Hokage's office.
Senju Tobirama was roaring, killing intent flooding the room. Even though that pure murderous pressure wasn't aimed at him, the Anbu kneeling on one knee still felt a chill crawl over his body.
Tobirama's breathing came fast.
He drained the tea before him and forced his fury down.
As a veteran shinobi, he knew anger clouded judgment, and decisions made without reason were prone to error.
Gradually calming, Tobirama began to press for the full story. The most important thing now was to figure out what that innately malicious Uchiha brat, Uchiha Makoto, was doing in Konoha with those Uchiha elders behind his back.
Before long,
Tobirama knew everything.
"Bastard. It has to be Uchiha Makoto scheming for the Uchiha behind the scenes."
"Otherwise those geezers would never have taken the initiative to contact the Konoha clans."
"This is troublesome."
In Tobirama's view,
when the Uchiha were gathered, they were a single hard lump of filth; scattered, they were splatter everywhere. Given the choice between one solid lump and a spray of slurry, Tobirama chose the former.
The Konoha Military Police was a cage.
He had planned to draw a line and pen them in, letting the proud yet not-so-bright Uchiha concentrate their strength inside the Police of their own accord.
That way he could easily monitor them and also prevent them from linking up with other clans. Given time, the Uchiha would become isolated, cut off.
Even if they huddled together, they could not resist the momentum of the entire village.
What was more,
Tobirama intended to split them internally later. He would pick a moderate Uchiha who had embraced the Will of Fire as a disciple, and once a crack formed within the clan, they would be even less to fear.
With those two measures,
Tobirama believed the Uchiha would never be able to kick up a storm in Konoha.
Except
he had discounted Uchiha Makoto.
No—
it wasn't that he forgot him.
Makoto's collusion with the Uchiha inside Konoha had been no secret for a long time.
Tobirama had in fact always guarded against Makoto coordinating with the Uchiha within the village. But this time he truly had no better choice, a chain reaction from the war with the Hidden Cloud.
He had been confident, planning for a long standoff between Akatsuki and the Hidden Cloud. When both sides were ground down, Konoha would strike, decide the battle in one blow, rescue and suppress Akatsuki at once, and then pluck the richest fruits of victory.
So he played a bad hand, deliberately stalling reinforcements in Konoha.
He simply underestimated Akatsuki's strength.
Makoto had prepared thoroughly for war with the Cloud, blitzed ahead, seized the advantage on the main front, killed the First Raikage, and turned the tide. Facing pressure from Konoha, Iwagakure, and the daimyo of the ninja world, he even staged an assassination attempt on himself. In the end, Konoha ran a circle for show and reaped little—merely two billion ryō and an unequal term imposed on the Hidden Cloud.
Along the way, Konoha also lost part of its moral high ground.
Those negatives might not shake Konoha's zenith in the short term, but that zenith rested on Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara towering over the world.
Sooner or later, the reckoning would come.
Naturally,
Makoto's PR offensive and outsized victories let the Uchiha counterattack Tobirama inside Konoha.
Having taken the blame, if Tobirama wanted the Uchiha to hush, he had to bleed and make concessions.
The Police became a second division of power in Konoha.
Of course, even then he had buried a pit within it, enough to reverse the earlier disadvantage.
He had hoped Makoto wouldn't come stir the pot this time.
But heaven did not smile on him.
Makoto quickly helped the Uchiha expand their gains and sounded the trumpet for a counteroffensive from what had been a losing position.
"Lost to Uchiha Makoto again."
"Too hard."
"The Uchiha will be even harder to press down hereafter."
"Ah."
"You in me and me in you—this is exactly what makes Konoha's affairs so rotten."
Tobirama let out a long sigh.
The age of ninja villages was a vast torrent, and every village was swept along. By effort and by the advantage of who he was, he had climbed to the crest, becoming Konoha's shadow Hokage. That role brimmed with glory and temptation—and risk without end.
For Konoha,
he had to deal with his guileless elder brother inside the village so the man wouldn't muddle away the village's interests.
The Uchiha still eyed the Second Hokage's seat, and outside, the strong Uchiha Makoto kept winning big with Akatsuki. The Uchiha inside linked with Makoto outside. Even as Hokage, Senju Hashirama sometimes failed to back him.
He was, in the end, not the Hokage—only the shadow Hokage.
That left Tobirama bound hand and foot, unable to unleash the full range of methods he had once used against the Uchiha back in the Warring States.
The Anbu before him could not follow all his twists and turns, but the smartest move now was to shut his ears and look for a way to slip out.
"Lord Tobirama, what should we do next."
"Withdraw and keep gathering intelligence. Watch the Uchiha's every move."
Tobirama waved the Anbu away.
If the Uchiha acted within the letter of the law, he could not find fault even if he split hairs. But as for Makoto's running around and plotting, tonight he would make sure to put eye drops in his brother's eyes.
Before that,
Tobirama summoned his most trusted confidants and began a meeting. Since the Uchiha had opened the Police, he would arrange to insert his own people.
By the time he finished, dusk had fallen.
Back home,
Tobirama once again saw a familiar figure.
"Uchiha Makoto, what are you doing here again."
