Danzo got straight to the point. Fixing Sarutobi Hiruzen with a solemn look, he said gravely, "Hiruzen, this time we have to capture the Six-Tails!"
"Minato's already handling it. Since the Six-Tails has practically delivered itself to our doorstep, we certainly won't turn it away." Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at Danzo and replied coolly, "It'll make a good bargaining chip when we negotiate with Kirigakure."
Danzo walked up to the Hokage's desk and said sternly, "Hiruzen, are you still planning to return the Six-Tails to Kirigakure?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen studied Danzo for a moment before answering, "We'll see. It depends on how much Kirigakure is willing to give up."
"Hmph." Danzo snorted. "What bargaining power does Kirigakure even have now? The Three-Tails is dead, and the Six-Tails' jinchuriki is dead. What can a mere Third Mizukage accomplish?"
"I say, if we capture the Six-Tails, there'll be no need to return it to Kirigakure. We can keep it in Root."
Looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen, Danzo said confidently,
"With the methods at Root's disposal, Konoha can gain another trump card."
Sarutobi Hiruzen raised his eyelids and said coolly, "Whether we can keep it depends on how the other villages react. We can't just keep it because we want to."
"Do you think Iwagakure, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure will let Konoha have another Tailed Beast?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked, resting his chin on his hand.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was stating a fact. Tailed Beasts served as trump cards for the great villages, and the other villages certainly wouldn't allow Konoha to acquire another one.
"Heh..." Danzo sneered. "Isn't this simple? I have plenty of ways to make Kirigakure 'voluntarily' give up the Six-Tails."
"You'd better behave yourself. Don't go causing trouble."
Sarutobi Hiruzen glared coldly at Danzo and said in a low voice,
"The war is nearing its end. We can't let it drag on any longer. After so many battles, Konoha urgently needs time to recuperate."
"Hiruzen, this is exactly when we should keep the Tailed Beast in Konoha. The stronger we are, the more likely they are to keep in line!"
Danzo's expression darkened. He glowered at Sarutobi Hiruzen, seated in the Hokage's chair.
"If you return the Six-Tails to Kirigakure, you'll regret it sooner or later!"
"Hmph... Danzo, your vision is far too narrow!" Sarutobi Hiruzen sneered. "I'm the Hokage!"
"You!" Danzo was at a loss for words. Then, his face cold, he turned and stormed out.
Watching Danzo leave, Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head. Danzo was short-sighted. He was useful enough for handling inconvenient matters from time to time.
But when it came to truly important issues, Danzo couldn't be relied on. He had no sense of the bigger picture.
With the current balance of power, could they really just seize a Tailed Beast? How could the other villages possibly agree?
One wrong move, and they would surely plunge into another all-out Ninja World War.
Some things couldn't be done simply because you wanted to. Konoha was strong, but it wouldn't easily withstand an assault from the other villages.
This wasn't the era when the First was in charge, when one man could sweep across the Shinobi World.
Though powerful fighters were emerging one after another and Konoha seemed to be flourishing,
Sarutobi Hiruzen, as Hokage, understood that Konoha's middle ranks—the Chunin and Genin—had long been depleted by the successive wars, with too few new recruits to replace them.
In this war, Konoha had fought Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure in turn, suffering heavy losses among its Chunin and Genin.
The Ninja Academy couldn't train Genin fast enough to replace those lost in battle.
If the fighting continued, Konoha would soon have no troops left to send.
"But the Uchiha Clan..." At the thought of the clan, Sarutobi Hiruzen unconsciously tapped his fingers on the desk and murmured, "They really are a clan of exceptional talent. First Uchiha Fugaku, then Uchiha Shisui, and now Uchiha Akira has appeared..."
Since taking office, Sarutobi Hiruzen had never placed his full trust in the Uchiha Clan.
Their past made it difficult for him to trust them completely.
During Senju Tobirama's time as Hokage, the Uchiha Clan had once attempted a coup.
Though the coup was swiftly put down, its repercussions ran deep, and the clan never again enjoyed the complete trust of Konoha's leadership.
During the Second Hokage's tenure, Kagami Uchiha had at least served as one of the Hokage's guards, giving the clan a tenuous foothold near the center of power.
But by the time of the Third Hokage, the Uchiha Clan had been completely excluded from Konoha's inner circle.
With that history hanging over them, Sarutobi Hiruzen had always been wary of the Uchiha Clan.
"The Uchiha Clan has put all its chips on Minato..." Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze grew distant as his thoughts raced. "Perhaps that's for the best. If Minato is elected, I can leave the Uchiha problem to him."
Minato Namikaze was a shinobi he had high hopes for. Barring any surprises, the candidates for Fourth Hokage would come down to Minato Namikaze and Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru has been getting a little too close to Danzo..." Thinking of his prized student, Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned.
Danzo was always up to something, and his dealings with Orochimaru could only lead to trouble.
Sarutobi Hiruzen thought, I need to warn him to be careful. If he wants to become Hokage, he has to step into the light, not lurk in the shadows.
Meanwhile, after returning home, Uchiha Akira immediately used Summoning Jutsu to summon a Ninja Cat.
The cats were longtime partners of the Uchiha Clan. They were a source of information for the clan and a supply of ninja tools and weapons.
Uchiha Akira's goal was to use Nekomata's connections to buy containers for cultivating the Six-Tails' severed tail flesh.
Such medical equipment was practically impossible to buy in Konoha.
Many people knew that flesh and chakra separated from a Tailed Beast could be cultivated again. It wasn't a secret.
Orochimaru had once used powder scraped from the horns of the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, to successfully grow one of its horns.
Later, during the Nine-Tails Night, Kazuma of the Twelve Guardian Ninja collected the chakra released by the Nine-Tails and cultivated it into a Pseudo-Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
Clearly, this wasn't anything particularly secret.
The hard part wasn't cultivating a Tailed Beast's flesh or chakra. The hard part was obtaining the flesh or chakra in the first place.
Once Tailed Beast Chakra had solidified into flesh, it wouldn't dissipate. It would remain stable.
While Uchiha Akira waited for the containers to cultivate the Six-Tails to arrive, deep in a secluded underground cave,
Uchiha Obito, now posing as Uchiha Madara, listened quietly as White Zetsu reported on the state of the war.
Black Zetsu looked at Uchiha Obito, who wore the Tiger-Pattern Mask, and said, "Obito, should we go capture the Six-Tails? This is a really good opportunity."
"I'm Uchiha Madara now!" Uchiha Obito shot Black Zetsu a cold glance through his mask. "Do you know where the Six-Tails is?"
A smile appeared on Black Zetsu's dark face. He replied respectfully, "Lord Madara, White Zetsu has found where the Six-Tails is hiding."
"Very well." Uchiha Obito nodded. "We'll take the Six-Tails as a gift when we go to see Nagato. It wouldn't be right to show up empty-handed."
Before you continue