Revitalizing the Uchiha clan starts with becoming a Kage.

105. Operation begins!

Mindset is one thing, actions are another.

Especially now that the village is in such dire straits, it's hard for Hiruzen Sarutobi to imagine doing anything that would cause further unrest. Restraint is Hiruzen Sarutobi's greatest strength, but also his most frequent source of folly. The irrefutable evidence and the facts before him force Hiruzen Sarutobi to deal with Orochimaru seriously. Classifying him as an S-rank rogue ninja is the only course of action. Danzo's side can only be detained and dealt with. Now, the question is where Orochimaru will go after betraying the village!

As a near-high-ranking member of Konoha, Orochimaru knew many of the village's secrets. If he joined another ninja village, it would be a devastating blow to Konoha. This is the main reason why Hiruzen Sarutobi ordered his direct ANBU to find out Orochimaru's whereabouts as soon as possible, even though he couldn't deal with Orochimaru personally.

However, once his other disciple, Jiraiya, returns, he can entrust this matter to Jiraiya to handle. Until then, he must strictly control the impact of this situation. The warrant for the S-rank rogue ninja's arrest warrant is temporarily limited to the Anbu. It is absolutely impossible to keep it hidden permanently, but Hiruzen Sarutobi can easily do so for a short period of time.

This was also due to the need to deal with the Uchiha clan. Therefore, Hiruzen immediately summoned Mitokado Homura and explained these matters concisely, including Danzo's dishonorable role in the matter.

This made Mitokado Yan's expression turn very unpleasant.

He truly never imagined that the most heinous disappearance case in the village was actually orchestrated by Orochimaru and Danzo! Danzo even went so far as to use this to slander the Uchiha clan, forcing the village and the Uchiha clan to completely break ties.

It's not that the Uchiha clan doesn't need to be dealt with.

Mitokado Homura also greatly feared and loathed the Uchiha clan, but he had to be careful about his methods, and most importantly, the occasion and timing. To directly provoke the Uchiha clan without any preparation on the village's side was simply stirring up trouble!

However, what Hiruzen could think of, Mitokado Homura could also consider. Now, even if he was angry and dissatisfied with Danzo's behavior, he could only accept it. It was already a fait accompli, and complaining and holding people accountable would not solve the problem.

Moreover, Danzo was, after all, their comrade-in-arms for over thirty or forty years. Even for that reason, they could only suppress their resentment.

"I understand what you mean, Hiruzen. Leave Danzo's situation to me. I won't let him cause any more trouble. As for the other ninja clans, Koharu's communication with them has been relatively smooth, and Torifu is also here, so they can help us in many ways. Let's concentrate our forces and prioritize dealing with the Uchiha clan. I also think it's time to adopt Tobirama-sensei's strategy. Overall suppression is not realistic. Dealing with Fugaku, Shoji, and the others should not be a problem, unless they dare to directly launch a rebellion, but that also has its advantages and disadvantages!"

"By the way! Is there still no movement at Shisui's place?"

After a moment's thought, Mitokado Homura raised his eyes again and spoke.

Still nothing!

"Then I suggest you add him directly to the blacklist that must be dealt with. Now is not the time for mercy, Hiruzen!"

Mitokado Homura stared intently at the Third Hokage before him and spoke in a low voice.

"Yes, I understand what you mean, Yan. After we finish communicating with Koharu and Torifu, and after Jiraiya returns, we will immediately take action against the Uchiha clan. Even if it takes a painful period of time, it is something we have no choice but to do!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded emphatically in response.

Seeing his old friend finally make up his mind, Mitokado Homura's face showed a hint of joy.

The real fear now is that hesitation will only give the Uchiha clan an opportunity. Even though the Uchiha clan was completely wronged in this incident, Uchiha Shoji's performance has already proven the point! They don't care about the cause and effect; the most important thing is to see the consequences. Besides, there's the Nine-Tails' attack a year ago to cover it up!

From any perspective, purging the Uchiha clan is not an excessive act.

This is Mitokado's opinion!

