Revitalizing the Uchiha clan starts with becoming a Kage.

Is it a strategic plan similar to that of the Third Shinobi World War, or is it a plan to attack Konoha from both the east and west with the help of the Cloud Ninja, completely suppressing them and dethroning Konoha from its position as the strongest ninja village in the world? These two are fundamentally different!

The former is at most a local war, while the latter could involve a full-scale war, which would mean the outbreak of the Fourth Shinobi World War!

But no matter what, this is not an important matter that can be figured out and judged in a short period of time!

These thoughts flashed through my mind in just a few seconds.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and said, "Let's leave it at that for now, Shikaku!"

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

Lu Jiu, who was on the left, bowed slightly and then stepped forward.

"Mr. Shoji, Mr. Ogata, please come this way!"

He approached Shoji and Ogata, and pointed slightly with his right hand.

"Ok!"

Shoji and Ogata set off in the same manner, following behind Shikaku, just as they were about to leave.

Jiang Si paused, turned his head to the side, and said with a faint, peculiar smile in his eyes, "Oh, right, right, I don't think our delegation members have been restricted in their freedom these past two or three days, have they? I'd like to take a stroll around your village and, while I'm at it, return to the shrine of our Uchiha clan to retrieve some of our clan's ancestral offerings. That shouldn't be a problem, right, Hokage? Or perhaps, those items have already been disposed of by your village?"

"Of course, that's possible. The noble shrine will remain undamaged. Konoha would never do such a despicable thing, so please don't worry."

The Third Hokage's eyes flickered slightly as he spoke in a calm tone.

"Then I am relieved. So be it!"

The general seemed to chuckle, yet also seemed relieved, as he slightly bowed his head in greeting, a faint hint of mockery lurking deep within his pupils.

At that moment, he turned around and followed Shikaku, striding away from the Hokage's office.

Watching the departing figure of the general.

The Third Hokage's expression also turned completely grim.

As the Hokage of Konoha, the most powerful village in the ninja world, Hiruzen Sarutobi had never been confronted or provoked so directly by someone from another country, let alone by someone from the Uchiha clan, a once-powerful clan in Konoha!

This is a scene that can be described as a reversal of extremes.

This left Hiruzen Sarutobi feeling deeply troubled. He deeply regretted his decision, but not so much for suppressing the Uchiha clan. Rather, he regretted not using a more forceful approach to suppress and dismantle the Uchiha clan, thus completely eliminating the problem and leading to the subsequent mass defection of the Uchiha clan.

It was my own kindness and hesitation that led to this unimaginable outcome.

If I had been more decisive and acted as ruthlessly against the Uchiha clan as my teacher had, executing the most powerful rebels, the village would never have ended up like this.

The Uchiha are still the Uchiha of Konoha!

'You bastard!'

At this moment.

Hiruzen Sarutobi truly hated himself for having shown mercy to the evil Uchiha clan, but saying so now was futile. Hiruzen felt he should try his best to make up for the mistakes he had made!

"Yan, Uchiha Shoji, and the monitoring of the Iwagakure ninja under his command are now in your hands. You must pay close attention to the movements of each and every one of them. If their intentions are not pure, there will definitely be some underhanded tricks among this group of Iwagakure delegation members. Keep a close eye on them! In addition, increase the reconnaissance forces along the border. We cannot overlook any of the movements of Iwagakure near the Land of Grass!"

This is the most basic and essential monitoring.

It's impossible to be 100% vigilant.

However, it can certainly limit the actions of these people to a great extent.

In two to three days, as long as it's not too complicated, it will be enough for Konoha to see through some of Iwagakure's intentions.

"Yes, I understand, Hiruzen. Don't worry, I will definitely handle this matter well!"

Mitokado Homura nodded emphatically, and then got up and left the Hokage's office as well.

"zero!"

After Mitokado Yan left.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted out these words in a deep voice.

"Whoosh!"

