Uchiha Fucheng merely swept his gaze over them, and the two grain shop clerks, who had pulled out sharp knives, turned around on the spot and hacked at the shop owner.
The overbearing shop owner, as if he had lost his mind, grabbed a scale weight and began smashing it fiercely against the heads of the two burly clerks.
While smashing them, he shouted, "Murder! Murder!"
Uchiha Fucheng looked at UchihaMikoto and the others with a smile.
He waved to the Uchiha Ninjas of the Police Force behind the crowd, "The Shimura Grain and Oil Shop is engaging in forced buying and selling and manipulating prices. The owner and clerks are fighting and causing malicious injury. Police Force, take orders: arrest all three of them."
"Their injuries aren't serious, just bandage them up. Keep them alive. Give the Shimura Clan a two-day deadline to pay a fine of 50,000 jin of grain and come redeem them as soon as possible."
…The farce at the grain shop was simply because Uchiha Fucheng had read the *Notes of Uchiha Kagami* and felt resentful toward Danzo Shimura. Using Yakushi Nono as an excuse, he had intentionally come to pick a fight.
He hadn't expected this commotion to actually attract a large crowd of Konoha Village villagers.
The skyrocketing prices had made the Konoha Village villagers hate these people from the Shimura Clan intensely.
For a time, this incident brought Danzo Shimura's reputation down to the level of being "shunned by everyone."
Receiving the news immediately, Danzo Shimura felt that he had lost face.
The furious "Pot Hokage" stormed through the Village, and before Uchiha Fucheng could return to the Uchiha Compound, he intercepted him halfway.
Danzo's bandaged finger pointed angrily toward the sky.
"Young man, don't be too arrogant!"
Danzo glared with his single eye, his gaze fierce.
Uchiha Fucheng, however, was completely unafraid and stared at Danzo unmoved.
"If you aren't arrogant, can you even be called a young man?!"
This retort made Danzo's temples throb.
"Don't be too arrogant. Even with the Mangekyo Sharingan, you are only one person! If you won't consider yourself, you should at least consider the other Uchiha."
Danzo practically ground his teeth while saying that last "consider."
Uchiha Fucheng raised an eyebrow, "Danzo Shimura! Think before you speak. I may have the weakness of the ordinary Uchiha Clan around me, but what about you?"
"The largest clans in the Village right now are not the Uchiha Clan or the Senju Clan. The ones with the most clan members right now are the Shimura Clan and the Sarutobi Clan. Has your brain been eaten by a Baku?"
"Are you betting that only you can scheme against others, and no one would dare take their anger out on your clan?"
The fierce-looking Uchiha Fucheng didn't even activate his Sharingan, yet he already exuded an awe-inspiring aura.
His words instantly woke the dreamer.
It seemed Danzo had truly forgotten subconsciously that it wasn't just him who could scheme against others; others could also threaten the Shimura Clan.
Abandoning one's bottom line to play dirty? The prerequisite for that is that "others don't use these dirty tricks against you."
Danzo was silent.
But Fucheng would not let him go.
"Danzo, you had best maintain basic respect for me and the Uchiha Clan. Otherwise, I am not the type of pushover who only pursues fairness and justice."
As he said this, Fucheng curled the corner of his mouth, revealing a cold expression.
"If I discover any action you take against the Uchiha, or if my suspicions fall upon you or the Shimura Clan, I will have to apologize in advance. With me, there is no need for evidence; if I suspect someone, I will simply make them disappear."
Shocked that Uchiha Fucheng dared to threaten him in the middle of the street, Danzo Shimura widened his eyes, looking at the other in disbelief.
He hadn't expected Uchiha Fucheng to be even more ruthless!
His eyes immediately rotated into the Mangekyo shape, and an anchoring Ninjutsu composed of a Genjutsu core was instantly implanted into the other's mind.
This Genjutsu didn't have much significance, other than making it easier to hypnotize Danzo next time. Or, whenever Danzo thought of Uchiha Fucheng, he would subconsciously feel nervous.
Having finished this, the group of Uchiha Ninjas leisurely left the scene, leaving the distraught Danzo behind.
…A shrill eagle cry echoed over Konoha Village.
Four Ninja Hawks delivering messages from the Land of Rain arrived one after another at the Hokage Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, Utatane Koharu, and Danzo Shimura passed around and read the latest news sent back by Orochimaru from the Land of Rain.
Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe and said in a heavy tone, "Hanzou has declared war after all!"
Danzo looked indignant, "Konoha should have struck first. We shouldn't have waited for Hanzou to declare war before acting; that caused us to lose the initiative."
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, "We just fought a battle against the Sand Ninjas; Konoha needs time to recuperate. Being able to drag it out for a few more days is a good thing."
Danzo sneered, "And what about now? What should we do if Konoha can't drag it out any longer?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi put down his pipe and said firmly, "Then we fight!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the three Advisors, "Since Hanzou has overestimated himself by declaring war on both the Sand Ninjas and Konoha simultaneously, as long as we apply pressure on the Sand Ninja side, Konoha will definitely win this battle."
…The sky was overcast, and the drizzle was like silk.
Sparse raindrops hit the roof tiles, making a rapid tapping sound, as if heralding the coming war.
The Ninja Clans of Konoha Village all received the war mobilization order.
The Land of Rain had officially declared war on Konoha and the Sand Ninjas. This topic spread through every street and alley of Konoha.
Inside the Uchiha Compound, Fucheng whispered, "The new Ninja World war has finally arrived."
…With the mobilization order issued, the heads of these large and small Ninja Clans in Konoha Village were once again invited to the Hokage Office Building.
The Uchiha Clan, Senju Clan, Hyuga Clan, Shimura Clan, Sarutobi Clan... the Ino–Shika–Chō trio, Hatake, Inuzuka, Kurenai, Kurama, Gekko...
The smaller clans, counting all men, women, and children, only had a few dozen or a hundred people. But the large clans, just counting the number of Ninjas within the clan, could reach several hundred or thousands. These Ninja Clans constituted the core of Konoha Village's combat power.
Today, Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned these clan heads because he wanted to allocate the burden before the war. Based on the Ninja combat power needed to be mobilized for this war, he wanted to allocate the number of troops to be sent.
The quota discussed by the Konoha upper echelons basically referenced the previous war against the Sand Ninjas, taking the number of Ninjas allocated to each family last time and discounting it by 70%.
Considering fairness, Ninja Clans that achieved significant results and earned honors in the previous war could reduce the number of people sent this time and bear less of the allocated responsibility.
This included the Hatake Clan, the Hyuga Clan, and the Uchiha Clan.
In the last battle against the Sand Ninjas, Sakumo Hatake could be said to have settled the outcome in a single battle. He killed the enemy's two Kage-level Ninja husband and wife, which was the greatest contribution. Hiruzen Sarutobi arranged for Sakumo Hatake to be in charge of the logistics troops this time.
On the surface, this was fair, allowing more clans to bear the responsibility of war. Being in charge of logistics was considered a reward for the Hatake Clan. But the Third Hokage's true thought was naturally the fear that Sakumo Hatake would make new contributions. If Sakumo Hatake were to settle the outcome in a single battle again this time, then he, Hiruzen Sarutobi, would probably have to step down and let someone more worthy take his place.
The Hyuga Clan also contributed a lot in the last battle against the Sand Ninjas. The mortality rate of the Hyuga Clan branch members was very high, leading the Hyuga Clan to proactively request a reduction in the number of Ninjas sent this time. This request was not excessive. After discussing it, the Konoha Elders and Hiruzen Sarutobi agreed to the request.
The critical link was stuck at the Uchiha Clan. In the last war against the Sand Ninjas, because the Uchiha Clan had no successor for clan head, the Konoha upper echelons used this to divide the different factions within the Uchiha Clan. They even made the Uchiha send an additional one-third more clan Ninjas than required.
This matter was essentially the fault of the Konoha upper echelons. But since the wood was already chipped, Hiruzen Sarutobi certainly wouldn't want to back down if asked to account for it later. Therefore, Fucheng didn't dwell on it too much at the time and simply accepted the loss.
But this time, the Konoha Village upper echelons still wanted the Uchiha to reference the last war against the Sand Ninjas to determine the number of Ninjas to send. Heh, they were really out of their minds!
After Uchiha Fucheng heard Utatane Koharu announce the number of Uchiha Ninjas, he sneered directly and kicked over his stool. "Stop right there, Elder Utatane. If you continue, there will be no need to continue this meeting..."
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