Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

now,

Zhi Shui felt a surge of anger boiling within him.

If that sneaky bastard dares to show up in front of him, he will definitely kill him with all his might!

Seeing the change in Shisui's expression, Sogen nodded with satisfaction. The reason he revealed this information to Shisui and used Samehada to help restore his eye power was to guard against that bastard Obito Uchiha. The unusual activity in Kirigakure proved that his attention had once again fallen on Konoha, and the Uchiha were most likely to be targeted as well.

It is only right to make some preparations in advance.

Fortunately,

Obito Uchiha's 'Kamui' is indeed powerful.

But it is by no means truly invincible.

With Shisui's abilities, as long as he learns some details about Kamui beforehand, even if he can't kill Obito Uchiha, it shouldn't be difficult for him to save his own life. Given time, Shisui's speed with Body Flicker Technique might not be inferior to that of the Yellow Flash!

"Just keep this in mind and don't leak it out. An enemy who has mastered the art of space and time cannot be dealt with by numbers alone. Rather than involving others, we should find a way to deal with them ourselves."

"Shouldn't we tell the village about this?"

"I have no evidence, nor any way to prove that the unknown Uchiha has nothing to do with the clan. If I rashly reveal this, it will not help except to give the Third Hokage and the others an excuse to attack us. Also, this is the clan head's order, so shut up."

Shisui shut his mouth.

Lifting the limp Mist Ninja, he followed Sogen away from the police department and headed towards the Hokage Building. To be honest, he, the director of the Department of Justice, felt like he was almost becoming Sogen's secretary and follower. Oh, right, before they set off, Sogen kicked and broke all four of the Mist Ninja's limbs, justifying it as revenge for scaring Fujika.

Hokage Building

It's the same meeting room as last time.

More than half a month has passed since the last meeting, and the Konoha Village construction team has already renovated the Hokage Building. Walking along the circular corridor, you can't tell that it was destroyed more than half a month ago. With staff members who have been waiting for a long time leading the way, we arrived at the door of the conference room without any obstacles.

This time,

Zhi Shui was not invited to stay in the small room next to the conference room.

He carried the Mist Ninja envoy and followed Sogen into the large conference room.

Unlike last time when he didn't even have a chance to sit down and speak, this time the seats belonging to the Uchiha clan head and the police chief were properly vacated, and the positions were quite close to the front, right opposite Hyuga Hiashi, second only to the Hokage and the two elders.

As for Shimura Danzo, who served as Hokage's assistant, he's still lying in the hospital!

Moreover, I've heard that the situation is deteriorating rapidly. Experts at Konoha Hospital have been studying the case for over half a month but still don't know how to treat it. It seems that the person will probably die soon.

This made many people look at Zong Xian with unusual expressions—a mixture of awe, disgust, gratitude, and fear…

"Minister Uchiha."

The third generation leader greeted the audience.

"Lord Hokage, I apologize for being late."

Zongxian sat down in his seat and offered a perfunctory apology.

"It's alright."

The third generation responded with a similarly indifferent reply.

Once Zongxian was seated, he spoke again: "Now that everyone is here, let's get straight to the point! The main reason I've gathered you all for this meeting is to discuss how to deal with the provocations from the Mist Ninja. As for the specific details... Yan, I'd like you to explain."

All eyes were on Mitokado Homura.

"About half an hour ago, the deputy envoy from Kirigakure arrived at the Hokage Building and delivered a declaration of war. Because the police department arrested the chief envoy of Kirigakure, the other envoys from Kirigakure believed that this was an insult to Kirigakure by the village. They declared that if the village did not give them a satisfactory explanation, the army of Kirigakure would once again storm the east coast of the Land of Fire."

As he spoke,

He reached out and gently pushed the scroll in front of him forward.

That was clearly the declaration of war left behind by the deputy envoy of the Mist Ninja.

“These barking bastards dare to rant in Konoha. Hokage, you should have broken their legs and thrown them out of the village the moment they said those words, so they would know that Konoha is not a place that a bunch of ignorant fools sitting on an island can challenge.”

