harleyscars Chapter 263 A Narrow Victory
Chapter 263 A Narrow Victory
Chapter 263 A Minor Victory
A week later, Fugaku Uchiha finally gained the support of most of the clans.
Therefore, he demanded that the village severely punish Danzo, citing Danzo of Root's alleged condoning of his subordinates' attempt to kill Uchiha Yohei and seize the Uchiha Sharingan.
Originally, Hiruzen Sarutobi and the two advisor elders didn't take it seriously. After all, some time had passed, and there was no point in bringing it up again. Besides, the Uchiha had made many suggestions, but they were all ruthlessly rejected.
However, this time, the situation was far beyond their expectations. First, the Hyuga, Kurama, and Gekko clans, among others, seconded the motion, and then the Ino-Shika-Cho, Aburame, and Inu clans, among others, followed suit.
Now Hiruzen Sarutobi dared not underestimate them anymore. These clans that had endorsed the movement accounted for almost 70% of Konoha's power. If they joined forces, they could even impeach him as Hokage.
At this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi realized that the breakthrough the Uchiha were looking for was not the life or death of one person, but the fact that Root was actually trying to seize the Sharingan.
Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately pulled out the report that Jiraiya had given him and read it carefully again. Sure enough, when describing Uchiha Yohei's attack, it mentioned that the enemy tried to gouge out Yohei's eyes as soon as they made a move.
However, this description was too simplistic, and I was distracted by Danzo's series of outrageous actions, which is why I didn't think about seizing the bloodline limit.
He didn't doubt the authenticity of Jiraiya's report. Since it was submitted, it must have been verified from various aspects. At least, the act of gouging out eyes did indeed occur at the time.
Now, Hiruzen Sarutobi had a headache, and Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado also had headaches.
Danzo is absolutely capable of stealing Sharingan eyes. As far as they know, there are more than one pair of Sharingan eyes in the Root base; those were obtained from the eyes of Uchiha who died in battle.
But now, someone has seized on this as leverage.
"Hiruzen, these Uchiha are outrageous! What are they trying to do? Are they planning a rebellion?" Mitokado Homura had never liked the Uchiha clan, and now that he had the chance, he naturally wanted to thoroughly disgust them.
"Shut up, Yan. Watch your words. The Uchiha are simply raising their legitimate demands. Don't they even have the right to voice their opinions?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi was truly enraged this time. Was Homura Mitokado a pig-brain? The Uchiha clan now had the support of the vast majority of Konoha's clans. Instead of trying to minimize the losses, he wanted to escalate the conflict between the two sides. Did he really think that many clans were pushovers?
Koharu, who was in the same dormitory, also tugged at Mitokado Homura from behind, signaling him to shut up.
"Hiruzen, calm down. Yan is just worried and confused. But I think the Uchiha only said to punish severely, but didn't say how they would punish. That means they're still leaving us room to maneuver. All we need to do is negotiate the terms."
Koharu Utatane's analysis solved Hiruzen Sarutobi's immediate problem.
As Koharu Utatane had said, when Hiruzen Sarutobi intended to discuss the handling of the Yohei incident with the Uchiha clan, it wasn't just Fugaku Uchiha who came; Hiashi Hyuga and Inoichi Yamanaka also arrived.
One represented a bloodline family, and the other represented a secret arts family; they came together to witness this negotiation.
This is because this matter is no longer just about the Uchiha clan, but involves a power struggle between the village and these clans.
"Fugaku, I never expected that this would involve the struggle for the Sharingan. The Southern Front's report only mentioned it briefly, which I overlooked. Look how far this has gone, it has even alarmed everyone."
Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately used a feigned retreat to advance, leaving Fugaku with a bellyful of questions to keep to himself.
They've already admitted their mistake, so you can't keep pressing the issue. They're the real Hokage, after all. If you really piss them off, nobody will get away with it.
"Lord Hokage, you flatter me. Everyone makes mistakes sometimes. As long as we resolve the matter in the end, it's all just a minor issue."
"Yes, we must prioritize the overall situation. Although Konoha currently holds the advantage on all three fronts, each advantage is hard-won. If we make any mistakes, these advantages will be lost."
I really don't want any more turmoil on the front lines; otherwise, more than just one or two ninjas will die.
Hiruzen Sarutobi played the emotional card, and he did it very well. Not to mention Hiashi and Inoichi who were watching from the sidelines, even Fugaku was moved. There were quite a few Uchiha ninjas serving on the front lines, and Danzo also had many Uchiha ninjas under his command.
