Konoha: Offer your heart to the Hokage!

Chapter 86 Heroes Search for Heroes, Good Men Search for Good Men (5K)

Hashirama Senju's expression revealed an undisguised exhaustion, and his mental state deteriorated rapidly.

Even the most naive and idealistic person would inevitably have doubts after such an event. Would the peace they painstakingly built by uniting the four major powers continue after their passing?

"Sigh, things have come to this point. Let's find the culprit and give Yunyin an explanation first."

He seemed to have made a vow, agreeing not to attack ninjas from other countries in exchange for gaining invincible power.

Uchiha Chiri, who was still working at the Ninja Academy, was immediately summoned to the Hokage's office by the Anbu.

She sat side by side with Shen, opposite Hashirama, her expression calm: "Hokage-sama, you wanted to see me?"

“Chiri.” Hashirama didn’t know how to begin, so he explained the situation first, and then asked, “Do you know who else in the Uchiha clan has awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan?”

"kaleidoscope……"

Uchiha Chiri's eyes flickered slightly: "No new Mangekyou Sharingan have been added to the Uchiha clan in recent years. All Uchiha who died in missions have been registered, and their eyes have all been recovered. The only one whose situation is unknown is Uchiha Yan, who defected six years ago."

At that time, her Sharingan only had two tomoe.

Mentioning this name, Hashirama fell into memories. Six years ago, Tobirama had urged him to investigate the matter thoroughly, but at the time, he had told the Uchiha clan to handle it themselves by issuing a clan mission, citing it as a family matter.

"Judging from that, it can only be her." Hashirama Senju sighed, "Six years, and she evolved from a two-tomoe Sharingan to a Mangekyou Sharingan. She has great talent. If only she hadn't defected."

“Uchiha Yan…” Zhili paused, then said, “Before she defected, her talent was only average. It’s probably something she went through in the last few years that caused her eyes to evolve.”

"Hmm." Hashirama nodded. "The Uchiha have spent so many years trying to capture her. What difficulties have they encountered?"

Chiri stated frankly, "In the first few years, there were people who resembled her going to underground gold exchange shops to exchange bounties. The most recent time was three years ago when the Uchiha Investigation Team discovered her activities in the Land of Rice Fields, after which she disappeared without a trace."

Hashirama Senju nodded thoughtfully. "The Land of Rice Fields? That place is indeed quite large. It's possible that she has already fled to another country."

"Chiri, please send more Uchiha personnel to expand the search area in the Land of Rice Fields. I will have someone notify the Akatsuki ninja village in the Land of Rice Fields and ask them to assist in the investigation. In addition, the Anbu will also be dispatched to conduct a search from the northern part of the Land of Fire, country by country..."

“I’m sorry, but this time I can’t hand her over to the Uchiha clan again. Once I’ve located her, I will personally take her down and execute her. This matter needs to be addressed to Kumogakure.”

Shen Er's eyebrows twitched...

Are you kidding me? You're going to take action yourself?

He spoke up to stop them, saying, "This is inappropriate."

"Huh? What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Hashirama asked, looking puzzled.

Shen Er bluntly stated: "We really need to capture this Uchiha Yan. If we let her roam the ninja world, and something like this happens again, it will damage Konoha's reputation."

"But the person ultimately responsible for arresting her must not be you."

"Ultimately, this matter doesn't affect Konoha's strategic security; it's just a rogue ninja causing trouble. Every ninja village has rogue ninjas. Does it mean that the Kage of a village has to personally intervene just to catch one rogue ninja?"

"The rules need to be set now. The ninja who have defected from the ninja village should be handled by the Anbu. In addition, we have asked Akatsuki for assistance. This is enough to show Konoha's sincerity."

“You are the Hokage. If you leave your village to carry out a mission in order to give other ninja villages an explanation, it will only make people think that ‘the Hokage can be driven around at will.’”

"The Hokage needs authority! You may think it's unimportant, but it's very important for the future Hokage of Konoha."

His words were well-reasoned and supported by evidence.

This caused Hashirama, who had already made up his mind to handle the matter personally, to hesitate.

"Shen'er is right!"

Just then, Tobirama Senju, who should have been on vacation at home, arrived at the Hokage Building without anyone noticing.

Hashirama Senju looked at him: "Tobirama, what brings you here?"

"I came here as soon as I heard about it."

He unusually sided with Shen on this important matter, saying in a deep voice, "Shen is right! If the Hokage has to personally capture all the rogue ninjas, what is the point of the Anbu's existence?"

"If in the future, other ninja villages send people to impersonate Konoha's rogue ninjas, wouldn't the Hokage be held responsible for it?"

"Professional matters should be left to professional organizations!"

"Konoha is already being very generous by covering Illaoi's follow-up treatment costs."

Six years ago, Tobirama advocated for immediate intervention in Uchiha En's defection;

Six years later, however, he gave a completely opposite opinion.

The reason is simple: times have changed.

After the Five Kage Summit peace treaty was signed, Konoha certainly couldn't openly take any action against the four great nations, at least not while Hashirama was still alive.

At this point, the value of a rogue Uchiha ninja who actively attacks other ninja villages and possesses the Mangekyou Sharingan becomes apparent. He can annoy other ninja villages without causing any real damage to Konoha, at most drawing some moral condemnation.

Konoha rogue ninja? What does that have to do with Konoha?

