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A bit over a year later;
From the perspective of a normal resident of Konoha and from an outside perspective, Konoha seemed to be in a period of growth, with no indications of the Kyuubi attack or war with Kumo visible anymore.
The war reparations of Ryo and Chakra metal for Kumo caused the almost empty treasury at the time to recover. That repairs and new projects can be done smoothly, which leads to a visible boom in Konoha's economy.
Some missions returned to Suna after the agreement, and the situation on the border was resolved after the suspicion of Suna attacking Naruto was dispelled. But as it was discussed between Hiruzen, Shikaku, and the others, the lost missions didn't affect Konoha in any meaningful capacity.
The aftermath of the short war with Kumo didn't stop at that. Konoha's victory had led to a slight increase in the number of missions reaching it, along with increased support from the Fire Daimyo, who was very pleased with Konoha's performance against Kumo and even more pleased when Konoha sent the still-incoming Jewelry and some of the gold from the reparations his way. Konoha has no use for jewelry anyway, so giving it to the Daimyo for his quick support at the time was like the most logical step.
Internally, Konoha was experiencing a period of political calm that seemed weird and unexpected, as everyone knows that the clans always have something going on between them.
The war with Kumo had a hand in that, especially with the Hyuga. The support they got after their heiress was almost kidnapped had led them to mellow out significantly.
They were even more thankful to the Senju than any other clan. For Tsunade, for being the decisive voice when Hiruzen leaned toward compromise. And to Naruto, for keeping the clan head family whole and helping the matriarch through her deadly childbirth.
As for the Uchiha, the other usual political headache. Several changes happened over the years, changes that were welcomed by a great majority of the populace.
For over five years now, the Uchiha have slowly integrated their members into Konoha and the Shinobi forces. The Uchiha now interact with civilians on an everyday basis, outside of police interactions. Young Uchiha are now allowed to choose whether they want to join the police force or join shinobi teams, instead of being pulled into the police force after graduation.
Some Uchiha have even joined the Anbu.
This didn't seem to cause many problems to the Uchiha internally, but a major change in the police force definitely did.
When Naruto sat together with Fugaku and Mikoto almost six years ago, one of the things he proposed that Fugaku could take into consideration was adding and allowing other clans' shinobi into the police.
While Mikoto looked thoughtful, Fugaku was against it.
Not because it was a bad idea, but because of the uproar it would cause in the Uchiha, especially the hardliners of the clan.
Naruto explained that the Uchiha would still be the main body of the police force; he was just saying that Fugaku could let other Shinobi from clans or of civilian origin join the teams. He said that Fugaku should know that some shinobi aren't completely fit to be in the regular shinobi ranks due to how bloody and dark missions could get. Naruto suggested that they offer the proposition for others to join the police force so that shinobi from any background could really interact with the Uchiha in their line of work, hoping to change that image of the Uchiha at the time.
Fugaku sat with this idea for a long time. He was unsure of how to bring it up and when. He was also sure that the Uchiha reaction wouldn't be supportive.
Then came the aftermath of the war with Kumo. While the short war ended in a victory for Konoha, the Uchiha weren't as thrilled. Konoha's victory wasn't the problem; they are part of the village after all, but being sidelined from the main battlefield was their main issue.
While the war was on the border of the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Frost, the Uchiha were stationed on the east and west borders of the Land of Fire, away from the main battle.
While guarding the borders in an active war is important, the Uchiha knew they were being sidelined. And Fugaku knew that this was political and also that most Shinobi aren't comfortable around the Uchiha. To them at the time, the Uchiha were a clan that they heard nothing good about and that they kept to themself more than the Hyuga in some regard.
In the annual Uchiha meeting in the Naka Shrine after the war with Kumo concluded, expected grievances of being sidelined were said out loud. Fugaku sat in the meeting, listening to what was being said, before he stopped it and dropped the proposal that had been sitting in his head for more than a year.
And as expected, there was outrage and strong opposition to it. Fugaku didn't mind as he continued to clearly elaborate on the entire proposal. The more Fugaku explained, the quieter the room got.
Even after the entire proposal was out in the open, there was opposition to it, especially from the hardline hawk faction.
To them, the police force is their final and only card for political pressure; letting that go was out of the question.
Fugaku explained that the police force's main body will still be Uchiha. He said that Shinobi from other clans or other groups will be allowed to join the police force, which will still be led by the Uchiha, and that will not be changed.
Fugaku pointed out that the recent war has shown how the Uchiha are seen by other shinobi, let alone politically, so the Uchiha need to interact with other shinobi in the professional scope of work, not just civilian and everyday interactions.
Discussions after that led to a reluctant but realistic look at how implementing this proposal will affect the Uchiha later on. But one thing is certain between them: any change that may be made that would lead to the Uchiha losing control of the police force is out of the question, which Fugaku agreed to and supported.
After the Uchiha meeting ended, Fugaku requested a meeting with Hiruzen and the clan heads, which was agreed upon and conducted two weeks after the request was issued.
Let's just say the proposal was a surprise to Hiruzen and the clan heads. Most of them looked thoughtful as they considered it.
After discussions that stretched for a good time and a couple of days, the proposal was agreed upon, even with some opposition from Hiruzen's two advisors.
The Uchiha still got full control of how the police force operates; any clan that had members who wanted to join could issue a request to join, and any clan that had members join the police force could choose a representative from their clan who would work and have direct contact with the Uchiha leading body of the police force. Hiruzen will be the one to choose a representative for the civilians who choose to join the police force.
That was a great change that happened in the police force, and as the details got ironed out, it looked like a promising change.
The change was slow and took time, especially with Fugaku trying to deal with and mellow out the usual arrogance and irritating behavior of some of the Uchiha. They were going to work with other clans now and have a real shot at complete integration into the village, so behavioral issues shouldn't be the thing that makes this not work out.
