Second Half

Inside a somewhat dilapidated Small Tavern, Uchiha Fugaku sat on pins and needles, cautiously watching Danzo across from him, not saying a word of explanation.

Halfway through their conversation, Yume Ryoma abruptly appeared beside Danzo, quietly reporting something.

"I understand."

Danzo nodded, calmly waving his hand, signaling Ryoma to withdraw.

"The reason I've asked you here today is because you're still somewhat rational." Danzo lightly tapped the table, maintaining a gentle smile, but his tone was noticeably cold.

"In this war, I hope the Uchiha can obey orders, instead of being arrogant and conceited as in the past."

Danzo stated his purpose for this meeting. This war concerned his reputation and skill points, and he couldn't afford any mistakes.

Although his current status and position weren't low, it was only within the eyes of the high-level members of each village. Some of the younger high-level members didn't even know his name, Danzo.

This made it quite difficult for him to spread his name.

Opportunities to massively harvest skill points like this were rare.

If the Uchiha didn't cause trouble on the battlefield and obediently followed his commands, Danzo wouldn't mind letting them off the hook.

After all, the Uchiha Clan's extermination would also deplete Konoha Village's strength.

But if they continued to maintain that aloof attitude and refused to listen to commands...

A cold glint flashed in Danzo's eyes.

"Lord Danzo, so you're here too."

A somewhat surprised voice rang out, causing Danzo's brow to furrow.

Hizashi Hyuga familiarly sat down next to Danzo, and smiled, "I searched this small town for a long time and couldn't find a suitable restaurant. I was originally planning to find a Small Tavern for a drink, but I didn't expect you to be here too."

His tone was full of surprise.

If Ryoma hadn't told him about Hizashi Hyuga's movements in advance, Danzo almost wouldn't have been able to tell that this guy was deliberately seeking them out.

"What a coincidence."

Knowing the truth, Danzo still said with a smile, and ordered some side dishes.

"It really is quite a coincidence." Hizashi Hyuga said with a face full of smiles, and then asked with some curiosity, "We're going to war tomorrow, are you two discussing strategic matters?"

As soon as he said this, Danzo roughly understood his purpose for coming, and couldn't help but reply with a smile, "No, just chatting with Fugaku about some private matters."

"Private matters?"

Hizashi Hyuga looked at the two strangely. Although he was a member of the Hyuga Clan's branch family, he still had quite a few connections in the village.

He was very clear about the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and Danzo.

But it was also because of this reason that he came to this Small Tavern in the middle of the night to find the two of them.

He suspected that Danzo was actually acting. Ever since the Uchiha seconded someone to support Danzo, there had been such voices among the various clans.

Although Danzo outwardly inherited the Second Hokage's ideas and was extremely repulsed by the Uchiha.

But in reality, Danzo had already colluded with the Uchiha, after all, although the two had been mutually repelling and hating each other, there was actually no conflict of interest at the root.

But this was just speculation by a very few people, and it didn't even reach the ears of the Hokage.

"Lord Danzo, I still need to prepare for tomorrow's affairs, so I'll take my leave first." Seeming unable to bear the pressure from Danzo, and taking advantage of Hizashi's arrival, Fugaku gritted his teeth and stood up to speak.

"You can go. Prepare well. After all, many things will still require the Uchiha Clan's help," Danzo said with a smile as he stood up, his words carrying a deeper meaning.

Fugaku felt another chill in his heart and hurriedly waved his hand, indicating that Danzo didn't need to see him off, and quickly left.

Hizashi, watching Fugaku's departing figure, felt more and more that there was something else going on between these two behind the scenes.

"Hizashi, take your time eating. I'll be leaving first too." Watching Fugaku's departing figure, Danzo nodded in satisfaction and said to Hizashi beside him.

As he spoke, he prepared to leave.

"Lord Danzo, please wait!"

Hizashi Hyuga panicked upon hearing this. He hadn't come out in the middle of the night just to have a meal and a drink.

Danzo looked at him in confusion and asked, "Is there something the matter?"

"Actually, I have some things I don't understand about the upcoming operation, and I hope Lord Danzo can give me some guidance," Hizashi said, scratching his face with some embarrassment.

Whether it was his expression or his movements, he was just like a big boy in his thirties, leaving Danzo stunned.

"Alright, then tell me, what don't you understand?"

Since he had already said so, Danzo simply sat down again. He wanted to see what Hizashi Hyuga was still planning to do.

Hizashi Hyuga really seemed like someone who had doubts about the strategy, asking Danzo bit by bit about the various problems and solutions that might arise in the upcoming war.

And Danzo answered them one by one.

One acted, and the other cooperated in acting. The two of them sat like this until late at night.

"I have benefited greatly from Lord Danzo's guidance today."

At the entrance of the Small Tavern, Hizashi bowed deeply to Danzo.

Danzo calmly looked at him and accepted the bow.

In fact, he hadn't taught Hizashi much about strategy, but only told him about the general direction of the upcoming war.

On the contrary, this Hizashi Hyuga was doing his best to think of topics, and his words vaguely implied flattery and ingratiation towards him.

Hizashi waited for a long time without a response, and raised his head to look at Danzo, but as soon as he raised his head, he met Danzo's calm gaze.

A creepy feeling suddenly exploded, and Hizashi couldn't help but shiver. He felt that all his little thoughts were exposed under these eyes.

An inexplicable pressure spread from Danzo's body and converged towards him.

Danzo didn't speak, just stared at him quietly.

It was late at night, and most people in Yoshino Town had already rested.

Standing on this street, apart from the occasional faint sounds of conversation and drinking coming from the tavern behind him, there were no other superfluous noises.

"Lord... Lord Danzo?" Hizashi Hyuga asked cautiously, with a stiff smile on his face.

"I don't want to interfere in the matters between the Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha Clan, but I don't want the strategy to be disrupted this time because of the conflicts between your two clans."

"Konoha is the big family, while the clan is just a small family. You can not be from the Hyuga Clan, you can not be from the Uchiha Clan, but you will always be people of Konoha, understand?"

Looking at Hizashi Hyuga, Danzo's stern face was full of coldness as he issued a warning.

"Yes."

Hizashi was stunned for a moment, then reacted and immediately lowered his head in response.

He felt a little flustered inside, it seemed that his rejection of the Uchiha along the way had been noted by Danzo.

The Uchiha and Danzo's ambiguous attitude made Hizashi Hyuga think a lot.

And by the time he raised his head again, Danzo's figure had already disappeared.

No matter how much this old senior changes on the surface, his essence is actually no different from before.

Hizashi Hyuga breathed a sigh of relief, his back already soaked with cold sweat.