We will investigate Orochimaru's matter in secret, and leave Danzo's matter for the time being. The first thing to deal with is the Uchiha clan!

This was a consensus among Konoha's high-ranking officials, such as Hiruzen and Homura. The Uchiha clan was already dangerous, and now, with the addition of the Mangekyou Sharingan, they definitely had to do everything in their power to eliminate them. Of course, it was also for this reason that the Third Hokage needed to unite more forces to suppress the Uchiha clan. This disciple of the Second Hokage knew better than anyone how terrifying the Mangekyou Sharingan was.

And this is precisely one of Jiang Si's intentions.

To make Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others increasingly wary of the Uchiha clan, thus preventing them from easily taking action, would give the Uchiha clan more time to prepare. The prospect of the entire clan withdrawing from Konoha in the shortest possible time is not rosy, nor is it likely to be a smooth road, but it is undoubtedly the best option for the Uchiha clan.

On December 30th, Konoha 49, on the third night after the conflict broke out.

The westernmost edge of the Uchiha clan's territory.

As night fell, thousands of shadowy figures, taking advantage of the darkness, quietly left their clan's settlement and arrived at a certain spot beneath the massive western wall of the village.

These people were the first members of the Uchiha clan to evacuate Konoha Village.

The majority of those inside were elderly people, women, and children from the same clan, including Shoji's grandmother, younger brother, and younger sister, as well as Mikoto with Itachi, Sasuke, and others.

The leaders were Uchiha Genran and Uchiha Chie, two of the eight elders. Although the eight elders had stated at the previous meeting that they would stay behind to cover the retreat, it was impossible for all the high-ranking members of the clan to stay behind. However, none of the eight elders wanted to leave early. Later, through a lottery, Elders Chie and Genran were selected as the first group to evacuate, leading the elderly, women, and children to leave ahead of time. Shisui served as a guard, leading more than two hundred adult clansmen, most of whom were awakened, to escort the first group of people away.

Shisui originally wanted to stay.

However, he was persuaded by a single sentence from Jiang Si.

“Zhishui, although the clan and the village have broken off relations, there is still some room for maneuver, which is not without the premise that the village does not suffer greater losses and that the vast majority of our clansmen can be safely evacuated.”

“This is a practical requirement, and it’s also the bottom line. I know what you’re worried about, but I assure you that I will try my best to avoid the most intense conflicts. Once the second batch of people’s evacuation is almost complete, I will immediately return to the village to cover the clan chief and the others’ retreat and ensure that the conflict is kept under control!”

106. The Beginning of the Great Evacuation

Do you believe it? Or do you not?

In this situation, even Shisui had no other choice. Unless he could really be as ruthless as Itachi in the original story and make the crazy decision to wipe out the clan, Shoji's proposal was the best option in this situation. Avoiding conflict was obviously 'naive'. Konoha would not easily agree to the Uchiha clan leaving, especially with Danzo Shimura. A clash was inevitable, but the key was the scale and extent of the conflict.

This is also the most contradictory aspect of Shisui himself, and he is clearly well aware of it.

But he understood the weight of Jiang Si's words. The safety of the vast majority, especially the elderly, women, and children in the first batch of evacuees, was the most basic premise. You know, more than a dozen clansmen had been driven to nervous breakdown by Shimura Danzo, and several of them were even in a state of 'near death'. It was almost impossible to suppress the anger of the entire clan.

At clan gatherings, the situation is only managed to be calmed down by talking about the survival and continuation of the clan and the safety of the vast majority of ordinary clan members. If these people were to have problems, it is hard to imagine how the emotions of the adult male clan members would reach a boiling point.

This is not an empty statement. Hiruzen Sarutobi may have some bottom line, but Danzo Shimura definitely did not. Protecting these clansmen was not only for the sake of the Uchiha clan, but also for the sake of the village.

These are the words that Shoji said to Shisui.

After Shisui grasped this meaning, he readily accepted the task, and it was before he finally left.

