I, Uchiha Hikaru, have joined the chat group.

Chapter 41 I am the mastermind behind the Uchiha clan!

"call……"

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and began to narrate:

"Ms. Hikari, what I'm about to say might not be pleasant for you, but please listen patiently."

"You might think that the Uchiha clan, as a fellow ninja clan that worked together to establish Konoha, has been treated somewhat unfairly, but there are reasons for all of this."

"The previous Hokage of Konoha, my late mentor Tobirama Senju, dealt with the Uchiha clan for many years. He discovered that the Uchiha clan was actually the clan most prone to feeling love; no other clan's love was deeper than theirs. However, once they lost that love, their original affection would be replaced by an even stronger hatred, causing their entire personality to change drastically..."

"The Sharingan can make Uchiha clan members stronger rapidly, but at the same time, it also makes the power of hatred in their hearts grow stronger day by day, until they are completely swallowed by darkness, just like Uchiha Madara back then..."

"You also possess the Mangekyou Sharingan, so you should be able to understand what I'm saying..."

"..."

During Hiruzen Sarutobi's narration.

Uchiha's expression remained as still as water.

Of course she knew about Tobirama Senju's academic research findings.

But she never expected that these words would come from the Third Hokage as the basis for persuading her to understand the actions of the Konoha leadership.

Well...

Tobirama Senju's research makes some sense.

The proportion of extremists in the Uchiha clan is indeed not high, but these extremists are often very powerful.

And the more frenzied it gets, the stronger it becomes—

Obito, who turned to the darkest level, had two tomoe right after opening his Sharingan, and then jumped directly to the Mangekyou Sharingan... At the cost of sacrificing all his rationality, he obtained the dual Kamui ability, which was even more overpowered than the Flying Thunder God Technique.

In contrast, Sasuke, who has the strongest resilience, couldn't develop the Mangekyou Sharingan even after his clan was wiped out and his brother played 24-hour videos of their parents' deaths in his mind. In the end, when he finally did awaken it, its power was comparable to the Double Amaterasu Technique, which is similar to the Great Fireball Technique.

but……

There's only a tiny bit of truth to it.

"Let me ask you a question, Sarutobi kid."

Hikaru Uchiha interrupted Hiruzen Sarutobi: "Orochimaru and Danzo Shimura, are they from the Uchiha clan?"

"Um?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi paused for a moment, somewhat confused about what she meant.

"These two are not only not from the Uchiha clan, but they were also disciples carefully trained by two successive Hokage of Konoha, yet they both went astray. Does this mean that the teachings and example imparted by the Hokage can make one more easily 'swallowed by darkness'?"

"?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi instinctively wanted to retort, but hesitated when the words reached his lips: "Orochimaru... is indeed a failure. It's my fault for being too busy with official duties and neglecting the changes that happened to him. But Danzo... he was actually doing it for Konoha, but the methods he used were a bit excessive..."

"Pfft..."

Uchiha Hikaru couldn't help but laugh: "It's one thing to fool others with this kind of talk, but don't fool yourself too..."

"For the sake of Konoha" refers to hiding during the Nine-Tails' attack, then immediately jumping out to spout nonsense afterward; using his position as a high-ranking Konoha official to capture fellow villager ninjas and civilians for human experimentation; maintaining contact with Orochimaru even after his defection; secretly gouging out the eyes of Uchiha clan members who died during the war to cultivate the Wood Release bloodline limit without revealing it; and even plotting your assassination?

As for colluding with Hanzo of the Salamander to wipe out the Akatsuki organization, which resulted in the emergence of the Six Paths of Pain...

Uchiha Hikaru was too lazy to even say anything.

"To fail to recognize talent is a sign of incompetence. But to discover a problem and then be afraid to admit it is hypocritical and laughable."

"According to you, I should be the Uchiha clan member most deeply corrupted by 'darkness,' so... what makes you think you're still alive and sitting here, talking to me?"

—This argument is actually a bit of a sophistry, since Uchiha Hikari is a special case. If the original storyline had followed, she would actually have been a major villain almost as insane as Obito. However, the old man opposite her doesn't know any of this, so fooling him shouldn't be a problem.

"If you can't solve the problem, then solve the people who might cause it. Is this the method your mentor taught you and that brat Danzo?"

"..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time before hesitantly saying, "What you said makes sense, but..."

"Just what?"

"..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stammered for a while, unable to come up with a coherent explanation, before finally changing his tune: "Perhaps our understanding of the Uchiha clan is somewhat inaccurate, but it's a fact that the Sharingan is prone to going out of control. Therefore, I believe that we need to be cautious about increasing the number of personnel and the scope of authority of the security forces, as well as allowing more Uchiha clan members to join the Anbu. We need to establish a strict screening mechanism that is mutually agreed upon..."

"The organization of the garrison forces?"

Uchiha Hikaru was stunned for a moment before realizing—this was probably Fugaku's request?

She hadn't discussed these things with Fugaku before, but judging from Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone, it seemed as if he took them as her secret instructions.

Since Konoha insists on thinking this way...

Alright, then I am the mastermind behind the Uchiha clan!

"Can."

"But I have one more request."

Uchiha Hikaru looked directly at Hiruzen Sarutobi and slowly said, "We will open up channels for Uchiha clan members to serve as Jonin leaders and Ninja Academy instructors, allowing them to leave the village for missions. In exchange, we will allow members of other Konoha clans to join the security forces, with the number of positions and candidates also subject to tripartite review."

"You said it yourself, the Uchiha are the clan most easily moved by love, but now most Uchiha are confined to the security forces, so naturally, the only people they love are their own clansmen. But if they could interact with other clans, build friendships and emotional bonds with them, the scope of their love would gradually expand to the entire village, wouldn't it?"

The real intention behind this request is actually...

Only through contact with other ethnic groups and the development of emotional and economic ties can one develop them into allies and truly gain the qualification to compete for the title of Shadow of a Village.

Instead of being like the Uchiha clan now, a group of arrogant loners who wouldn't care if their clan were wiped out one day.

—Danzo's departure does not mean that the Uchiha clan's extermination crisis has been resolved.

Because besides Danzo, there was another heavyweight figure, Obito, who was responsible for the Uchiha clan's massacre, and his whereabouts were still unknown. Given his ambition, he would never allow the Uchiha clan to remain peacefully intact.

Uchiha Hikaru didn't want to get involved in Uchiha affairs before, not only because he thought the Uchiha clan was too weak to lead, but also because of the existence of Obito and Black Zetsu.

It's a real hassle to be targeted by that kind of dirty thing.

but now……

She changed her mind.

(End of this chapter)