Chapter 47

"If we don't fight for it, that share will end up in someone else's hands."

Letting others grow stronger with something that should have belonged to you was something only a fool would do.

Only then did Tsunade catch on. She stuck out her tongue. "Okay, I'll go right away."

Uzumaki Mito sighed. "You really ought to start learning about clan affairs. You can't keep being so indifferent."

Tsunade chuckled and hurried toward the door. "But I've got you, Grandma! I'm off!"

She would leave these troublesome matters for Nawaki to learn.

Grandma could just teach her little brother how to be the clan head.

All she needed to do was keep an eye on that foolish brother of hers. This would give him a chance to wise up, too, instead of being so stupidly naive all day.

The other ninja clans, such as the Hyuga, Aburame Clan, and Inuzuka Clan, all had their own calculations.

Every one of them coveted these medicines.

Quite a few people had already begun making their moves.

The atmosphere in the Hokage's office, however, was far less pleasant.

Utatane Koharu's face was livid as she slapped the desk. "Damn it! When I heard the Uchiha were opening a pharmacy, I didn't think anything of it!"

"Who could have imagined they'd make such a huge splash?"

"The Uchiha really kept this well hidden!"

"When did they get their hands on such advanced pharmaceutical techniques and formulas?"

Seeing her rivals rake in money hurt her more than losing her own.

More importantly, they had something valuable in their hands, and she wanted nothing more than to seize it all and turn it into cash in her own pocket.

Beside her, Mitokado Homura's brows were tightly furrowed. "Ever since Uchiha Chisato recovered from her illness, the entire Uchiha clan has changed."

"We still haven't figured out what caused this transformation."

"All we know is that Uchiha Chisato is involved. Beyond that, we haven't found a single clue."

Even he felt pathetic saying it.

The Third Hokage smoked his pipe, his brows drawn into deep furrows.

They had once been fairly well informed about the Uchiha. Now they were practically blind, unable to find out anything.

Even the informants they had bribed were beginning to waver, making it impossible to distinguish genuine intelligence from false reports.

It was so damn frustrating.

"I know all of that better than anyone."

The Third Hokage exhaled a ring of smoke, worry weighing on his voice. "But what can we do in the current situation? Use force?"

As Hokage, he was the one most frustrated by all this.

"Hiruzen, we can't delay any longer!"

Danzo spoke, his voice dripping with menace.

"How much does that pharmacy earn in a day? At this rate, will the Uchiha ever lack money again?"

"If we keep waiting, what will we have left to keep them in line? They'll only grow more overbearing and more powerful!"

"Just shut the shop down! In the village's name, force them to hand over the formulas!"

"These are strategic supplies. How can we let a single clan control them?"

"Just give the word, and I'll handle it immediately."

Danzo was far more envious than Utatane Koharu and the others, and his methods were harsher, too.

His words startled the other old-timers.

"Danzo! Calm down!"

"We can't act recklessly! If we really did that, Konoha would erupt!"

"Exactly!"

The Third Hokage's face darkened as he stared at Danzo. "We have no legitimate grounds! The Uchiha won't accept it, and neither will the other ninja clans!"

If they could use an excuse to force the Uchiha to surrender their formulas today, would they force another clan to surrender its secret techniques tomorrow?

They absolutely could not set that precedent.

Otherwise, the clans backing them would sooner or later be devoured by Konoha's other ninja clans.

Did he think the Hokage's position was unassailable?

You're only Hokage because we support you.

Without our support, you're nothing.

Even the Uchiha could not withstand an attack from the entire village. Could the Sarutobi Clan, Shimura, Utatane Clan, and Mitokado clans somehow manage it?

"Then what do we do? Just sit and watch them grow richer every day?"

Danzo's anger surged.

He felt that Hiruzen was too conservative and had too many misgivings.

The strength of their four clans, combined with the Anbu and Root, was more than enough to deal with the Uchiha.

With the formulas as bargaining chips, how could they fail to win over the other ninja clans?