While the ministers and clan leaders remained silent, Zongxian was the first to speak and respond.

Upon hearing this,

Everyone immediately turned to look.

Good guy!

They really have no sense of responsibility to cause trouble at all.

Wasn't the chief envoy of the Mist Ninja arrested by the police department? Right now, he's being held by Shisui like a dead dog. His unnaturally twisted limbs clearly show what happened. What happened in the village can't be kept secret. The well-informed clan leaders did their homework before coming to the meeting.

"Minister Uchiha, please don't treat war like a game. Do you know how many people will sacrifice themselves once we go to war with Kirigakure?"

Xiaochun, who was switching dorm rooms, looked over with displeasure.

"If you're afraid of dying, then just tuck your tail between your legs and cower like a turtle." Zongxian sneered, not giving the dark-faced Koharu Utatane a chance to retort, and continued loudly, "During the Third Shinobi World War, we were able to kick the Mist Ninja back into the sea and eat their fish and shrimp. What's wrong with doing it again now? The Mist Ninja are nothing special. When did they become something that Konoha takes so seriously?"

"Furthermore, everyone, before we rush into discussion, before we discuss who should be blamed for starting the war, I discovered something very interesting when I was interrogating that Mist Ninja. Clan Chief Yamanaka, could you please help me read that guy's memories?"

Zongxian set his sights on Yamanaka Inoichi, who was sitting not far away diagonally opposite him.

Yamanaka Inoichi, who was sitting there watching the show, suddenly felt a chill run down his spine. Had he run into something unclean when he went out today? With so many people at the meeting, why did trouble have to find him? When he noticed Zongxian's gaze, he felt a chill run down his spine and quickly lowered his eyes, not daring to meet Zongxian's eyes.

We must learn from the example of that old man Danzo!

Although the Yamanaka clan and the Uchiha clan had no prior grudges, his instincts still made him avoid Sogen's gaze.

[Chapter 56. Samehada Worth Ten Million Ryo? (Seeking votes! Seeking investment!)]

Yamanaka Ino's buttocks seemed glued to the chair, and he dared not move an inch.

Without the Hokage's words or the old man's statement, he wouldn't dare to move an inch. Even if it meant incurring Uchiha Mugen's wrath, he wouldn't dare to act. He didn't need to think about how to choose between his clan and himself. It didn't matter if he, the clan head, died, but he couldn't let people misunderstand that the Yamanaka clan had also joined forces with the Uchiha like Kurama.

to be frank,

During this period, the Kurama clan has been excluded from the social circles of many families.

The Uchiha clan... they were truly unpopular! Even though these clans knew exactly what the village was saying about the Uchiha, they genuinely disliked dealing with those nostril-nosed people. This dislike had already taken shape when Madara Uchiha lost the Hokage election to Hashirama Senju.

Over the decades,

It's almost become a habit!

Changing this habit is not something that can be done easily!

Even though Danzo's near death made many clan leaders look at Sogen a little more favorably, this only applied to Sogen. As for the Uchiha clan, they still maintained a respectful but distant attitude, neither provoking him nor getting close to him.

"Chief of the Mountain Clan? Are you feeling unwell today?"

Zongxian pressed for answers.

"No, that..." Yamanaka Inoichi was not good at arguing and stammered, not knowing how to get out of it. Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Just as Nara Shikaku clenched his fist, ready to help his friend out of the predicament—

"Minister Uchiha, don't waste your time on such trivial matters."

Elder Mitomon En interrupted Sōgen's questioning.

He didn't know what Uchiha Muneaki was planning, but he knew he couldn't be led by the nose by Uchiha Muneaki right now. That damned Kirigakure might have some information that was detrimental to them. "The current discussion is about how to deal with the Kirigakure's provocation. The village is currently recuperating; starting a war with the Kirigakure at this time is unwise. Avoiding war as much as possible is..."

"Ah!"

A scornful sneer echoed in the conference room.

