Prophecy!

"What? Is what you're saying true? Hashirama Senju really intends to pass the Hokage Position to that despicable, shameless scoundrel Tobirama Senju!" The First Elder's eyes bulged, his hair bristling with rage. His fury seemed ready to burst out of him. It was hard to believe that even someone as seemingly honest and upright as Hashirama Senju would betray his word and deliberately deceive everyone.

Back then, he had clearly promised that Madara Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan would take the Hokage Position. But now, the Hokage Position had become Hashirama Senju's personal prize.

Now.

The Second Hokage should have belonged to the Uchiha Clan, but it had been snatched away by Tobirama Senju of the Senju Clan.

Was this the Konoha the two clans had created together?

"Hashirama Senju was the First Hokage, and Tobirama Senju is the Second Hokage. Will the Senju Clan still rule everything when the time comes for the Third Hokage? Are we Uchiha not qualified to become Hokage?" Uchiha Yanagi's face flushed with fury as he roared.

"Damn it, are we just going to let our clan be cheated like this? This is too much!" Uchiha Tsuki gritted his teeth in anger, and the Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes emerged. The three beside him weren't particularly surprised.

After all, only the three of them knew that Uchiha Tsuki had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan when he was gravely wounded and on the verge of death in the final battle. They hadn't revealed a thing, keeping it as a hidden trump card for the clan.

They were the only ones who had taken part in the final decisive battle.

"Don't worry. They won't be celebrating for much longer," Uchiha Raimon said, seeing how furious the others were.

As the three looked at him in confusion, Uchiha Raimon deliberately signaled to the First Elder to seal off the area with a barrier before they continued talking.

"Circle Barrier Technique! Open..."

As the Uchiha First Elder swiftly formed Hand Seals, a small, circular black barrier enveloped them.

It also blocked all sound from escaping.

Inside the barrier.

"Tianxiu once predicted this situation for me. According to him, Tobirama Senju's series of moves began with teaming up with the Daimyo of the Land of Fire and acting in the name of cooperation between the Daimyo and the village to buy up all the large-scale mines owned by the clans, leaving them with only a small portion. That would strip our respective clans of the ability to forge our own weapons and armor, preventing us from rebelling. Our Uchiha Clan forges more weapons and armor than any other clan in the Ninja World, so we stand to lose the most."

"Also, these years of peace have caused grain prices to collapse. Our Uchiha Clan's many estates have suffered heavy losses. We should have sold our estates outside the village to secure a large amount of funds in the short term, as that traitor Uchiha Ming urged us to do. But the price would be that the Uchiha Clan could only remain self-sufficient for a short time, and would occasionally have to buy enough grain from outside. If war or some unexpected crisis struck, grain—a strategic resource—would be impossible to obtain. Even if we could buy it, we'd have to pay a far higher price. The clan would inevitably suffer devastating losses!"

"So if we sell our land, and grain prices rise again in the future, the Uchiha Clan will never be able to get those estates back. After all, when Konoha was founded, all the shinobi clans, the Daimyo, and the Hokage explicitly agreed that everyone would retain their existing property, but that no one could ever seize land belonging to the Land of Fire or Konoha."

"That would leave our Uchiha Clan with only one way to sustain such a large enterprise: relying on missions assigned by Konoha. Then we'd be putting the lifeline of our clan into Konoha's hands. If Konoha used missions to harm us, or simply stopped assigning us missions, the Uchiha Clan would be as good as dead—or crippled beyond recovery."

Uchiha Raimon's explanation chilled the other three Elders to the bone. They thought grimly that Tobirama Senju had devised such a scheme. Thankfully, their Uchiha Clan had such a prodigy to see through his plot.

The three Elders weren't fools. With Uchiha Raimon spelling it out, they instantly understood how serious the situation was.

"Without grain and weapons, the Uchiha Clan would be like a wolf with its fangs and claws torn out, reduced to Konoha's house dog and completely under its control."

Thinking of his Uchiha Clan forced to survive in such circumstances, Uchiha Mine felt a surge of bitter rage and swore he would never let it happen.

"Exactly. It seems the ambush that trapped and nearly killed Seventh Elder Raimon was a stroke of bad luck for them. By accident, he disrupted their plans for us. If Seventh Elder had died, we either wouldn't have been able to choose a new elder in time, or the new elder wouldn't have withstood the pressure and would have agreed to give up our lands outside the village. No matter what we chose, we would have fallen into Tobirama Senju's trap. That bastard! He's unbelievably sinister."

Uchiha Tsuki couldn't help feeling fear at Tobirama Senju's vicious scheming. They had already resolved their feud and agreed to build a village together, yet Tobirama still plotted against his supposed comrades. He clearly didn't consider them comrades at all.

"Exactly. This proves that he never considered us fellow villagers. The battlefield has merely shifted from outside the village to within it. The open conflict has turned into a covert struggle. We must remember that from now on, or we won't even know how we died."

Uchiha Yanagi said thoughtfully, stroking his chin.

The others could only sigh.

"Still, all this is about the Senju Clan plotting against our Uchiha Clan. You said their good days are over, but what evidence do you have?"

Uchiha Yanagi asked, puzzled.

"Heh!" Uchiha Raimon told them what he had deduced from what Uchiha Tianxiu had said that day. "Simple. Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, is going to die!"

"That's exactly why he's handing the Hokage Position to Tobirama Senju, making him the Second Hokage."

"Clearly, he doesn't trust our Uchiha Clan."

His words left the three of them stunned.

"Th-that can't be possible! Hashirama Senju is the God of Shinobi. Who could possibly kill him?"

Uchiha Mine clearly didn't believe it. They had lived through the end of the Warring States period and had witnessed Hashirama Senju's true power with their own eyes. His towering wooden constructs and Wood Release had been overwhelming! Ordinary Uchiha barely had the courage to fight him. Even they, the Elders, would have been no match if he used advanced Wood Release.

"Exactly, Seventh. Where did you hear this? It's absurd. Could it be false intelligence?"

Uchiha Tsuki pressed him as well.

Clearly.

Neither Uchiha Mine nor Uchiha Tsuki could believe it.

Uchiha Yanagi, on the other hand, felt that Uchiha Raimon wasn't speaking recklessly. "Maybe it really is possible. Hashirama Senju hasn't left his home in a long time."

"Exactly. I suspect his mind became unbalanced after he forcibly extracted Chakra while fighting Madara," Uchiha Raimon said. After a pause, he continued, "Come to think of it, I was ambushed this time and also forcibly extracted a huge amount of Chakra. That threw my body out of balance, which made Tianxiu think of this. Otherwise, it'd be hard to explain why Hashirama Senju has stopped managing the village and handed everything over to that bastard Tobirama."

"He's probably trying to avoid mental strain and recover his health, so he can hold on as long as possible!"