Revenge

"Sarutobi! Why did you interrupt me during the meeting?!" Danzo strode into the Hokage's office behind him, roaring in displeasure.

"You're being too hasty, Danzo." The Third Hokage, wearing a conical hat, appeared calm. "The Uchiha are an important fighting force for the village. You're pushing them too hard."

Hearing that, Danzo, who had been so angered by Sarutobi that he drew a sharp breath, suddenly slammed the table and roared furiously, "Most of them are discussing rebellion within their clan! And you still say I'm pushing them too hard?!"

"That's only a portion of them!" The Third frowned as he Responded.

"Most of them are like that!" Danzo snorted coldly in response.

"Ah!" The Third sighed, adjusting the hat on his head. "Think of Kagami. How much effort did he put into allowing the Uchiha and the village to coexist peacefully? Where does that leave him, with what you're doing now?"

At the mention of Kagami, Danzo's expression softened slightly. However, he soon snorted and headed for the door. "You're too soft-hearted, Sarutobi!"

The Third calmly watched the door slam shut behind Danzo. With a sigh, he lifted the pipe in his hand and took a deep drag.

After leaving the Hokage Building, Danzo looked back once, his eyes lowered. "Mercy is your greatest weakness! Only I can lead Konoha to its peak! Only me!!!"

Konoha Sake House.

Inside a private room, the heads of this generation's Ino–Shika–Cho clans were drinking together.

"Shikaku, what do you make of what happened today?"

Yamanaka Ichi picked up the sake flask on the table, poured himself a cup, took a sip, and asked.

"Nothing will happen for the time being. Danzo's attempt to alienate the Uchiha within Konoha isn't exactly a secret, but with the Third keeping him in check, nothing will happen for now."

After considering the question for a moment, Shikaku answered.

"Well, compared to those great clans, we're still quite safe."

Chōza, seated across from Shikaku, picked up a cup and drained it in one gulp.

"That's true. I was overthinking it."

Shikaku chuckled, looked out at the winter scenery beyond the window, and likewise drained his refilled cup in a single gulp.

Since its founding, Konoha had passed through four Hokage: Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi who founded Konoha; Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage and master of forbidden technique development; the Third Hokage, known as the Professor of Ninjutsu; and the Fourth Hokage, the Yellow Flash.

Each Hokage had governed in vastly different ways, but one thing had never changed: raising the status of civilian shinobi.

From the establishment of the Ninja Academy to the steady emergence of talented civilian shinobi on the front lines of war.

Those civilian shinobi who survived the battlefield became Konoha's backbone. It was no longer like the Warring States era, when civilian shinobi could only serve as cannon fodder.

Though Konoha had its flaws, the fact that there had never been bad rumors about the Hokage among Konoha's lower ranks showed that the civilian shinobi class still held considerable goodwill toward the village leadership.

Of course, since the status of civilian shinobi had been raised, the interests of the great clans naturally had to be divided up. Thus, every Hokage openly or covertly suppressed the great clans to some extent. At the very least, they could not be allowed to completely occupy Konoha's upper ranks and leave lower-ranking shinobi with no path upward.

However, this was nothing to the Ino–Shika–Cho clans. Whether it was hostility from civilian shinobi or suppression from Konoha's higher-ups, medium-sized clans like theirs were not targets. Or rather, compared with great clans like the Hyuga Clan and the Uchiha, they had it far better.

"Speaking of which, what happened yesterday was really dangerous!" Chōza remarked with lingering fear after taking a drink.

"Yeah. I heard about it from Shikamaru when he got home. Being able to make a friend like that was quite fortunate for him."

Shikaku withdrew his gaze from the view outside and sighed.

"That damn brat!" Ichi snorted bitterly from the side.

Shikaku took a sip of sake as he looked at the displeased Ichi and teased, "Speaking of which, didn't he give little Ino a life-sized Violet Goldwood sculpture for her birthday?"

"Tsk, tsk! That was worth over a million ryo! That's two years of earnings for you, Ichi!"

"Why not just accept such a fine son-in-law? His character was obvious from what happened yesterday. If my Shikamaru weren't a boy, I'd have taken him in as a son-in-law myself."

"If you want him, then go take him! If it weren't for that little bastard, Ino wouldn't be so haggard!" The thought of how his daughter had looked when she returned home yesterday made Ichi's anger flare.

"Ichi, don't worry too much. They're just children. She'll get over it after a while."

Seeing Ichi full of rage, Chōza could not help but console him.

"Hmph! I hope so. Who knows what kind of love potion that brat fed Ino, making her cling to him every day."

Ichi gritted his teeth, poured himself a cup of sake from the flask, and downed it in one gulp.

"That kid named Samu Kokaze seems quite decent. I looked into him last night. With his woodcarving skills, he had some standing among the upper circles of the Land of Fire. Besides, his character was already clear from yesterday's events. Don't tell me you're one of those doting-daughter fathers, Ichi?"

Shikaku took a sip of sake and looked at Ichi teasingly.

"Pfft..."

Ichi, who had been drinking, sprayed his sake out at those words. His face flushed red as he pointed at Shikaku and coughed nonstop.

Frightened by Ichi's reaction, Shikaku quickly changed the subject. "I was just joking. Let's talk business. Have you found out who sent in the shinobi who broke in last night?"

Ichi shot Shikaku a vicious glare. Upon hearing the question, he lost all interest in idle chatter and said steadily, "According to the intelligence I possess, they were sent by Sato Liandu, the true power-holder of the Sato Clan among the Land of Fire's nobility."

"The information came from the current head of the Sato Clan, so it's highly reliable."

Yamanaka Ichi, his face stern, looked quite imposing. Due to the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques, the head of every generation of the clan generally held an important post in Konoha's intelligence department. Secrets others did not know were no secrets to Yamanaka Ichi.

"Another boring case of internal clan strife?"

Chōza spoke with little interest, though a cold glint flashed through his eyes as he lifted his cup and drained it.

Shikaku sneered, tightly clenching the cup in his hand. "Their internal strife is their own business, but they should not have dragged Konoha into it. Even less should they have involved Shikamaru and the others!"

"It's time to show them what we're made of!"

Chōza, normally such an easygoing man, now wore a cold expression as he spoke through gritted teeth.

Do not be fooled by how they had seemed to have no opinion at the meeting regarding the attack on their children. In truth, they had all been suppressing a fire in their hearts, waiting only to confirm their target before turning those flames upon their enemy.

"For now, we cannot send people to strike them directly. It would be hard to explain to the Hokage otherwise. At least, not yet."

After a brief silence, Ichi spoke.

"Then we'll start by obstructing their business. In any case, we can't let the Sato Clan have an easy time!"

A sinister glint flashed through Shikaku's eyes as he spoke bitterly.

"Then let's leave it at that for now. Once the time is right, I'll notify you."

Ichi rose to his feet and nodded, then walked outside.