Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"An accident... So the experiment still hasn't made any progress?"

Zongxian raised an eyebrow.

"What a boring question. The experiment is improving every day. This time, the subject lasted for two hours and seventeen minutes before the change occurred, and he went berserk and out of control... Never mind, you wouldn't understand even if I told you all this. Just know that the experiment is going very smoothly."

Scorpion gave Zongxian a look of utter disdain.

"You bastard, do you even know you're now my prisoner...?"

“But you can’t find anyone else to lead this experiment besides me, can you?” Seeing Zongxian remain silent, Sasori continued, “Instead of coming here every day to say this nonsense, send me the new materials as soon as possible. This batch of materials is almost used up.”

"Weren't twenty bodies just delivered a week ago?"

Zongxian glared at him.

"So, we're almost out. We only have the Three-Body Problem left. If we don't replenish it quickly, the progress of the experiment will be forced to slow down," Scorpion said calmly.

"Alright! The materials will be delivered tonight, or at the latest tomorrow."

Zongxian shook his head helplessly.

Fortunately, there are still quite a few death row inmates in Konoha Prison. However, just to be on the safe side, we should still organize a team to collect experimental materials. After all, the death row inmates in Konoha Prison are not inexhaustible, while Sasori consumes materials at a very fast rate.

"And that, when can I borrow the amber vase to study it?"

Sasori hasn't forgotten the promise he made to Sogen.

He had been eyeing the ninja tools in Zongxian's hands for a long time. As a puppeteer, puppets were also ninja tools in a strict sense, only more unique in appearance. Therefore, he had a great interest in ninja tools with wonderful abilities, such as the Amber Purification Bottle.

To be honest, the technology of human puppets has reached a bottleneck that is very difficult to break through.

If he wanted to become stronger, it would probably be impossible to make any progress in puppet technology within a few years. Just then, he saw the various ninja tools with wonderful abilities in Uchiha Munegen's hands. His mind was instantly expanded. If he could learn the skill of making these ninja tools, his puppets would definitely become stronger!

"As I said before, when you can produce research results of sufficient value, I won't hesitate to lend you the amber vase or even the flame fan for a while. But the question is, what research results do you have that I can see right now? If not, you'd better hurry up and work on them."

He didn't mind Scorpion being a little outrageous with his words.

Researchers, after all!

It's not surprising that he has some quirks. In order to fully encourage Scorpion's initiative and give full play to his genius thinking, he has a high tolerance for Scorpion's offensive words and deeds.

However, if someone really thinks he's easy to fool, Zongxian will consider changing his management style; high-pressure rule is also an option!

"Humph!"

Scorpion stopped talking and continued to concentrate on his work.

Zongxian was happy to have some free time. As the head of the Uchiha clan, the head of the police department, and the Hokage's assistant, he still had many things to do. His daily inspection of the laboratory was just a newly formed habit. He did this partly to keep track of the latest progress of the experiments, and partly to keep an eye on Sasori and warn him not to mess around.

He knew very well in his heart

Scorpion has definitely never given up on the idea of ​​escaping.

He seems very honest now, immersed in his research, but if given a real chance to escape, Zongxian doesn't believe that Sasori would choose to stay.

"Akitaro, how have you been lately?"

Zongxian then spoke to Uchiha Akitarou, who was Sasori's assistant.

Sasori was undoubtedly the lead researcher on the experimental study on the safe transplantation of white Zetsu cells. However, Sogen could not simply hand over the entire research work to Sasori with peace of mind. He arranged for several trusted subordinates, such as Uchiha Akitarou and Uchiha Jun, to take turns serving as Sasori's assistants. Of course, it would be more accurate to describe them as monitors rather than assistants.

"It seems there's nothing wrong."

Uchiha Akitarou rubbed his temples. "I don't understand anything about the research. I just keep an eye on his every move and record any unusual behavior. So far, though, he seems pretty honest."

"Then don't let your guard down."

"Don't forget what I told you before, the Third Kazekage died at the hands of that shorty."

"I know that, but... to be honest, I really don't understand these research studies!"

"...In short, do your best! Of course, if you encounter an unavoidable situation, remember that preserving yourself is the top priority."

Zongxian gave a few more instructions before leaving the laboratory and heading to the police department. Recently, the village had been busy with intelligence about the evil god cult. First, the secret service was dispatched to investigate the land of hot springs based on the information in Ogasawara Uemon's mind.

