Not long after, Danzō and the Third Hokage walked into the conference hall and sat in the main seats.
Danzō shot a cold look at Uchiha Fugaku in the crowd, and the young man beside him. That person must be the Uchiha Clan's newly risen super genius, Uchiha Ryōsuke. To be so young, yet have such strength.
'Truly another evil Uchiha brat.'
'Such a guy will definitely be a disaster on my path forward in the future; I must get rid of him early.'
Although he had such strong thoughts, he could only think of a way later. Right now, he had to focus on suppressing the Uchiha Clan, making them hand over the authority of the Military Police Force and the Two-Tails Jinchūriki.
Uchiha Fugaku also saw Danzō walk in and naturally felt resentment in his heart. It was this guy who targeted the Uchiha Clan at every turn. Previously, this guy led other clans to force the Uchiha to relocate their clan grounds, and even had them monitored by Anbu stationed all around.
What kind of humiliation was this? It was simply not the treatment a noble clan should receive.
Ryōsuke naturally noticed this person too. First time meeting him, and sure enough, he looked sinister and ruthless. Since this guy came to participate in this Clan Head meeting, it meant there was definitely a conspiracy. Just wait for the opponent to make a move, and he would forcefully slap him back in the face.
The Third Hokage sat down and glanced at everyone. Those who should come had come: the Ino-Shika-Chō trio, the Inuzuka Clan, the Hyūga Clan, the Uchiha Clan... and other clans, large and small, had also arrived.
As soon as he sat down, he smiled and said, "I believe everyone already knows that the Uchiha Clan and the Hyūga Clan joined forces to defeat the ninja army of the Cloud Village, making a huge contribution to the village. I believe that from now on, the Cloud Village will never dare to conflict with our Leaf Village on the Land of Fire's border again."
"Let us applaud to express our gratitude."
He took the lead in applauding.
Seeing the Third Hokage do this, the heads of the clans participating in the meeting—whether they admired the Uchiha Clan Head in their hearts or hated the Uchiha Clan—had no choice but to applaud. Not responding to the Third Hokage now would be opposing him, and they all still wanted to get by in the village.
Danzō glanced coldly at the Third Hokage and also applauded, but in his heart, he was dismissive. 'What a hypocritical guy.'
Fugaku and Ryōsuke of the Uchiha Clan saw that everyone present was acting like this and couldn't figure out what the Third Hokage wanted to do. It was absolutely impossible that he convened a Clan Head meeting specifically to thank them; he didn't have such a good heart.
The two from the Hyūga Clan looked calm. Hiashi had already told Hizashi about the mole; a traitor might have appeared among the higher-ups, and he instructed him not to leak it. So Hizashi didn't feel much joy; instead, he was wondering which guy in the village wanted to harm their clan.
Danzō, the Third Hokage, and the other two Konoha Consultant Elders. These guys all held real power and could influence the peace talks. Although others were suspicious, the suspicion wasn't as great.
Half a minute later, the Third Hokage stopped clapping. Once the others stopped their applause, the Third Hokage slowly spoke.
"Clan Heads, is there anything else that needs to be raised in the meeting?"
The seated Clan Heads were all stunned. This Clan Head meeting was convened suddenly. They didn't have any requests or issues to reflect. Only a portion of the clans had been greeted by Danzō beforehand and had to agree with the proposal he would raise at this meeting.
But could they take the initiative to stand out? Naturally, it wasn't hard, but even the Clan Heads who hated the Uchiha Clan wouldn't act as the vanguard.
After all, the Uchiha Clan hadn't been successfully relieved of their Military Police Force duties yet, so they could potentially use them as tools for revenge. Moreover, it was unknown if Danzō could topple the current Uchiha Clan. One had to know that the current Uchiha Clan was at the height of its power.
This meeting probably wouldn't go smoothly, so they just needed to act as assistants; they didn't need to step out personally.
Hearing this, Danzō cursed 'old fox' inwardly. He wanted him to speak first again. Let him play the hero protecting the Leaf Village.
He took a thick stack of documents from a bag on the floor to his right, placed them on the table, stood up, and said, "I have something to say."
The Third Hokage nodded in agreement. "Then speak."
Those who knew the inside story were expecting what Danzō would say next—firing shots at the Uchiha Clan.
At this moment, Danzō slowly said, "I am very grateful to the Uchiha Clan for their outstanding contributions in this war with the Cloud Village."
When saying this, he felt helpless in his heart. The Uchiha Clan was simply too strong right now; he didn't dare open fire directly. He had to lay some groundwork first before continuing.
"However, my Root has received a large number of letters reporting the Uchiha Clan's Military Police Force. Therefore, I propose revoking the Uchiha Clan's Military Police Force duties and having others take over. I wonder what the Clan Heads here think?"
As soon as these words came out, the whole room went quiet.
Fugaku's expression changed. 'This guy really wants to target our Uchiha Clan again.'
He immediately stood up and rebuked angrily, "These are all slanders! My Uchiha Clan enforces the law impartially, so we naturally offend many people. These people are just taking the opportunity to retaliate. If you want to revoke our Uchiha Clan's Military Police Force duties based on such complaints, we absolutely cannot accept it."
Ryōsuke, however, looked calm. In fact, he had long known that when the Second Hokage asked the Uchiha Clan to accept the Military Police Force duties back then, on one hand, it was just to appease the Uchiha's hearts so they wouldn't rebel.
On the other hand, it was to make the Uchiha lose popular support and conflict with other clans. Regardless of whether they handled things correctly or not, it was easy to incite dissatisfaction from other clans. In fact, that was exactly what happened. This was the Second Hokage's open conspiracy.
From then on, it made it impossible for the Uchiha Clan to step onto the seat of Hokage.
In Ryōsuke's heart, perhaps giving up this Military Police Force duty would make the clan more relaxed. But power is a good thing. If used, then under the name of the Military Police Force, they had a legitimate reason to act, and many things were easy to solve—such as imprisoning the Third Hokage's son.
If they didn't have power back then, they really couldn't have done it, or at least they wouldn't have had a legitimate cause. Without power, there is no justification.
Therefore, they couldn't give it up. And for the Uchiha Clan to live in the Leaf Village, how could they give up such rights?
Without power, it is difficult to move an inch. Moreover, if they gave up such rights to others, when difficulties were made for the Uchiha Clan, what justification would they have to resist?
This was a difficult problem to solve.
Danzō sneered. "Perhaps some people are waiting for an opportunity to retaliate, but this thick stack represents how many people refuse to obey your Uchiha Clan's judgment. It is enough to show that there are serious problems in your Uchiha Clan's management of the Military Police Force. Just ask the Clan Heads present, and you will know."
Immediately, small clan heads prepared to act. Danzō had already made his move, so they naturally could chime in.
"The Uchiha Clan's law enforcement really cannot convince people. I agree with Lord Danzō's idea."
"For the peace of the village, I also agree with Lord Danzō's opinion."
"I also agree."