However, when facing the Hidden Waterfall's obstruction, actually, all that was needed was to stall for time.
Because with Nohara Rin's disappearance, the Hidden Waterfall Village also couldn't produce any concrete evidence that it was Nohara Rin who stole the Seven-tailed. It was only the Hidden Waterfall's one-sided claim.
It's just that, not wanting to fall out with the Hidden Waterfall Village, plus it seemed other ninja villages were also secretly fanning the flames, Hiruzen was forced to respond head-on to Hidden Waterfall. But regarding the disappearance of Chunin Nohara Rin in the village and the theft of the Seven-tailed from Hidden Waterfall, Hiruzen skillfully glossed over it.
Before any solid evidence came to light, Hiruzen would not admit that it was a Konoha ninja who stole the Seven-tailed from Hidden Waterfall.
After all, the whole matter simply appeared far too bizarre.
According to the time of the Seven-tailed's disappearance provided by the Hidden Waterfall, it was exactly the period when Nohara Rin went missing from Konoha's camp in the Land of Grass.
Kakashi found some Wood Style residue on a battlefield in the Land of Waterfall, suspecting that a Wood Style ninja had shown up there.
After that, the Hidden Waterfall lashed out at Konoha, saying that a female ninja from their village had stolen Hidden Waterfall's Seven-tailed.
But Rin was already missing. As for what really happened, Hiruzen felt it couldn't entirely be taken at Hidden Waterfall's word.
Once the crime of stealing a tailed beast was established, Konoha would be saddled with the stigma of breaking the tailed beast treaty, and by then would find it extremely difficult to navigate the international stage.
Besides, how could a Chunin even find the Jinchuriki in Hidden Waterfall, then, faster than the eye could see, extract the Seven-tailed from the Jinchuriki's body, finally seal it within herself, and escape from the Hidden Waterfall Village?
Therefore, the Hidden Waterfall's accusations only made Hiruzen more cautious, but he steadfastly refused to admit to the theft of the tailed beast.
He even dispatched a team of Anbu to monitor Rin's parents day and night, hoping to uncover any clue at all.
After more than half a year, the Nohara couple's behavior remained normal. Upon hearing that their daughter was missing and her whereabouts unknown, they were mournful for a time before eventually rallying. Nothing suspicious occurred during that period.
The missing Rin also did not return to the village, nor did she contact her parents in secret.
Until a few days ago, when the Anbu guarding the Nohara couple suffered an accident and were found unconscious at the scene. By the time they woke up, the Nohara couple had mysteriously disappeared from their home, their whereabouts unknown.
Only then did it attract Hiruzen's attention.
Hiruzen immediately locked down this information, especially ensuring that the Hidden Waterfall envoys stationed in Konoha knew nothing of it. Otherwise, they would surely suspect Konoha was feeling guilty and believe the couple's disappearance was Konoha deliberately crying thief to cover up guilt.
A lot had happened recently. Konoha and Hidden Cloud were locked in fierce conflict, and the Uchiha and Hyuga problem needed calming as much as possible.
As for arranging things with Orochimaru, and for restraining Danzo, whose power was growing too great, these also demanded action.
And then there was the Fourth Hokage selection.
All these matters fell entirely on Hiruzen's own shoulders.
Now, with Nohara Rin's parents disappeared from Konoha too, there was yet one more urgent problem to deal with.
Hiruzen was feeling quite a headache.
It would be even better if he had someone at his side to help strategize.
There were plenty of Jonin in the Sarutobi clan, but their strength and position were insufficient to assist with such grave matters.
As a result, everything now depended on him alone to shoulder.
Hiruzen could foresee that, once the war ended, whatever he said, he still had to abdicate.
The tides were turning, inevitably.
But there were still things he hadn't finished; the Uchiha issue remained unresolved, the balance between ninja clans and civilians was far from perfect, and there was the large-scale joint Uchiha and Hyuga defection some years ago... All of it required much time to properly prepare for.
"Time waits for no one."
In the blink of an eye, he'd passed fifty, and his stamina was much diminished from what it once was.
Yet unless those issues were resolved, he just couldn't rest easy handing the Hokage seat to the next generation.
Whether it was Orochimaru or Minato, they were still too young. In dealing with these matters, they couldn't reach perfection, and also lacked experience communicating with the ninja clans.
Therefore, he could not yet sever all ties between himself and the Hokage position.
He picked up a scroll and spread it in front of him.
There were only two names written on it.
Orochimaru, Namikaze Minato.
The position of Fourth Hokage would only fall between these two people.
From his heart, he preferred his disciple Orochimaru.
But if Orochimaru ascended, and united with Danzo, he himself would be marginalized.
After much thought, Minato was still a bit more suitable.
When the time came, Minato could handle the trivialities, and he himself could devote his full energy to resolving the Uchiha issue and maintaining the ninja clan-civilian balance.
The mess I made, I must clean up myself.
But then, would time be enough by then?
Hiruzen sighed again, then his eyes showed resolve.
He understood very well that, under his conservative administrative style, Konoha only seemed strong—its true strength was already beginning to wane.
But before quelling external threats, internal affairs must be managed first.
Unlike other villages, Konoha was a ninja village where the clans were especially prosperous.
The Uchiha, Hyuga, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame, and Inuzuka clans—balancing relations among all these ninja clans was no easy task.
It was precisely because of these complicated ties that he had been seeking internal stability policies for so many years.
If the internal voices were not unified, Konoha would stagnate.
The first target, Hiruzen had already decided upon.
Uchiha.
If he could solve the Uchiha problem, most other problems would no longer be problems.
Hiruzen gazed out the window, looking toward the distance, where the Uchiha clan land lay.
"Come to think of it, it's been a while since I last went there…"