The next day at noon.
"We already understand the course of events, Hiruzen."
In the meeting room of the Hokage Building, Advisors Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu read through the contents of the scroll, exhaling lightly with furrowed brows, seemingly troubled by something.
This scroll contained intelligence relayed back by Orochimaru, the Konoha frontline commander.
The details of the attack on the Hidden Sand supply point didn't align with the mission briefing, leading to a severe dispersion of Sakumo's squad's combat strength, almost resulting in their entrapment by the Hidden Sand siege.
Although the scroll barely mentioned Root, as advisors, they were well aware of the hidden implications.
All suspicions pointed towards another of Konoha's high-ranking elders, Shimura Danzo.
The Root Ninjas had employed deceit, implicating Sakumo's squad, even managing to plant spies in the Anbu directly under the Hokage, the root cause of this incident.
"What are your thoughts on this matter?"
As the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, expressionlessly observed the two.
Homura and Koharu wished to absolve Danzo, shifting blame onto the Hidden Sand, but the others were not fools; doing so would only worsen an already dire situation.
"This time, Danzo went a bit too far..."
"Just a bit too far?"
Hiruzen's face suddenly darkened; while he could overlook the spies planted in the Hokage's Anbu,
he could only represent himself and not the views of the Uchiha Race.
This was the real difficulty in this incident.
Place Uchiha Ruri in Sakumo's squad for training; this was a deal between him and the Uchiha leadership.
Now that the squad was just beginning to come together, such an accident occurred — how would the Uchiha leaders view him as the Hokage?
"So, Hiruzen, what are you planning to do? After all, he is a high-ranking village leader and has made countless contributions over the years, dealing with many threats to the village..."
At Homura's plea for Danzo, Hiruzen irritably waved his hand, signaling him to stop speaking.
"Where is Danzo at the moment?"
"In the Land of Grass."
"No reply from him?"
"He said everything is normal, just..."
"Just what?"
"His four subordinates, carrying out a secret mission in the Land of Rivers, suddenly went missing for unknown reasons and might have met misfortune."
After hearing this, Hiruzen nodded and said, "I understand the situation roughly. I'll negotiate with the Uchiha; you go contact Danzo and tell him to behave and not do these unnecessary things. How to handle the Uchiha is my responsibility as Hokage; this is not something Root can interfere in."
The reason Danzo resorts to such extremes is certainly because of the Hokage's recent conciliatory policy towards the Uchiha Race.
For the radical Root faction, indeed a dangerous signal.
In Konoha, the Uchiha are both praised and criticized; though not fully integrated into the village, to demean their relationships entirely is too absolute.
Just as among Konoha's higher-ups, there are conservatives and radicals.
The Uchiha also have radicals and conservatives.
But regardless of whether they are radicals or conservatives, Hiruzen was well aware of their ultimate goals.
Simply to gain greater power within Konoha, to have a say in the village's major directions, even to seize the position of Hokage, to defeat the Senju Clan.
Once their goals are clear, Hiruzen felt the remaining issues were straightforward to handle.
If not for the Danzo incident, he could have slightly improved Uchiha-village relations before the next Hokage took office, avoiding stiffness as before.
"Hopefully, with this lesson, Danzo can be more honest..."
Sometimes, Hiruzen didn't know how to handle this dear friend, only sighing in exasperation, wishing that Danzo's temperament would change somewhat henceforth.
Neither Homura nor Koharu spoke; if Danzo were that straightforward and honest, he wouldn't have become the leader of Root.
"We'll explain matters to the Hyuga; since you wish to handle the Uchiha yourself, we'll leave that to you, Hiruzen. But remember one thing: no matter how you plan to placate the Uchiha, never fully trust any member of this clan. Within them, many ninjas inherit that person's dangerous ideology."
Gazing deeply at Hiruzen, Homura, having finished his statement, left with Koharu from the conference room.
"Uchiha Madara... and the Mangekyo Sharingan..."
Hiruzen murmured in his seat.
Uchiha Madara's battle with the First Hokage at the Valley of the End had a profound impact on Konoha.
Though Madara was the loser, shortly after returning to the village, the First Hokage also died of illness, leaving no one to restrain that era, leading to the brutal outbreak of the First Ninja Realm War just years later.
The power that catapulted Uchiha Madara to fame was the ultimate form of the Sharingan — the Mangekyo Sharingan.
It was recorded in Uchiha's chronicles as the most mysterious and darkest of powers.
His sensei, Senju Tobirama, repeatedly declared that an Uchiha ninja who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan had already plunged into the abyss of darkness mentally, no longer to be regarded as normal individuals.
Arrogant, extreme, mentally deranged, prone to actions defying reason, acts ordinary people couldn't endure.