Revitalizing the Uchiha clan starts with becoming a Kage.

As his gaze shifted to Shimura Danzo, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, sitting opposite him, were also looking at Danzo with very serious expressions.

"Explanation? What do you need to explain? Hiruzen, I don't understand what you mean."

Danzo remained calm and unmoved.

"Don't you understand? Shouldn't you explain the losses of the two Root squads? Danzo, I've already said before that all Root operations must be reported to me, but what about you? You still went your own way! Now that such a big incident has occurred, shouldn't you explain yourself!? Are you going to continue to cover it up!?"

"Sarutobi Hiruzen said in a sharp voice."

"Report? Hiruzen, have you forgotten what the original purpose of Root was? If we have to report every time, what's the point of Root? Root is the dark side of the village, the most ruthless and cold-blooded blade. Root handles all the dirty and dark things. I'm just following the established arrangements. What's there to explain?! Besides, this involves our spies in Iwagakure. Don't you think the reports about Iwagakure's reckless strategy in the Land of Snow speak for themselves? Is there any problem with me sending someone to meet this comrade? Hiruzen!"

Danzo had long since mastered the art of lying without batting an eye, since all the Root members he had sent out were already dead (no news was an admission of death, and besides, if they had fallen into the hands of Iwagakure, it would have been no different from being dead).

The original intention is no longer important. In Danzo's view, this was just a normal, clandestine confrontation between villages. Iwagakure simply intended to use this to put pressure on Konoha!

They don't need to pay any attention to it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi is making a fuss over nothing!

"Indeed, there's no problem with doing this, but the premise is that there can't be any problems, especially at this critical juncture. Danzo, let me tell you clearly, Iwagakure has already increased its forces on the border of the Land of Grass! The number of people we can detect is already over a thousand! And it's still increasing! Do you understand what I mean now?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a hint of helplessness in his voice.

Danzo's expression finally changed slightly at this moment. Did he really not expect Iwagakure to go to such lengths? He knew that if his own rescue plan failed, all the Root members, including the Yakushi Nonou, would be captured or killed by Iwagakure. From the outcome, Iwagakure would be the one who benefited.

There's no reason for us to continue making trouble, is there?

But that's exactly what they wanted to do.

Is this something that can be confirmed?

Danzo frowned and looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, asking in a deep voice.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, who were sitting opposite each other, naturally knew about this matter long before Danzo arrived, which explained their serious expressions.

"That's beyond doubt, Danzo. That's why Hiruzen was so anxious. Our defenses in the Land of Hot Springs in the northeast have been completely suppressed by the Cloud Ninja. We could lose our frontline stronghold in the Land of Hot Springs at any time. If we were to have a fierce conflict with the Iwa Ninja at this critical juncture, the consequences would be unimaginable!"

Mitokado Homura pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and said with a serious expression.

"The Fourth Shinobi World War could very well break out now, and Konoha will absolutely have to bear the brunt of the firepower! So, Danzo, if you have anything to hide, you'd better tell us now! Otherwise, Hiruzen will have a hard time assessing the situation!"

As Danzo said, espionage and intelligence gathering among the five great nations is perfectly normal. If a spy is exposed, it is only right for the ninja village to send out corresponding support troops. The confrontations here are almost all routine clashes between the five great ninja villages in peacetime. In principle, if one side is exposed and the other side notices, it is almost never brought up in public.

If we really want to do something about this, we need to wait for the right opportunity.

Iwagakure's blatant threatening behavior made Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane suspect that Danzo had done something that truly jeopardized Iwagakure's fundamental interests and provoked the Third Tsuchikage, which was why Iwagakure had adopted such a stance.

Most importantly, based on their understanding of Shimura Danzo, the three of them believed that their close friend was indeed capable of doing something similar. Not to mention anything far in the past, just look at the Uchiha clan incident a year and a half ago. This was a matter concerning the reputation and overall interests of the entire village. The three of them chose to suppress the issue and not discuss it, but in reality, they all knew very well that Shimura Danzo was the biggest contributor to the Uchiha clan's drastic actions.

Considering this, it's hard for them not to suspect Danzo about the spy incident in Iwagakure this time, and what exactly those two teams of Root elites were doing.

Danzo was a shrewd man, and he could easily understand Mitokado Homura's implied meaning, especially when he saw that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Koharu Utatane both had almost identical expressions. Danzo frowned even more, and snorted coldly, saying, "How could I possibly hide anything? I just went to meet up with Nonou as usual, and did nothing else! In my opinion, this is Iwagakure deliberately playing a trick on us. My Root has directly lost eight elite members, and even more importantly, Nonou, our most important intelligence agent, has fallen into their hands!"

"Iwagakure is the one who benefits. In my opinion, this is a blatant act of provocation by Iwagakure. Moreover, I strongly suspect that the Uchiha clan is involved, especially that Uchiha Shoji. Didn't the previous intelligence show that the Third Tsuchikage trusted Uchiha Shoji a lot?!"

