Revitalizing the Uchiha clan starts with becoming a Kage.

In fact.

In their view.

His other close friend, Danzo Shimura, often had extremely flawed judgments and ideas, especially regarding the Uchiha clan. Half a year ago, when the Nine-Tails' attack broke out, Danzo Shimura openly proposed to completely eliminate the Uchiha clan.

This proposal.

Don't mention Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Mitokado Yan and Utatane Koharu are both unable to accept it.

Even though the Uchiha clan does have a high degree of suspicion and a history of criminal activity.

But in the end, the Uchiha clan is still a very important part of Konoha Village, so how can they be wiped out so easily?

Besides, not everyone in the clan is a violent maniac.

At least in the eyes of Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, the descendants of Uchiha Kagami, led by Shisui, are still worth looking forward to. They share the same view as Sarutobi Hiruzen: even if the Uchiha clan does rebel again, their approach will be very similar to that of the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.

Not all members of the Uchiha clan are evil.

One could cultivate a Uchiha Kagami from one's own teacher's generation.

In their generation, there was also Uchiha Shisui, and even more so, the newly emerging Uchiha Shoji. Even though it still needs to be verified, at least the situation seems to be under control. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu both rejected Shimura Danzo's judgment that it could bring extremely serious and terrible consequences to the village.

The reason why the two of them trusted Hiruzen Sarutobi so much and stood firmly on his side for thirty years was not only because they were personally appointed by their teacher, the Second Hokage, but also because Hiruzen Sarutobi's approach to handling every major matter was very much in line with their own temperaments.

steady!

That's the most crucial point.

After the three reached an agreement.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu immediately went to carry out Hiruzen Sarutobi's orders. One went to contact other ninja clans, and the other went to arrange logistics. Hiruzen Sarutobi personally discussed further personnel deployment with Fugaku Uchiha.

After all, the Uchiha clan is still responsible for the work of the security department.

Under normal circumstances.

The Uchiha clan is responsible for maintaining order and patrolling the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

Therefore, there needs to be a focus when allocating personnel.

As one of the core targets of Hiruzen Sarutobi's plan, Uchiha Shoji is fortunate that he does not currently hold any position in the Security Department and is nominally only a 'Chunin'!

Hiruzen Sarutobi could inadvertently add this genius among the younger generation of Uchiha to the list (from Shisui, Hiruzen already knew that Shoji had awakened his Sharingan to the three-tomoe level, which could be considered as Jonin level).

Fugaku naturally couldn't see this layer, and it was one of Fugaku's goals.

The Uchiha clan is a warlike family.

It is an experience passed down from generation to generation to let the younger generation experience more trials and tribulations. Fugaku himself took his four-year-old son, Itachi Uchiha, to the eastern battlefield against Kirigakure at the end of the Third Shinobi World War.

From his current perspective.

Uchiha Shoji is undoubtedly the only one among the younger generation who can be compared to Shisui.

He awakened his Sharingan to the three-tomoe level at the age of 14.

The Uchiha clan needs geniuses like this.

Although I am still in the prime of my life, the greatest blessing for our clan is that more outstanding figures can emerge from the younger generation.

Therefore, he was quite willing to let young people like Jiang Si gain more experience, as for the risks of dying or being injured in battle.

Haha, if you're really worried about that, then don't become a ninja!

21. Agreement and Questioning

Therefore, at this point...

Fugaku Uchiha also did not raise any objections.

Moreover, the deployment list given by the Third Hokage, from the number of Jonin to the number of Genin, is all standard. Some key figures have hardly been changed. In other words, this personnel configuration list is an order that conforms to 'common sense'!

Although the number of ten Jonin inside made Fugaku frown slightly.

However, after considering a certain reason, Fugaku did not object much, but he did make certain demands on the genin. At present, almost all the genin in the Uchiha clan are young people, and a considerable number of them have not yet awakened their Sharingan (even within the Uchiha clan, a certain proportion of ninjas have not awakened their Sharingan).

Fugaku was naturally willing to let these young men go to the front lines to gain experience, just like Shoji.

However, the quantity must be within a certain limit.

If there are too many.

It's easy for the Uchiha to lose their vitality.

Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to have anticipated this all along.

After a brief moment of contemplation, they agreed to compromise on this point: all the major ninja clans would join Konoha and support the village, contributing their strength to it. In return, Konoha would have an obligation to protect the basic interests of these clans. This was a tacit agreement established when the major ninja clans joined Konoha 49 years ago.

Even though the Uchiha clan at this time was on Hiruzen Sarutobi's highly vigilant blacklist, some basic rules still could not be ignored.

During this period, among the Konoha leadership, only Danzo Shimura was somewhat 'mad'. The remaining three—Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane—were still willing, or rather, wanted to resolve the Uchiha clan issue within the rules, and would never easily resort to unconventional methods.

In the original work, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu only made up their minds to destroy the Uchiha clan at the very end.

Hiruzen Sarutobi still clung to a last glimmer of hope, wanting to see if he could handle the situation in a more stable way. To reiterate, it wasn't that Hiruzen Sarutobi was kind-hearted, but rather that he didn't want Konoha to lose such a powerful bloodline limit.

This is a normal way of thinking for a leader of a ninja village.

The Uchiha clan can be considered the strongest clan in the current ninja world.

Not without reason.

This is the biggest reason why Hiruzen Sarutobi was unwilling to take the drastic step of executing the Uchiha clan.