Unfortunately, they didn't catch the evil god cult. They only cleared out a bunch of small fry, and didn't catch any big shots. Although this was an expected result, since the high-ranking members of the evil god cult, unless they were stupid, would definitely change their appearance and go into hiding again after Ogasawara Uemon stole the organization's secrets and escaped.

But the more this is the case,

The village became increasingly wary of this cult, and tracking and investigating it became a long-term mission for the secret service. The police department also shared this mission.

Zongxian was also quite interested in this "evil god." He wanted to know what kind of being this evil god was, and how it compared to Kaguya Otsutsuki, who was known as the "Goddess of the Rabbit." Speaking of which, there were quite a few similar mysterious beings in the ninja world.

For example, the Grim Reaper summoned by the Corpse Demon Sealing Technique.

There's also Enma, summoned by Nagato in the future.

And the otherworldly demons sealed away by the priestess of the Land of Demons, the Wraiths.

Unfortunately, his energy was limited, and he simply couldn't spare the extra energy to investigate these secrets for the time being.

When he returned to the police department, before he could even sit down, an ANBU member appeared before him, bringing him intelligence from Kirigakure: the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi, had finally breathed his last four days earlier.

"Has the Fourth Mizukage finally died?"

Zongxian was not surprised by this information.

Since Konoha and Kirigakure formed an alliance, information channels between the two sides have been opened up. The village has always been paying attention to information about Kirigakure, and they are especially concerned about major events such as the Fourth Mizukage's critical illness.

[267. Chapter 265 Strange Movements from Daming Prefecture]

The Fourth Mizukage is dead!

This was certainly no small matter. When Yagura was critically ill, the higher-ups in Konoha were concerned about the situation in Kirigakure. They worried that if Yagura died, Kirigakure would experience another wave of turmoil, which would then affect the alliance that Konoha and Kirigakure had worked so hard to reach, and even destroy the peace that had not yet been able to last long.

After all, Kirigakure was notorious for its chaos, and among the five great villages' kage, the Mizukage was definitely the one who had been assassinated the most times!

Therefore,

After receiving the news of Yagura's passing.

The Fifth Hokage immediately dispatched the Anbu to meet with Sogen. Firstly, as the Hokage's assistant and head of the police department, Sogen was an undisputed bigwig in the village, and such a major matter couldn't be left unresolved; he had to at least give his approval. Secondly, he was the one who facilitated the alliance between Konoha and Kirigakure, and he had even personally visited Kirigakure. Undoubtedly, among so many people in Konoha, he was an expert on the Water Country incident.

"There's nothing to worry about. Kirigakure won't descend into chaos. As long as that old man, Genji, is still alive, even if Kirigakure is in chaos, it will be orderly within the chaos. Moreover, the previous chaos in Kirigakure was also due to that masked man who called himself Uchiha Madara. Without that troublemaker, there's no need to worry about Kirigakure losing its stability."

Zongxian's resolute statement caused a brief silence to fall over the office.

After about ten seconds,

Akimichi Torifu spoke again, "Since Sogen-kun has said so, there shouldn't be any problems. However, we are allies with Kirigakure now. The Fourth Mizukage has passed away. Should we send someone to Kirigakure to pay our respects or do something else?"

This is the first time I've encountered something like this; there's no precedent to follow.

There is no such example.

The one speaking was Hinata Masayuki, an advisor elder.

After the two advisor elders, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, were stripped of their titles, the positions of advisor elders remained vacant for some time.

As the New Year approached, the elders finally managed to reach an agreement and selected two new advisor elders. One of them was Hyuga Masayuki, the head elder of the Hyuga clan, who had almost fallen into an abyss because of his scheming against Hyuga Hiashi.

However, this old fellow is also a clever man.

When the other elders joined forces to offer him as a sacrifice to Hyuga Hiashi, Hyuga Masayuki promptly knelt before the clan leader and became a capable assistant in the clan leader's faction. Then... he was lucky enough to go to the Land of Water with Sogen and then went to the front lines of the Land of Hot Springs to fight the enemy, which can be considered as making contributions. In addition, he was originally a member of the Konoha Elder Council.

then,

With the strong support of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Masayuki was eventually elected as an advisor elder, joining the village's highest decision-making body.

