"Ahem!"
The Third Hokage looked displeased as he demanded, "Shinichi, you aren't insulting me, are you?"
"How could I be?"
Shinichi waved a hand, looking utterly innocent. "Lord Hokage, you're brilliant. How could you be as stupid as that man? Besides, you aren't racing horses, and the Uchiha aren't horses. There's no connection between the two whatsoever!"
"Then why did you go out of your way to tell me that joke?"
The Third Hokage's voice was cold.
"Obviously... to lighten the mood!"
Unfazed, Shinichi chuckled. "You both looked so troubled that I thought I'd tell a joke to cheer you up while I was at it. Well? Wasn't that a funny joke?"
"It was all right!"
Fugaku nodded, his voice devoid of emotion.
All right? It was far more than that!
To Fugaku, watching Shinichi mock the Third Hokage to his face through thinly veiled innuendo was the funniest joke in the world!
At Fugaku's assessment, the corner of the Third Hokage's mouth twitched, and his mood soured further.
Fugaku, whose side are you on, anyway?
"In short, Konoha needs to change. A Konoha that never changes will only ever be a stagnant pool."
Shinichi dropped his joking manner and looked the Third Hokage squarely in the eye. "If we want change for the better, we have to be bold enough to try! Doing nothing might spare us mistakes, but it'll never put us on the right path, either, because all of this is the choice of the Will of Fire!"
[Talk no Jutsu King] activated!
Let's see you resist this, you old geezer!
"In that case, let's try it your way first, Shinichi."
Deeply moved, the Third Hokage finally relented.
Sure enough, persuading this old geezer always came down to those crucial words: "the Will of Fire."
At that thought, Shinichi couldn't help wondering whether the old geezer really had been brainwashed in his youth. Otherwise, why did he become so obedient every time Shinichi mentioned the Will of Fire?
So those words are the legendary password that lets you control the Third Hokage!
What Will of Fire?
It's nothing but his master's command!
After Shinichi and Fugaku left, the Third Hokage immediately summoned the heads of the major ninja clans for a meeting, including the Hyuga Clan, the three Ino-Shika-Cho clans, and the Aburame Clan. Naturally, the three Hokage Advisors, Danzo and the others, were invited as well.
"No! I object!"
After hearing the Third Hokage's proposal, Danzo was the first to leap up, furious. "Hiruzen, you're playing with fire! Don't you know how evil the Uchiha Clan is? You actually want to invite wolves into our home? Are you trying to destroy Konoha?"
Addressing the Third Hokage by name so openly in public was plainly disrespectful.
Danzo wasn't stupid, and ordinarily he would have minded his manners. Right now, however, he was too furious to bother with such trivialities.
That alone showed just how much the Third Hokage's proposal had provoked him.
Danzo wholeheartedly supported reducing the Uchiha Clan's authority within the Konoha Military Police Force. But letting Uchiha fill the vacant posts in the village? How could he possibly agree to that?
"Hiruzen, this proposal of yours really is too reckless!"
"I object as well."
Mito and Koharu each voiced her opinion.
When it came to opposing the Uchiha Clan, the three of them were always united.
The Third Hokage had already anticipated their reactions.
Rather than making a point of responding, he turned directly to Hiashi, the head of the Hyuga Clan, and asked, "Hiashi, what do you think?"
Aside from the Uchiha Clan, the Hyuga Clan, with its exceptionally long history, also wielded considerable influence in Konoha. Many in the village even considered the Hyuga Konoha's foremost ninja clan.
"Your proposal may carry some risk, Lord Hokage, but I believe it remains manageable."
Hiashi spoke calmly. "In fact, even if you hadn't brought it up, Lord Hokage, I'd already been thinking along these lines. The Konoha Military Police Force holds a vital position. Leaving it entirely under the Uchiha Clan's control is the most unreasonable part of the current arrangement."