"Hey now, Tobirama, that's no way to treat a guest. I'm little Tsunade's future father-in-law. Coming to my in-laws' house for dinner is perfectly normal."
"Who is little Tsunade."
"Oh, my son's fiancée. I just picked her name and everyone loves it."
Yes.
Tobirama instantly grasped Makoto's meaning, and of course he drew a kunai at once. Makoto had grown so brazen he was flashing his ultimate right under Tobirama's nose.
"Tobirama, put the kunai away."
"That's far too rude."
Carrying dinner in, Uzumaki Mito stopped him from lunging at Makoto.
Makoto had even come without bringing Uchiha Madara along. That was considerate.
This should be a fine family dinner. How could he sour the warmth by drawing a blade.
"I know, Sister-in-law."
Sullen, Tobirama put away the kunai and immediately dragged Makoto into a corner.
"You bastard, you came here just to show off. Don't think I don't know what you pulled this afternoon."
"Ah, so even you couldn't be fooled. You sent Anbu to tail me this afternoon, didn't you."
"Of course. You wicked brat live only to ruin my plans."
"Tch. I only want the Uchiha to produce a few Hokage in Konoha."
"Keep dreaming."
They traded quiet barbs.
Tobirama wanted to cut the smug Makoto down with a Flying Thunder God slash, while Makoto loved nothing more than seeing Tobirama fume.
"Dinner is ready."
"You two stop glaring."
With one call from Uzumaki Mito, they snorted at each other and came to the table.
At the table,
Tobirama clutched a rice ball and glared at Makoto, biting off half a ball at a time as if what he chewed was Makoto himself.
Makoto's attention had already moved on.
Besides gloating to Tobirama in person, his real purpose today was Senju Hashirama.
"Lord Hashirama, do you have anything tomorrow morning."
"No."
"Excellent. The Konoha Military Police begin formal organization tomorrow. The Uchiha elders asked me to invite you to attend in person."
Makoto bit into a rice ball as well, but his meaning was crystal clear.
The Police had to be set up quickly so dreams wouldn't grow in the long night, and Tobirama would have fewer chances to meddle. If Hashirama himself stood on that platform, it would draw hesitant clans toward the Uchiha. A Hokage's presence spoke volumes.
Tobirama froze mid-bite.
He truly hadn't expected Makoto to meddle so brazenly with the Hokage in Konoha's internal affairs. If he got used to this, what then.
Of course,
Makoto did it on purpose.
He was prodding Tobirama.
For a while ahead, he didn't plan to keep his focus on Konoha. He had more important matters.
And Tobirama's energy needed somewhere to go. After repeated prodding, he would pour himself into Konoha's internal front, into countering the Uchiha within the village, shoring up Konoha's base as his main task for a long time to come.
That would mean more pressure on the Uchiha. But Makoto had no choice.
Akatsuki's moves would be big in the coming years. The parasites in the Land of Fire would not sit quietly, and Konoha would feel their influence.
Tobirama was a shinobi of the Warring States to the bone. Some of his ideas were like stones in an outhouse, foul and hard, and he truly could throw Makoto's plans into chaos.
Rather than only strengthening oneself, it was quicker to weaken the other side. Makoto believed Tobirama would not hesitate to use such methods on Akatsuki.
Even if what Makoto planned would benefit the entire shinobi class,
what did that matter to Tobirama. He only wanted Uchiha Makoto and Akatsuki Village to suffer.
A twisted zealot like Tobirama would behave just so.
Makoto had no desire to waste time sparring with him. The only option was to find him other things to do.
And Makoto could use the chance to pry Konoha and Akatsuki further apart economically.
A Konoha strong like a bear but poor, that was easiest for Akatsuki to sway and swallow.
"Uchiha Makoto, watch your station. This is Konoha's internal affair."
"I was even planning to turn a blind eye, but this afternoon you ran all over Konoha's clans with the Uchiha elders."
"You crossed the line."
Tobirama seized the chance to smear Makoto before Hashirama.
Fortunately, Hashirama was an honest man.
"The Uchiha elders were paying New Year's calls to the clans. I happened to go along."
"And I came tonight for dinner here, and they asked me to pass along a message."
"Tobirama, does that explanation satisfy you."
Makoto delivered the excuse he had prepared.
As expected,
Hashirama accepted it and scolded Tobirama for being too sensitive.
"Tobirama, you're overreacting. No need to make a federal case of it. Makoto isn't an outsider. We'll all be family."
"Right. We'll all be family. I have always regarded Konoha as my own village and wish it prosperity."
Makoto slipped the words in with pointed meaning.
His son was already betrothed to Tsunade. They embodied the orthodox lines of Akatsuki and Konoha. Even if he could not swallow Konoha in his lifetime, the next generation surely could.
Others missed the implication, but Tobirama understood in an instant.
Makoto intended to swallow Konoha. And yes, Tobirama intended to swallow Akatsuki. The other four great nations had only one major village each, and yet the Land of Fire possessed two. That other village was an eyesore.
But being provoked to his face like this still made him seethe.
Especially when his big brother
nodded along, making him look exactly like the villain.
He was doing all of this for Konoha.
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