Uchiha's personal opinion

"...The Earth Spider Clan Chief has not yet responded."

Hattori Heiji, who was in charge of liaison, replied with a stiff upper lip, "However, some members of the Fuuma clan have already agreed to join the Samurai Shinobi."

"What about the other Wind Demons?"

The lord was very dissatisfied with this.

In his eyes, everyone living in the Land of Fire, whether nobles, commoners, or ninjas, should be his subjects and should naturally serve him to the death. Why should they dare to bargain with him?

Fortunately, the lingering influence of Uchiha Tokuko's siege of the Fire Temple allowed the enraged Daimyo of the Land of Fire to maintain some semblance of rationality.

"Some members of the Wind Demon Clan have accepted employment from the United Company and are not yet willing to terminate their contracts..."

Heiji Hattori said tactfully in a low voice.

To put it bluntly, some members of the Wind Demon Clan who felt they had found a new backer were no longer willing to accept the orders of the clan elders and chose to cling to their new benefactor and start a new life.

"Then let Lord Heiji prepare for his mission to Konoha!"

The daimyo's expression was also not good, but he did not lose his temper. "Deguang will be returning to the village soon. You must persuade him to send troops to the Wind Kingdom!"

"As ordered!"

Although it was a somewhat dangerous and arduous task, Hattori Heiji had no choice but to accept the order since the daimyo had given the order.

……

When Uchiha Tokumitsu returned to Konoha, he also received special intelligence from a secret channel.

The Kazekage envoy from Sunagakure has been secretly contacting the western border defense forces, requesting a secret meeting with Uchiha Tokumitsu.

"...That's a good thing, too."

After thinking for a moment, Uchiha Tokumitsu agreed to the Kazekage's visit.

The timing of the coup in the Land of Wind was perfect, and Uchiha Tokumitsu didn't mind staging a few more dramas.

But from beginning to end, his focus remained on the Land of Water and the Hidden Mist.

Especially his ancestor, whom he always longed for.

"...I will never be at peace until my age spots disappear!"

After returning to Konoha, Uchiha Tokumitsu sent someone to inform Hatake Sakumo, inviting him to discuss political matters at a teahouse in the Uchiha clan's territory.

While waiting for Hatake Sakumo, Uchiha Tokumitsu was filled with thoughts of his good, long-lived ancestor.

……

"Knock knock!"

Sakumo Hatake gently knocked on the shoji door, then naturally pushed it open and went inside.

"Sakumo-kun, it's been a long time~"

Uchiha Tokumitsu greeted him with a smile.

"It has indeed been a long time, but I'm too busy with official duties to do anything about it..."

A bright smile appeared on Sakumo Hatake's face.

"Please have some tea!"

Without further ado, Uchiha Tokumitsu invited Hatake Sakumo to take a seat.

After three cups of tea, Hatake Sakumo finally spoke, "Does Tokumitsu-kun intend to participate in the peace movement in the Land of Wind?"

"It's just that the Senate needs to strike a balance."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said, "Tsunade's proposal is a bit too radical, but the other ninja clans are also a bit too complacent."

"The damage from the war is already immense, and the village's ninjas don't have much will to fight anymore..."

Sakumo Hatake shook his head helplessly: "Besides, the Land of Wind is just too poor..."

"That's the most important reason, isn't it?"

Uchiha Tokumitsu joked, "If you lose, you don't gain anything; if you win, you don't gain anything either, so nobody's motivated."

"The same applies to the House of Representatives."

Sakumo Hatake shrugged, agreeing with Tokumitsu Uchiha's statement.

"The envoy from Sunagakure should arrive in the village tomorrow."

Uchiha Tokumitsu suddenly asked, "How about it? Want to meet them together?"

"...The Sand Village Messenger?"

Sakumo Hatake's eyelids twitched, somewhat surprised.

"It was a secret contact through the western border defense forces; I haven't told anyone about it yet."

Uchiha Tokumitsu said it casually.

"...It wouldn't hurt to meet him."

After a moment's hesitation, Hatake Sakumo nodded in agreement.

But he was thinking about something else entirely.

The Western Border Defense Force was originally a shogunate-controlled force under the command of Mimura Yomaki. After Mimura Yomaki and Kime Kōtō returned to the village to take charge of the mission center in exchange for relinquishing their military power, the Western Border Army fell under the control of Uchiha Tokumitsu.

Although Mimura Yoru brought back some of her trusted ninjas when she returned to the village, the Western Ninja Army was still her long-term directly controlled force. However, with such important intelligence, no one from the Western Border Army took the initiative to inform their former superiors...

It's hard to say whether to lament how quickly things have changed since the last person left, or to feel that Uchiha Tokumitsu's control over the ninja army was simply too profound.

"That's fine then. This matter should not be leaked for the time being."

Uchiha Tokumitsu's words disrupted Hatake Sakumo's thoughts, "Why don't we wait and see how Sunagakure reacts before making any further plans?"

"That's fine then..."

Sakumo Hatake regained his composure, nodded, and agreed.

Nowadays, Konoha no longer has a Hokage who holds absolute power like in the past. The House of Representatives and the House of Councillors have become places for various clans and Jonin to argue. Hatake Sakumo felt that it was still necessary for him to participate in the various things that Uchiha Tokumitsu was causing trouble. Otherwise, who knows what kind of trouble Uchiha Tokumitsu, who held absolute military power, might cause.

