The Origin of the Conflict

Inside the Third Hokage's Office, Shimura Danzō stared fixedly at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"How much longer are you going to think? If we don't put those great clans in their place, they'll never take us seriously."

"But the village has only just begun to ease up a little. If we make things too tense with those great clans again, it will harm the village's development."

"Hmph. If they hadn't been dragging us down these past few years, I would have defeated Rain Country and Wind Country long ago. It wouldn't have taken until now to settle them."

"Sigh, if not for our teacher back then..."

"Hmph. And those bastards from Lightning Country deserve to die too."

Danzo made no attempt to conceal his disgust for the people and things he disliked.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled awkwardly at that, but he also knew that Lightning Country was now no weaker than Fire Country in terms of national strength.

This was no longer the era of the First Hokage. Back then, Leaf Village had unquestionably been the number one nation in the Shinobi World.

"Hiruzen, are you going to sign it or not?!"

"I just issued an order to expand the ANBU. I can only reserve five slots for you this time."

"Not enough. I want twenty."

"There are only five, and they can only be recruited from civilian shinobi."

"Hiruzen Sarutobi!" Danzo's eyes widened in fury. With a bang, he slammed his hand onto the desk, looking as though he wanted to devour someone.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not back down and glared right back at him.

Inside the Hokage's Office, the pressure between the two men continued to rise, until even the air seemed about to freeze solid.

"Sarutobi, I'm telling you..."

The office door suddenly opened from outside. Two figures entered side by side, but stopped upon seeing the two men facing off against each other.

"Koharu, Homura, you're here."

"Hmph, then let's leave it at that." Danzo glanced at the two people by the door before turning and leaving.

The office door closed again, followed by a sigh.

"Good thing you came. Otherwise, I really wouldn't have known what to do."

"You two... sigh. Actually, we did it on purpose. We heard you arguing while standing outside the door. Nearly the entire Hokage Tower could hear you."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth twitched a few times. Out of habit, he picked up his pipe and took two puffs.

"All right, tell me. The two of you came together, so there must be something."

"Yes, there is indeed something we need to report."

Mitokado Homura handed the intelligence report in his hand to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

After taking it, Hiruzen Sarutobi read it for a moment, and his expression immediately relaxed considerably.

"Do you think this information is real?"

"It should be. Lightning Country has stationed troops along the border for quite some time. I just didn't expect them to turn their guns around and invade Earth Country."

"If that is the case, then we can withdraw our troops from the border, right?"

"Yes, but we need to wait a little longer for now and see how things develop." Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered for a moment, then continued, "I just received word that Water Country does not seem very stable either. They appear to be reorganizing their forces and preparing for war."

"Can we find out where their target is?"

"Sigh, you know the situation in Water Country. They are extremely strict with foreign shinobi now, so no useful information can be sent out at all."

"Sigh, yes. We still have to rely on Danzo for this sort of thing, so Hiruzen, look..." Utatane Koharu said tentatively.

"Koharu, you..." Hiruzen Sarutobi had not expected Utatane Koharu to plead for Danzo, and he was momentarily stunned.

But he quickly recovered, sighed, and said dejectedly, "I'll think about it."

As he spoke, he picked up his pipe and began puffing on it.

Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi's resolve had begun to waver, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura exchanged a glance, said their farewells, and departed.

The Hokage's Office door closed again. Hiruzen Sarutobi stared blankly at the office door without saying a word, and no one knew what he was thinking.

"Sigh, I'll satisfy him this time..." Hiruzen Sarutobi swiftly signed his name on the authorization order. "This is the last time."

In truth, Hiruzen Sarutobi also felt that Danzo's authority had grown too great. Root seemed to be becoming increasingly difficult to control as well.

Over the past few years, Danzo had taken advantage of Hiruzen Sarutobi's need for Root to handle matters he could not deal with personally, allowing Root to expand aggressively until it faintly showed signs of slipping out of control.

Moreover, Hiruzen Sarutobi had always known that Danzo was deeply dissatisfied with his succession to the position of Hokage. Danzo had always believed that Hiruzen Sarutobi had stolen the Hokage's position from him.

If Tobirama-sensei had not appointed him as Hokage, then honestly, he definitely would not have become Hokage!

Back then, based on influence alone, he certainly could not have competed with Kagami.

Although he had ultimately become Hokage, it was precisely because of this that his position had never been very secure.

Thinking back to those first few years, Hiruzen Sarutobi's decrees had practically been unable to leave Leaf Village!

During those difficult days, if Danzo had not continuously supported him, perhaps he would have become the first Hokage in Leaf Village's history to be removed from office!

Sigh, why am I suddenly feeling so sentimental?

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed, packed up his things, and went home from work.

Before Danzo had even returned to Root, he received the authorization order issued by Hiruzen Sarutobi. Looking at its contents, Danzo said nothing. He turned and handed it to the subordinate behind him, then said, "Let's go. We'll pay them another visit."

The Root shinobi glanced sideways at the order in his hand. The Hokage had actually agreed to Lord Danzo's demand for twenty people!

When he arrived at the Hyuga Clan again, Danzo did not bother being polite with Hyuga Tenka this time. He also still had an unusual feeling about the brat he had seen that morning and hoped to bring him under his control.

However, because time had been short, Danzo knew nothing about that child's situation. The current Root expansion certainly could not recruit him, but that was fine. Once he grew older and became an official shinobi, it would not be too late to recruit him then!

Perhaps because of the Hokage's authorization order, Hyuga Tenka was much more courteous this time and did not reject him forcefully outright.

But sometimes things were not as simple as people imagined. Hyuga Tenka had indeed not refused, but neither had he agreed. He kept using the excuse that they needed to investigate and confirm whether the Hyuga Clan had suitable shinobi!

Investigate! Investigate what?! What else needed investigating!

Which great clan did not know every detail of its own internal affairs? Did they really need to investigate only when something came up?!

If that were truly the case, then the clan's higher-ups might as well all be dead!

Unfortunately, as the saying went, you could not slap a smiling face. With Hyuga Tenka still offering this soft refusal while continuing to lead the Hyuga Clan, Danzo felt a wave of helplessness.

Still, it was not all bad. The Hyuga Clan had not refused, which at least meant he could recruit people from the Hyuga Clan. Only the numbers and their strength could not be guaranteed.

Danzo's second stop was the Uchiha Clan. In present-day Leaf Village, the grounds of the Senju Clan, Uchiha Clan, and Hyuga Clan had been built surrounding the Hokage Tower, making those three clans the closest. The Senju Clan was not worth considering, as there were hardly any clan members with the Senju surname left. Only the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan still had enough people.

If the Hyuga Clan was like a soft nail, like a hedgehog, then the Uchiha Clan was like a firecracker, showing Danzo absolutely no respect.

They directly and forcefully rejected Danzo's demand. Even when Danzo produced the Hokage's authorization order, the Uchiha Clan's patriarch still refused to budge!

This enraged Danzo and once again convinced him that policies restricting Leaf Village's great clans needed to be carried out even more thoroughly.

He stormed out of the Uchiha Clan Grounds and violently flung away the cane in his hand.

Looking at the heavily guarded Uchiha Clan Grounds, Danzo felt a chilling aura of killing intent rush toward him.

With a cold snort, Danzo muttered, "As expected of an evil clan!"