After seeing Orochimaru off, Uchiha Ren and the others did not disperse. Instead, they remained and continued discussing their plans.
The Second Elder, Uchiha Ya, spoke first.
"Today's Jōnin Council meeting truly opened my eyes. I never imagined that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō would one day completely tear their alliance apart!"
"Yes," Uchiha Setsuna agreed with a sigh. "Judging from Hiruzen Sarutobi's performance today, while he was dealing with Shimura Danzō, he also didn't want to offend the Uchiha Clan. In this situation, we've become the fishermen who benefit from the fight between the snipe and the clam."
Because of the coup incident in the past, Uchiha Setsuna had long carried the label of a major criminal of Konoha. Unless absolutely necessary, he rarely left the Uchiha Clan Compound. He had never expected that there would come a day when his reputation could be cleared.
Yet today, while targeting Shimura Danzō, Hiruzen Sarutobi had indirectly helped him restore his standing. It was truly an unexpected gain.
Fugaku Uchiha also spoke.
"Now that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō have completely fallen out, our Uchiha Clan has instead become the bystander—someone both sides need to win over. The more fiercely the two of them fight, the more advantageous it is for us."
Uchiha Setsuna continued,
"The only troublesome thing is that today we allowed Shimura Danzō to completely distance himself from the human experimentation issue. If we want to use that excuse against him in the future, it probably won't work anymore."
"That man Shimura Danzō has absolutely used members of the Uchiha Clan for human experiments. Letting him go like this, without seeking justice for our clansmen… I truly can't accept it!"
Earlier during the meeting, when Hiruzen Sarutobi exposed Danzō's human experimentation, Uchiha Setsuna had wanted to immediately step forward and strike at Danzō—but Uchiha Ren had stopped him.
Ren spoke calmly,
"There's no need to rush, Elder. Hiruzen Sarutobi's goal today was merely to strip Shimura Danzō of his eligibility to run for the Fourth Hokage, as well as remove his positions as Konoha Elder and Hokage Advisor. Even if we had joined in attacking him, at most those titles would have been taken away."
"For us, even cutting Danzō into a thousand pieces wouldn't be excessive. But if we took a side today, not only would we fail to achieve the outcome we truly want, we would also alert the enemy prematurely. The loss would outweigh the gain."
"Rest assured—whether it's Shimura Danzō, Hiruzen Sarutobi, or Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, they're all like grasshoppers after autumn. They won't be able to jump around much longer."
Uchiha Setsuna nodded. Since Uchiha Ren already had his own plan, there was no need for him to say anything further.
Fugaku Uchiha then asked,
"Clan Leader, there are still three days until the Fourth Hokage election. During these three days, neither Hiruzen Sarutobi nor Shimura Danzō will likely remain idle. Should our Uchiha Clan take any action?"
"Do nothing," Ren said, shaking his head.
"The anxious ones right now aren't us—it's Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō. All we need to do is sit quietly and wait for them to come to us with their offers."
Fugaku continued,
"Then during the election in three days, who will we support? Do we still need to keep playing along with Shimura Danzō?"
Ren pondered for a moment before replying,
"To be safe, the Jōnin confidence votes in our hands should ultimately go to Minato Namikaze. However, we cannot fall out with Shimura Danzō just yet—otherwise he might lash out in desperation."
"But even if we intend to vote for Minato, we absolutely cannot show it. Otherwise, Hiruzen Sarutobi won't be willing to make concessions to buy our support."
"So for now, maintain the status quo. Turning against them at the final moment won't be too late."
Fugaku and the other two elders nodded in agreement. None of them had any objections to Ren's plan.
After a pause, Ren continued,
"Although we won't involve ourselves in village affairs over the next few days, we still need to handle our own preparations."
"You all heard what I said to Orochimaru earlier. Within a year at most, a war that will sweep across the entire shinobi world will begin. The time left for us is already running short."
"Once Minato Namikaze takes office, the Konoha Military Police Force must immediately begin reforms. After this meeting, Fugaku, please go find Uncle Uchiha Yashiro and have him organize all the Police Force records as quickly as possible. We need a preliminary reform proposal."
Fugaku nodded.
"Don't worry. Yashiro has already organized most of the documents. You've also already determined the general direction of the reform. We just need to fill in some details—three days is more than enough."
"Good."
Ren continued,
"Originally, according to the plan Minato and I made, once he took office he would find an excuse to remove the current ANBU Commander, and I would take the position."
"But things worked out even better. Although the previous assassination attempt failed to kill Hiruzen Sarutobi, his son—Sarutobi Shinnosuke, the current ANBU Commander—was killed during the attack."
"So now we don't even need an excuse."
"Once Minato Namikaze becomes Hokage, I will naturally assume the position of ANBU Commander as well."
"However, among Konoha's six major departments, the positions are traditionally held by different individuals. Therefore, it would no longer be appropriate for me to simultaneously serve as the head of the Konoha Military Police Force."
"At that time, Fugaku, I'll have to trouble you to once again take up the position of Chief of the Konoha Military Police Force."
Fugaku did not refuse.
"We're all family. It doesn't matter who holds the title of Police Force Chief."
However, Uchiha Ya frowned slightly.
"Clan Leader, the position of ANBU Commander is extremely important. Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others probably won't allow us to take it so easily."
Ren responded with a cold laugh.
"The ANBU is a special force that answers directly to the Hokage. Personnel appointments within it can be decided with a single word from the Hokage."
"Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others are dissatisfied, what reason could they possibly use to oppose it?"
Uchiha Setsuna added,
"But the ANBU has been under Hiruzen Sarutobi's control for decades. Most of its members are his trusted subordinates. If he causes trouble behind the scenes, even if you become ANBU Commander, it may be difficult to properly exercise your authority."
Ren shook his head.
"As I said before, the ANBU answers only to the Hokage."
"If some people have placed their loyalties in the wrong place, then we'll simply replace them all."
"After all, our Uchiha Clan already has many capable ninja without official posts. Once the Konoha Military Police reforms begin, a number of elite Uchiha shinobi will also be freed up."
"Together with the Hyūga Clan's shinobi, even if we replace every current member of the ANBU, it won't be a problem."
"So there's no need to worry."
"The ANBU is already in our pocket."
Author's Note :
Hey everyone! I've fixed the issue now. The wrong chapters were accidentally uploaded on Webnovel, but I've reuploaded the correct chapters, so everything should be sorted now. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for your patience and understanding. I'll make sure this doesn't happen again.
Also, I'll be adding some extra chapters on Webnovel today. Hope you enjoy reading them!
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