It must be said that Danzo was really wronged in this matter. Although Danzo was involved to some extent in the decision made by Iwagakure, he was not the main reason. This was mainly because Onoki became bolder after seeing that his own village had indeed become stronger!

They want to use the battle between Konoha and Kumogakure to lay some groundwork in advance!

Regardless of whether this incident occurs or not, Onoki will definitely find an opportunity to test Konoha in the near future, and this time he will use their strength against them!

However, from Hiruzen Sarutobi's perspective, things were not like that. The problem probably lay with Danzo, otherwise they couldn't explain why such a thing would happen!

But seeing Danzo's confident expression, the three of them exchanged glances, a hint of suspicion in their eyes.

This is mainly because Danzo's credibility in this regard is really too low.

"Danzo, you need to understand that this is not the time for jokes. If there's anything you really need to say, you must say it. Otherwise, it will be very difficult for us to judge Iwagakure's intentions and the situation that will unfold next!"

Koharu, with her eyes slightly narrowed, spoke in an extremely solemn tone.

"Do you really intend to doubt me?!"

Danzo clearly showed a hint of anger at this moment.

He did do some 'rather excessive' things in the past, but weren't they all for the sake of the village?

Just because of such a small thing, you've lost faith in yourself!

This made Danzo very uncomfortable, and his expression grew increasingly gloomy. However, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu still had a somewhat uncertain feeling. Indeed, they couldn't be blamed. They exchanged glances, and just as Mitokado Homura was about to say something more,

"Since Danzo has said so, let's rule out that possibility. The most likely explanation is that Iwagakure is trying to use this incident to test the current state of Konoha!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, seated at the head of the table, stared intently at Danzo before speaking. Unlike Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, just as Danzo understood Hiruzen well, the Third Hokage also understood Danzo very well. Although there was no evidence to prove it, when Danzo spoke just now, Hiruzen Sarutobi had a deep intuition telling him that Danzo might not be deceiving him this time!

If this is true, then we really need to seriously consider what Iwagakure's intentions are. They can't possibly just be trying to intimidate Konoha, can they? Such methods are too low-level, and there's absolutely no need to deploy so many forces on the border. There might be some probing intent involved, but it's unlikely to be just that!

Hiruzen Sarutobi always felt that there was something else going on.

Of course, he didn't know that he was overthinking things. Putting aside the matter of Shoji, Onoki's initial goal was really just to test Konoha's strength and see what Konoha's current attitude and situation were!

It has been almost four years since the end of the Third Shinobi World War.

Aside from Sunagakure, which is recovering slowly and was brutally defeated by Iwagakure last year, making it difficult for them to stir up any trouble, the other four great ninja villages (the current internal situation of Kirigakure is unclear, but we can infer it based on the situation immediately following the Third Shinobi World War) all possess the ability to reignite a major war!

Given this situation, the battle between the Cloud Ninja and the Leaf Village is still so intense. Over the past two years, the clashes between the two sides in the Land of Hot Springs have reached a relatively fierce stage, with the number of casualties exceeding a thousand.

Even considering the size of Konoha and Kumogakure, it was still a bit of a blow. This wasn't a full-scale war, but a localized one. The only reason was that the Land of Hot Springs was so important. And the most crucial point was the concern that the Kumogakure would take advantage of the situation. Otherwise, if a voluntary retreat could end this localized war, Hiruzen Sarutobi might have withdrawn all of his village's forces from the Land of Hot Springs region and ceded ownership of this area to Kumogakure!

Therefore, under such circumstances, Onoki would definitely have ulterior motives, and Hiruzen Sarutobi would have to think more about it!

"Testing our attitude? Is it because our battle with the Cloud Ninja in the Land of Hot Water has lasted too long?"

Mitokado Yan pursed his lips, a troubled look on his face, and said.

"This should be one of the main reasons. As for the specifics, we need to see what Iwagakure does next. The note issued by the Third Tsuchikage mentioned that a delegation will be sent to Konoha soon. Even if we don't know what their intentions are yet, we will have a great chance to find out once the delegation arrives!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, then changed the subject.

"A mission?"

"That confirms that the Third Tsuchikage had ulterior motives!"

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu both frowned slightly in unison, each speaking in a different tone.

Meanwhile, Danzo, who was on the opposite side, fell into deep thought at that moment.

He had always suspected that Nonou had some hidden secret, which was the main reason why Danzo ordered his subordinates to have Kabuto Yakushi deal with Nonou after he felt he had squeezed all the value out of her!

The actions of Iwagakure have only strengthened Danzo's resolve.

It must have been after Nono was arrested that Iwagakure found something related to their village during their search, which caused Iwagakure to take such drastic action. Danzo didn't believe that they would do such a thing just to test Konoha's attitude and see the situation between Konoha and Kumogakure!

It must be said that Danzo's own "brainstorming" was quite novel and unique!

