Hiruzen inhaled sharply, the puzzle pieces finally snapping together in his mind.
'So that is the catalyst,' Hiruzen analyzed silently. He finally understood why Jin had awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan and why he had instantly aligned with the Radicals with such suicidal determination. The Root had taken his parents. To an Uchiha, that emotional trauma was the exact trigger required to evolve their eyes.
Elder Homura nodded slowly, though his face remained clouded with confusion. "That explains his power, but the logic is flawed. If his parents were abducted, standard protocol dictates he report it to the Hokage or his Clan Head, Fugaku. Why instantly resort to rebellion?"
"Indeed," Koharu agreed, equally puzzled. "Why bypass the chain of command entirely?"
Hiruzen shook his head, dismissing their naive questions. "It does not matter why he bypassed us. He clearly deduced the village's involvement. Speculating on his choices is meaningless now. Danzo, I agree that Jin must be eliminated. However, I will not provide you with official military support."
Hiruzen locked eyes with his shadow commander. "You must plan this carefully. Uchiha Jin is not a target we can casually assassinate."
Danzo's expression remained impassive. He had anticipated this, but he immediately set his price. "To break a Mangekyou user through attrition, I need volume. Assign me three full Anbu squads and conscript a battalion of elite Jonin from the major clans."
"Absolutely not," Hiruzen rejected instantly. "You will not touch the clan elites. Contract rogue ninja through the Underground Exchange."
Hiruzen turned to his advisor. "Koharu, allocate a black-budget fund for Danzo. Danzo, you will place bounties and select an ambush site strictly outside the village walls. Even if this operation fails, we cannot give Jin a legitimate excuse to declare open war inside Konoha."
Hiruzen's internal logic was entirely self-preserving. He knew exactly what Danzo wanted: expendable bodies. But Hiruzen could not afford to sacrifice clan elites. His political authority was already critically weakened. The heavy losses from the Third Shinobi World War, the tragic death of the Fourth Hokage, and his controversial decisions regarding the village's Jinchuriki had eroded his standing. If the major clans realized Hiruzen was sending their best fighters to die as cannon fodder just to clean up Root's mess, they would strip him of the Hokage title.
Danzo, however, bluntly refused. "No."
"Rogue ninja from the black market are worthless garbage," Danzo stated coldly. "They will die instantly. They won't even force Jin to activate his Mangekyou, let alone drain its ocular power. If you refuse to provide actual military support, I am aborting the operation."
Danzo was ruthless, but he was not suicidal. He was the ultimate survivor in Konoha's political ecosystem. He frequently targeted the Uchiha, but only when he held an overwhelming, risk-free advantage. Facing a Mangekyou user who was willing to fight to the death required a massive sacrifice of lives.
'If I use only my Root operatives to grind down Jin's chakra, my forces will be decimated,' Danzo calculated. 'I need Root to seize the Hokage seat in the future. I will gladly execute the village's dirty work, but I will not cripple my own political future to do it.' Danzo recognized that Jin was currently a much larger threat to Hiruzen's immediate authority than to his own hidden faction.
"Don't look at me like that, Hiruzen. Do not treat me like a fool," Danzo said, noticing the Hokage's stunned silence. "We are the only ones in this room. I know exactly how the village views me. If I sacrifice the entirety of Root to kill Jin, the moment you step down as Hokage, the other clans will execute me for my past actions. I need my forces to survive. Think of another way."
Without waiting for a response, Danzo turned and walked out of the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen was left staring at the closed door, his mind blank. A severe headache began to throb at his temples. For decades, Danzo had willingly acted as the village's scapegoat, absorbing the darkness so Hiruzen could remain in the light. Danzo refusing to take the fall was unprecedented.
'What now?' Hiruzen thought, glancing at Koharu and Homura.
"What do we do, Hiruzen?" Koharu asked, confirming her uselessness.
"Jin is a fatal threat. He must die quickly," Homura added, offering panic but no solutions.
Hiruzen sighed heavily. He had to rely on himself.
After several minutes of tense silence, the Hokage finally formulated a counter-measure. "We will not rush a physical confrontation. Jin has only just taken control of the Radical Faction. His sudden rise directly threatens Fugaku's authority as Clan Head."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed as the political trap took shape in his mind. "We will instigate an Uchiha civil war. I will order Shisui to fully integrate into Fugaku's inner circle, bolstering the Moderates. Furthermore, we will lend Fugaku covert political support from the administration."
Hiruzen took a slow draw from his pipe, the smoke hiding his ruthless calculation. "We will issue a public village proclamation regarding the withdrawal of the Anbu today. We will state that the siege was lifted 'specifically' because the village recognizes Clan Head Fugaku's unwavering loyalty. We will simultaneously leak rumors suggesting the Radicals might be the true culprits behind the Nine-Tails attack. Let them tear each other apart from the inside."
It was a masterstroke of political sabotage. If he couldn't kill Jin with force, he would kill him with internal division.
Koharu and Homura, though frustrated by the lack of immediate violence, nodded in agreement. It was the safest option.
***
Meanwhile, inside the Uchiha Compound.
Jin walked into the Radical Faction's training hall, immediately surrounded by tense, heavily armed operatives.
"Stand down. The crisis is averted," Jin announced, his voice carrying clearly across the room. "Hiruzen Sarutobi has conceded. The Root and Anbu forces surrounding our compound have been officially withdrawn."
A collective breath of relief swept through the room, quickly replaced by fierce excitement.
"Our strategy of mutually assured destruction was successful," Jin continued, outlining the result briefly. "We maintain our current posture and proceed with the next phase of our operational plan."
The Radical members cheered. For the first time since the Nine-Tails incident, the Konoha administration had backed down. They had finally struck a blow against their oppressors.
However, the celebration was short-lived.
An hour later, the official Konoha broadcast echoed through the village infrastructure.
"...Following extensive deliberations, the Konoha Administration has elected to withdraw perimeter security from the Uchiha district. This decision is a direct result of Clan Head Fugaku Uchiha's continued demonstrations of profound loyalty and peaceful diplomacy..."
The atmosphere in the Radical hall instantly turned toxic.
The village's shameless political maneuvering had perfectly hit its mark. The Radicals were completely infuriated. Jin had literally put his life on the line, marched into the Hokage's office, and forced a military stand-down through sheer, terrifying leverage.
Yet, Fugaku—the coward who had done nothing but beg for scraps—was publicly handed all the credit.