"Moreover, the intelligence we received came from the Anbu, not from the Kirigakure authorities. To be honest, the Kirigakure ninja might not want outsiders interfering at this time. Of course, if the Kirigakure ninja provides an official notification later, we can deal with it then; there's no need to make a big fuss about it."

Hyuga Masayuki's attitude was clear: leave it alone, let the Kirigakure ninja do whatever they want!

Even though he has withdrawn the Byakugan from the main family, don't expect him to be more friendly towards the Mist Ninja. Don't tell him that he should be prepared to be killed on the battlefield. He just doesn't like the Mist Ninja. Even though the Mist Ninja are now allies instead of enemies, at most he will stop speaking ill of them to their faces.

"This is a good way to handle it. I think Elder Zhengxing's opinion is fine."

Zongxian expressed his support.

He's too lazy to bother with the affairs of Kirigakure now; he's busy enough with his own little plot of land. Let the Kirigakure ninja do whatever they want; after all, Kirigakure is no longer Obito Uchiha's playground.

As long as the Mist Ninja are no longer controlled by Obito Uchiha, then given that old man's cunning, there's no need to worry about the Mist Ninja standing against Konoha.

"I have no objection either."

Another advisor elder, Mumu Gongdao, spoke casually, clearly not taking the matter very seriously.

This elder advisor, Mokumo, was not from a powerful clan. The Mokumo clan was just one of hundreds of small clans in Konoha. However, this elder advisor was no ordinary person. He was once a member of Tsunade's team and had teamed up with Tsunade, Kato Dan, and another Jonin to carry out missions. This resume is enough to prove his superb skills.

Besides his own excellence, the more important reason why he was able to defeat his colleagues from various families in the elders' council was that he represented the numerous small and medium-sized families in the village. Each of these small families was insignificant on its own, but when they united, even the Hokage could not ignore them.

that's it,

The Hokage's assistant and the two advisors reached a consensus on how to handle the passing of the Fourth Mizukage. After thinking for two seconds, Akimichi Torifu decided to follow Hyuga Masayuki's suggestion.

Anyway, he doesn't have any particular preference in this matter.

What will happen to the Mist Ninja?

To be honest, he didn't care much.

However, as the Hokage, he needed to consider whether the changes in the Mist Ninja would affect Konoha. But to be honest, the Mist Ninja were already exhausted and weak. At this point, the Mist Ninja didn't have much energy to cause trouble, so there was basically no need to worry that the Mist Ninja would break the alliance or deliberately provoke trouble.

"Besides the passing of the Fourth Mizukage, there's another matter. You all should remember what happened at the embassy at the end of February, right?" Akimichi Torifu brought up another matter. Sogen looked over with some confusion, unaware that there was a second matter at today's meeting.

"The special embassy? Is it that evil cult?"

Mumu Gongdao asked.

The embassy incident involved Daimyo Prefecture and this so-called evil cult that had never been heard of before. However, Daimyo Prefecture had already distanced itself from the incident. At this time, Akimichi Torifu suddenly brought up this matter, so it was unlikely that something had happened in Daimyo Prefecture.

"No, the Evil God Cult's secret forces are still investigating, but to be honest, based on their investigations these past few days, they've discovered that the Evil God Cult's activities aren't confined to the Land of Fire, but rather to smaller countries like the Land of Hot Springs, the Land of Fields, and the Land of Frost. These smaller countries are a mixed bag, so the investigation isn't progressing very smoothly."

It was Nara Shikaku who spoke.

After obtaining permission from Akimichi Torifu, he continued, "I'm not talking about the evil god cult; the problem lies with the Daimyo Prefecture."

"Daming Mansion?"

Hyuga Masayuki's eyes widened as well. "What problems could possibly arise in Daimyo Prefecture?" The old man looked puzzled and bewildered.

Kōdō also wore a "Are you kidding me?" expression, staring intently at Nara Shikaku, waiting for a reasonable explanation.

Zongxian was also taken aback. He hadn't expected that something strange would happen in the Daimyo Prefecture. He thought that the brat Hidan had been found... Unfortunately, it wasn't. But what could possibly happen in the Daimyo Prefecture? If he remembered correctly, the current Daimyo probably still had more than ten years left.

"This matter...has not yet been confirmed, but we have received information from different sources that some of the Twelve Guardian Ninja responsible for protecting the Daimyo are advocating the 'Konoha threat theory,' arguing that the existence of the Hokage is unnecessary and that Konoha should be directly commanded by the Daimyo, rather than..."