Shisui looked at Jiang Si and said, "Then, I'll leave the rest to you, Jiang Si. I hope you..."

"Don't worry, Shisui. As I said, my main purpose is to protect my family and clan, not to engage in meaningless killing. I can assure you of that!"

Before Zhi Shui could finish speaking.

The general nodded emphatically in response.

At most, the worst-case scenario would be a conflict with Hiruzen's Anbu and Danzo's Root. This would be the best possible outcome. Shoji believed that Shisui was prepared for this. Unlike Itachi, the psychopath in the original story, Shisui was always worried about the innocent villagers being affected.

A coup d'état is such a terrible thing.

But now the process and the result are completely different, especially after the clan chose to retreat. Even if a conflict breaks out, the location will be in the remote western part of the village, and at most some nearby ninja clans will be involved.

It has absolutely nothing to do with ordinary people.

If Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others had been more rational and calm, Konoha wouldn't have suffered any losses at all. On the surface, their fighting strength would have been reduced to the entire Uchiha clan. In terms of scale, Konoha would still be the largest ninja village in the ninja world, at least that's how it is in the original story, right?

"Okay, then!"

This can be considered Shisui's last bit of 'conscience for the greater good of the village'.

Shisui gave Jiang Si one last deep look, her eyes shifting slightly as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed it back in the end!

With a leap, he left his spot and went to carry out his guard duty.

As Jiang Si watched Shisui's departing figure and the vast number of clansmen traveling under the cover of night, a solemn expression appeared on his face. This was only the first batch, and the rest of them had to remain at the base, pretending that the Uchiha clan was still the same as before, including the normal patrols and early warnings in the security department.

This is just to prevent any accidents.

The configuration of each patrol team also changes, which can be done openly and honestly. The Uchiha clan has just broken ties with the village, so personnel changes within the clan are perfectly normal.

Moreover, there had just been an incident where patrol personnel were attacked by the Root.

To outsiders, including Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura, this seemed perfectly normal. When Danzo went to report the relevant information, it wasn't that Root had found any useful intelligence. Danzo himself also felt that the current changes in the Uchiha clan were within the normal range.

He simply wanted to force Hiruzen to use his skills again.

This is exactly the result that Shoji, Fugaku, and the others wanted to see.

To conceal their tracks as much as possible, as long as the first batch of over a thousand members of the clan—the weakest yet most important group—successfully leave the village, they have nothing to fear even if everything is exposed later. When Shoji suggested going to Iwagakure, there was an unspoken subtext: if the clan were to deviate from the plan and engage in a major battle with Konoha, resulting in too many adult clan members dying in battle, although it would indeed severely weaken the Uchiha clan, it would actually make them more easily accepted by Iwagakure and gain the trust of the Third Tsuchikage.

To put it bluntly, both Iwagakure and Kumogakure would be happy to accept the Uchiha clan and allow their villages to possess the unique and powerful Sharingan bloodline limit, even if it meant taking a certain degree of risk.

The fact that the Uchiha clan fought a major battle with Konoha when they broke away from the village further solidified the village's trust in them. To put it in the worst-case scenario, the more adult members of the Uchiha clan died, the happier these ninja villages would be to accept the Uchiha clan.

This was a possibility that Jiang Si had anticipated.

Of course, nothing is certain at the moment; the outcome is still uncertain.

Ultimately, the final decision rests with you, Hiruzen Sarutobi! Danzo Shimura!

With a flash, Jiang Si arrived at the top of his own camp's wall. Through the flickering starlight, he gazed at the true core and bustling area of ​​Konoha Village not far away. A murderous look appeared on his face as he murmured to himself.

The evacuation was relatively smooth. Although Shoji's ANBU identity had been stripped away that afternoon, the giant sensory barrier covering the entire Hidden Leaf Village couldn't be easily altered. With the information Shoji had gathered and the help of his clansmen who were skilled in barrier techniques, they managed to create a small opening in the sensory barrier that allowed four or five people to pass through together.

This allows the elderly, weak, women, and children, who have absolutely no power, to pass through quickly.

