One hour later.
Outside Konohagakure.
"Konoha… I haven't come back for a long time, ever since I chose not to involve myself in shinobi affairs."
When Tsunade raised her head to look at the village gates before her, her eyes were filled with endless complexity.
With the speed of one of the Legendary Sannin, she could have returned to Konoha in less than a day.
But she had seventy-nine children with her, all still very young, and she had to take care of their food, water, and every need along the way.
Even with Jiraiya appearing midway to help, it had still taken them several days.
Jiraiya wore a look of utter exhaustion and despair. At this moment, two children sat on his left arm, three children on his right arm, and two more clung to his back.
"Finally… we're back…" Jiraiya was on the verge of tears. If he had known, he never would have given in to his curiosity and gone looking for Tsunade.
Who could have guessed he'd be dragged along by her, forced to work like a pack mule, without the slightest chance to refuse?
This trip had drained him completely.
Jiraiya felt that even if he had gone to fight Orochimaru in battle, he wouldn't have been this exhausted.
Although the orphans from Tanzaku Town were unexpectedly well-behaved, in the end, they were still just children.
"Never again do I want to look after a bunch of brats!" The fact that such a wail could be forced out of Jiraiya was proof enough of how tormenting the ordeal had been.
Tsunade ignored Jiraiya's lament. Upon returning to Konoha, she headed straight for the Hokage building.
There, she unexpectedly learned that the Third Hokage was not in the village.
"Invited by the Daimyō, to the capital of the Land of Fire?" Tsunade frowned, about to speak, when she suddenly ran into Utatane Koharu, who was just coming out of the Hokage's office.
Time had taken its toll—Koharu's face had grown increasingly aged, and for a moment Tsunade nearly failed to recognize her.
But Koharu recognized Tsunade at once.
"Tsunade? Oh, that's right… I remember now. Your disciple came back to Konoha ahead of you to inform us. She said you'd be returning soon, and that you'd be bringing seventy-nine orphans from Tanzaku Town. Those orphans she mentioned must be outside the building right now, correct?"
"Don't worry, Konoha won't mistreat these poor children of war. Besides, they've suffered greatly in Tanzaku Town. The orphanage in Konoha will take good care of them."
As she said this, Koharu's gaze shifted, almost involuntarily, toward Jiraiya beside Tsunade.
"But your disciple never mentioned that Jiraiya would be coming back as well."
Tsunade answered casually, "He just shamelessly tagged along halfway."
Jiraiya: "???"
Before Jiraiya could protest, Tsunade cut straight to the point: "There's no way the old man went to the capital simply at the Daimyō's invitation. I may not have proof, but my instincts and my gut tell me this matter isn't so simple, right?"
Koharu fell silent, not expecting Tsunade to raise the topic.
But she didn't elaborate much. She only replied, "Tsunade, you've already decided not to involve yourself in shinobi affairs."
Seeing Koharu's expression was off, Jiraiya narrowed his eyes and said, "To be honest, I'm curious as well. Surely it wouldn't hurt to tell us? Advisor Utatane Koharu?"
"…It's related to Uchiha Keizumi."
Koharu's words carried a heavy weight: "Hiruzen suspects that Uchiha Keizumi intends to assassinate the Daimyō of the Land of Fire. I think you two can already guess what Hiruzen plans to do, can't you?"
Jiraiya: "!!!"
Tsunade: "!!!"
"Assassinate the Daimyō? What kind of nonsense is that?" Tsunade muttered with furrowed brows. "That Uchiha brat would never assassinate a Daimyō."
Koharu gave a cold laugh, as if Tsunade were looking at Uchiha Keizumi through a filter of bias.
Just as she was about to retort, she heard Tsunade continue: "If he truly wanted to kill the Daimyō, he'd do it openly, right in the light of day."
"…No, that's not quite right."
Tsunade rubbed her chin, murmuring in thought, "If he truly wanted to kill the Daimyō, then he wouldn't stop at just one Daimyō of the Land of Fire. I fear… quite a few people in the capital would meet their end."
"That brat despises villains. In his eyes, no matter how special someone's status is, if they commit evil, they are a villain. And villains must face judgment in the name of justice."
Tsunade smacked fist into palm, suddenly enlightened: "If he's in the capital of the Land of Fire, then he'll definitely turn the place into a river of blood! The capital won't be any better off than Tanzaku Town!"
