"Itachi, Lord Hokage wants to see you." An Anbu wearing a cat-faced mask stood behind Itachi.
When he heard the voice and turned around, "Sasuke" had vanished from before his eyes at some point. "Understood."
The Third sat behind his desk. "Itachi, I heard you weren't feeling well today. Did something happen?"
"Just a stomachache. Thank you for your concern, Lord Hokage." Itachi's expression remained calm. He knew what the Third truly wanted to ask, so the Hokage's personal "concern" did not move him in the slightest.
The Third nodded and sighed. "All right. Remember to get some rest—how are things on the Uchiha side?"
Itachi replied without changing expression, "They've calmed down."
"They still... Hmm? They've already calmed down?"
"Yes."
Clearly, Itachi was lying. He had not gone back to persuade those clan members, nor did he know what their situation was now. But he had already said everything that needed to be said before. Repeating the same words would have been meaningless.
"That's good, that's good..." the Third muttered. Then he suddenly let out a long breath. After all, if the Uchiha still insisted on causing trouble, Konoha would inevitably find itself in an extremely awkward position.
Having endured the Nine-Tails' Attack, Konoha was far weaker than it had once been. In truth, unless absolutely necessary, the Third did not want to completely fall out with the Uchiha Clan either.
As for letting the Uchiha Clan move back and giving them sufficient respect and importance, the Third had never even considered it. What Konoha needed now was absolute stability, and with public sentiment leaning that way, forcing the Uchiha Clan to move out had undoubtedly become the "best" choice.
Of course, that so-called "best" choice completely disregarded the Uchiha Clan's feelings. As for the result it would ultimately