Advantage is Mine

The Third Hokage could not observe everything happening within the Uchiha clan, but he could obtain first-hand information. This was the foundation of the Third Hokage's confidence in defeating Uchiha Kei.

Events were proceeding in the direction the Third Hokage had arranged.

Uchiha Kei, wait to accept your fate!

The betrayal by the clan's upper echelons, the abandonment by the entire clan, and then being spurned by those he had once cared for—this was the Third Hokage's layout.

These methods, which appeared to lack any substantive harm, often achieved unexpected significance.

No matter how arrogant a person is, after encountering multiple betrayals in succession, they will inevitably develop self-doubt. And the moment a person is no longer firm is the best moment to crush them.

It was time to stir up a war of public opinion. Even someone as strong as the White Fang of the Leaf died from rumors and gossip; was it not possible that Uchiha Kei might fail to endure the pressure of public opinion and choose to commit suicide?

Even if he didn't, so what? Occupying the moral high ground of public opinion would allow the Leaf to wave the banner of justice.

And justice would naturally attract those hot-blooded youths to gather and form a force that could not be ignored.

As for whether it was truly justice, who would think about that?

Those who pondered such things were the very people waving the banners to send others to their deaths; they were most adept at being self-righteously just.

Sarutobi believed in the prestige he had built over decades of leading the Leaf, enough to make everyone believe whatever he said.

Now, all that was missing was how to fabricate charges against Kei.

Cowardice in battle?

That wouldn't work. Kei had already provided an explanation for the justice of the war, and the momentum had only just been suppressed by him. Raising this topic again would easily lead to public discussion, and once that started, it would be easy to truly debate whether this campaign was actually just.

Because although Kei was sophistically defending his own cowardice, he hadn't told a lie.

The Leaf truly had no need to fight for the Daimyo; this campaign was merely conducted by the various villages to demand more military funding.

However, while this funding appeared substantial, it could not be given directly to the ninjas fighting on the front lines; after all, the village's infrastructure and other needs required money. If it all fell into the hands of the ninjas, how would the village be built?

But could the ninjas accept such a reason?

Naturally not! Therefore, this topic could not be stirred up again for the time being; it was too easy to suffer a backlash.

Then, use desertion?

That wouldn't work either. He was merely moving his residence, relocating from the Leaf to his ancestral home. Since Kei's speech, no one had the authority to declare the Uchiha's defection. After all, the Senju could relocate their entire clan, so why couldn't the Uchiha?

Moreover, he was only splitting the clan.

The Third Hokage racked his brains, feeling a headache. This Kei appeared reckless, but the moment he targeted him, he found him as slippery as an eel.

It seemed he had underestimated Danzo; framing someone was not an easy task!

Should he ask Danzo for advice? He was skilled in this field! The Third Hokage felt that this matter still had to be handled by Danzo; he himself was not a professional!

Professional matters should be left to professionals!

However, there was no rush for now; he still had one move left to play.

Those orphans of the Uchiha family should also be set in motion. Having lost Kei's protection, they must have experienced a great deal by now. Spoiled children never know the immensity of heaven and earth.

They might be timid toward outsiders, but toward those who doted on them, they could always strike with heavy blows.

Because they knew outsiders wouldn't indulge them, while those who doted on them would always do so.

It was time to mobilize those greedy Uchiha elders to drive those children out.

As long as Uchiha Kei took pity on them once more and took them in, he would again possess a trump card to shake Kei's resolve at a critical moment.

He only needed to do things that would cause those orphans to be misunderstood.

For example, making those orphans believe that the reason the Leaf targeted the Uchiha was a consequence of Kei's long-standing favoritism toward the Uchiha clan.

After those children accepted this reality and believed the fault lay with Uchiha Kei, he would then let them suffer unfair opportunities, such as being driven out of their homes, the Leaf refusing to take them in, or even refusing to sell them goods.

When they sought his help, he would then display his helplessness as the Hokage, claiming it was all because of Uchiha Kei.

In this way, making them unable to survive in the Leaf and forcing them to seek Kei's protection, while simultaneously having them blame their plight on the evil deeds committed by Uchiha Kei.

Among those dozens of orphans, as long as one of them could stand behind Uchiha Kei harboring hatred, that would be the moment of Uchiha Kei's death.

The Third Hokage longed to see the moment Uchiha Kei led his followers to confront him, only to be stabbed in the back.

What dignity could a leader who died at the hands of his own people possess?

Perhaps, by then, there would be no need to even start a civil war.

This was the Third Hokage's third move.

Step by step, link by link.

First, utilize the weaknesses of the Uchiha clan elders to make the Uchiha's upper echelons abandon Uchiha Kei. Without the support of the leadership, Uchiha Kei would have no natural allies.

Then, use sufficient benefits to make the Uchiha clansmen tolerate such things happening.

Sacrificing others to exchange for the interests of the majority, including oneself, although it would make people feel guilty, it was something people could accept. People would always find enough excuses to justify their unrighteous acts.

In this way, Kei would lose his mass base.

Finally, incite the hatred of Uchiha Kei's former clansmen toward him, burying the danger in the place Uchiha Kei considered the safest.

These were merely the three moves directed at the Uchiha from within.

Sarutobi still had arrangements made on the outside.

Externally, he incited public opinion among the villagers of Konoha and gathered sufficient force to minimize the losses caused by the objective of eliminating Uchiha Kei.

He would pin the dirty blame for his disciple Orochimaru's human experimentation on Kei, whitewashing his good apprentice in the process.

This rebellious child, he thought, so old yet still needing his master to clean up his messes. He really is regressing as he ages.

The Third Hokage even felt that, if possible, he could leverage the momentum of a crushing victory to force the surviving Uchiha to the front lines, making them atone for the damage Uchiha Kei had brought upon Konoha.

With six high-end combatants striking a single branch of a clan, the advantage was his. How could he lose? In any case, the Third Hokage could not conceive of it.

With this lineup, wiping out the Land of Wind would not be a problem, let alone a single faction of the Uchiha.

During this time, the Third Hokage had developed a new hobby: playing Go in the Hokage Building while facing the direction of Naka Shrine, as if engaged in a standoff with Uchiha Kei from afar.

The Uchiha ancestral grounds outside the village, Naka Shrine—the scene of vitality and all things flourishing—remained vivid in his mind.

He had to admit, if Uchiha Kei were not an Uchiha, the Third Hokage would have greatly admired him; perhaps under his leadership, Konoha might have become even more prosperous.

But such is time, and such is fate; there are always those who stand on the wrong side during the critical choices of life, and there are always those who do not even get the chance to atone for the Uchiha.

This included Kei, as well as the Uchiha who were still colluding with Kei at this very moment.

With victory firmly in his grasp, the Third Hokage monitored the road leading to Naka Shrine, sneering inwardly as he watched the Uchiha clansmen visiting Uchiha Kei one by one.

Sarutobi felt nothing but disdain for those who, at such a juncture and after he had dangled so many benefits and made his stance so clear, still failed to see the situation for what it was.

This disdain persisted until the Third Hokage spotted the figure of Orochimaru among the coming and going crowds.

The Third Hokage, who had been so sure that everything was under his control, finally lost his composure.

"What is this rebellious disciple trying to do?"