The Third Hokage's Faction Was Like a Crab

Uchiha Setsuna finished cursing and felt refreshed, pleased with himself as he waved to the clan members.

He was so brazen that he didn't care that the Uchiha Clan was under intense scrutiny, with the suspicion that the Sharingan had been in the Nine-Tails' eyes still not cleared.

Setsuna's thinking was simple: Konoha belonged to the Uchiha Clan. Konoha had been founded by Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama together.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was only the Third Hokage, yet he actually suspected the Uchiha, one of the original shareholders. He'd really been spoiled!

Even by the Shinobi World's pitiful standards for profanity, Uchiha Setsuna only knew how to insult someone's mother, rather than center a far more intimate string of curses on both parents and extend it to eighteen generations of ancestors. Still, Shimura Danzō was so furious that he nearly lost his soul.

Seeing Shimura Danzō at a loss for words, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu immediately flew into a rage. They jumped in to flank Uchiha Setsuna, accusing him of disrespecting the Hokage's advisors.

"Bah! When the Fourth Hokage fought the Nine-Tails, where were you advisors?"

"The Fourth Hokage died heroically for the village. How come not one of you advisors even got hurt?"

"Oh, right. When the Second Hokage died heroically in battle, you Shadow Guards all made it back to Konoha safe and sound. That's your signature move!"

"Heh, the Third Hokage actually survived having you lot drag him down. He really must be one tough old man!"

Those few retorts left Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu speechless in an instant. Even Shimura Danzō felt his scalp tingle and couldn't help taking half a step back.

Uchiha Setsuna was on fire tonight. Whoever he came across, he cursed them to the ground, leaving them no chance to answer back and winning every exchange outright.

The Third Hokage glanced at Setsuna, his wariness increasing tenfold.

He'd never thought the old man had such a sharp tongue. Hadn't he only ever known how to shout about killing people?

Could someone be giving him advice from behind the scenes?

The Third Hokage's guess was spot on, and that someone was right there now, standing behind Yamanaka Inoichi: Yamanaka Chujiu.

Uchiha Setsuna and Uchiha Shiho had set the stage for this confrontation, but Yamanaka Chujiu was now the one directing it.

When the Uchiha Squad sneaked into Shanty Town and cast Sharingan Genjutsu on the Root shinobi guarding it, Yamanaka Chujiu had been jolted awake.

One of the Root shinobi guarding Shanty Town was his living puppet. Once the puppet was controlled by genjutsu, its master was bound to be alerted.

The control range of Yamanaka Chujiu's living puppets far exceeded Heart Severing Realm's emotional sensing range.

In mountainous terrain, he could control them perfectly from as far as ten kilometers away. In a flat place like Konoha, his range even exceeded thirty kilometers.

As soon as Yamanaka Chujiu woke, he immediately realized that the living hell of Shanty Town was about to be exposed.

He had never gone inside himself, but so many villagers had fallen past the Execution Line and entered, and not one had ever come back out alive. It had to be a hell that tested the limits of human nature.

The fact that a living hell existed in Konoha was bound to cause a tremendous psychological shock.

Yamanaka Chujiu could only shake his head. "What a waste. So many people died, but this won't overthrow the Third Hokage. It'll only encourage him to restore his rule. All those people died for nothing."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was a bug right now.

He held power over the entire village, yet he wasn't the sitting Hokage and had no responsibilities he was required to shoulder.

If the Shanty Town scandal came out now, Hiruzen Sarutobi would only need to say one thing to pin all the blame on Shimura Danzō, that black-hearted bastard.

But with Hiruzen Sarutobi in power, Shimura Danzō would at most be confined to his quarters—and even that might only be for show.

As long as no one caught him in the act, he could do whatever he wanted. He wouldn't even have to tell anyone before leaving the village.

Yamanaka Chujiu shook his head. The Third Hokage had ruled Konoha for a full eighteen years, building up a vast network of influence no individual could resist.

A little place like Shanty Town wasn't enough to bring him down.

Yamanaka Chujiu was the same age as Hatake Kakashi, and he had once seen Namikaze Minato with his own eyes. He knew just how powerful the Fourth Hokage had been.

Namikaze Minato was the rightful Hokage, Konoha's strongest fighter, and his wife was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

He was also sunny and gentle with others, and deeply respected by the people.

Aside from seniority, there was no way the Third Hokage could match the Fourth.

Yet the Fourth Hokage, who surpassed him in personal ability by far, had obediently served as a puppet for a year. That could only mean he saw no way to seize power and had no choice but to wait patiently and build up his strength.

It also meant that Namikaze Minato wasn't up against Hiruzen Sarutobi alone, but an entire political faction centered around him.

That faction was like a giant crab. Hiruzen Sarutobi was its heart, Shimura Danzō its powerful pincers, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura its legs, and four ninja clans its flesh. Its outermost layer was a hard shell made of morality and legitimacy.

That hard shell in particular couldn't be shaken by a mere scandal.

To deal with Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, they had to be as patient as they would be with a crab. First, they had to take out its powerful, venomous pincers and strip it of its ability to attack.

Then they had to remove its legs, stopping it from scuttling around and throwing all of Konoha into chaos.

Next, they had to smash and strip away its hard moral shell, exposing the rotten flesh beneath.

Only then could they deal with Hiruzen Sarutobi, the heart, and consign the Third Hokage's faction to Konoha's history.

They absolutely couldn't get the order wrong. Otherwise, they risked a counterattack from Shimura Danzō—or even having Hiruzen Sarutobi use his authority as Hokage to unleash the entire village's power against them.

The Uchiha Clan was the only force in Konoha strong enough to withstand a counterattack from the Third Hokage's faction.

After following his big brother to the scene, Yamanaka Chujiu not only figured out all the twists and turns but was also surprised to realize that he understood the Uchiha hawks.

Their willingness to fight to the death to protect their families and clan, their disgust toward hypocrites, and their hatred of the evil Shimura Danzō—all of it resonated with Yamanaka Chujiu.

By contrast, he couldn't understand the Uchiha doves' willingness to compromise at all.

He wasn't just guessing. He had proof!

Yamanaka Chujiu could not only sense Uchiha Setsuna's emotions, but also wrap strands of thought around him and easily reach into his mind.

Using Uchiha Setsuna's surface memories, Yamanaka Chujiu had figured out what had happened and how it all began.

A new idea came to him at once.

The Uchiha Clan was already in sharp opposition to the Third Hokage. They wanted to fight back, had taken the initiative to expose Konoha's ugly side, and had the strength to withstand a counterattack from the Third Hokage's faction.

So he would give them another push from behind and help the Uchiha firmly take their stand against the Third Hokage.

If they kept hesitating and refused to make their position clear, they would never unite their own people. Their enemies would sow discord among them, planting the seeds of disaster.

So Yamanaka Chujiu used Heart Severing Realm to influence Uchiha Setsuna, helping him fire off one "brilliant line" after another at Shimura Danzō and making it much harder for Uchiha Fugaku to compromise.