After she finished speaking, Senju Toka took the Second Elder's scroll and played the intelligence using her unique Genjutsu, Character-to-Sound Conversion!
After a burst of static, several snippets of conversation came through!
Not yet eighteen and even more of a nobody than a lackey, Uka Senju huddled in a corner.
He quietly watched the Senju adults clash, not daring to make a peep!
After quietly listening to the intelligence, Uka silently praised his own good sense!
Sure enough, keeping quiet had been the right call. If he'd been sent out just now,
he would've missed out on all this juicy gossip.
He would've missed the truth behind the Senju's disappearance, too!
Now he also understood why the Second Elder, who usually seemed quite hale and hearty,
had insisted on being helped back last night.
So this old man had been putting all his energy into listening in on the Hokage's office!
The older... an old man in the family was a treasure!
With the Clan Leader's Line involved in the incident near the clan grounds, everyone had paid it little attention.
Except for Uka, they all thought Hiruzen Sarutobi had grown too powerful and was just making some small moves!
They hadn't expected the Second Elder to be so devious, going straight to investigate in person.
And when something seemed off, he immediately resorted to underhanded methods.
He'd bugged the Hokage's office and the Hokage Building. How was that even allowed!
With this intelligence and the plot from his previous life, Senju Uka easily deduced why the Senju had disappeared!
The Third's four-man faction had set their sights on the Senju bloodline.
If the Senju retired from public life, then everyone would be happy!
But the Senju couldn't possibly retire.
So the four-man faction would have to start using underhanded methods.
They'd use the illusion of peace to slowly wear down the young members of the Senju opposition through missions.
One death every few missions, ten deaths a year.
The strongest of these young people were only Jonin, and most were Chunin.
They were at the age when accidents were most likely to happen. As long as they controlled the pace, it would be hard to notice!
After all, death wasn't anything unusual in the Shinobi World. It could happen to anyone's family!
As for his aunt and the First Elder, veteran powerhouses like them were no longer young.
In another ten years, they might not even be able to lift a blade!
And in the period between the First and Second Shinobi World Wars, the Land of Whirlpools was also destined to be destroyed.
As their allies, the Senju would certainly take part in the fighting.
Then they could send his aunt, the First Elder, and the other middle-aged clan members in all at once and wipe them out.
With those two methods, few members of the opposition would be left alive.
The plot had also mentioned that there were Wood Release Experiment subjects during the Third's era.
How could the Senju, having lost so many powerful people, resist the temptation of Wood Release?
There it was!
With three methods applied in succession, the Senju were directly brought to the end of their bloodline!
The opposing forces disappeared!
But this plan still needed people from the Clan Leader's Line to cooperate.
Otherwise, Mito Uzumaki could've stopped the Wood Release Experiment and the integration of the Senju Clan. There had to be others cooperating with Konoha to make this happen!
When the Land of Whirlpools caused massive casualties within the clan and Mito Uzumaki's reputation hit rock bottom,
a high-ranking member of the Clan Leader's Line stepped forward to lead the remaining clan members and push for the experiments and integration!
Mito Uzumaki definitely wasn't the traitor. After all, the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed in the story. She couldn't have sacrificed the entire Land of Whirlpools just to cooperate with Konoha.
He knew this, but his aunt and the others didn't.
That was why they'd chosen to investigate slowly after obtaining the intelligence.
After all, in terms of strength, the only person in the entire Shinobi World who could handle Mito at full power was Madara, hiding in some filthy gutter.
He'd chosen to bring this up now because Mito Uzumaki had just agreed to have her memories examined.
That was why his aunt and the others had finally confirmed that Mito was no longer a suspect.
"Crack!"
In the quiet side hall, the sudden sound of porcelain shattering rang out.
Uka looked up from his thoughts toward where the sound had come from.
He saw Mito Uzumaki, who had always maintained her composure, now wearing a stony expression.
The sound of breaking porcelain had come from the teacup in her hand!
After a long while, Mito Uzumaki spoke, her voice slightly hoarse. "Tobirama was wrong. You may investigate the Clan Leader's Line as you please!"
"Just please, don't implicate the innocent!"
After saying that, Mito Uzumaki lowered the head she usually held high before them.
She had supported the Senju's retirement because she understood Hashirama and Tobirama's central beliefs.