"Furthermore, I don't believe excessive suppression of the Uchiha Clan is necessarily a good thing. It could very well backfire. We might be better off extending an olive branch first and seeing how they respond. If everyone can ultimately coexist peacefully, it could be a win-win."
When the lips were gone, the teeth would feel the cold. The Uchiha Clan's present plight could well become the Hyuga Clan's future.
As another great clan of the Shinobi World, the Hyuga Clan might welcome a chance to undermine the Uchiha, but it certainly didn't want to see them wiped out.
Of course, that was only a secondary reason.
The main reason was that a certain irritating fellow had already spoken to Hiashi beforehand.
"Hiashi, I was right about you."
The Third Hokage looked at Hiashi with admiration. His words had undoubtedly struck a chord.
Then he turned to the heads of the other ninja clans. "And what do the rest of you think?"
"The Nara Clan has no objections."
"The Akimichi Clan feels the same."
"The Yamanaka Clan shares that opinion."
"The Aburame Clan concurs."
Setting aside their stance toward the Uchiha Clan, none of the major ninja clans could possibly refuse such a good deal.
This was the Konoha Military Police Force. Everyone knew its posts offered plenty of perks and were fairly easy work. Now that the Uchiha Clan was voluntarily offering their clans' ninja a share of that lucrative pie, how could they possibly refuse?
Only a fool would turn it down!
This had nothing to do with their views of the Uchiha Clan. Benefits were simply being delivered right to their door!
"You lot!"
Danzo grew even angrier.
Everyone present was shrewd. How could they fail to see what these ninja clans were thinking?
"Aren't you afraid the Uchiha might harbor sinister intentions? When the time comes, we might not even be able to defend ourselves!"
Seeing the situation slipping out of control, Koharu spoke sharply, frantic with worry.
"They won't have that opportunity."
To her surprise, the Third Hokage shook his head and said calmly, "Because Shinichi told me that if the Uchiha Clan makes any suspicious moves, he'll immediately suppress them with bloody force!"
He hadn't forgotten how Shinichi had deliberately warned Fugaku to his face while the three of them were talking in the office earlier.
The killing intent and oppressive presence Shinichi had displayed then had frightened even the Third Hokage himself.
That had only strengthened his resolve!
"Shinichi? All by himself?"
Shikaku Nara's eyes suddenly widened.
"Yes. He has the strength to do it."
The Third Hokage spoke with a touch of melancholy. "Young people these days... they're truly remarkable!"
Hearing the Third Hokage admit with their own ears that he was inferior to Shinichi left everyone present astonished.
Hiashi nodded in heartfelt agreement.
Hatake Shinichi might be irritating and more than a little crazy, but his strength was undeniably terrifying.
"Hiruzen, I still object!"
His expression dark, Danzo voiced his opposition again, while Mito and Koharu beside him refused to back down either.
"Enough, Danzo."
At that, the Third Hokage stopped indulging him. "If you're feeling unwell, go home!" he said coldly. "The same goes for you, Mito and Koharu. You're getting old. Spend more time resting at home."
It was a decidedly forceful declaration.
With him, the Third Hokage, insisting on it and the major ninja clans backing him, there was no room for the three Hokage Advisors to object!
With the tide firmly in its favor, the matter was finally settled.
The Third Hokage felt somewhat relieved, only for a sudden worry to surface. I hope Shinichi can get along with Fugaku. They'd better not start fighting once they get back!
He still remembered how Fugaku had refused to yield when Shinichi warned him earlier, snapping right back and even using the Hatake Clan as leverage, looking ready to fight to the bitter end.
Naturally, Shinichi hadn't tolerated that either. He had challenged Fugaku to a duel on the spot and declared that he would beat him into a cripple.
The scene had been like thunder meeting fire, with both sides determined to crush the other.
If he, the Hokage, hadn't intervened in time, those two would probably have already come to blows.
Young people really are hotheaded...
The Third Hokage thought to himself.
Before you continue