The real reason that prompted Hiruzen Sarutobi to later choose, or rather acquiesce to, the instigation of Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, and others to have Itachi Uchiha destroy the Uchiha clan was the death of Shisui Uchiha, which made Hiruzen Sarutobi believe that the peaceful solution had been almost completely eliminated.

In those subsequent actions, the symbolic meaning always outweighed the practical meaning.

In summary, regarding the annihilation of the Uchiha clan in the original work, setting aside their own reasons, if we only consider the four high-ranking officials of Konoha, Shimura Danzo bears at least half the blame, and then Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu share the remaining half of the responsibility.

The root cause involves many aspects and is far too complex.

To put it simply, it was Shimura Danzo's stupid act of ambushing Shisui that led to the situation reaching its most disastrous stage.

In this lifetime, the Nine-Tails' rampage had only ended six months prior, and the timeline was still in the first half of Konoha 49. Uchiha Shisui was still alive, and there was still some room for reconciliation between the Uchiha clan and the village. Naturally, Hiruzen Sarutobi would not easily break this rule.

Both parties take a more proactive approach to reaching an agreement.

After Fugaku left, Hiruzen Sarutobi continued to contact the leaders of other ninja clans with a slightly satisfied attitude. In less than a day, Hiruzen Sarutobi had integrated the power of the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

The initial force that could be dispatched consisted of over a thousand Konoha ninja, including eighty Jonin. Since it was not a direct war, but rather these forces were deployed in batches to the various large and small outposts established by Konoha in the northeastern region of the Land of Fire, near the Land of Hot Springs, there was no need to appoint a commander. Instead, several team leaders were assigned to lead these Konoha ninja to fill these outposts.

Strengthening daily defensive capabilities is sufficient.

In the past, during non-war periods, major powers would dispatch or rotate the garrison forces at their border outposts according to a set time and situation. This was the pattern from the end of the Third Shinobi World War until the Nine-Tails' attack in October of last year. However, after three or four months of continuous border friction and probing, Kumogakure seemed to have discovered Konohagakure's weakness and took the initiative to strengthen its border forces.

This is why Konoha had to come up with corresponding countermeasures.

Otherwise, if the border outposts were wiped out one by one by the Cloud Ninja, or even penetrated deep into the heart of the Land of Fire, that would be a situation that Konoha could never accept.

Because that would lead other major powers in the ninja world to mistakenly believe that Konoha was so weak that it couldn't even hold out for its border defenses.

therefore.

Regarding this personnel transfer and troop deployment issue.

No one in Konoha Village showed any sign of surprise.

Only one person, upon seeing the personnel list, rushed to the Hokage's office immediately, confronting Hiruzen Sarutobi with an extremely cold demeanor.

"Hiruzen! Why did you allow the Uchiha clan to go to the front lines? You should know what time this is. Every single member of the Uchiha clan is a prime suspect. Don't you think the village already has enough trouble?! Have you forgotten your teacher's teachings?"

Both were direct disciples of the Second Hokage.

Danzo Shimura, the Dark Lord of Konoha and the de facto second-in-command of hundreds of elite Root ninjas, stood before Hiruzen Sarutobi, leaning on his cane, and asked in an aggressive tone.

Faced with the questioning of his dearest friend.

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained calm, took a deep drag on his pipe, and slowly exhaled a layer of white smoke before saying, "Danzo, there's no need to rush. Of course, I'm well aware of the current situation, but it's precisely because of this that we need to use some conventional methods to identify the Uchiha clan. I will not forget my teacher's teachings, but you must also remember, Danzo, how significant the Uchiha clan is. It cannot be dealt with as easily as you say. This personnel relocation is for that very reason!"

"But you're playing with fire! Hiruzen, what if the entire Uchiha clan gets caught in it!? What will you do then!?"

Danzo looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi with a very gloomy expression and said in a chilling tone.

22. The front line I'm about to head to

"All of them? Danzo, do you even believe that yourself?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi maintained his calm and unhurried demeanor as he spoke.

"Hmph! You shouldn't trust anyone from the Uchiha clan!"

Danzo Shimura snorted coldly and said in an icy tone.

"Is the same true for mirrors?"

"..."

Danzo's expression froze for a moment, then he said coldly, "Kagami was an exception, and the teacher was there too. But the situation is completely different now. You should know very well what it means for the Nine-Tails to be controlled. Hiruzen, if there is even the slightest disturbance, Konoha will be destroyed!"

"But your approach will only backfire. Danzo, there are still trustworthy people in the Uchiha clan, especially those who have inherited the ideas and will of the Mirror. We need to give these people a chance!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned solemn as he looked at Danzo Shimura and spoke in a very serious tone.

"Hiruzen, you..."

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

"Hmph! You'll regret this one day, Hiruzen!"

After giving the Third Hokage a vicious glare, Shimura Danzo turned and left.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Danzo's departing figure and sighed helplessly.

He was well aware of just how destructive the Uchiha clan was.

However, as the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi had far too many things to consider and be mindful of. In the original story, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still hesitant until the Uchiha clan was wiped out, let alone now. As mentioned before, this is not a matter of whether he is merciful or not.

It is possible to live in such a world.

He was valued by the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and appointed as the Third Hokage.

To talk about mercy is simply a joke.

Hiruzen Sarutobi viewed the Uchiha clan purely from the perspective of the village's interests.