Surface-Level Couple

A month after the Nine-Tails Night.

Rebuilding was far harder than destruction. It had taken this whole month just to clear away the rubble and tally the casualties.

The Fourth Hokage was dead, and Konoha desperately needed a new Hokage to take charge.

Of the Sannin, who were the most qualified, Orochimaru had defected, and Tsunade couldn't be reached. Jiraiya had been contacted and was on his way back.

But he had explicitly refused to succeed the Fourth Hokage.

With no choice, the retired Sarutobi Hiruzen had taken up the post in their hour of need, holding together Konoha in its current state of chaos and weakness.

--

Inside the Hokage Building, in the conference room.

Bam!!

Shimura Danzō slammed his one remaining hand against the table and said coldly, "What kind of joke is this? The Uchiha have defected as an entire clan, and you didn't send anyone to hunt them down?!"

Nara Shikaku, the current Jonin Commander, looked at Shimura Danzō with faint displeasure. "Lord Danzō, you've only just returned. You're not familiar with the situation yet. This is—"

"Why did you let that old fool come back?!"

Shimura Danzō could no longer contain his anger. "Was that brat using me as a bargaining chip?!"

"Are you all idiots?!"

"Since I was captured, my life as a shinobi was already over. You didn't need to worry about me. You should've wiped out the entire Uchiha Clan!"

If he could have taken the Uchiha Clan down with him, then even if it fell far short of his ambitions, Danzō felt it wouldn't have been a bad trade.

"This was the Fourth Hokage's final order."

Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke calmly from the head of the table.

"The Fourth... He had no idea what kind of people the Uchiha were! He didn't know, and you don't know either? No—"

"Danzō, your business isn't settled yet. Stop shouting."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice turned colder, and a fierce glint showed in his eyes as he looked at Danzō.

On the night of the Nine-Tails, he had repeatedly warned Danzō not to pick a fight with the Uchiha. All he had to do was keep them away from the Nine-Tails.

And what had he done?

It didn't matter who struck first. What were those legs of yours for, Shimura Danzō? Couldn't you have come and reported it to me?

A fight would have been bad enough... but he'd lost!

He had even been captured outright, caught red-handed hiding Sharingan, pushing the situation past the point of no return.

Utterly foolish!

Danzō was naturally unwilling to accept this and was about to snap back...

Utatane Koharu quickly tried to smooth things over. "Danzō, let him finish. Things are more complicated than you think... much more complicated."

Sarutobi Hiruzen pointed out the window in a certain direction and said gravely, "Danzō, you must have seen the dead land outside the village on your way back. Tell me, based on your experience, what kind of power could have caused that?"

Danzō considered it for a moment, then said, "Did the Fourth use Flying Thunder God to teleport the Nine-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.

"I had people follow the Uchiha as they left... That was caused by Uchiha Sora's summoning beast."

"You should understand what that means..."

"The Uchiha Clan now possesses power on the level of a Tailed Beast!"

"So... what? If we don't kill that Uchiha brat now, are we just going to give him time to grow stronger?!"

"Three thousand seven hundred and twenty-one."

Sarutobi Hiruzen gave the number, then continued slowly, "That's how many people the village lost. Most were shinobi, including no shortage of elite jonin."

"Even the Fourth and his wife died. Do we still have the strength to hunt down the Uchiha Clan?"

Of course they did. A starving camel was still bigger than a horse.

With Konoha's remaining forces, a full-scale attack could wipe out the Uchiha Clan.

But what then?

With only a handful of people left, could they protect the Land of Fire, the richest territory in the world?

Danzō wasn't a fool, after all. He quickly understood the problem.

The Fourth's final order was just a pretext. Sarutobi Hiruzen's wife had also died at the Uchiha's hands. He was only human—didn't he want revenge on the Uchiha Clan?

But he couldn't...

He still carried the hopes of too many people. Too many depended on him for protection. He couldn't act on impulse.

Danzō's gaze darkened as a scheme took shape.

"The Uchiha Clan... They're a clan with a rare Kekkei Genkai. A lot of people would be interested in them."