Nowadays, you could see police teams consisting of Uchiha, Nara, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Inuzuka and their companions, and other clans. Some teams are still full of Uchiha members, but the change was slow and seemingly heading in a good direction. Though the Hyuga didn't join. As one of the major clans of Konoha and one of the ocular powers, they couldn't bring some of their members to work under the Uchiha. Which is fine; joining the police force is a choice given to all shinobi, not a requirement.
Things in Konoha seemed to be heading towards something better. While everything on the surface seemed to be going great, beneath it was another story.
...
Danzo stood in his underground hideout, his hand tightened greatly around his cane after hearing the latest report from one of his ROOT operatives.
Since his hasty attempt to acquire the Kyuubi jinchuuriki about nine years ago, everything has gone wrong for him.
He lost most of his ROOT; he lost his council seat. Not only that, but all he worked for, schemed for, and planned has been stopped or is being reversed. All his plans and ambitions have been killed the moment he tried to get his hands on the Senju heir.
Most of the ROOT is gone. Funding, gone. Support, gone. Standing in the village, gone.
Now he is just an old man under house arrest with a few of his most reliable subordinates left.
After almost losing everything, Danzo, with what remained of his ROOT, was rebuilding their numbers slowly, trying to acquire funds from every direction outside the village.
To Danzo, this seemed like a major step back but a repairable one if done correctly and with enough time.
While he always seemed to preach that everything he does is for the sake of the village, the village's current growth and stability didn't seem to bring him any joy.
If anything, he is angry about it.
To him, the village should grow, but under his direct leadership. With him as Hokage, as he always dreams. The village should become as he envisioned it to be, not any other way.
For years since Hiruzen became Hokage, Danzo has tried many routes to become Hokage. He tried to get rid of Hiruzen. He tried to get rid of any opposition to the position. He tried to weaken the village in the shadows so it seemed like Hiruzen's rule was incompetent.
Then Minato Namikaze became the fourth Hokage, and Danzo got little to do about it, as Minato was too famous a figure and a war Hero.
But then Minato died a few years into his rule defending the village in the Kyuubi attack, and Danzo saw this as his opportunity to finally be the Hokage he dreamt of being.
But Hiruzen had to retake the position, pushing Danzo to scheme once more, this time trying to get his hands on the new Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, which had blown up spectacularly in his face, leading to the situation that he is in right now.
Then comes the current situation with the Uchiha, which makes his blood boil.
He had been the strongest opposition to the Uchiha since he became part of the council. Not because of anything wrong they did, but because of sheer paranoia and a wrongly interrupted caution from the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
That was added to his need for absolute political control if he wanted to be Hokage. He knew that the Uchiha would never bend the knee to him being Hokage, and with the Senju reducing in numbers over time, the Uchiha were his major obstacle in the village.
In his time on the council and with ROOT under his command, he did everything to undermine the Uchiha and push them away from the governing body of the village.
And when the Nine-Tails attacked, Danzo had one of his operatives disguise himself as an Anbu and order the Uchiha to stand down in hopes of making them seem suspicious. And when the Kyuubi was sighted with the pattern of the Sharingan on its eyes, it seemed like the heavens were smiling on Danzo.
But what seemed like a good fortune for him didn't last for long, as he was stripped of everything after Tsunade's return.
Even though he was under house arrest, it didn't take his direct or indirect lead against the Uchiha.
Their absence from assisting against the Kyuubi's attack and the numerous counts of seeing the Sharingan pattern in the Kyuubi's eyes have been enough to point fingers at the Uchiha. That also led to them being more isolated and even moving to the outer perimeter of the Village. Danzo couldn't have been more satisfied.
For a couple of years, it seemed that the Situation with the Uchiha was becoming worse and worse, even with Danzo's absence from the political theater.
Then all of a sudden, Danzo got reports that the Uchiha had started to interact with civilians and shinobi outside policing duties. It didn't seem to do much in the beginning, and the short war with Kumo pointed that out, with the Uchiha being placed away from where the main battle was.
After the war ended, Danzo expected grievances to be voiced by the Uchiha for being sidelined.
What he didn't expect was the increase in positive interactions between the village and the Uchiha. And to add to that, the Uchiha made an unexpected offer for other clans' shinobi or others to join the police force.
Danzo had to hear how that offer was accepted and how the police reformed without being able to voice anything against it. From then on, he heard reports that the Uchiha were now working with other clans in the police force and that the Uchiha were slowly ar being integrated back into the village.
While the Uchiha still lived at the edge of the village, Danzo was actively hearing about how his efforts to isolate the Uchiha all these years were actively evaporating.
Now standing in his underground hideout, with a clone keeping up the facade that he was still under house arrest at his home, his patience was thinning out.
He lost his political power; he lost his manpower, and now all his efforts seemed to be for nothing, or were being reversed.
And to add salt to the wound, he can't return to the political theatre of the village, or he would risk the village's financial ruin. If Tsunade's ultimatum happened, the village would end in financial ruin that may as well end it.
Hiruzen is still in office, and his position is even stronger due to the victory against Kumo and the prosperity that the village is experiencing recently. He can't do anything about it in his current situation
Tsunade and Naruto Senju are his biggest obstacles, and he has no viable plan to deal with them. Add to that that many of the other clans have allied with them. A founding clan that is reduced to two members is still like the heart of the village.
The Uchiha, whom Danzo tried to isolate and was nearly completely successful in doing so. And now he is hearing that his efforts are being reversed.
All in all, Danzo is reaching the point where he is like a caged, cornered animal who has no fight left in him.
But it should also be known that a cornered animal is still dangerous, and it will do anything, no matter how irrational it seems, to survive in the end.
To be continued.
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I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.
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