The more rogue ninja like this, the better. As long as she doesn't cause trouble on Fire Country's home soil, she can run wild wherever she wants. Not only should Konoha not arrest her, but they should also secretly interfere with Kumogakure to prevent them from capturing her.

This is what Tobirama Senju was thinking.

Hashirama had no idea that he was now deep in thought.

The more people support him, the more it proves he is right; if people oppose him, it proves he is wrong.

The more Tobirama supports him, the more it proves that he is right; if Tobirama opposes him, it proves that Tobirama is wrong.

However, if his brothers and friends are all against him, it means he is on the wrong path.

It seems that he really can't deal with this rogue ninja, Uchiha Yan, personally. Hashirama stopped insisting and agreed to their plan: "Alright, I will explain this plan to the envoys from Kumogakure."

"Konoha's Anbu will handle this matter."

Everything has settled down.

However, at this moment, he went a step further and said, "I think that the attacker may not necessarily be Uchiha Yan."

"Not Uchiha Yan? Then who is it?" Hashirama asked, puzzled. "Chiri also said that she is the only Uchiha whose whereabouts are unknown."

“Missing can also be interpreted as being dead or alive.” Shen’er spoke calmly, analyzing slowly, “A ninja whose fate is unknown can also be assumed to be dead. After all, the Uchiha investigation team last discovered her whereabouts three years ago, didn’t they?”

"Another possibility is that Uchiha Yan was murdered and had his eyes stolen three years ago after he awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan."

"If that's the case, I suggest we don't reveal Uchiha Yan's identity yet. Let the Anbu investigate first, and we'll talk about it once we've confirmed the attacker's identity."

Uchiha Chiri felt a warmth in her heart. After such a big incident, he was still so determined to protect the interests of the Uchiha clan. How could she not be moved?

"it is good!"

When it came to protecting the interests of the villagers, Hashirama readily agreed. He immediately asked, "How many secret agents should we send to investigate?"

Since this involved the Anbu, Uchiha Chiri took the initiative to avoid suspicion, standing up and saying, "I'll be leaving now."

After she left, Shen Er said, "The enemy is a ninja with the Mangekyou Sharingan. We don't have enough people to control the situation. Too many people will hinder the village's normal defense deployment... Sending out a squad is just right."

"How about sending Kenji Uchiha's First Division?" Hashirama suggested.

Tobirama immediately spoke up: "That's not appropriate."

As the de facto Hokage of Konoha, Tobirama was not allowed to participate in the daily training of the Anbu. However, he had a complete list of Anbu personnel: "Uchiha Kenji is Uchiha Yan's nephew, and according to the rules, he should recuse himself from this pursuit mission."

"Send the Second Division."

"Second Division Captain Shimura Danzo is my disciple."

The simple phrase "He is my disciple" explained everything, and Hashirama understood.

Tobirama's disciples are undoubtedly powerful. They show no empathy or favoritism towards the Uchiha clan, and without external pressure, they will spontaneously and wholeheartedly pursue and apprehend the attacker suspected to be Uchiha Yanagi.

But Hashirama overlooked one point.

This is because Shimura Danzo was a disciple of Senju Tobirama.

Therefore, if Tobirama asks him to investigate, he will investigate diligently; if Tobirama secretly signals him to stop and avoid the situation, he will do so without hesitation.

Tobirama's idea was simple.

His two most outstanding disciples were Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura.

Hiruzen Sarutobi is upright and honest, suited to the light of day, but not to the dark and shady ways; while Danzo Shimura is ruthless and decisive, with a similar level of resolve and ninja way.

By having Danzo take over this pursuit mission, he can keep the entire investigation process firmly in his own hands.

This approach can both advance the situation and prevent it from spiraling out of control.

For Danzo, this was also a rare opportunity for training.

Shen Er had no objection to this arrangement.

It doesn't matter who investigates; with Akatsuki as cover, even if Konoha's Anbu searched high and low in the Land of Rice Fields, they wouldn't find Uchiha Yan's whereabouts. And even if they did find him, he wouldn't be a match for the Mangekyou Sharingan.

That's why it's emphasized that Hashirama shouldn't personally get involved.

Uchiha Yan's Mangekyou Sharingan can withstand three more high-intensity battles.

However, one cannot completely exhaust one's blindness; a certain amount of durability must be reserved for experiments with the eternal kaleidoscope.

After calculation, there are actually only two uses left.

One of the times was reserved for Uchiha Bin, to knock him unconscious and kidnap him during a battle.

As for the last one...

Depending on the subsequent situation, if necessary, we can take the initiative to eliminate Shimura Danzo.

One darkness in the ninja world is enough.

After the decision was reached, the Cloud Village delegation was summoned again.

As agreed, Hashirama only gave Kumogakure a promise: Konoha would dispatch its Anbu to thoroughly investigate the matter, but that was all; they didn't even reveal the attacker's specific identity to Kumogakure.

finally.

At sunset.

Hashirama watched the Cloud Village delegation leave Konoha, and he sighed softly.

It was clear to everyone that the people of Yunyin were harboring a deep resentment. He could only secretly hope that they would find the murderer as soon as possible and give Yunyin an explanation. Then, he hoped that time would slowly dissipate this resentment, allowing all parties to understand each other's difficulties.

however……

Hashirama's hopes were destined to be dashed.

The Battle of Yunlei Gorge was merely a prelude, bringing to light the latent conflicts between the various ninja villages.

This is the first time; there will be countless more.