We need to take countermeasures in time, to prevent a great disaster from befalling Konoha.
But for now, Hiruzen was not worried about this point.
Ever since Uchiha Madara passed away, there have been no other examples in the Uchiha Clan of awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan.
No matter how talented an Uchiha Ninja may be, the Three Tomoe state of the Sharingan is the ultimate limit they can reach.
The Sharingan with Three Tomoe is nothing for him, the Hokage, to fear.
◎
Three o'clock in the afternoon.
Hakushi and the other two followed the team back to Konoha, the village they had left for several days.
The scene of peace and tranquility was a stark contrast to the tense and oppressive atmosphere on the front lines.
And this peace was precisely bought with the lives of countless ninja at the front.
"Then, let's part ways here."
At a fork in the road, Ayane was the first to suggest saying goodbye.
Hakushi and Ruri both had no objections. Now was indeed not the time for idle small talk.
The Uchiha Clan's district was the same as usual, neither lively nor deserted, with a few children wearing clothes embroidered with the fan crest playing on the streets of the Uchiha territory.
They were all the new generation of the Uchiha Clan.
They all seemed to recognize Ruri, the clan's top prodigy, and all came up to greet her, sweetly calling, 'Sister Ruri', 'Sister Ruri'.
Ruri also took some candy from her pocket to hand out to the children, telling them to be careful while playing.
"Next, I'm going to the elders to find out what's happening in the village. You should go home first."
Ruri watched as the little children left, then turned to say this to Hakushi.
"Got it. Someone like me just needs to stay out of the way and act invisible, anyway."
Hakushi didn't have any complaints about this.
Ruri nodded in agreement; in this regard, Hakushi's mentality was indeed steadied.
He'd been like that since childhood—whether looked down upon or ignored, he'd always acted like he didn't care.
"Though I think, when it comes to handling this matter, you probably won't be too satisfied with the result."
Before leaving, Hakushi added this sentence.
Hearing this, Ruri couldn't help but frown.
Just as she was about to say something, Hakushi had already walked away, all she saw was his back waving as if to say 'see you later', his silhouette departing.
After bidding Hakushi goodbye, Ruri headed alone toward Nankai Shrine.
When she arrived, just as expected, an elder of the Uchiha was already there waiting for her.
It was Uchiha Shikora.
Sitting next to him, also kneeling, was a young man—Uchiha Fugaku.
Fugaku smiled gently at Ruri, nodding as a greeting.
Ruri nodded back in greeting too.
To be honest, although both she and Fugaku were potential clan leader candidates for the Uchiha Clan, Ruri didn't like interacting with Fugaku.
It wasn't because Fugaku was weak. As a clan leader candidate, Fugaku was definitely a powerful Jonin, and his Sharingan had also been polished to the Three Tomoe state.
But Fugaku's way of handling things was too conservative and gentle, which happened to be precisely the kind of approach Ruri disliked the most.
Ruri respected his strength, but was doubtful whether his temperament was suited to bear the heavy duty of the clan leader.
The Uchiha Clan, after all, was not just another ordinary Ninja Clan.
Gentleness and conservatism are a slow knife that will kill the Uchiha. That was Ruri's own view of the clan.
After sitting down, Ruri bowed her head slightly to Uchiha Shikora to show respect to her elder.
"Elder Shikora, regarding this…"
Just as Ruri started to speak, Elder Shikora raised his hand to interrupt her, his tone not as impulsive as she had expected.
"I've already heard about this from the Hokage."
"Is that so?" Ruri murmured, then continued, "So, what does the clan plan to do?"
"What about your view, Ruri?"
Elder Shikora did not tell Ruri about the clan's arrangements, but instead asked what her opinion was on this matter.
"I remember you once told me before, Elder Shikora, that the leader of Root is Shimura Danzo from the Shimura Clan, right? He's the Hokage's confidant, and a disciple of the Second Hokage."
"That's right."
"An organization this strict—its lower members would never dare to act on their own without orders from above. I don't think the other two members of the team were their targets. Root's only goal could have been me, or the Uchiha. So, all this was orchestrated by Shimura Danzo. He's targeting our Uchiha Clan. And besides, this counts as the grave offense of slaughtering comrades without cause. He should be locked up in Konoha Prison and made to repent."
As long as the mastermind is thrown into Konoha Prison, whatever achievements he had before would mean nothing.
His political merits would be wiped out and he'd become a nobody with no influence in the village.
This was the punishment that Ruri hoped to see fall on that Konoha higher-up.
She spoke as she placed a scroll in front of Elder Shikora.
Without a doubt, the contents of this scroll were ironclad facts, direct evidence of Root framing and harming a fellow ninja.
As long as it was authenticated by the Anbu, Root's crimes could be confirmed.
And the leader of Root could not escape implication and would also be punished.
Elder Shikora sighed; he'd known Ruri would do this.
He'd watched Ruri grow up, and knew all too well her tooth-for-a-tooth personality.
"It's useless. Didn't you kill those four Root Ninjas? That means the dead cannot testify. As long as Danzo refuses to admit it, he can just have his underlings take the punishment in his place. Besides, something big is happening in the Yamanaka Clan right now—it'll take them a few days to deal with it."