The Third Hokage's Group, Like Crabs

Uchiha Setsuna finished his tirade feeling refreshed, satisfied, and smug, waving to his clansmen with a triumphant air.

His attitude was so arrogant that he showed no concern for the fact that the Uchiha clan was currently on the edge of a knife, with the suspicion regarding the Sharingan seen in the Nine-Tails' eyes yet to be cleared.

Setsuna's logic was simple: this land of Konoha belonged to the Uchiha clan; Konoha was founded by the joint efforts of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was merely the Third Hokage, yet he dared to suspect the Uchiha, the original shareholders of this village—he was truly getting too big for his boots!

Even though the vocabulary of the ninja world was extremely limited, and Uchiha Setsuna only knew how to insult his mother rather than performing a more intimate greeting using his parents as the center and his ancestors of eighteen generations as the radius, Shimura Danzō was still so enraged that his soul felt like it was leaving his body.

With Shimura Danzō humiliated, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu immediately flew into a rage, jumping out to flank Uchiha Setsuna and accusing him of being disrespectful to the Hokage's advisors.

"Bah! Where were you advisors when the Fourth Hokage was fighting the Nine-Tails?"

"The Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself heroically for the village, so why aren't you advisors even sporting a single scratch?"

"Oh, right! When the Second Hokage died in battle, you lot—his personal guards—returned to Konoha perfectly unscathed. That's your traditional specialty, isn't it?"

"Heh, it's a miracle the Third Hokage wasn't killed by you lot! I must say, his life is truly tough!"

Struck by these words, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were instantly silenced, and even Shimura Danzō felt his scalp tingle, unable to stop himself from taking half a step back.

Uchiha Setsuna was in peak form tonight; he tore into anyone he caught, leaving them no chance to retort, and secured a total victory.

The Third Hokage glanced at Setsuna, his internal vigilance increasing tenfold.

He had never noticed this old man had such a sharp tongue before; wasn't he only capable of shouting about killing and fighting?

Could it be that someone was feeding him lines from behind the scenes?

The Third Hokage's guess was spot on, and the person feeding the lines was standing right there, behind Yamanaka Inoichi: Yamanaka Chujiu.

The stage for this conflict had been set by Uchiha Setsuna and Uchiha Shiho, but the director now was Yamanaka Chujiu.

When the Uchiha squad had snuck into the Shanty Town and used Sharingan genjutsu on the guarding Root ninja, Yamanaka Chujiu had been jolted awake.

Among the Root ninja guarding the Shanty Town was one of his living puppets; once the puppet was controlled by genjutsu, it naturally alerted its master.

Yamanaka Chujiu's control range for his living puppets far exceeded the emotional perception of the Heart Severing Realm.

In mountainous terrain, he could maintain perfect control within ten kilometers; in a flat area like Konoha, that range exceeded thirty kilometers.

Once awakened, Yamanaka Chujiu immediately realized that the living hell of the Shanty Town was about to be exposed.

Although he had never personally gone inside, a place where so many villagers fell past the Execution Line and never came out alive had to be a hell that defied human nature.

The fact that a living hell existed in Konoha would inevitably cause a massive psychological shock.

Yamanaka Chujiu couldn't help but shake his head: "It's a pity that so many people suffered, yet it won't be enough to overthrow the Third Hokage's rule; instead, it will only spur him to restore his power. All those lives were lost in vain."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a bug in the system.

He held the power of the entire village, yet he was not the sitting Hokage and bore no mandatory responsibilities.

If the scandal of the Shanty Town were exposed now, Hiruzen Sarutobi would only need one sentence to shift the blame onto the shadowy Shimura Danzō.

But with Hiruzen Sarutobi around, the most punishment Shimura Danzō would face was house arrest—or perhaps just a superficial version of it.

As long as he wasn't caught red-handed, he could do whatever he pleased; he didn't even need to notify anyone to leave the village.

Yamanaka Chujiu shook his head again; the Third Hokage had ruled Konoha for eighteen full years, accumulating a massive influence that no individual could resist.

A mere Shanty Town scandal really wasn't enough to bring him down.

Yamanaka Chujiu was the same age as Hatake Kakashi and had seen Namikaze Minato in person, knowing full well how powerful the Fourth Hokage had been.

As the legitimate Hokage, Namikaze Minato was the strongest combatant in Konoha, and his wife was the Nine-Tails jinchūriki.

Furthermore, he had a sunny disposition, was gentle with others, and enjoyed immense popularity.

Aside from seniority, there was no way the Third Hokage should have been a match for the Fourth.

Yet, the Fourth Hokage, who was superior in every personal metric, had spent a year acting as a puppet, which only proved that he saw no path to seizing power and had to patiently bide his time.

It also proved that Namikaze Minato was not facing Hiruzen Sarutobi as an individual, but rather the Third Hokage's political faction, with him at its core.

This faction was like a giant crab: Hiruzen Sarutobi was the heart, Shimura Danzō was the great claw, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were the supporting legs, the four ninja clans were the flesh and blood, and the outermost layer was the hard shell made of morality and orthodoxy.

Especially that sturdy shell—mere scandals could never shake it.

To deal with the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, one had to be as patient as one would be with a crab: first, remove the powerful and venomous claw to strip the crab of its ability to attack.

Then, dismantle the supporting legs to prevent the crab from scuttling about and throwing Konoha into chaos.

Next, shatter and peel away the hard moral shell to expose the rotting flesh within.

Only then could one deal with the heart—Hiruzen Sarutobi—and consign the Third Hokage's faction to the history books of Konoha.

This sequence could not be disrupted, or one would easily face a counterattack from Shimura Danzō, or even be crushed by Hiruzen Sarutobi using the authority of the Hokage to mobilize the entire village.

In the current Konoha, only the Uchiha clan had the strength to withstand a counterattack from the Third Hokage's faction.

After arriving at the scene with his older brother, Yamanaka Chujiu not only understood the intricacies of the situation but was surprised to find that he could empathize with the Uchiha hawks.

That mindset of fighting to the death against enemies to protect one's family and clan, the disgust for hypocrites, and the hatred for an evil man like Shimura Danzō—all of it resonated with Yamanaka Chujiu.

Conversely, he found the submissive nature of the Uchiha doves completely incomprehensible.

He was not guessing blindly; he had evidence!

Yamanaka Chujiu could not only sense Uchiha Setsuna's emotions but also entangle him with threads of thought, easily delving deep into his mind.

By tapping into Uchiha Setsuna's surface-level memories, Yamanaka Chujiu grasped the cause and effect of the entire affair.

A new idea formed in his mind in an instant.

The Uchiha clan was already in sharp opposition to the Third Hokage; they possessed the will to resist, had taken the initiative to expose the ugly truths of Konoha, and held the strength to withstand a counterattack from the Third Hokage's faction.

He would give them an extra push from behind, ensuring the Uchiha firmly solidified their stance against the Third Hokage.

If they remained indecisive and failed to clearly declare their position, they would be unable to unify their internal ranks, allowing enemies to sow discord and plant the seeds of a fatal downfall.

Therefore, Yamanaka Chujiu used the Heart Severing Realm to influence Uchiha Setsuna, enabling him to launch a "barrage of sharp retorts" against Shimura Danzō, which significantly increased the difficulty for Uchiha Fugaku to reach a compromise.