A white-haired figure dressed in the uniform of the Dark Guard suddenly appeared. This figure was none other than Zero, the former Dark Guard captain of Shoji, also known as the famous Hatake Gogoku.

"You will lead two squads to reinforce Naruto's defenses. Until the group from Iwagakure leaves Konoha, you must stay by Naruto's side for 24 hours. You must ensure Naruto's safety. Do you understand?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Kakashi Hatake in front of him and said.

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

Kakashi responded in a slightly low voice.

Naruto Uzumaki.

This orphan of the Fourth Hokage, the protagonist of the original work, and the reincarnation of Ashura, the son of the Sage of Six Paths, is almost three years old. As the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Naruto is now a true trump card in Konoha Village, which has been greatly weakened!

To put it bluntly, Konoha in the past did not need the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to fight. In the past fifty years, the eight tailed beasts from other ninja villages have all appeared in battle to varying degrees, but the Nine-Tails has never appeared on the battlefield. Although this is partly because the previous two Jinchuriki (Mito and Kushina) used their Uzumaki clan characteristics to forcibly suppress the Nine-Tails and could not perfectly use the tailed beast's power, the main reason is that Konoha at that time did not need a fighting force like the Nine-Tails.

Leaving aside the era of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage.

During the reigns of the subsequent Third Hokage.

Only when the Second Hokage had just died in battle was Konoha relatively weak. After recovering, Konoha not only had a greater number and quality of ordinary ninja than any other ninja village for a long time, but also a far greater number and quality of Kage-level ninja than the four major ninja villages. This is why Konoha at its peak could at least suppress two major ninja villages in battle, and even in the most difficult times, it could still fight on three fronts.

Even though this is based on the mutual antagonism between the various ninja villages.

It wasn't a true one-against-three battle, but looking at the entire ninja village, only Konoha could do that.

During that period.

The Nine-Tails' combat power is not really necessary.

Konoha has always treasured the Nine-Tails as a 'treasure'.

But Konoha is not what it used to be. Even if we include Jiraiya and Tsunade, who are temporarily away from the village, Konoha is far from its peak strength. Not to mention, if Tsunade and Jiraiya don't return to the village.

The Cloud Ninja family alone is enough to give Konoha a run for its money.

Keep in mind that the Fourth Raikage was at his peak!

The Jinchūriki of the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails can go to the battlefield!

In human form, they are already at the level of a regular Kage; once they transform into their tailed beast forms, what will Konoha have to resist?!

Tailed beasts are not something that can be dealt with simply by overwhelming numbers.

It would take at least dozens of elite Jonin, along with powerful sealing and barrier teams, to possibly hold them off. And that's only for the weaker of the tailed beasts. To put it bluntly, only the first seven tailed beasts can be suppressed in this way, and that's assuming there are no external factors interfering.

The Eight-Tailed Gyūki won't do!

The nine tailed beasts can be divided into three tiers according to their strength. The first seven tailed beasts are in the first tier, while the Eight-Tails is stronger than the first seven but weaker than the Nine-Tails.

Why is the Third Raikage called the "Super Kage"? Is he considered the strongest among the Third Kage of his generation? The reason is that the Third Raikage could go toe-to-toe with the Eight-Tails and was capable of severely injuring it. If there is any difference between the two, it is only that Gyukki, as a tailed beast, has a much larger amount of chakra than the Third Raikage.

Aside from that, it was a perfectly even match between the two!

This demonstrates both the strength of the Third Raikage and the terror of the Eight-Tails, Gyūki. If the Hidden Cloud Village were determined to expand the scale of the war, it would directly send two Jinchūriki of the Tailed Beasts to the battlefield.

To put it bluntly, Konoha's frontline battlefield will inevitably collapse.

This is why Hiruzen Sarutobi valued Naruto so highly. The Third Hokage hoped that Naruto could grow up smoothly, master the power of the Nine-Tails, and become the strongest shield to protect Konoha!

