"Danzo! I'm the Hokage!" Hiruzen Sarutobi blurted out.
"Hiruzen, you'll regret this! ??? Wait, you've already stepped down! Don't try to use that to pressure me!" Danzo shot back instinctively. It took him a few seconds to remember that Hiruzen had already passed the Hokage Position to Namikaze Minato. He wasn't Hokage anymore—not worth a damn!
Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west. Hiruzen, your day has finally come!
"Uh, I may have stepped down, but I'm still the former Hokage! Is this how a Konoha elder speaks to the former Hokage? Are you saying you have a problem with the First and the Second, Danzo?" Hiruzen Sarutobi recovered his composure. It seemed he really wasn't the Hokage in office anymore, but Hiruzen Sarutobi had governed Konoha for so many years through more than just the title of Hokage!
"Hiruzen! You... You can only resort to these dirty tricks? You know that's not what I meant!" Danzo said bitterly, looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"I'm standing on the side of justice! When it comes to dirty tricks, who could possibly beat your Root?" Hiruzen Sarutobi remarked pointedly. It seemed that without the Hokage title, he'd have to give Danzo a little pressure if he wanted to keep him in check.
"Hmph! Everything Root does is for Konoha. I have a clear conscience!" Danzo said stubbornly.
"Do you really have a clear conscience? Should I take Minato on a tour of Root?" Hiruzen Sarutobi pressured him.
"Hmph! We're discussing Uchiha Shisui right now. We can talk about other irrelevant matters later!" Danzo said, indirectly backing down as he changed the subject.
"Shisui? He's a good boy. I believe he'll carry on Kagami's will and make the right choice!" Hiruzen Sarutobi persisted. He didn't have Wood Release as a trump card, and he didn't know that Danzo had already cultivated Tenzo, who possessed Wood Release! So all he could do was put his hopes in Shisui!
Several days passed. The various powers of the Ninja World had gained a general understanding of what had happened in Konoha!
"Hmph! Konoha really is full of talented people. First Namikaze Minato appeared, and now we have Uchiha Gen! But with the likes of Hiruzen Sarutobi, could they really tolerate Uchiha Gen? Heh!" Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki sneered as he looked at the intelligence report in his hands.
"Is it never-ending? Konoha's young talents keep popping up like weeds. The Land of Fire really is a blessed place!" Fourth Raikage A looked at the report on his desk, quietly considering whether to step up the localized war against Konoha. At this point, the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire hadn't even signed a ceasefire agreement! In the original story, the Kumogakure Delegation didn't come to sign that so-called ceasefire agreement—reluctantly, and with ulterior motives—until little Hinata could walk!
Even then, Kumogakure had never intended to truly stop the war. But they hadn't expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to be both so cowardly and so ruthless. Faced with an obvious frame-up, Hiruzen Sarutobi had actually used Hizashi Hyuga's corpse to beg for peace!
That was practically rubbing Konoha's face into the dirt. It was only Hiruzen Sarutobi's deeply rooted authority, built over decades as Hokage, and his willingness to be ruthless toward his own people that kept everyone else's discontent in check! Otherwise, he'd have been forced out of office for that move!
"What? The Nine-Tails Rebellion was suppressed by that sixteen-year-old boy named Uchiha Gen?" Ebizo of Sunagakure gasped. He didn't know how powerful the Nine-Tails was, but it was definitely stronger than the One-Tail. Even the One-Tail required Sunagakure and the Kazekage to work together to suppress it! Yet Konoha's Nine-Tails had been subdued by a sixteen-year-old boy all by himself! Unbelievable!
"If only we'd forcibly kept that Uchiha in Sunagakure! Now he's become a major threat!" Fourth Kazekage Rasa said with some regret.
"You sure can talk big! Even Shukaku's Air Bullet couldn't match your boasting. Do you think this is a matter of whether we kept him or not? Are you overconfident in your own strength?" Chiyo thought scornfully.
Our Sunagakure really is getting worse with every generation! If only Sasori were here!
Land of Water, Kirigakure~
"Lord Fourth, are you sure? In this situation, are we still going to fight the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind on two fronts at once?" Hozuki Reitetsu, the head of Kirigakure's Anbu, asked, sweating as he looked at the small figure before him.
"Don't worry, Reitetsu. Konoha has to deal with the Kumogakure front right now, so they can't spare much strength to fight us. And Sunagakure? They're even less of a threat! For the sake of our descendants' living space, this war has to be fought! If you don't fight it, your descendants will have to!" Fourth Mizukage said firmly.
"Yes, Lord Mizukage!" Hozuki Reitetsu was displeased, but he didn't dare disobey the orders of the man enforcing the Bloody Mist Policy!
Heh heh! It wasn't our people who were dying anyway. The more bloodthirsty brutes of Kirigakure died, the better! A world without Rin deserved to be destroyed!
Land of Fire, Konoha~
"Lord Third, you wanted to see me?" Eleven-year-old Uchiha Shisui had already graduated early from the Ninja Academy. He was now a registered Chunin on a year-long internship!
"Shisui~ Your Sharingan has reached Two-Tomoe, hasn't it?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked kindly, smiling at his own creation.
"Reporting to Lord Third, it reached Three-Tomoe a few days ago because of the Nine-Tails incident. I'd rather not have this evil power!" Thinking of his fallen comrades and the civilians, Uchiha Shisui felt deep sorrow. And breaking through to the Three-Tomoe Sharingan under those circumstances had left him feeling awful. On top of that, years of Hiruzen Sarutobi's brainwashing and insinuations had made Shisui feel that his power had come from an impure source, that his Sharingan was stained with his comrades' blood. He didn't yet believe that the Uchiha Clan itself was evil, but the idea that the Sharingan was evil had already taken root in Uchiha Shisui's heart!
"Shisui, the power of the Sharingan may be evil, but I believe you'll use it wisely! After all, you're Kagami's descendant!" Hiruzen Sarutobi looked kindly at the innocent boy before him.
Three-Tomoe already? That's terrifying! Shisui is only eleven, right? Uchiha Gen didn't seem to have Three-Tomoe when he was eleven! Does that mean Shisui is far more talented than Uchiha Gen? To be safe, I'll have to intensify the brainwashing and keep at it!
"Yes, Lord Third. I'll make good use of this power and do even more for Konoha!" Uchiha Shisui's young face took on a serious expression.
"Good, Shisui. It's enough that you have that resolve. I called you here because Kirigakure has intensified its invasion of the Land of Fire. I want you to go and gain some experience. While you're at it, inform Fugaku and have him send some forces to reinforce the Kirigakure Battlefield. The village is fighting the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water on two fronts, and we simply don't have enough manpower to send reinforcements. I'll have to trouble the Uchiha with this." Hiruzen Sarutobi had laid the groundwork before finally revealing his true purpose. After all, how could an eleven-year-old child resist being manipulated by someone with decades of political experience?
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