Next day at noon.
"We already understand what happened, Hiruzen."
In the conference room of the Hokage Building, Advisors Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane both let out a gentle sigh after reading the contents of the scroll, their brows furrowing as if something was troubling them.
This scroll contained intel sent back by Konoha's frontline commander, Orochimaru.
The mission to attack the Hidden Sand supply point didn't match the actual situation, causing Sakumo's team to be severely scattered, and they were nearly lost in the Sand's encirclement.
Although there weren't many direct references to Root, as advisors, they were well aware of the hidden implications.
All the suspicion pointed directly at another top Konoha elder, Shimura Danzo.
Root Ninja, through deceitful means, implicated Sakumo's team, and even planted spies within the Anbu under the Hokage, which became the root cause of this incident.
"So what do you both think of this matter?"
As Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the two with an emotionless expression.
Homura and Koharu desperately wanted to defend Danzo, shifting the blame onto Hidden Sand, but the others weren't fools—if they did that, the situation, already dire, would only grow worse.
"This time, Danzo did go too far..."
"Only a bit too far?"
Hiruzen's face suddenly turned grim. He could tolerate that Danzo planted spies among the Anbu under his command.
But he could only speak for himself, not for the Uchiha Clan.
This was the real difficulty in this incident.
Putting Uchiha Ruri in Sakumo's team for experience was part of his deal with the Uchiha leadership.
Now, just as the team was starting to gel, this kind of mishap happened. How would the Uchiha leaders view him as Hokage?
"So, Hiruzen, what do you plan to do? After all, he's a high-ranking official in this village, and he's rendered countless meritorious services for Konoha through the years, eliminating many enemies threatening the village..."
Hearing Homura interceding for Danzo, Hiruzen waved his hand irritably, signaling him to stop talking.
"Where is Danzo at this moment?"
"In the Land of Grass."
"Has there been no reply from him?"
"He says everything is normal, only..."
"Only what?"
"Four of his subordinates, on a secret mission in the Land of Rivers, have suddenly lost contact for unknown reasons—they're likely dead."
After hearing this, Hiruzen nodded and said, "I think I understand the situation. I'll negotiate with the Uchiha. You contact Danzo—tell him to behave himself, and stop these unnecessary actions. How to handle the Uchiha is my duty as Hokage. This is not a matter for Root to interfere in."
The reason Danzo was so ruthless was definitely because, as Hokage, he had recently adopted a more conciliatory policy toward the Uchiha.
For the radical Root faction, this was indeed a dangerous signal.
The Uchiha in Konoha always had a mixed reputation. Though they never fully blended in with the village, to dismiss all their relationships as worthless was simply too harsh.
Just as Konoha's upper echelon was divided between conservatives and radicals—
—so too did the Uchiha have their own radicals and conservatives.
But no matter which faction, Hiruzen was clear about the Uchiha's ultimate goal.
In the end, they just wanted greater power in Konoha, a voice in the village's direction, perhaps even the Hokage's seat—to surpass the Senju Clan.
As long as he understood their aims, Hiruzen felt the rest would be easy to manage.
If it hadn't been for Danzo's mess, he could have, before the next Hokage took over, improved the Uchiha-village relationship, to avoid the former tension.
"Let's hope that this lesson will make that guy Danzo behave himself..."
Sometimes even Hiruzen didn't know how to handle his old friend Danzo—he could only sigh wearily, hoping Danzo's personality would mellow from now on.
Homura and Koharu said nothing. If Danzo were that well-behaved, he wouldn't be Root's leader in the first place.
"We'll explain things to the Hyuga. Since you want to handle the Uchiha alone, we'll leave that to you. But remember this—no matter what you do to pacify the Uchiha, never trust their clan fully. There are plenty of ninja in their ranks who've inherited that man's dangerous thinking."
Homura looked deeply at Hiruzen as he finished, then left the conference room with Koharu.
"Uchiha Madara... Is there still Mangekyo Sharingan..."
Sitting in his chair, Hiruzen muttered quietly.
The battle between Uchiha Madara and the First Hokage at the Valley of the End had a tremendous impact on Konoha.
Although it was Madara who lost, not long after the First Hokage returned to the village, he too passed away unexpectedly, leaving no one who could suppress that era, and resulting in the brutal First Ninja War a few years later.
And the power that made Uchiha Madara famous was the pinnacle of the Sharingan—Mangekyo Sharingan.
That was the most mysterious and darkest power recorded in the Uchiha chronicles.
His teacher, Senju Tobirama, had repeatedly said that an Uchiha ninja who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, their heart had already sunk into an abyss of darkness, and they could no longer be regarded as ordinary people.
Arrogance, extremism, mental instability—such people would do many things that defied common sense, things ordinary men could not endure.