"Sharingan?"
"That pattern?"
"Not an ordinary Sharingan. Mangekyo Sharingan?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was shocked.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi could not think of who would possess the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Then Hiruzen Sarutobi thought of the rumor Jiraiya had spread before.
"Could what Jiraiya said about Uchiha Fugaku awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan be true?"
"Was it truly Fugaku who controlled the Nine-Tails and created the Nine-Tails Rampage?"
"What was he aiming for?"
"Why did he not display his strength before? Why allow the Uchiha to suffer such things?"
"Even if he awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan only after the Uchiha rebellion, why target Minato and Kushina? Why make no move at all against me and Danzo?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi could not understand it no matter how he thought.
"Also, how could someone like Uchiha Fugaku awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan?"
"No matter how I look at him, he doesn't seem like someone with that kind of talent."
"How could he compare to Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Izuna?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his voice.
"Fugaku, is that you? What do you want?"
Uchiha Obito raised an eyebrow.
But he was happy to see Hiruzen Sarutobi mistake him for Uchiha Fugaku.
"Nothing much. I only want Hokage-sama to sleep a while longer."
"Sleep?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a breath of relief. At least it was not the worst-case scenario.
"Wait. Before I sleep, can you let me see the current situation in the village? If that is impossible, then can you tell me what the village is like right now?"
"Shinnosuke… is he truly dead? Has the murderer been found?"
Uchiha Obito hesitated for a moment, but still agreed to Hiruzen Sarutobi's request.
"After you fell unconscious, Shimura Danzo became Acting Hokage and is now managing Konoha."
"Shinnosuke is indeed dead. No one has gone to look for the murderer."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened.
"What about Tsunade and Jiraiya?"
"They are still in the Fire Capital."
Hiruzen Sarutobi asked several more questions, but Uchiha Obito no longer had any intention of answering.
Because Uchiha Obito could see that Hiruzen Sarutobi was deliberately stalling for time.
So with a shift of his thoughts—
A wave of genjutsu power pressed heavily onto Hiruzen Sarutobi's consciousness.
The next moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi's consciousness sank into darkness.
This time, Hiruzen Sarutobi would remain unconscious for even longer.
Uchiha Obito walked out of Konoha and glanced in the direction of the Fire Capital.
"Tsunade and Jiraiya… The Nine-Tails is already in my hands. Whether I fulfill the conditions I promised Danzo no longer matters."
"But to prevent unnecessary trouble, I still need to put on an act."
"At least until I attack Sunagakure and defeat Rasa."
Uchiha Obito thought for a while.
"Kakuzu and Sasori of the Red Sand are not their match. Nagato's information should be kept hidden as much as possible. In that case, let Konan go, together with Kakuzu and Sasori of the Red Sand."
"Konan has not seen Jiraiya, her teacher, for a very long time. They should catch up."
Danzo was reforming Konoha on one hand.
He was promoting Root's training methods to all ninja.
On the other hand, he was waiting for Uchiha Obito's attack against Tsunade and Jiraiya.
Uchiha Obito was waiting for Sasori of the Red Sand's intelligence.
Rasa was waiting for the points from the twelfth rumor.
By comparison, Iwagakure and Kumogakure seemed to lag far behind in intelligence. They did not understand the true situation of the shinobi world right now.
Iwagakure.
Standing before Onoki was an old man, one of Iwagakure's elders.
Placed in front of the two was precisely the information Rasa had spread regarding Danzo.
"We can ignore human experimentation, but Hashirama's corpse is something we cannot ignore."
Onoki recalled the past.
"Senju Hashirama was not merely Wood Release. That man exceeded the concept of a normal ninja. It was definitely not a transformation brought by an ordinary Kekkei Genkai."
"It was more like he had broken through some kind of limiter."
"If they truly researched some result from him, it would inevitably bring an enormous increase to ninja strength. It may even be greater than the effect of Sunagakure's Devil Fruits."
Onoki's expression was solemn.
Back then, when he had gone to Konoha, Uchiha Madara's sudden attack had left a deep psychological shadow on Onoki.
And Senju Hashirama's strength had still been above Uchiha Madara's.
In their many battles, it had always been Senju Hashirama who obtained victory.
"We need to find out exactly what they researched."
The old man opposite him hesitated for a moment.
"Tsuchikage-sama, then who do you think we should start with?"
"Orochimaru, or Danzo?"
Onoki's eyes flickered.
"Based on my understanding of Danzo, he should not have that kind of talent. The research was most likely still done by Orochimaru. But if we want to obtain intelligence, I think we should start with Danzo."
"First, we do not know Orochimaru's current whereabouts."
"Second, Orochimaru's research results are most likely still in Konoha."
Kumogakure.
The Fourth Raikage looked down on Danzo completely.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi is a coward, but he still has some ability."
"Danzo is nothing more than a clay chicken and pottery dog, not worth fearing at all. With Konoha in his hands, even if we do nothing, Konoha will gradually crumble. On the contrary, if Tsunade becomes Hokage, that is when Konoha becomes worth worrying about."
"Once the Senju clan completes its reconstruction, it will inevitably form an extremely powerful force."
"Tsunade's position in Konoha will become unshakable."
"Unlike now. In truth, many people are unconvinced by Danzo."
"But for us, this is actually a good thing."
"We can completely provide help to Tsunade and Jiraiya first, allowing their forces to grow stronger. Danzo will feel threatened, and then we can take the chance to demand Konoha's treasures from Danzo."
As for Kirigakure, they were still using the majority of their strength on mining the silver ore.
Ten days later.
Uchiha Obito's figure appeared before Sasori of the Red Sand.
"Sasori, is it still not done?"
Uchiha Obito was already growing somewhat impatient.
"My lord, soon. Very soon."
Sasori of the Red Sand did his utmost to stall while passing messages to Rasa.
Another three days passed.
Rasa sent a message.
"It is ready!"
Sasori of the Red Sand immediately handed the intelligence he had collected on Sunagakure to Uchiha Obito, mixing truth and lies together while pretending as though he had worked extremely hard.
"Well done."
Uchiha Obito accepted the intelligence.
But just as Uchiha Obito was about to head for the Land of Wind—
Suddenly—
A rumor regarding the Uzumaki clan rapidly spread through the shinobi world.
"Have you heard? Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzo's evil deeds are not limited to just those things. Back then, the destruction of the Uzumaki clan was also connected to the two of them."
"The two of them sold out the Uzumaki clan."