The Mysterious Paradise Organization

Morpheus's projection vanished like a ghost, leaving the side hall in a silence even more suffocating than before.

"Absurd... absurd!" The Second Elder broke the silence first. Shock had pitched his voice unnaturally high, and his Sharingan remained fixed on the spot where Morpheus had disappeared.

"The Paradise Organization? Never heard of it! He must be a Spy from an enemy nation! Kumogakure? Iwagakure? They want to lure the Uchiha away from Konoha with pretty words, then sit back and profit while we tear ourselves apart!"

The Third Elder's face was pale, and his fingers trembled slightly. "Exactly. His intentions are vicious! He knows our conflict with Konoha inside and out. That can't be a coincidence."

"He's driving a wedge between us with such precision. He must have a hidden agenda! We cannot fall for it!"

The Fourth Elder's gaze sharpened. After a moment's thought, he said, "The way he appeared was unlike any ordinary ninjutsu. The power behind him may be far beyond anything we can imagine."

"Dealing with a force like that without knowing more would be like bargaining with a tiger. The risk is far too great!"

The First Elder, however, said nothing. The muscles in his wrinkled face were taut, as though he were deep in thought.

At last, as the other three elders turned their eyes toward him, he slowly raised his head. His voice was hoarse and heavy, yet calm.

"A Spy? Trying to turn us against Konoha? Perhaps."

He paused, looking across the other three elders.

"But which of the things he said was a lie?"

The question hit like a boulder dropped into a lake. The Second and Third Elders, who had opposed the idea so fiercely, fell silent.

The First Elder slowly rose. Though his back was stooped, his silhouette in the candlelight looked unshakable. "Has Konoha ever treated us fairly?"

"Has the system Tobirama Senju left behind ever placed real trust in us?"

"Has Shimura Danzō ever intended to let us live?"

His voice rose, carrying grief and anger long held in check. "Aid from an enemy nation?"

"Hmph! Konoha treats us as enemies now. They're closing in step by step, eager to wipe us out!"

"Are we supposed to cling to some laughable duty to the 'village' and watch our clan be slaughtered before our eyes?!"

"If Konoha cast us aside first, they can hardly blame us for turning our backs on them! Survival is our first priority now!"

"And after everything has come to this, do the methods still matter?"

His eyes turned razor-sharp. "If this so-called 'Paradise Organization' can give us power and truly offer us a way to survive, then even if that power comes from an enemy nation, why shouldn't we use it?!"

"Fugaku's path has proved to be a dead end! We need the power to keep our clan alive, no matter where it comes from!" the First Elder roared.

The side hall fell deathly silent again.

The Second, Third, and Fourth Elders said nothing.

Their faces showed their inner struggle and deep uncertainty about the future. Yet in their hearts, they could not refute the First Elder.

Morpheus's words had been extreme, but they were not without reason. He had named the desperate reality they had refused to acknowledge.

It seemed every path of retreat for the Uchiha clan had been cut off.

Finally, the Second Elder closed his eyes with difficulty, then slowly opened them. "So be it. Perhaps this is the only choice we have left."

The Third Elder let out a long sigh and nodded weakly.

The Fourth Elder's eyes flickered before hardening with cold resolve. "Then let's talk to them and see what this 'Paradise Organization' can actually offer us."

With no one openly objecting anymore, the First Elder sat down again. His voice regained its earlier gloom, but now carried a hint of someone staking everything on a single gamble.

"Good. Then we'll meet him here at this time tomorrow and discuss this 'deal' properly."

The Canopy Screen's scene ended there.

Inside the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi clicked his tongue and exhaled a puff of white smoke.

He thought of Morpheus's incendiary speech on the Canopy Screen, and the four Uchiha elders' silent but dangerous consent at the end.

"The Paradise Organization?" he murmured, his voice dry.

That cold, seductive way of speaking, and that vicious strategy aimed squarely at the Uchiha's grievances to split Konoha from within...

A name came naturally to mind.

"Kumogakure!" Hiruzen Sarutobi said under his breath, his gaze sharpening.

Kumogakure had always been known for its hard-line expansionism. It excelled at unconventional tactics and had coveted Konoha's Kekkei Genkai for years.

Back then, they had both the motive and the means to devise such a sinister plan.

But a moment later, he shook his head. "No. It could also have been Iwagakure."

That old fox Ōnoki was cunning to the core. Watching from the sidelines and profiting from chaos was exactly the sort of trick he favored.

Exploiting unrest among the Uchiha to weaken Konoha would have served Iwagakure's interests perfectly.

He could not even rule out Kirigakure or Sunagakure.

After all, given the situation at the time, internal strife in Konoha would have shaken the balance of the entire Shinobi World.

"Activate every Spy Network we have outside the village. Find out who's behind this 'Paradise Organization,' no matter the cost!" Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered the ANBU captain beside him.

"Yes, Lord Hokage!" The ANBU captain vanished without a trace.

In the Raikage's Office in Kumogakure, lightning crackled around A, the Fourth Raikage.

"Bastard! What underhanded scoundrel is pretending to be from Kumogakure?!"

He roared so fiercely that the office windows shattered. "Hiding behind a false name and scheming in the shadows? No man of Kumogakure would stoop to that!"

His secretary, Darui, rubbed his forehead. "Please calm down, Lord Raikage."

"But whoever it was did choose a very 'suitable' moment and target."

"At the time, Konoha's Uchiha clan really was its most unstable element."

"But the method was filthy!" the Raikage roared. "Sowing discord and inciting Uprising! If we wanted the Sharingan, we'd march straight in and take it! We wouldn't skulk around under the name of some 'Paradise Organization'!"

He swung toward his intelligence chief. "Investigate! Turn over every stone! Find out whether that damned old boulder Ōnoki is behind this!"

"He's just about the only one who'd pull a scheme this rotten! He wants Kumogakure to take the blame for him? In his dreams!"