Rather than spend a fortune buying medicine from the Uchiha every month, they might as well seize the formulas outright.

Unfortunately, the Third Hokage refused to entertain his proposal.

"Enough! That approach won't work!"

Seeing that Danzo still refused to give up, the Third Hokage put his foot down, his expression stern. "We'll find another way!"

Danzo trembled with anger, glaring at the Third Hokage without managing to get a single word out for a long while.

In the end, he simply turned away and sulked with his back to him.

At this point, he had not yet become the Darkness of the Ninja World, the man whose sinister nature would one day run bone-deep.

Otherwise, he would have already snapped, "Hiruzen, you'll regret this someday," and slammed the door behind him.

Utatane Koharu finally could not hold back any longer and tried to persuade the Third Hokage. "Hiruzen, Danzo isn't entirely wrong."

"If we can't curb the Uchiha's momentum, Konoha will fall into chaos sooner or later."

"We have to find a way. We can't let them keep expanding like this."

"Otherwise, how could we live up to the instructions our teacher left us?"

Her words sounded lofty, but in the end, it all came down to self-interest.

There was only so much wealth to go around in the village.

If the Uchiha took all the money in the pharmaceutical market, were people like them supposed to live on air?

Were they really supposed to send their own clansmen out to risk their lives on missions they would almost certainly not survive?

In the past, all that dirty, grueling work had fallen to major clans like the Uchiha and Senju, or to cannon-fodder shinobi with no backing.

As members of Konoha High Command, which of them did not have a clan behind them? Who would take on such thankless work?

The Third Hokage was silent for a moment before speaking slowly. "Don't rush. An opportunity will come soon."

"Over the past two years, the major hidden villages have all been recovering their strength."

"Hidden Cloud Village, Iwagakure, and Hidden Sand are all growing restless. The warmongers are becoming increasingly vocal."

"None of them want to endure hardship while remaining confined to the territory they already have."

"Another war isn't far off."

"If we want others to bleed without dirtying our own hands, we'll have to rely on war."

"It's only in wartime that our authority is at its greatest."

"Once war breaks out, we'll have legitimate grounds to send shinobi from any clan on any mission."

"Even if the mission fails and people die, what does it matter?"

"We'll simply announce that they died gloriously for the village."

"These are things we can't do in peacetime. What do you think?"

Truthfully, he hated war from the bottom of his heart.

He had always hoped the Ninja World could remain peaceful, that people could sit down and talk things through instead of fighting and killing all day.

His teacher's death during the last war had left far too deep a shadow over him.

He truly was afraid.

He loathed war.

He feared losing his own life on the battlefield, or losing his family there.

But now, he had figured it out.

He did not have to go to the battlefield himself at all. He could simply send others.

Don't you Uchiha pride yourselves on being strong?

Don't you want to stand out, earn merits, and take the Hokage's seat?

Fine. I'll give you that chance.

Go fight for it on the battlefield.

If you make it back alive... heh.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were stunned. Their brows knitted tightly, and neither spoke.

Mitokado Homura's brows remained tightly furrowed, his voice full of unease. "Hiruzen, is another war coming?"

The Third Hokage nodded, his voice growing heavy. "Judging by the current situation, it's almost certain."

"In a year or two at the earliest, three to five at the latest, this war will happen."

"You've seen what's happening in the Land of Whirlpools. Those are really the warning signs of war."

"The radicals in those villages have set their sights on the Uzumaki Clan's Sealing Arts. They also want to capture their people and turn them into jinchuriki, so they can control the tailed beasts and use them as weapons of war."

"There have been plenty of similar incidents. You've handled quite a few yourselves, so you should know where things stand."

"Don't count on getting lucky."

Ultimately, this war was also an opportunity.

At some point, Danzo had turned back around, a cold smile on his face. "Hiruzen, you've finally come to your senses."

"When dealing with the Uchiha, we have to be ruthless."

"That's right. War is the best blade."