Power Grab! Hiruzen Sarutobi's Concession

In the silent night, especially in a place like Konoha, even the slightest sound would attract the attention of many.

As Ensei Uchiha dragged a person through the main street, he naturally drew the attention of the patrolling Anbu of Konoha very quickly.

However, these Anbu were clearly aware of what kind of person Ensei Uchiha was, so they dared not stop him at all, merely splitting up to notify Hiruzen Sarutobi.

And when Hiruzen Sarutobi received this news, he was initially quite pleased.

But when he arrived at the residence of the Kumogakure delegation, all he saw were the furious eyes of the Kumogakure party and two headless corpses lying on the ground.

"What on earth happened?"

Seeing such a scene, how could Hiruzen Sarutobi not understand what had transpired?

He had not expected that Ensei Uchiha would actually do such a thing; capturing the enemy was one thing, but why kill them in front of everyone?

Could it be that the Uchiha Clan's goal was to incite a war between Kumogakure and Konoha?

Many speculations raced through Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind, but for now, he had to resolve the immediate trouble.

"Hokage... is this the attitude of your Konoha toward peace talks?"

"If we aren't given an explanation for today's incident, there is no need for the negotiations to continue. Let's go to war!"

The leader of the Kumogakure delegation spoke, his first sentence being an accusation, aimed at ensuring Kumogakure held the moral high ground.

Public opinion is something that is sometimes useless, yet at other times, it is extremely important.

Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could even speak, Ensei Uchiha's cold voice rang out.

"An explanation? What kind of explanation do you want?"

"Kumogakure attempted to steal the Kekkei Genkai of the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan; it is you who should be giving me an explanation!"

"War? Regarding today's matter, even if those two idiots acted on their own, Kumogakure still owes me an explanation."

"Otherwise, then let's go to war!"

"The entire Uchiha Clan will mobilize, and we will fight to the death!"

Ensei Uchiha's words were calm, so calm that what he said sounded almost like a joke.

But after he finished, the scene fell into a dead silence, and no one expressed any dissatisfaction with Ensei Uchiha's decision.

At this moment, everyone present was reminded of the Uchiha Clan from the Warring States period.

Do you know why there are so many Kekkei Genkai families in Kirigakure?

It is very simple: they were all beaten into submission by the Uchiha Clan.

The ninjas of the Uchiha Clan had a characteristic: they would often produce a large number of powerhouses from among their numerous genin and chunin.

Sometimes, the Uchiha Clan would even grow stronger as they fought during a single campaign.

Therefore, in the Warring States period, apart from clans with large numbers like the Senju Clan, very few ninja clans were willing to provoke the Uchiha Clan.

"Heh~ hehe, is Konoha now being run by a little kid?"

Within the Kumogakure delegation, someone finally could not bear the eerie, silent atmosphere and uttered a mocking remark.

"Hmm, that's right. You could say I'm the one calling the shots in Konoha right now. What do you think, Third Hokage?"

Ensei Uchiha admitted it without hesitation and took the opportunity to speak in a semi-threatening manner toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.

At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi deeply regretted getting involved in this matter.

Since he had already handed this affair over to Ensei Uchiha, couldn't he have just pretended not to know? Why did he have to come here and lose face?

"Cough, cough!"

"Let's all calm down. Mobilizing the whole clan and fighting to the death is indeed a bit much. After all, Kumogakure is a village, not a single clan; you can't just kill everyone, can you?"

"And you gentlemen from Kumogakure, don't be impulsive. Coveting the Kekkei Genkai of another clan naturally requires an explanation; otherwise, wouldn't anyone be able to stick their nose in?"

"How about this... it is already very late today, shall we continue our talks tomorrow?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi tried his best to put on a conciliatory front, but both the Konoha ninjas and the Kumogakure delegation could see that Hiruzen Sarutobi's confidence was not very strong.

The Kumogakure delegation exchanged glances, all realizing that they had miscalculated the situation in Konoha; their original plan had apparently failed.

"Things have reached this point, is there any need to talk further?"

"If Konoha does not intend to bear the charge of harming the Kumogakure delegation, please clear a path and let us return to Kumogakure."

"As for what follows... that will naturally be decided by the Raikage."

The Kumogakure delegation secretly mocked Hiruzen Sarutobi while trying to seize this opportunity to leave Konoha.

After all, looking at the current situation, if any more conflicts were to occur, it was very likely that their entire group would die in Konoha.

Although they did not fear death, they did not want to die for nothing.

Hearing the words of the Kumogakure ninja, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help but turn his head to look in the direction of Ensei Uchiha.

"Fine. I will wait in Konoha for the Raikage's reply."

"If there is no answer within ten days, then the Uchiha Clan will unilaterally initiate a war against Kumogakure."

Ensei Uchiha nodded and spoke.

After Ensei Uchiha finished speaking, the crowd parted to make way, allowing the Kumogakure delegation to flee Konoha overnight.

The next day, the Konoha Jonin meeting was convened once again.

Even though no one dared to speak up the previous night, there were still quite a few Jonin at this meeting who voiced accusations against the Uchiha Clan's presumptuous behavior.

Among these people, some were likely arranged by the Konoha Elder Council, some were genuinely concerned for Konoha, and others harbored their own ulterior motives.

Regarding these voices, Ensei Uchiha dismissed them all with a single sentence.

"Last night, I was merely representing the Uchiha Clan."

"Or are you saying that you have already conceded that I can speak for all of Konoha?"

No one dared to answer that.

Although everyone knew that Ensei Uchiha held a special status in Konoha now, the Third Hokage was still in office after all, and they certainly did not want to see a rebellion by the Uchiha Clan.

If a rebellion by the original Uchiha Clan might have resulted in mutual destruction with Konoha, then a rebellion by the current Uchiha Clan would only result in harm to Konoha.

One must realize that the Uchiha Clan now possessed three pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan.

Ensei Uchiha was not actually a Mangekyo user, but everyone assumed he was. Furthermore, Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan had also been discovered, and when added to Shisui...

The cohesion of the current Uchiha Clan had already surpassed the era of Madara Uchiha.

With an extra pair of Mangekyo Sharingan in the mix, no one dared to ignore the Uchiha Clan's stance at this moment.

After a moment of silence, Utatane Koharu suddenly spoke up:

"The village does have contingency plans regarding a war with Kumogakure."

"But the concern now is that if a war with Kumogakure is launched, then Iwagakure and Sunagakure will inevitably join the fray, and there is even a high probability that Kirigakure will get involved as well."

"At that point, Konoha will face enemies from the entire Shinobi World."

"Are you saying that the Uchiha Clan can handle such a situation?"