Moreover, it is clear that in the coming decades, as long as Uchiha Tokumitsu does not cause any trouble, no one else will be able to take the "temporarily vacant" Hokage position.

Tsunade won't work, Orochimaru won't work, and even Sakumo Hatake won't work.

Although the bicameral system of the Senate and the House of Representatives is cumbersome and its decision-making efficiency is relatively low, it has been widely accepted by various ninja clans and Jonin since its inception. The core reason is that no one can use the name of "righteousness" to send others to their deaths.

This alone was enough to make the ninja clan and Jonin completely give up the idea of ​​restoring the Hokage.

"Jointly govern Konoha..."

Sakumo Hatake pondered for a moment.

"Co-governance leads to co-republicanism, and co-republicanism leads to co-prosperity."

"Uchiha Tokumitsu said."

Chapter 263 Unilateral Most Favored Treatment

In Konoha's bicameral system, although the Uchiha clan head serves as the Senate President, after operating for a period of time, in order to improve decision-making efficiency, five council seats were established under the Senate President to be responsible for the daily voting on matters.

Of the five board seats, one person from each of the Uchiha and Senju clans is nominated to serve as a permanent board member, a position that is hereditary and cannot be replaced by another member. The other three non-permanent board seats are elected in rotation at the Senate General Assembly.

The ninja clans currently serving as non-permanent council members are the Hyuga, Uzumaki, and Akimichi clans, representing the three major powers of Konoha.

The reason why the Senju clan was included in the permanent council was that the Uchiha clan wanted to balance the interests of the various clans.

Under the guidance of Uchiha Tokumitsu, the Uchiha clan gradually understood the importance of "balance" and "sustainability" and stopped pursuing dominance.

By elevating the now-weak Senju clan to a high position, the various ninja clans of Konoha have realized the difference between the current Uchiha clan's rule and that of the Hokage during Konoha's reign—the Uchiha clan has the magnanimity to accommodate their former rivals.

Although prestige is an invisible and difficult-to-quantify form of influence, unlike the strength of a clan's ninja army, the Uchiha clan's decision to elevate the Senju to a high position resulted in greater obedience and trust in the government's decrees among the various clans. Moreover, the intangible benefits gained from this were enormous.

The Uchiha clan members finally understood what Uchiha Tokumitsu meant when he said, "Ninjas are not just about fighting and killing; ninjas also need to be considerate of human relationships."

However, a public status does not equate to actual power.

Although the Senju clan obtained a permanent council seat through the Uchiha clan's initiative, its actual influence is far less than its nominal status because its members are mostly small branches of various clans that have submitted to it. Moreover, the Senju clan is originally from a branch of the Senju clan, and after many years of mixed blood, although its physical abilities are still much stronger than those of ordinary civilian ninjas, it is hard to find any truly strong individuals.

Even Tsunade, the head of the clan, only oversees Konoha's medical system.

In other words, the Senju clan's seats still lack sufficient power.

Therefore, Hatake Sakumo did not feel that there was anything wrong with him and Uchiha Tokumitsu jointly receiving the secret envoys from Sunagakure.

After all, in the eyes of the various ninja clans of Konoha, Councilor Uchiha Shimo was merely a "puppet" put forward by Uchiha Tokumitsu to wield power on their behalf; the real decision-maker was still Uchiha Tokumitsu.

To avoid attracting attention, Uchiha Tokumitsu arranged to meet the Sunagakure messenger at the Uchiha Shrine in the Naka River, and under the guise of ancestor worship, he deployed the Red Guards to enforce martial law.

……

In the secret chamber of the Uchiha Shrine in Nakagawa, Uchiha Tokumitsu saw for the first time the stone tablet left behind by the legendary Sage of Six Paths.

Although much of the content involves the history of the Uchiha clan and the origins and control techniques of the tailed beasts, the most crucial ending, like the memories of the previous life, is full of deception and conspiracy.

"The power of the Netherworld..."

Uchiha Tokumitsu snorted coldly.

Although he also yearned for Yin-Yang Release, Uchiha Tokumitsu would not jump into the stone tablet knowing that its contents were full of traps.

He preferred to slowly assign various research topics, allowing Orochimaru and the Uzumaki Research Institute to figure out how to weaken the side effects of Hashirama cells, and then transplant them when the time was right; even if the experiment weakened the effectiveness of Hashirama cells, it didn't matter.

Anyway, he's still young, and time is on his side.

As for why Madara Uchiha would place his ideals on this ridiculous stone tablet, Tokumitsu Uchiha neither understood nor wanted to understand. His only thought was to reap the rewards and send his beloved Madara-sama back to the Pure Land as soon as possible after obtaining the Uchiha artifact, the fan.

Of course, it would be even better if we could also seize Madara Uchiha's existing Rinnegan at that time.

"Ring ring ring!"

Someone rang the doorbell outside the secret room.

"Lord Tokuko, the Sand Village envoy has arrived..."

A voice came from outside the secret room door.

"Go and inform Sakumo-kun."

Uchiha Tokumitsu used his Mangekyou Sharingan to look at the inscription on the stone tablet again, memorized the contents, and then left.