Utatane Koharu: "…"
No.
What was with that faint trace of excitement in your tone?
Realizing that Uchiha Keizumi might really commit such an atrocious act—shouldn't you be as furious about it as I am?
Koharu felt that Tsunade's way of thinking was more than a little off.
But then again, could anyone with a "normal" mindset abandon her responsibilities as one of Konoha's Sannin, leave the village for so many years, and spend her days buried in gambling?
At that thought, Koharu's impression of Tsunade dropped even lower.
Her face remained expressionless as she said coldly, "If Uchiha Keizumi truly does such a thing, then Hiruzen will see to it that he never leaves the capital of the Land of Fire. Because what he's done would cross the bottom line for everyone."
"The nobility, the Daimyō—they must never be touched!"
…
Within the Uchiha compound.
The tense confrontation had dragged on for a full hour. On the faces of Uchiha Setsuna and several of the radical elders was an expression so dark it seemed like it could drip with venom.
Every one of their sharp, vicious gazes was fixed upon Uchiha Fugaku and the two moderate elders he had brought with him.
There was no need to guess—outside this hall, there was surely a gathering of many among the younger generation of the Uchiha Clan.
And they were already divided into two opposing camps.
Although the radicals now outnumbered the moderates, if the two sides truly resorted to violence, it would only hand an easy victory to the higher-ups of Konoha.
No matter how radical Uchiha Setsuna was, he understood clearly: to clash with Fugaku by force would end with only one result—mutual defeat.
His side would lose.
Fugaku's side would lose.
And Konoha would win.
That was the outcome Setsuna found most intolerable. So intolerable that even after an entire hour of deadlock, he still had not given the order to strike. He only sat rigidly in place, unmoving.
"Fugaku, you and your men… do you mean to wait here until the Third Hokage arrives in Konoha?" Setsuna, ever the impatient type, finally broke the silence he had endured for an hour.
"You intend to stand against the Uchiha Clan itself? To be Uchiha and yet show such cowardice—this is nothing but a disgrace to our clan!"
"The history of the Uchiha will remember you. You will be nailed forever to the pillar of shame in the clan's history!"
Every word Setsuna spat sounded like it was forced out from between clenched teeth, showing just how much fury he was holding back, ready to erupt.
Fugaku's face remained cold and expressionless as he answered, "Setsuna-senpai, the one who deserves to be nailed to the pillar of shame in history is you. What you are doing will bring no benefit to the Uchiha Clan. It will only drag us deeper into the abyss."
"You've never once considered what consequences your actions would bring upon the Uchiha. You've never considered how many ripple effects they would cause. Your actions are nothing but reckless indulgence."
"And you… you do not even understand how vast Konoha's power truly is. Your arrogance, your conceit, your pride—they will only get every last member of the Uchiha Clan killed."
Uchiha Setsuna was nearly losing control under Fugaku's rebuttal.
His withered hand clutched tightly at his knee as he ground his teeth and snapped, "I will be the one to doom the entire Uchiha Clan? Fugaku! That's something you should be saying to your eldest son instead!"
"You want to convince me? Fine then! If you, Uchiha Fugaku, truly act for the sake of the clan, then kill your eldest son right here and now. Do that, and I'll believe you!"
"If you can't, then you're nothing more than the Hokage's dog!"
His eyes bored into Fugaku.
"I will never allow the Hokage's dog to serve as head of the Uchiha Clan!"
"Fugaku! You're unworthy of this position! As an elder of the clan, I hereby call for a new election for clan head!"
Uchiha Setsuna had, in his fury, torn the last veil of restraint to shreds.
The radical elders at his side immediately voiced their agreement.
One of them declared, "Fugaku, according to the clan rules passed down for generations, if three or more elders believe the current head lacks virtue or competence, we have the right to hold a new election within the Uchiha Clan."
Another radical elder added, "Fugaku, your weakness has completely disappointed us. Since that is the case, then we'll proceed according to the clan's laws and choose a new clan head."
"Rest assured, the rules don't demand the complete expulsion of a clan head judged unworthy. As someone who has already served, you still have the right to take part in the election."
"As for whether you'll continue as clan head—that will depend entirely on how much support you have within the Uchiha."
With that, the elder tucked his hands into his sleeves, his demeanor calm and aloof, as though he had no more to say.
Now it was Fugaku's turn for his expression to darken.
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