"Lord Hokage, please speak frankly about how to handle this matter. After all, this matter has developed to the point where it is no longer just a matter for my family. My Uchiha clan is merely a representative of all the clans in Konoha this time."
Fugaku's words are quite interesting. By hiding himself among the entire Konoha clan, he wouldn't be so conspicuous, could still achieve his goals, and could also ease tensions between the Uchiha and all the Konoha clans. It was a win-win-win situation.
Hiruzen Sarutobi gave Fugaku Uchiha a deep look, realizing for the first time how difficult it was to deal with the head of the Uchiha clan.
"Alright, then I won't say much more. As for Danzo's punishment, he will be stripped of his position as an elder. However, considering that he and Root are both on the western front resisting the attack of Iwagakure, his positions as commander of the western front and leader of Root will be temporarily suspended. We will decide on the situation after the war ends."
Furthermore, I can guarantee that nothing like this will ever happen again. If it happens again, I will kill you without mercy.
Finally, regarding Uchiha Yohei, I will promote him to Jonin and give him a chance to choose a ninjutsu from the Scroll of Seals.
"Fugaku, what do you think of this approach?"
Upon hearing this, Fugaku Uchiha couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Taiichi had indeed guessed correctly. Removing Danzo's highest title would quell everyone's anger, but Danzo himself would not be punished, and Yohei would also receive some compensation. This should be the final answer.
He glanced at Hiashi and Inoichi sitting to the side. What he had just said wasn't just an excuse; it was simply that the Uchiha clan wasn't entirely in charge now, and he also had to consider the demands of other clans.
Hiashi and Inoichi exchanged a glance and immediately understood each other's meaning. In fact, as long as the Hokage could guarantee that he would not steal the bloodline limit and secret techniques of other clans in the future, that was fine. As for the rest, it was the Uchiha's business and had nothing to do with them.
Seeing the two nod, Fugaku said directly, "Hokage-sama, let's do it this way. I also hope that Konoha will become more and more prosperous under your leadership."
After chatting for a while to build rapport, the group said their goodbyes and left. As for their true feelings, at least on the surface, they all seemed to have a pleasant conversation.
Soon, a notice was officially issued, which downplayed the seriousness of the matter and stated that Danzo was responsible for serious dereliction of duty, which led to his subordinates making a big mistake and Danzo himself was also responsible for poor leadership. He was now stripped of his position as an elder of Konoha and sent to the front lines to atone for his crimes.
Once the announcement was released, those in the know understood. Some were overjoyed, while others remained indignant. But the storm that had lasted for about half a month had finally subsided temporarily.
Western Front, Central Command Tent.
At this time, only Danzo and his loyal subordinates from the Root clan were in the tent.
When the village's punishment decision was delivered to him, he could hardly believe it was real, but then, he soared to the sky—
His anger surged to the top of his head, almost burning away his reason.
After finally calming down, he saw the intelligence sent along with the punishment decision. After understanding the whole story, he couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
He only did so out of habit, as he had already collected quite a few Sharingan, and this was a pair of Mangekyou Sharingan, which were of extraordinary value for research and other purposes.
Unexpectedly, this move allowed the Uchiha to seize the opportunity and unite all the bloodline and secret technique clans of Konoha to launch a joint condemnation. Fortunately, he was on the front line, otherwise, not only would he lose his position as an elder, but he would also lose his position as the leader of Root.
After reviewing the intelligence report again from beginning to end, Danzo felt an inexplicable sense of unease. The report described Fugaku Uchiha as extremely shrewd, demonstrating remarkable control over his clan members, decisiveness in uniting with other ninja clans, and even his measured approach to the final negotiations.
He showed no signs of his usual indecisiveness, which made Danzo certain that there was someone behind Fugaku Uchiha advising him, but he couldn't figure out who that person was.
But in any case, this feud has been formed. After he finishes dealing with the Iwagakure on the other side, he must find a way to completely eliminate the Uchiha clan when he gets back. After all, only the dead Uchiha are the good Uchiha, and Danzo has always firmly believed in this.
Land of Hot Water, Konoha Camp.
When the information about Danzo's punishment was delivered here, Taiichi had just finished a day's combat mission and returned to the camp to rest. Looking at the intelligence that Orochimaru had specially sent someone to deliver, Taiichi was not surprised at all.
As he had predicted, Danzo was at most given a minor punishment, and the talk of punishing him after the war was just empty talk.