Most importantly, he himself firmly believed in this. As for whether Nonou had the possibility of betraying them, firstly, Danzo judged others by his own standards and felt that Iwagakure could not possibly trust such a high-ranking spy who had leaked so much information about their own village. Secondly, in the eyes of the 'far-sighted' Danzo, Nonou's value was really only so-so, and whether she betrayed them or not was completely irrelevant.

As for the children left behind in the orphanage established by Nono, this Dark Lord of Konoha had long since forgotten about them. In the end, Danzo truly never cared about those he considered 'ants'.

This is why, in the original work, Kabuto Yakushi was able to so easily break free from Danzo's control and join Orochimaru's ranks. Ultimately, it's because Danzo was too clever for his own good and didn't really care!

This is true in the original story, and it is also true in this life.

'It seems further action is still needed. Iwagakure, Uchiha, humph, I won't let you act so freely!'

Although Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was in the head seat, didn't know what Danzo was thinking, he knew Danzo very well, especially after receiving a message from his direct ANBU before Danzo arrived.

This also happened just before the end of this high-level meeting.

Looking at Danzo with a very deep gaze, he said, "The arrival of the Iwagakure delegation is a matter that must be taken seriously. As for the specifics, Iwagakure, I'll leave them to you. Danzo, you need to behave yourself for the next few days, including all the Root personnel. I order you that Root is not allowed to take any action without my permission. I will have my direct ANBU monitor Root's actions from now on!"

"You? Hiruzen! You can't do this!"

Unlike previous verbal warnings that were mostly all bark and no bite, this time Hiruzen Sarutobi was genuinely aware of the crisis and planned to take some coercive measures, one of which was to restrict the Root's actions. Even though Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that Danzo hadn't done anything superfluous in this incident, he still had to be on guard against what would happen after the Iwagakure delegation arrived in the village!

The situation in the village is already extremely dangerous, and Hiruzen Sarutobi cannot allow it to deteriorate further!

Therefore, he must restrain Danzo!

"Danzo, this is the Hokage's order, you must obey!"

Therefore, in this instance, Hiruzen Sarutobi unusually refused to back down, just as he had three years ago when Minato and his wife died in battle, Naruto became the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, and Danzo demanded that Naruto be handed over to Root for training, which Hiruzen Sarutobi resolutely refused.

This Third Hokage still had his own bottom line and would not allow Shimura Danzo to cross it.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu also stood on Sarutobi Hiruzen's side with expressions of 'that's how it should be'. The biggest difference between this life and the original story is that Shoji led the Uchiha clan to defect, which is a huge loss for Konoha!

Leaving aside the fact that the loss of the Uchiha clan's overall strength was an incalculable loss for Konoha, the number of ninjas who died in that battle of escape was already a major headache for Konoha. Although the number of those who died may not seem large, it is important to note that almost all of them were Chunin!

The number of Jonin who died in the battle was in the dozens, even though the vast majority of them were Special Jonin and ordinary Jonin.

But he is a Jonin after all!

Furthermore, the death of Akimichi Torifu, who, despite his advanced age, could unleash power surpassing that of ordinary Kage-level warriors by consuming a clan's secret medicine, made the battle losses even more devastating!

Konoha's top combat power has been decreasing over the years. Before the Third Shinobi World War, there was White Fang, after the war, there was Minato and Kushina, and Orochimaru who defected. These were definitely four super-strong Kage-level figures. In addition, there were Tsunade and Jiraiya who left the village. This is why Konoha has been declining more and more!

No matter how many or how high the quality of your ninjas are, they are still a significant force.

Even with the loss of top-tier power, it couldn't withstand the absence of the most elite forces!

Otherwise, take the front line of the Land of Hot Springs as an example. If this had happened before the Third Shinobi World War, any of the Kage-level powerhouses mentioned above, excluding Kushina, would have been able to completely overwhelm the Cloud Ninja!

Konoha has already entered a period of decline!

The Uchiha clan's defection made the situation even worse, and the trigger for all of this was Danzo Shimura.

In the original story, at least the Uchiha clan was wiped out. Even if they lost their own clan, others didn't gain anything. Now, it's different. Their own clan is less, but others' clans have more.

With each round of transactions, the losses multiply!

The different development from the original work naturally led the three to view Shimura Danzo with different attitudes.

But facing such a powerful Sarutobi Hiruzen was a rare sight.

Danzo really had no way to retaliate, so he could only take a deep breath and forcibly suppress the anger in his heart.

"Humph!"

After giving a cold snort.

Danzo immediately stood up and then left with a flick of his sleeve.

Seeing Danzo storm off in anger, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't say much, only sighing inwardly. Although Danzo had indeed done many things he shouldn't have, Hiruzen Sarutobi still remembered his contributions. He always felt that Danzo was an essential part of Konoha, and it was because of this that he had been tolerating Danzo.

He'll only need a nudge when necessary.

This is the balance he believes is most suitable for him as Hokage.