At first, Hashirama and Tobirama had wanted the Senju to take the lead, then encourage all the clans to integrate, so Konoha could do away with the clan system.
Otherwise, with so many clans in the village, their conflicting interests alone would create endless problems.
How could such a village ever achieve true peace?
Unfortunately, the two of them had passed away one after the other just as the plan was getting started.
Before his death, Tobirama had said that once the two brothers' deterrence was gone, the Senju no longer had enough strength to support the clan.
The two Hokage had given the Senju control over far too many interests. If they didn't retire then, the other jealous clans would band together and tear them apart.
Tobirama had chosen Sarutobi to take over because he thought Sarutobi was relatively kind and could offer the Senju suitable protection and assistance.
But no one had expected the first to turn against the Senju to be these carefully chosen, kind disciples!
Tobirama had thought of wealth, interests, and power, but forgotten the Senju's fundamental asset: their talent.
Thinking of this, Mito Uzumaki couldn't help but smile.
She smiled at how Senju Tobirama had been clever all his life, yet acted foolishly about the most basic thing.
And she smiled at herself for failing to see the true nature of those wolf cubs for decades!
Seeing Mito's attitude, the Second Elder sighed helplessly. "Don't worry. The Clan Leader's Line is Senju, too!"
"I understand Tobirama's thinking, so Toka and I have always stayed neutral. But things have changed now. Uka's been targeted twice in a row, and you should be able to see that."
"And now that we have the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai, the Senju have hope. The pressure from outside will ease as well!"
Then he added with a hint, "There is a way to protect them, actually. Not everyone wants that seat!"
Mito Uzumaki looked up at the oldest member of the Senju, puzzled.
Without explaining, the Second Elder smiled and asked, "Tell me who you think wouldn't do it, then tell me who you think is most likely!"
At this, Mito Uzumaki recalled how the members of the Clan Leader's Line had acted after Tobirama's death.
After thinking for a long while, she said, "Rikima and Moshige wouldn't do it. They rarely interact with outsiders. Tachihito and Meka deal with outsiders all the time, so they're more likely!"
Hearing Mito's choices, Senju Uka nodded in agreement, too. There were eight senior members left in the Clan Leader's Line besides her!
These four fell into two opposing types!
Rikima was the current military leader of the Clan Leader's Line.
Moshige managed the clan's secret treasury. Both of them stayed within the clan for long periods and had little contact with outsiders, so they were the least suspicious!
Tachihito was the Fourth Senju Elder, and at clan meetings he usually sided with the Hokage!
Meka was in charge of the Senju Merchant Caravan and did business with all the clans and countries year-round!
These two had plenty of contact with outsiders and could easily have done something, so they were the most suspicious!
Based on Uka's experience playing Werewolf in his previous life,
whether or not there was a blind spot right under their noses, investigating these four would definitely turn up something!
Seeing that everyone agreed with the choice, the Second Elder smiled and gave his orders. "Go call them all over and have them wait outside. Get the outer perimeter ready, too. Sawagen, bring Rikima and Moshige in first!"
"Yes!" Senju Toka and the First Elder answered, then went out to make preparations!
Watching the two leave, Uka suddenly felt that being a nobody had its perks!
At least he didn't have to run errands or do anything dangerous. Slacking off seemed pretty nice, too!
With the matter settled, the Second Elder picked up the teacup on the table and took a small sip, lamenting inwardly that he was already over eighty and still had to worry about everything.
It seemed living too long wasn't such a good thing after all!
As he sighed, he noticed a boy beside him, leisurely bouncing his leg.
Somewhat displeased, he reached out and shoved him, scolding, "If you're just here to watch, go hide off to the side. Be careful sitting here, or someone might crush you to death!"
He was already over eighty, still working himself to the bone, and the little brat was sitting around with his leg bouncing!
Suddenly shoved over, Uka turned to look at the old geezer, ready to talk back!
But after hearing what he said, he glanced around.
It was a little dangerous sitting right in front of the hall, huh!
Brushing off his backside, Senju Uka sensibly took the old man's advice.
He picked up his teacup and cushion, then hid right behind Mito Uzumaki!
Watching the old and young bicker, Mito Uzumaki smiled silently.
This child, who'd made Tsunade cry several times, was already nine in the blink of an eye. He'd be graduating in another year, wouldn't he?
Hmm?