My name is Uchiha Touhuan, and I beat the villagers so badly they cried out in pain.

The rumors about Kakashi that had been circulating in the village recently had caused widespread anxiety. After all, they were afraid that if it was Kakashi today, it might be their turn tomorrow. In addition, most of these ANBU members had received favors from Kakashi, and a large portion of them had been present when Kakashi hosted a banquet. Therefore, it was not surprising that they chose to stand by and watch.

Meanwhile, the Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans, after receiving the order, also urgently summoned their clan ninjas. However, before the ninjas of the three clans could even set foot on the streets of Konoha, a group of ninjas and a group of ninja dogs rushed towards the clans' territory.

The team leaders, Inuzuka Jacques and Aburame Shiki, looked at Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, and Akimichi Choza with smiles on their faces.

Seeing this, Nara Shikaku sighed slightly and asked, "May I ask what brings you two to the territory of my Ino-Shika-Cho clan?"

"Clan Chief Nara's words are rather formal. We've only come to pay a visit; we have no other intentions," Inuzuka Jacques said with a smile.

"Just here to visit?" Yamanaka Inoichi frowned slightly as he looked at the fact that even the ninja dogs were fully armed.

"Of course," Inuzuka Jacques said, "However, it seems we've arrived at an inopportune time. Where are the three clan leaders and their people headed so late? Don't they know the village is under martial law tonight?"

"Our three clans are here on the orders of the Third Hokage to maintain order in the village. We would be grateful if you two could do us a favor," Nara Shikaku said in a deep voice.

"But we've been ordered to declare martial law tonight. Anyone who moves around on the streets without authorization, except for members of the garrison, will be treated as a rioter," Aburame Shii said.

"Since when did Aburame and Inuzuka start obeying the orders of the Security Department?" Nara Shikaku frowned.

"Our two clans are not following orders from the Security Department," Inuzuka Jacques said. "However, unlike your Ino-Shika-Cho clans, we have many juniors holding important positions in the village. Now, our clans have finally produced two juniors who serve as captains in the Security Department. As clan leaders, we naturally have to do our best to cooperate with their work. If we have offended anyone, please forgive us, Chief Nara."

At that moment, in the chat channel created by Yamanaka Inoichi using a family secret technique, Akimichi Choza asked, "What do we do now, Shikaku? Should we make a move?"

After thinking for a while, Nara Shikaku finally spoke in the chat channel: "No, they've come at the right time. Let's just stay here and wait for things to be over."

"But if we do that, it won't be easy to explain to the Third Hokage," Yamanaka Inoichi said.

"With them here, that's enough for us to explain ourselves," Nara Shikaku said.

Taking action is out of the question. Although the Ino-Shika-Cho clans have more Jonin overall, and their combined attacks should make it easy for them to defeat the Inuzuka and Aburame alliance, Nara Shikaku has to consider the Uchiha clan behind them. If they really start fighting, the feud will be truly sealed, and the Ino-Shika-Cho clans will be forced to be tied to Hiruzen Sarutobi's chariot. Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi wins the political battles that follow, how long can he hold power at his age?

And what about the Fifth Hokage who will succeed him? In Nara Shikaku's analysis, the only two who can be considered successors to the Third Hokage are Jiraiya and Tsunade. If Tsunade were to return to the village now and declare that she wants to take over the position, then Nara Shikaku could place his bet without hesitation. But right now, she would rather be heavily in debt than return to the village.

As for Jiraiya, Nara Shikaku certainly wouldn't dare gamble the fate of his clan on someone who was fooled by a vague prophecy from his own summoning beast and was searching the world for the Child of Prophecy.

Besides the two of them, Kakashi is the only one whose identity is still suitable as an heir. Although his strength is still insufficient, he is still young. But let's not talk about which side Kakashi is really on right now. Even if Kakashi is really on the Third Hokage's side, then they should not interfere. This time, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio stopped the Security Department from standing up for him. Are they waiting to be eaten alive in the future?

Therefore, after some consideration, Nara Shikaku realized that the best solution at present was to stall against the Inuzuka and Aburame clans. This way, he could both give an explanation to the Third Hokage and extricate the three clans from this matter.

Soon, the Sandaime in the Hokage's office discovered that the situation in the village had not been alleviated, so he had to use the telescope technique to check the situation.

However, seeing the ANBU lying idle on the street and the standoff at the gates of the Ino-Shika-Cho tribal compound, Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank. Although he hadn't expected the ANBU to do much in this matter, he had envisioned the Ino-Shika-Cho tribal members as the ones who could stop the security forces. However, the fully armed Aburame and the Inuzuka clan's combined forces at the gates of the Ino-Shika-Cho compound were something he hadn't anticipated at all.

He had witnessed the Inuzuka clan's welcoming ceremony for Uchiha Touhuan that day, as well as the ceremony the police dogs of the Inuzuka clan received. He knew that the Inuzuka clan had sided with the Uchiha, but he did not expect that the Inuzuka clan would support the Uchiha with such a complete all-in attitude. In this group, apart from the clan members who worked in the police department, all the members of the Inuzuka clan who were Chunin or above were present.

The fact that the Aburame clan had also gotten involved was something he had expected.

Even now, the Third Hokage has to admit that his control over the village has indeed decreased considerably after Danzo's death.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, puffing on his pipe, looked at the last remaining ANBU member in the Hokage's office: "Go and mobilize the village's Jonin squad to support the ANBU."

"Understood." After the last Anbu member left the Hokage's office, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado started chatting away again, but Hiruzen Sarutobi had no desire to listen to what they were saying.

Hiruzen Sarutobi understood that today's events, besides being a pretext for the Security Department to make trouble, were more about Uchiha Touhuan flexing his muscles. In less than a month since Danzo's death, Uchiha Touhuan had already assembled a whole set of cards sufficient to launch an armed rebellion. What made his scalp tingle even more was that Uchiha Touhuan had been acting within the rules all along, and even he, the Hokage, couldn't escape the rules. This was completely different from the previous Uchiha clan leaders who succeeded Uchiha Madara after his death.

The only good news for the Third Hokage was that Uchiha Touhuan was restrained enough to prevent things from spiraling out of control.