A Worthy Rival

Finally, someone who could put up a fight!

From the moment Sarutobi Hiruzen had seen Uchiha Jin, he had felt a thrill of excitement at finding a worthy rival.

So far, the two sides had merely tested each other, but Uchiha Jin's orderly responses and his subtle way of seizing the initiative had only reinforced Hiruzen's instinct.

"That fool, Danzo!"

Despite all the years of Danzo's "devoted service," Hiruzen couldn't help feeling irritated with his own crude attack dog.

Sigh...

Thinking of that, Hiruzen let out a sigh, a warm smile unconsciously appearing on his face.

It was precisely because of Shimura Danzo's personality and brains that Hiruzen had been able to tolerate him all these years. Otherwise...

Heh!

But before them, the "strongest Hokage" still wore a confident, unruffled smile. Uchiha Jin was no fledgling opponent like the ones Hiruzen had faced before.

First, there was the choice of battlefield!

If they had launched a surprise attack on the Hokage Building, following that "Jade Shatter" rhetoric, it might have seemed like a coup with an excellent chance of success. In reality, it would have been a dead end.

After all,

even without Shimura Danzo constantly running his mouth beside him, Hiruzen would never have been foolish enough to leave himself completely unprepared.

And as long as he was prepared, this "Sharp Knife Tactics" scheme would never get off the ground.

Once the Uchiha Clan had been branded as traitors, Hiruzen could easily mobilize Konoha's full wartime strength. With the Hokage Building already fortified like an iron bucket, he could wipe out the Uchiha Clan at minimal cost.

But Uchiha Jin had apparently anticipated this, choosing Root Base as his point of attack instead. That kept the Uchiha Clan from being at a disadvantage in terms of terrain.

That was exactly why, when Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu arrived, they hadn't immediately moved in by force to save Danzo, who was eating dirt on the ground.

Against more than a hundred red-eyed Uchiha youths, fierce as wolves and brimming with battle spirit, the Hokage's personal Anbu alone wouldn't be enough. They would need the village's strength to suppress them.

And once a battle on this scale broke out, whatever the outcome, Konoha's overall strength would suffer devastating, irreparable damage.

As Hokage of Konoha, Hiruzen wouldn't make that decision until the very last moment. After all, he wasn't like Danzo, that "pure-hearted" soul.

The evil Uchiha...

Heh.

That was also why Hiruzen had chosen to take a step back, planning to use the Hokage's moral authority to pressure them as he usually did. He could settle the score over his plans for the Uchiha later.

But Uchiha Jin's response had been just as clever and precise. First, he had used an earlier political compromise as his starting point, stripping Shimura Danzo of the legitimacy of his positions as Hokage Assistant and Root leader. Then he had invoked the Second Hokage's Notes to declare the Uchiha Military Police Force's authority legitimate.

Next, in the name of the Police Force, he had labeled Danzo and the Root members who had died as hostile spies, then struck back by trying to turn the flames on the "strongest Hokage" himself.

Just like that!

What had been a scene of the Uchiha Clan attacking Root shinobi and beating up an old, frail Hokage Assistant had instantly become a political confrontation between the Hokage's faction and the Uchiha Clan.

By pushing things this far, he had forced the Konoha clans, who had originally only come to help guard against an Uchiha rebellion, to reconsider their own positions.

Was this really worth making their clans pay the price of a fight to the death with the Uchiha?

In just a few moments, every detail of what had happened was replayed in Hiruzen's mind like a movie.

Hiss...

Once he had sorted out everything unfolding before him, Hiruzen couldn't help drawing a quiet, sharp breath.

When had the Uchiha become like this...? They had laid this groundwork two years ago and waited patiently until today to put it into play.

Back when Uchiha Fugaku had proposed those terms of exchange, Hiruzen had been somewhat surprised to realize he hadn't fully understood the indecisive nature of this "Fierce Eye."

Still, Hiruzen hadn't thought much of it. When a family's fate was at stake, even a fool would try to secure some benefits for himself...

With little hope of changing the course of events, Fugaku had shifted some of the blame and suspicion onto Danzo, using the opportunity to bring down a powerful enemy.

Faced with such a generous offer from Uchiha Fugaku, Hiruzen had reluctantly given his good friend a reprimand—and gladly seized the wealth and records Danzo's Root had accumulated over the years.

And so,

he had dealt with the possibility of an Uchiha revolt, checked Danzo's growing ambitions, and even landed himself a hefty windfall...

At the time, Hiruzen had congratulated himself on a masterful move that achieved three goals at once. It had never occurred to him that he was becoming a pawn in someone else's long-laid plan.

Of course,

not everything happening here worked against Hiruzen. What pleased him most was Uchiha Shisui, who had just been kicked away.

For all his strength as a mighty "Kage Level" shinobi, Shisui had been sent flying with ease. Yet that only revealed how fiercely he was torn between the village and his clan.

And given the hostility Uchiha Jin had shown, Shisui's struggle still seemed to tilt slightly toward the village.

If that were up to Danzo, that "hothead" would probably accuse Shisui of lacking a shinobi's loyalty and treat him as a hidden threat that had to be eliminated.

Honestly... Danzo was such a naïve fool.

But Hiruzen wasn't that naïve. How could he believe anyone would be deranged enough to turn against his own clan?

Perhaps in Danzo's eyes, the world was black and white. But the truth was that most things fell somewhere in the gray between them.

All things bear yin and embrace yang; through the blending of their vital energies, harmony is achieved.

That was human nature!

Whether it was Konoha's clans or the Uchiha, none of them were brainless. How could anyone truly be willing to wipe out their own clan for the sake of the Will of Fire?

If one day an extremist who saw only black and white appeared—someone willing to erase everything for the sake of the so-called "Will of Fire"—

then Hiruzen believed that sooner or later, that executioner's blade would fall on him, too.

And if that day really came, whether Hiruzen would raise that blade or destroy it was anyone's guess.

Shisui's situation was just right. He believed in the village and the Will of Fire, but he also felt a powerful, unbreakable bond with his clan.

Compared to the Anbu's death soldiers, someone like Shisui could play a far more important role in the struggle between the Hokage's faction and the Uchiha.

Still...

In this boring Konoha Village, it seemed a worthy opponent had finally appeared!

I play the Hokage's moral authority, and you answer with Konoha's Ancestral System, huh...

Uchiha Jin!