28 Konoha Village Think Tank

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I knew you would be the first one to say that. Fugaku sneered in his heart. The speaker was none other than Danzo.

The First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and the Uchiha clan founded Konoha. The Third Hokage followed the First's philosophy of peace and harmony, while Danzo inherited the Second Hokage's ruthless and oppressive methods.

During the Second Hokage's rule, the Uchiha clan suffered a lot of discrimination and persecution, and under Danzo's influence, the situation remained unchanged. To save the remaining Uchiha clan, the Third Hokage had to step down, and Danzo had to be eliminated.

This was what Fugaku thought after weighing his options, but he had no valid excuse for now. He remembered that, according to history, the Third Hokage had to resign after the Third Shinobi World War, and Minato took over as the Fourth Hokage. But the current situation was different.

Everyone here was a powerful and influential figure, and Minato seemed unlikely to rise to the top. Was it just because of his achievement at the Kannabi Bridge? Fugaku had thought so before he crossed over, but after arriving here, he realized that it was not realistic.

Namikaze Minato may be strong, but he is still a young, blond boy who is barely twenty years old. He has no family backing, and even though he has impressive achievements, such as marrying Kushina, becoming Jiraiya's disciple, and leading the Kannabi Bridge mission, he is not qualified to be Hokage.

I have a feeling that something is wrong. But now is the time to pressure the upper ranks of Konoha. This time, we have to make them fear us, not just be cautious of us.

We have to make them afraid to touch the Uchiha. We decided that this time, the team in charge of dealing with the sand ninja would be Shikaku, Inoichi, and Choza, plus the Uchiha clan and a medical squad led by Tsunade.

"Fugaku-sama, you are quite ambitious, aren't you?" A voice behind him made Fugaku stop as he was leaving the meeting room. He was ready to go home and spend some time with his wife.

He turned around and saw Orochimaru, a man who was only a few years older than him but whom he addressed by his name, unlike the Hokage or Danzo, whom he called with respect or sarcasm.

"What are you implying, Orochimaru?" Fugaku asked coldly.

Orochimaru smiled mysteriously. "The sand ninja have a large army of nearly 20,000 ninjas. If a war breaks out there, even the Uchiha's strength may not be enough to resist them with less than 7,000 ninjas."

Fugaku snorted. "You don't need to worry about that. I have my own plan." He waved his hand dismissively.

He was confident in his own ability. He could deal with the sand ninja easily. He could make a name for himself in one battle, just like Minato did. This war was his chance to show the upper echelons of Konoha that they should not mess with the Uchiha.

He had read some fanfiction before where the Uchiha would rebel against Konoha at every opportunity. It sounded exciting when he read it, but it was a foolish move in reality.

How could he become Hokage by rebelling? Would the villagers accept an Uchiha who staged a coup as their leader? Would the daimyo agree to let someone who killed the ninja village leaders become Hokage? That was ridiculous.

Even if he used force to make the daimyo agree, what would be the point of being such a Hokage?

Besides, he didn't care about being a hokage. He had seen how much paperwork it involved. It was a headache, not a privilege.

"Fugaku clan leader, please wait a moment." Shikaku called out to Fugaku as he was about to leave the meeting room. His two friends, Inoichi and Choza, were with him. Fugaku turned his head and nodded at them in a friendly manner.

He appreciated their help just now. According to her prestige, the person in charge of this mission should have been Tsunade, one of the legendary three ninjas. But the Third Hokage knew that she had a fear of blood, so he assigned Fugaku to lead the team instead.

Fugaku had no choice. He was the leader of the largest clan in Konoha, and the Uchiha clan was the main force behind this mission.

"What can I do for you?" Fugaku asked.

Shikaku nodded. "You are the leader of this mission, clan leader. Don't you think you should make some arrangements? When are we going to leave?"

"Uh? I want to hear your opinion." Fugaku said this with interest. He looked at Shikaku, who belonged to the Nara clan, famous for their intelligence and their ability to manipulate shadows and act as military advisers.

"They are just testing us for now. So I think we don't need to act rashly for now. We should increase our defensive manpower first. Then we should send more ninjas to gather information. It would be best if we could sneak into Wind Country and find out their true intentions. We can respond accordingly here." Shikaku expressed his thoughts after nodding.

Fugaku smiled. This Shikaku was really amazing. He knew how to plan ahead and analyze the situation. He deserved to be called Konoha's Strategic thinker.

"Let's do as you say. As for how many people we need to transfer, I will have someone contact you tomorrow. Now… I have to go home and spend some time with my wife." Fugaku said this and smiled. He nodded at the three of them and left. He had seen many war movies, and his ideas were similar.

But commanding ninjas in a war was quite interesting.

He saw Tsunade passing by him with a tired face and felt a bit sorry for her.

The women in this world seemed loyal and devoted. Didn't they say that female ninjas often used seduction to get information? It seemed that TV was making things up.

The three of them who stayed behind looked at each other and said, "Did he... just say... spend some time with... his wife?"