The Calm before the storm!

{2 Months Later}

If you ever have any doubts about where a Jinchuriki is, just do a stroll around the island where his clan resides and do a sweep with your sensing active, the small genin whose chakra capacity is almost two times yours would be a good indication to who the Jinchuriki is, along with the ANBU escorts that were secretly following him around.

The weird thing still was that the Jinchuriki of the Sanbi wasn't being sheltered in the village but was allowed to stay with his clan. Kirigakure was a unique village even among the vastly odd elemental nations, the village was founded by the 5 founding clans, the Karatachi clan, famous for their excellent affinity towards water. The Hoshikage clan, most well known for their shark-like facial features and large chakra reserves. The Hōzuki Clan clan, they had the ability to transform either body into water at will. The Terumī Clan, the clan that once inhabited the land upon which the Village Hidden in the Mist now stands, their ability to manipulate Lava gave them a fearsome reputation as well as their tempers. The Last clan was a bit small but important nonetheless, they never had a set surname, following the traditions of Byakuren, the first Mizukage, each member of the clan holds a high post in the Kiri Government.

Three of the five founding clans guard the three islands to the main central island of the Land of Water, the Karatachi being the third barrier between the world and Kiri, they were relatively safe thus maybe allowing Yagura to train in the clan. Along with the Karatachi clan, the Yuki clan also resided on the island, one of the helpers of the Karatachi clan during the warring states era, the Yuki clan members came in with plenty of other allies that joined to form the second caste in the Kiri system.

The main problem that I faced now was what to do, my original plan was to run away from Konoha and do mercenary work while waiting for a few years till the animosity between the Uchiha and Konoha festered. Then I could easily allow the Uchiha with an option to just leave the village and reside somewhere else, maybe create a small village of our own. But now that I had a bounty of 500 million Ryo, the only safe place to operate would be the Land of Water.

'I need to go deeper into the Land of Water, maybe find a nice small village to settle down for a bit...' I thought as I walked around the village, 'Naruto and Sasuke would be around 2-3 years old right now, Itachi would be given the command to purge the Uchiha clan in 4-5 years... the Kiri purge would start in 5-6 years... In the end, it would take almost half a decade for anything significant to happen, that means I could move forward with the last part of my plan...'

I walked into an alley and used Kamui...

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{4 years Later...}

{Hokage's office}

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat down with his pipe in his mouth, the situation was getting worse and worse, while initially, the Uchiha clan ignored the animosity directed at them from the civilian populace, but lately, they had started to be harsher and more brutal in the police work conducted throughout the village. He sighed and looked at Danzo and Itachi standing in front of him, the young Uchiha had just revealed that the Uchiha were planning a coup, the 12-year-old ANBU captain had a stoic look on his face, the hint of a smile that he used to have in his early career was nowhere to be seen.

He reminded Hiruzen so much of Shisui, the 14-year-old prodigy who was an ANBU captain of another team, and how he had revealed similar information, even though Konohagakure was in a tough spot, Hiruzen was a little relieved that there were still some shinobi who still abide by Lord First's ideology.

Hiruzen sensed Jiraya arrive at his window so he turned to Itachi and spoke, "I'll speak to you later Itachi-kun." He watched the young man disappear with a burst of speed, Jiraya entered the office without his usual boisterous attitude.

"We can't afford to lose the Uchiha clan" Danzo spoke, his tone contradictory to his beliefs, he didn't trust the Uchiha but the situation was not in their favor. But the past years of struggle had changed his perspective a little bit.

"They had been isolated for too long, it would not be easy to reconcile with them" Hiruzen spoke as he took a puff of smoke.

"How many?" Hiruzen asked, he didn't know the actual situation regarding root, they were the forces that carried out any mission that Konoha officially rejected but that could benefit Konoha.

"Too many, there hasn't been one successful mission in the past 3 months," Danzo replied, as both men contemplated the situation Jiraya spoke, "Fujii Uchiha has most likely been operating through the Land of Water, there are rumors floating around about him saving the Maeda clan from a missing-nin thus earning him their favor. Still, all the information coming from the Land of Water is a bit conflicting, there are even rumors that the fourth Mizukage is gearing up for war."

Hiruzen sighed, the situation keeps worsening, and somehow he could easily trace every problem to the Hyuga affair, the animosity with the Uchiha clan increased when Fujii was used as a scapegoat for the event to avoid political conflict. Which lead to him deserting the village at just 9 years old and when he turned 11 his notoriety increased.

"The trap didn't work?" Jiraya asked, he has been briefed on the Fujii situation, while he resented Danzo he could see that the man has been almost stripped bare of his powers, it's been two years since the Uchiha started targeting Root Shinobi that leave the village on a mission, at first the skirmishes were soo well done, Danzo never suspected that his forces were being picked apart by a single man. But somehow Fujii Uchiha had information on all of root's missions and thus it was easy for him to ambush the unprepared shinobi. Although the level of root operatives wasn't something to brag about, their teamwork should have been enough to contend with even high Jounin-level threats.

"It seems that another specialty that Fujii Uchiha never mentioned was his proficiency in sealing arts, the barrier that you provided to stop him from escaping was entirely ineffective as he used his chakra to alter the seal." Danzo replied before he continued and spoke, "Unless Jiraya or you Hiruzen were to directly confront him, it is not possible to confine him, his speed has broken through to S-rank standards..."

Danzo pulled out a scroll from his sleeves and placed it on the table, "This consists the details of the remaining members of Root, from today onwards Root is officially disbanded." Hiruzen had a complicated look, he never approved of the darker side to his ANBUs that did most of Konoha's dirty work, but he does admit they were necessary. He picked up the scroll and 16 files appeared in front of Hiruzen, the last remaining members of a once small but powerful unit.

"Regarding the Uchiha coup, I have a plan..." Danzo spoke gaining Hiruzen's attention once again.

"How about promising the Uchiha that the next Hokage would be Itachi..."

...