Uchiha's personal opinion

"Are we just going to let it go like this?" Danzo gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot with rage.

"Do not……"

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, continued to slowly puff on his pipe, deep in thought.

"The Uchiha are, after all, the largest clan. They are powerful and deeply entrenched, so we must proceed slowly and steadily, and not be too hasty... otherwise it will backfire..."

A puff of smoke escaped as the Third Hokage continued, "Fortunately, their clan has never been united, with numerous factions and radicals clashing fiercely. The best approach is to try to maintain internal balance. If we go with the flow and allow their internal conflicts to escalate, perhaps their clan will engage in another Naraku-Yomi War..."

During the Second Hokage's reign, he imprisoned the Uchiha clan within the police department and then stirred up internal conflicts, triggering a large-scale civil war within the Uchiha clan known as the "Battle of the Underworld," which greatly weakened the Uchiha clan's strength. Finally, he gained the opportunity to intervene in the Uchiha clan by taking Uchiha Kagami as his disciple.

Even though the Uchiha clan suffered a great loss of power after the civil war, it was still the number one powerful ninja clan in the ninja world, far surpassing any ninja clan other than the Senju.

"I intend to summon Uchiha Tokumitsu," the Third Hokage suddenly blurted out.

Danzo glanced at him but said nothing.

So what if they summon me? What's there to say?

"Judging from his actions, he may have the potential to become Hokage..."

The Third Hokage, with his pipe in his mouth, picked up Uchiha Tokumitsu's file again and began to read it.

"Hiruzen! Do you even know what nonsense you're spouting?!" Danzo exclaimed in shock and fury upon hearing this.

"I also plan to take him as my apprentice, just like a teacher looking in a mirror..."

“Kagami is different! He’s different from the other Uchiha! And this brat named Tokumitsu is the successor of the immortal Setsuna! He’s the most dangerous radical!”

Danzo was furious. How could the title of "potential Hokage" be given to the Uchiha?! How could the honor of being the Hokage's disciple be given to the Uchiha?! He was about to explode with rage!

"My three disciples, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya, are all Konoha elites..." The Third Hokage, with a pipe in his mouth and eyes blazing, said, "I refuse to believe I can't subdue a mere Uchiha junior!"

"Besides, even if it's just a casual move, it would be good to sow discord between this boy and the radical Uchiha faction."

The Third Hokage was also calculating his options: "A title of Hokage's disciple, plus the assessment of being a potential Hokage, in exchange for an opportunity to interfere with the Uchiha clan—it's a good deal!"

"Humph!"

Seeing that the Third Hokage brought up the actions of his teacher, Tobirama Senju, Danzo couldn't say anything and simply stood up.

Just as he was about to leave, with his hand on the doorknob, Danzo turned back to the Third Hokage and said, "Hiruzen... those who are good at swimming will drown, and those who play with fire will burn themselves... you'd better take care of yourself!"

"Danzo, as the Hokage, I have my own plans!"

……

After Danzo left, the Hokage immediately dispatched the Anbu to the Uchiha clan's territory to summon Uchiha Tokumitsu.

The Uchiha Tokumitsu father and son had already returned home. The Uchiha clan head, who was on leave today, learned of the incident at the police department. Although he felt that treating the village advisor elder's subordinates so harshly was somewhat inappropriate, he couldn't find any fault with the procedure, so he ignored it. When Elder Setsuna heard the report, he smiled broadly and said to his attendants, "There is a successor."

The methods employed by Uchiha Tokumitsu and his son today have earned praise from the radical faction of the Uchiha clan, while the conservative faction feels deeply uneasy about them.

Therefore, when the Hokage's Anbu arrived at the Uchiha clan's territory and stated their purpose, all the Uchiha clan's attention immediately focused on Uchiha Tokumitsu.

Therefore, when Uchiha Himon arrived at Uchiha Tokumitsu's house with the ANBU's message from the Hokage, the Uchiha members who had already finished get off work all stood up, showing great interest in the subsequent developments of the matter.

"Summoned by the Hokage?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu frowned and asked a question, while Uchiha Nakagen and his wife remained silent, letting Uchiha Tokumitsu speak as he pleased.

"Yes, Tokumitsu-kun, do not keep the Hokage waiting. Let's set off immediately."

The secret service was urged to hurry.

"Going to the Hokage Building?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu continued to ask, after all, in the fan fiction he had read in his previous life, there were plenty of scenes where Danzo forged the Hokage's order to harm the protagonist.