As for the outermost layer of the giant city wall, it was no problem at all. Starting at nightfall, these clansmen, led by Elder Xuanlan and Elder Qianhui, left Konoha one by one, carrying the necessary supplies.

In the vast Hidden Leaf Village, without any outsiders knowing the truth.

This marks the beginning of the Uchiha clan's grand retreat.

Even the Root and Anbu members monitoring the area around the Uchiha base couldn't detect anything unusual.

107. The smooth progress of the project

One reason is that the Uchiha clan has done an excellent job of concealment. With the clan's internal security now thoroughly strengthened, and members of the Anbu and Root unable to infiltrate and investigate, these people cannot possibly perceive the most fundamental changes.

Another crucial reason is that the monitoring points of the Root and Anbu members are almost all located in the eastern part of the clan's territory, keeping watch for the Uchiha clan launching an attack towards the village. This includes the other ninja clans that were previously assigned to the vicinity of the Uchiha clan's territory, which are distributed in the due east, northeast, and southeast directions.

Hiruzen, Danzo, and other high-ranking members of Konoha's F4 could never have imagined that the Uchiha clan would choose to leave Konoha. It's not that it's impossible; after all, as early as forty or fifty years ago, Madara Uchiha had already planned to lead the Uchiha clan away from Konoha, but at that time, almost everyone in the Uchiha clan opposed this move.

The Uchiha clan's subsequent actions all reflected their desire to seize supreme power over the village (according to Hiruzen and Danzo), and this fixed attitude limited their thinking.

This configuration is the best example of its kind.

To nip the Uchiha clan's rebellion in the bud, we must consider how to minimize the impact on ordinary areas after a coup d'état.

This perfectly aligns with Hiruzen Sarutobi's style of doing things, and ironically, it provided the Uchiha clan with an excellent opportunity to escape.

A quarter of the population moved.

With their location remaining undetected and providing the strongest possible cover, the first group of clansmen slowly but successfully left Konoha Village under the escort of the vanguard.

They sped towards the northwestern border region of the Land of Fire.

They will only consider resting after they are at least some distance away from Konoha Village.

If everything goes smoothly by then, the second batch of young men who are not ninjas in the clan can also join them. Only then will the clan's separation plan be truly completed, because the remaining people will be the strongest fighters in the clan. It's not that they can definitely evacuate easily, but that they can fight without any worries.

This is also the most crucial part of this evacuation plan.

Shoji, Fugaku, and the others hoped to buy as much time as possible. Throughout the night, beneath the seemingly peaceful exterior of the Uchiha clan, everyone was on edge. Even though Shoji, who was familiar with the original story, knew that Obito, the most likely troublemaker, was causing trouble in the Land of Water, and that Itachi, the clan's biggest and only traitor, was still in a normal state and there couldn't be a second spy within the clan, he was still on high alert, and could not afford to make the slightest mistake.

Even when the first batch of personnel were evacuating, Shoji deliberately kept a close watch on Uchiha Itachi during that period. Even if the probability was less than one in ten thousand, if Uchiha Itachi had already shown any "original story inclinations" during that time, he had to be completely controlled, even if he wasn't killed. This was also for the sake of the survival of the clan.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario didn't happen. As the evacuation began that night, watching Mikoto lead Itachi and Sasuke into the evacuation team and disappear into the darkness, Shoji finally breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn't want to see 7-year-old Itachi become so abnormal and twisted.

This is not only because Itachi is the son of Fugaku and Mikoto, but also because of the monstrous talent that Itachi Uchiha displayed in the original work. Although he may not awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan as early as he did in this life without the stimulation of Shisui's 'original storyline'.

However, Shoji believed that with Itachi's talent, there was a chance that he could awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan under other special circumstances. Even if the relevant conditions and scenarios were required, Shoji could find an opportunity to 'hypothesize' and create them.

This is one of the key figures for the Uchiha clan to establish themselves in the ninja world in the future, so Shoji naturally hopes that Itachi can be one of his own, not an enemy.