Hiruzen Sarutobi's face was dark as a thundercloud.
How could he not understand something so simple?
If that were all there was to this mess, would he have bothered seeking out Shikaku Nara?
Still, furious as he was, his trust in Shikaku made him grit his teeth and keep reading.
As he read on, he went completely still.
Only after reading the entire letter did he understand what Shikaku was planning.
In Shikaku's words, withholding the Konoha Military Police Force's funding had been a blunder from the start.
The only reason it had never backfired before was that the Uchiha were hopelessly stupid.
The other ninja clans would never stand up for the Uchiha, so of course they had gotten away with it.
But things were different now.
Yan Uchiha had appeared out of nowhere and turned the whole situation upside down.
There was no longer any point in fighting over this petty victory.
What mattered most now was shoring up their own weaknesses and leaving no opening for anyone to exploit.
That meant restoring the Konoha Military Police Force's funding immediately, even if they had to swallow a little pride.
Only then could they eliminate this vulnerability once and for all and hold their ground when dealing with the Uchiha in the future.
Otherwise, no matter how many schemes they devised now, even if they eventually managed to turn things around...
What would it matter?
The hole would still be there, leaving a permanent stain on his record as Hokage.
Even if the Uchiha lost this time, they could still use it against him later, again and again, without end.
Take a step back, and a whole world of possibilities opened up.
Those who never considered the future could not even manage the problems right in front of them.