"Yes, come with me quickly."

The ANBU member was also suppressing his anger. As the ANBU member directly under the Hokage, he held a high position in the village and had never been so negligent when summoned by the Hokage.

"Oh."

Uchiha Tokumitsu responded, then said to Uchiha Himon, "Captain Himon, please help gather the guards who were assigned to the post today."

Uchiha Himon was taken aback upon hearing this, then a smile appeared on his face.

"Alright, Young Master Deguang, please wait a moment." Then he vanished in an instant.

Uchiha Nakagen still had a stern face, but his posture was visibly relaxed a little, while Uchiha Emiko covered her mouth and chuckled.

The secret agents were seething with anger, with nowhere to vent it.

I had heard of the Uchiha clan's arrogance, but I never knew they were this overbearing.

Not long after, Uchiha Himon returned with six ninjas from two squads, Uchiha Nobuhiko and Uchiha Kensuke.

"Uncle Nobuhiko, Uncle Kensuke, thank you for troubling me so late at night."

Uchiha Tokumitsu politely greeted the two Jonin and their subordinates.

"You're too kind, young master. It's just my duty."

"Then let's go to the Hokage Building," Uchiha Tokumitsu said to the Anbu.

"it is good……"

Uchiha Tokumitsu's decision to gather the guards before heading to the Hokage Building was like a signal, making the radical Uchiha rejoice while the conservatives frowned even more.

……

Upon arriving at the Hokage Building, he ordered the Anbu to have Uchiha Tokumitsu and his group wait while he went inside to report. After a while, he summoned Uchiha Tokumitsu for a meeting.

Perhaps it was because the Anbu recounted their experiences in the Uchiha clan's territory that the Hokage learned of Uchiha Tokumitsu's attitude, making the entire meeting and conversation relatively uneventful, and on the surface, both host and guest appeared to be on good terms.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, highly praised Uchiha Tokumitsu for his outstanding achievements in diligent training, expressing his great admiration for his strength at such a young age, and hoping that he would make more contributions to the village in the future and work together to build the Will of Fire.

Uchiha Tokumitsu humbly stated that he was just an ignorant Uchiha disciple, and that everything was thanks to the good upbringing of the clan. He was just an ordinary junior who had no other support but to work hard, and that he would need to grow up as soon as possible under the care of the clan.

The Hokage once again acknowledged Uchiha Tokumitsu's achievements, believing that he showed the potential to become Hokage at such a young age and that his future was immeasurable. He wondered if Tokumitsu had any intention of becoming a disciple of the Hokage and competing for the title of the next Hokage.

Uchiha Tokumitsu said that the family's kindness was as heavy as a mountain, and he could not repay it even if he died a hundred times. He also said that the matter of becoming the Hokage's disciple was of great importance and he had to report to the family elders before he could act on his own. As for the Hokage's status, he said that it was a complete exaggeration and he did not dare to accept it.

After a round of official pleasantries and platitudes, the two foxes, one old and one young, understood each other's intentions, and the highly constructive meeting concluded in a friendly and harmonious atmosphere.

"...This child should not be underestimated."

After Uchiha Tokumitsu left, the Third Hokage continued to smoke his pipe, his eyes filled with a melancholy.

"Unfortunately, he's an Uchiha..."

Chapter 22 The Smoke of War Intensifies

The incident involving the police department's forced detention of Root personnel was kept under wraps by the tacit understanding between the Hokage's faction and the Uchiha clan. However, the ninja clans and high-ranking ninjas were generally aware of the cause and outcome of the entire incident, since everyone has their own sources of information.

Similarly, as the perpetrator of the 'Police Department's forced abduction of Root' incident, Uchiha Tokumitsu's name began to circulate among the upper echelons of Konoha. Young, exceptionally strong, aloof and arrogant—this was almost the standard template for a Uchiha genius. In the eyes of the veteran ninja clans, the emergence of such a young prodigy was perfectly normal, given that the Warring States period, with its thousand-year-long warfare, had already proven the Uchiha clan's talent. Therefore, when another such figure emerged from the contemporary Uchiha clan, while commoner ninjas or younger members of the clan might be surprised by his immense strength at such a young age, the elder ninjas were quite unsurprised.

Although they were often slandered as a "cursed clan," the Uchiha were the best role models for ninjas who pursued power and free will.

Although the Uchiha Police Department's forced detention of Root members displeased the Hokage's faction and those closely associated with him, for a ninja clan committed to maintaining its clan characteristics and independence, it was a good thing that the powerful Uchiha clan had stepped forward to slap Danzo and the Third Hokage behind him in the face.