However, this wasn't without its gains. He understood the Uchiha's attitude and also laid a good foundation for the Uchiha to reintegrate into Konoha, so it was all worth it.
Putting aside intelligence, Taiyi's current focus should be on the situation on the northern front.
The brief truce between Konoha and Kumogakure has ended, and the ninjas from both villages are once again fighting on the front lines.
However, unlike previous battles, Kumogakure seemed to have realized that Miyo was not someone to be trifled with. They changed their previous aggressive combat strategy and took the initiative to withdraw from all their strongholds in the Land of Hot Springs, and directly redeployed their defenses in the Land of the Moon.
On Konoha's side, Orochimaru originally wanted to press his advantage, but under the village's orders, he ultimately stopped at the border of the Land of Hot Springs.
As for why, it's quite simple. The Land of Fire, which occupies the most fertile land in the ninja world, has no intention of expanding its territory, and Konoha Village doesn't want to fight to the death with Kumogakure. If both sides can maintain the current situation, that would be the best situation for Konoha.
The Hidden Cloud Village seemed to have understood the Leaf Village's intentions, and the two sides returned to the small-team offensive and defensive battles that ninjas were good at, instead of the large-scale battles that had been frequent before.
The intensity of combat on the entire battlefield has been decreasing, and Taiyi is now much freer. He even has the leisure to arrange for a shadow clone to follow Orochimaru and conduct research.
"Taiichi, there's probably no one else in the entire Hidden Leaf Village who can use Shadow Clone Technique to your level!"
Orochimaru repeatedly expressed his envy towards Taichi, saying that he could also create shadow clones, not just six, but even sixty. However, he couldn't maintain six shadow clones at all times like Taichi.
Tai initially thought that as long as his physical condition and mental strength were high enough, maintaining more shadow clones to work around the clock would be a natural thing.
But as his strength grew and he came into contact with more people, he realized something was wrong. Even though Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru, who were all Kage-level powerhouses, had incredibly high mental and physical abilities, they didn't maintain shadow clones like Taichi did all the time.
Thinking back to the original work, it seems that only Naruto often maintained Shadow Clones for long periods of time for training, but he was not like Taichi, who maintained Shadow Clones all day long.
Only then did Taichi realize that he possessed this unique talent in his shadow clones, which was why he was able to have such strength at such a young age.
Taiichi simply smiled and didn't respond to Orochimaru's words. Instead, he changed the subject: "Orochimaru has been spending more and more time on research lately. Isn't that a bit much? There's fighting going on at the front lines every single moment."
"I have to thank Taiyi for your shadow clones, they relieved a lot of the pressure for me. Besides, this is a battlefield, and there are plenty of research materials here that are usually hard to come by. If I don't seize this opportunity, I won't have so many materials to study in the future."
Orochimaru didn't care. He kept talking to Taichi, but his hands never stopped moving.
This was the fourth time Taiichi had worked alongside Orochimaru on research. Orochimaru truly lived up to his reputation as a mad scientist; even on the battlefield, he would conduct various research projects whenever he had the time.
There are ninjutsu research, cursed seal research, biological research and so on. Orochimaru called Taichi along not only because Taichi also has a research spirit, but also because he was impressed by Taichi's medical skills.
It must be said that Taiichi's medical ninjutsu has now reached a very high level. Coupled with his profound Yang attribute nature transformation, ordinary patients can be saved in front of Taiichi as long as they do not die immediately.
This ability proved incredibly useful in Orochimaru's experiments. Many biological experiments failed because the subjects couldn't withstand the strain, but Taichi's involvement significantly reduced the mortality rate of the subjects, providing the experiments with much more valuable data.
In Taiyi's view, at least at this stage, Orochimaru's experiments were far too crude, especially in biological experiments. Without prior research or animal testing, he directly conducted human experiments on prisoners, which was simply disregarding human life.
Taiichi had warned Orochimaru before, but all he got in return was Orochimaru's disdainful mockery. In his words, there were plenty of test subjects on the battlefield now; if one died, they could just capture another, and there was no need to slow down the efficiency of the experiments.
Taiyi was powerless to do anything about it. After trying to persuade him many times without success, he gave up. Everyone has to be responsible for their own actions.
It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. After experiencing such a comfortable experimental environment, will Orochimaru be able to adapt when he returns to the previous conditions where experimental subjects were scarce?
This might also be the reason why Orochimaru later secretly captured his own villagers for experiments.