Therefore, before Naruto grew up, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not allow any unexpected events to occur. The arrival of Shoji Uchiha made Hiruzen Sarutobi even more vigilant. Although he was not very clear about the Mangekyou Sharingan's ability to restrain or even control tailed beasts, he still understood a little bit. One should always be wary of others.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, of course, had to prepare for the worst.

Moreover, the Cloud Ninja delegation will arrive in a day or two, so strengthening vigilance and defense during this period is by no means an exaggeration.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi was issuing various orders and making various arrangements.

Danzo, who had been warned by Hiruzen Sarutobi, also quietly began his own actions. This dark figure of Konoha would never take Hiruzen Sarutobi's warnings seriously. Root was always regarded by Danzo as his own private property. What about the Hokage's orders?

That was a joke!

Unless Hiruzen Sarutobi one day truly decides to abolish the Root organization and completely imprison and bind Danzo Shimura.

Otherwise, no one could stop Danzo's actions.

It's fine during normal times.

At this special moment when delegations from Iwagakure and Kumogakure are about to arrive one after another, Shimura Danzo has no chance of keeping quiet. What's more, the leader of the Iwagakure delegation is Uchiha Shoji. Putting aside the deeper hatred, just the hatred of losing an arm alone makes it impossible for Shimura Danzo to sit idly by!

Moreover, and most importantly, after witnessing Uchiha Shoji's formidable power in the battle of escape, this dark figure of Konoha could no longer suppress his greed for the Sharingan's power!

"Just you wait, Hiruzen. I will prove you wrong, and I am the one who truly can lead Konoha to revival. Uchiha Shoji, I will make you regret returning to Konoha in such an arrogant manner!"

Deep underground in Konoha.

At this moment, a deep, extremely gloomy look appeared in the depths of Shimura Danzo's eyes as he sat upright in the Root Base.

Wood Release, Sharingan!

In Danzo's view, this was the supreme power that only he was qualified and capable of using!

It can be said that Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen, who sometimes have great tacit understanding in this regard, are truly the "Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix" of Konoha. Although there are unavoidable external factors that have contributed to Konoha's current predicament, the greater responsibility lies with these two.

If either of these two were even slightly 'ordinary', Konoha would have had an easier time maintaining its dominant position in the ninja world, if not further intimidating it.

It's all a matter of timing and fate.

Let's set aside the individual actions of these two "Sleeping Dragon and Young Phoenix".

On the other side, Shoji and Ogata, who had leisurely left the Hokage's office, followed Shikaku directly to the hotel specially built by Konoha to welcome and entertain foreign guests.

"For the next few days, we would like to ask everyone from Iwagakure to stay here. You are free to move around during the day, but please abide by the village's rules at night and do not act recklessly. If there is any need, please inform us. I think Mr. Shoji and everyone else would not want to cause any further problems, would they?"

Even if some things are just polite words, they still need to be said.

Shikaku also wanted to put as much pressure on Shoji and his group as possible through this method, and it could also be considered a different kind of probing.

"Hehe, I was once a member of Konoha, so I know these rules. Shikaku-san, you don't need to worry at all. Please tell the Hokage that our patience is limited, and we hope your village won't drag things out too much!"

Jiang Si spoke in words that seemed calm but were actually full of threat.

This blatant display of fearlessness.

Shikaku couldn't help but give Shoji another deep look, then nodded slightly with the same indifferent expression and said, "There's no need for you to worry about that. Our Hokage will definitely make the most appropriate decision. Well then, I'll take my leave now!"

After saying these words...

Shikaku turned and left without any hesitation. Watching the departing figure of this still very young leader of the Nara clan, Shoji sneered. Shoji could clearly see the attitude of that Konoha ninja hero.

Ultimately, this guy has fallen into his old habits again, intending to use delaying tactics to see what kind of attitude the Hidden Stone Village really has.