamanaka Chujiu with bloodshot eyes and demanded, "Chujiu, give me your word that you will not let the Yamanaka Clan be destroyed!"

Yamanaka Chujiu held his head high and replied, "Big Brother, I give you my word!"

"The Yamanaka Clan, the Akimichi Clan, and the Nara Clan will all be better off. I want to make Konoha great again!"

Yamanaka Inoichi thought of the First Hokage, the Second Hokage, and the Fourth Hokage, finally casting aside his blind faith in the Third Hokage as he sighed, "I will support you, but I will not publicly take a side."

Yamanaka Chujiu smiled, "Big Brother, I am no fool. I know how powerful the Third Hokage is."

"I don't even intend to publicly oppose the Third Hokage myself, so why would I let the Yamanaka Clan publicly take a side?"

Yamanaka Inoichi was stunned, then smiled, and finally burst into laughter, "Haha, you are still the same clever little devil."

"Honestly, you scared the soul right out of me, suddenly making me meet with Uchiha Mikoto and then talking about opposing the Third Hokage."

Yamanaka Chujiu shook his head, "There is no helping it. You are the clan head; you have to endure such shocks."

Yamanaka Inoichi calmed his emotions and asked curiously, "If you don't intend to step forward yourself, then who is the enemy you have prepared for the Third Hokage?"

Chujiu said, "Naturally, it is the person you are meeting tomorrow."

Inoichi's pupils constricted, "The Uchiha Clan!"

"Yes, a very suitable target."

"When I meet with Mikoto tomorrow, I will certainly be noticed by the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō, but they will also quickly be able to verify that I am merely treating Uchiha Itachi's illness."

"This will preemptively rule out any suspicion of me colluding with the Uchiha, and instead, it will serve as a better cover for you."

"You really are wicked..."

Yamanaka Chujiu chuckled, "Thank you for the compliment."

Yamanaka Inoichi gently tapped his younger brother on the head and asked softly, "Are there any other troubles with your plan? Is there anything you need your big brother's help with?"

Yamanaka Chujiu frowned and gave a wry smile, "I only have one problem I cannot solve: how to persuade Orochimaru."

"I need to ensure Orochimaru doesn't lose heart when he sees the Third Hokage clinging to power, and instead encourage him to actively compete for the position of Fifth Hokage."

"Ah—I have absolutely no clue!"

Yamanaka Inoichi followed with a wry smile of his own, "I cannot help with that. You will have to work on it yourself."

The Yamanaka brothers found no solution, so they simply gave up. They pushed open the study door to return to the living room, where they saw a table full of food and Yamanaka Rino holding Ino.

Ino seemed to have just finished eating, letting out three loud milk burps followed by a long yawn. She insisted on smiling at her father and uncle before collapsing into her mother's arms to fall asleep.

The little dumpling Ino was so sweet that the three adults couldn't help but smile, their massive worries temporarily cast aside.

Yamanaka Inoichi coughed twice, "Wash your hands, let's eat!"

The Yamanaka dinner was takeout, but the atmosphere was warm and relaxed, putting the three Yamanaka ninja in a pleasant mood.

At this time, Uchiha Fugaku had gathered the Uchiha elders, and based on what Yamanaka Chujiu had told him, they held a high-spirited discussion throughout the night.

With the limited intellect of the Uchiha, they could only sense that the phrase "Hiruzen Sarutobi is different from the Sarutobi Clan" held immense promise, yet they could not figure out how to apply it.

But this was enough for the Uchiha to see hope. After an excited discussion, they finally came up with a plan.

Uchiha Fugaku raised his head proudly, "That sentence reminded us: the Third Hokage surely does not know that the Sarutobi Clan is seizing the villagers' properties."

"As long as we tell the Third Hokage about this and expose the cruelty and darkness of the Shanty Town, how could he have the nerve to force us to relocate when his own ninja clan has committed such a grave crime?"

The four Uchiha elders listened with extreme excitement, their faces flushed with agitation. They all felt that threatening the Third Hokage with the scandal of property seizure and the Shanty Town would surely force the Hokage to concede.

By then, forget about making the Uchiha move; they wouldn't even dare to mention the Sharingan in the eyes of the Nine-Tails anymore.

The five Uchiha felt victory was within their grasp and couldn't help but laugh heartily, even cracking jokes with one another.

What they did not expect was that among the Uchiha ninja responsible for guarding the door of the conference room, two had quietly passed on the intelligence.

The ninja receiving the intelligence was a Root operative who had been lurking outside the Uchiha compound.

Soon, the information reached the hands of Shimura Danzō.

Not long after, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, also received the intelligence and summoned Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Shimura Danzō to a meeting in the Hokage's office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was fifty-seven years old at this time. Although he was long past his prime, his strength remained formidable, and his presence remained heavy and dignified.

He sat behind his desk, his eyes sweeping gently over his three classmates, which was enough to make them fall silent, fully displaying the majesty of the Hokage.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked first at Shimura Danzō, "Speak. What exactly is going on?"

Shimura Danzō said, "Just a moment ago, Uchiha Fugaku suddenly convened a clan meeting."

"Our spies were outside the door and could not overhear the entire content of the meeting, but from the fragments, we can confirm it relates to the villagers the Uchiha dealt with yesterday."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slightly. Danzō's report matched the intelligence from the Anbu, indicating that he was not acting behind his back as he had during the night of the Nine-Tails.

He softened his tone and asked, "The Uchiha want to make an issue out of the villagers dealt with yesterday, which means there is a problem with those villagers."

"Danzō, what is the specific situation?"

Danzō curled his lip, "Yesterday, a group of villagers caused a disturbance in the street, claiming their houses had been seized."

"The owner of the houses called the Uchiha of the Military Police Force, who sent all these troublemaking villagers into the Shanty Town built by Root."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "If it were only that, Uchiha Fugaku would have no need to hold a meeting in the middle of the night."

Under the gaze of his three old classmates, Danzō Shimura hesitated slightly before blurting out the damning details: "Those villagers' houses were indeed seized..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi glared in fury, his powerful aura erupting like a volcano, forcing the three classmates to lower their heads involuntarily.

The Third Hokage roared, "Who seized the villagers' houses?"

Danzō Shimura curled his lip: "It was your Sarutobi clansmen, Hiruzen, along with the clansmen of the Mitokado and Utatane families. Those good-for-nothing brats from my own clan participated as well."

Bang!

The Third Hokage slammed the table in a rage: "How dare they do such a thing?"

"Are the privileges I granted them not enough?"

"Why must they resort to such desperate measures, forcibly seizing the villagers' very livelihoods?"

"Damn it, the Uchiha must have seized some kind of evidence to be so excited about holding a meeting in the middle of the night."

"If Uchiha Fugaku comes to find me tomorrow and slams that evidence in my face, what can I possibly say?"

"How are we supposed to force the Uchiha clan to relocate to the edge of the village then?"

The Third Hokage's stern, sharp-tongued questioning could not mask a trace of embarrassment and guilt.