Danzo did many things for the sake of his Root organization, such as plundering the offspring of fallen ninja clans or ninja orphans and turning them into tools. This made the ninja clans very wary. However, even when they took the case to the Hokage, he would always try to smooth things over with a biased statement like "Wherever you are, you are contributing to Konoha." Over the years, the ninja clans harbored a lot of resentment.

The Uchiha clan demonstrated their strength, and the Hokage sensed their resolve. As a result, both sides backed down. The Root members were detained for three days before being taken away by the Anbu with the Hokage's warrant. The police department did not make things difficult for them.

The biggest beneficiary, Uchiha Tokumitsu, won over the hearts of the radical Uchiha faction, and his reputation began to spread among the upper echelons of Konoha.

The downside is that the name Uchiha Tokumitsu has also appeared on the black market gold exchange's bounty list, with a reward of 700 million taels.

The incident didn't stay in the spotlight for long, firstly because its reach was relatively limited to the upper echelons of the village, and secondly because the conflict with Amegakure intensified.

After receiving two hundred ninja troops from the Land of Wind, Jonin Mimura Yomaki, stationed on the border of the Land of Rain, launched a preemptive strike against the Rain Ninja who had been frequently probing the area. He annihilated the Rain Ninja's forward reconnaissance force, simultaneously provoking resistance within the Land of Rain. The Rain Ninja's border troops attempted retaliation but were ambushed and routed. Led by Mimura Yomaki, the Konoha ninja army advanced rapidly, capturing three border towns of the Land of Rain and plundering their stockpiled supplies. This prompted Hanzo of the Salamander, a pillar of the Land of Rain, to take action.

According to Root intelligence, Hanzo is working hard to gather supplies and plans to mobilize half of the ninjas in Amegakure to form a ninja army of about 1,500 people, which will be personally led by Hanzo to counterattack Konoha.

With only six hundred ninja troops stationed in the Land of Rain, Konoha is no match for the Land of Rain's counterattack.

Therefore, mobilizing the village's ninja army is urgently needed.

In the Hokage's office, the Konoha F4 followed the Konoha tradition of "holding large meetings for small matters and small meetings for big matters," discussing military and political affairs behind closed doors.

"What's happening with the ninja army?"

As always, the third generation leader was smoking a pipe, looking at documents and asking questions of the advisor, Koharu Utatane.

"A thousand elite ninja soldiers have been organized, but only twelve hundred civilian ninja soldiers have been recruited..."

Why?

“The ninja clan members are mostly stationed forces of their respective clans, so they are relatively concentrated and disciplined; while the civilian ninjas are mostly on missions outside, and some of the people on the mobilization list cannot be contacted temporarily, while others have not yet returned…”

"How is the procurement of supplies going?"

The third generation then asked Mitokado Homura a question.

"Ninja tools, military rations, and other equipment and supplies are all ready, but the number of explosive tags we purchased is insufficient, so we need to allocate them from the village's war reserve. However, this will reduce the village's war reserve..."

Why?

"The prices of all kinds of goods have been rising too fast lately..." Mitokado Yan sighed.

The four Naruto characters all sighed.

"The only item that hasn't seen a significant price increase is the Uchiha's explosive tags, but the supply has decreased dramatically," Mitokado Homura continued.

Explosive tags are a product of the combination of fire release and sealing techniques. Among the Konoha ninja clans, the Uchiha and Sarutobi are the most proficient in fire release. The Uchiha clan is famous in the ninja world for its large quantity and high quality of explosive tags.

"How about... Danzo, you go to the capital and talk to the daimyo about military expenses?"

The Third Hokage came up with a terrible idea: he planned to have Danzo pressure the Daimyo to pay more for the military.

Danzo nodded silently in agreement.

Since being humiliated by the Uchiha, Danzo has become even more taciturn.

"When can the ninja army, mainly supporting Jonin Mimura, set off?" the Third Hokage continued to ask.

"Based on the current personnel and supply situation, the ninja force can depart at any time, but the civilian ninja force will need about a week..."

"Let Orochimaru and the other two lead the ninja forces out first; the military situation is urgent and time is of the essence," the Third Hokage decided.

"Danzo, you should also go to the capital to meet the daimyo as soon as possible. After that, return quickly. You will lead the remaining civilian ninja army to the Land of Rain."

The Third Hokage continued to appoint generals and gave his old friend a reward of commanding the ninja army.