"Avoid war? Elder Mitomon, please don't speak so presumptuously. You are an old man who has lived through the war years. How can you keep spouting such delusional nonsense? War cannot be stopped by one side's unilateral desire to avoid it. Stop rambling on and on. According to what you said before, what price must Konoha pay to satisfy Kirigakure?"

Mitokado Yan looked very unwell.

Having his speech interrupted by Zongxian and then being rebuked, one can imagine how annoyed he was.

Just as the elderly Mitokado Homura had gathered his thoughts and was preparing to refute Sogen, Sogen continued:

"What? The Mist Ninja didn't offer any conditions? It seems that this deputy envoy of the Mist Ninja is quite talented! He knows that not offering a price is the real astronomical price... So, Hokage, Elders, how do you plan to appease the Mist Ninja? The Mist Ninja's appetite is probably not something that can be satisfied with just some garbage."

Zongxian's attitude can be described as aggressive.

From the very beginning of the meeting, he kept arguing with the two elders.

"Minister Uchiha, it is precisely because this matter is of great importance that we have convened this meeting to brainstorm and discuss what to do." Mitokado Homura tried his best to suppress his displeasure and attempted to bring the meeting back to normal.

"Brainstorming?"

Zongxian stood firm, confronting Mitokado Homura head-on, "Is there anything else worth considering?"

"Either fight the Mist Ninja and make them realize that Konoha is not a place they can mess with, or... bow down and admit defeat, obediently kowtowing to the Mist Ninja and admitting their mistakes. In the end, aren't there just these two choices? Is there some third answer that I haven't thought of?"

Zongxian's vicious words instantly turned Mitomon Homura's face ashen.

You bastard!

What does it mean to kowtow and admit one's mistakes?

This is for the greater good!

It was a huge mistake to let a brat with no sense of the big picture become the head of the clan. We shouldn't have backed down and acquiesced to the changes in the Uchiha clan because of Danzo. Even if it came at a price, we should have corrected that mistake back then!

"Nothing is unbearable if it's for the sake of the village." The Third Hokage tapped the table lightly with his pipe to stop Mitokado Homura's anger. "If sacrificing myself as Hokage can bring prosperity to Konoha, then I would be willing to die here now."

Zongxian sneered upon hearing this.

Putting everything else aside, his sweet talk is truly impressive and effective at bewitching fools like Shisui.

“The Mist Ninja’s intentions this time are not good, and they are indeed not so easy to get rid of,” the Third Hokage said slowly. “However… Uchiha, it is best to avoid war as much as possible. In the past, the First Hokage established Konoha to end the endless Warring States period.”

"The police department's arrest of the Mist Ninja envoy was too impulsive. I know the Mist Ninja are inherently malicious and most likely deliberately provoking us, but the more so, the less we should have fallen into their trap!" The Third Hokage sighed softly, as if he were deeply troubled by the matter.

He reached out and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "There's no point in saying all this now. We can only try to defuse the possibility of war as much as possible. Of course, we can't agree to any unreasonable demands. But the Samehada sword originally belonged to Kirigakure and can be returned to the Kirigakure ninja. As for other conditions... we can talk about them slowly and try to buy some time."

As he spoke,

He looked up at Zongxian and asked, "Minister Uchiha, I know Samehada is your spoils of war. To compensate for your loss, the village can provide ten million ryo as compensation. If you feel that's not enough, you are welcome to make other requests!"

Ten million taels?

This is like trying to fob off a beggar!

The importance of Samehada to his future is self-evident; it is his most precious treasure right now.

Even if we take a step back and disregard Samehada's importance to Sogen, Samehada itself is definitely worth more than 50 million. Samehada is a rare treasure in the ninja world that can help people make up for insufficient chakra. If it were in the eyes of someone who knows its value, they would probably go bankrupt to buy it.

"Clan Chief Kurama, please use genjutsu to lure that Kirigakure envoy and interrogate him about what Kirigakure is planning to do!" Sogen ignored the disgusting old man, the Third Hokage, and turned to speak to Kurama Murakumo, who was several seats away.

"boom!"