"All we have to do is tell Kumogakure..."

"Lord Danzō, calm down." Nara Shikaku couldn't help speaking up.

"If Kumogakure learns that the entire Uchiha Clan has defected, do you think they'll hunt the Uchiha first, or attack Konoha?"

"If we maneuver Kumogakure into going after the Uchiha Clan, then given Uchiha Sora's temperament, he'll join them without hesitation and attack Konoha!"

"Would the Raikage choose to pay a huge price for a few Sharingan, or gain the Uchiha Clan and gobble up Konoha as well? The Raikage isn't a hothead. He knows which to choose."

"Lord Danzō, you're tired. You should go get some rest."

In the past, Nara Shikaku would never have dared speak to Danzō like that.

But Danzō's actions had truly enraged him.

More than one person had seen that arm fitted with several Sharingan, and word had already spread.

The entire Uchiha Clan had been wrong to defect, but did Shimura Danzō bear no responsibility?

Why had he forced them into a corner like that?

Danzō's eyes shifted as he noticed the hostile looks the jonin around the table were giving him.

Even his old friends Utatane Koharu and Homura seemed to be urging him to let the matter go.

He said nothing more, realizing the current situation left no room for further argument.

"...I am tired."

He needed to go underground and rebuild Root's strength before he could regain a say in things!

"Then stay home and get some rest. Don't go out," Sarutobi Hiruzen said coolly, passing sentence on Shimura Danzō.

At last, Shimura Danzō gave Sarutobi Hiruzen a long, deep look. There was something he didn't say aloud.

Hiruzen, you'd better...

--

After Danzō left, Nara Shikaku handed over a document.

"The Uchiha Clan has settled at the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools. From the looks of it, they plan to make their home there."

"The Land of Whirlpools..."

The Land of Whirlpools was a small coastal country and had once been home to the Uzumaki Clan.

It was a strategic foothold for the Land of Fire against the Land of Water. After the Uzumaki Clan was wiped out, no one had dared settle there.

"This is a letter from Uchiha Sora. Please take a look."

Sarutobi Hiruzen took the envelope, opened it, and read it carefully.

It said, more or less, just one thing.

If Sarutobi Hiruzen was willing, he could publicly claim that the Uchiha Clan was still Konoha's ally.

There was discord within the clan, so they had moved to the Land of Whirlpools to help Konoha guard against the Land of Water, just as the Uzumaki Clan had once done.

Of course, both sides knew full well whether they were truly allies.

If Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't willing, Uchiha Sora would lead the entire clan into Kumogakure.

Uchiha Sora understood perfectly that even if the Uchiha were hailed as the strongest shinobi clan in the world, they were no match for the power of a great nation.

To buy time to develop, he had no choice but to swallow his pride and hide behind Konoha's banner.

Konoha was in the same position.

They dared even less to announce that the Uchiha Clan had defected.

The Uchiha accounted for at least a fifth of Konoha's strength, perhaps an even larger share now.

If such a force split away and the other great nations found out... No need to say more.

The two sides were now like a divorced couple who kept the divorce secret to avoid outside interference.

The Uchiha had options.

At worst, they could give up their sovereignty and join another great nation. None of them would turn down such a force.

Ah, except for the Land of Water.

Well... the Land of Earth might be difficult too. That old man had a phobia of the Sharingan.

Konoha, on the other hand, had no choice.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed deeply, his gaze heavy.

More than the strength Uchiha Sora had displayed, it was his shrewd grasp of the situation that made Hiruzen wary.

Looking back, there hadn't been a better time to defect than the night of the Nine-Tails.

A few years earlier, the village had held the Uchiha in absolute check.

A few years later, the village would recover. Even if they suffered losses when they dealt with the Uchiha, it wouldn't shake them to their foundations...

Even Sarutobi Hiruzen had only realized it after the fact.

Had that brat really considered everything from the moment the incident began...?

From their few encounters, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew he'd been led around by the nose.

He knew it... but there was nothing he could do.

"Let's leave it at that... Next, we'll discuss the village's reconstruction plans."