Hiruzen could not directly observe everything happening within the Uchiha Clan, but he could still obtain firsthand information.
That was the confidence Hiruzen had in defeating Uchiha Kei.
Everything was proceeding according to the direction Hiruzen had planned.
Uchiha Kei, just wait and accept your fate!
The betrayal of the clan’s leadership , the betrayal of the entire clan, followed by having even the clansmen he had once protected turn against and denounce him—
That was Hiruzen’s plan.
These methods might not appear to cause any substantial physical harm, but they could often produce consequences far beyond what anyone expected.
No matter how arrogant a person was, suffering repeated betrayals would eventually make them question themselves.
And the moment a person’s resolve began to waver was the best moment to crush them.
It was time to launch a battle for public opinion.
Even Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang of Konoha, had ultimately died because of rumors and slander. Why couldn’t Uchiha Kei also be driven to the brink by public pressure and choose to take his own life?
And even if he didn’t, so what?
As long as Hiruzen seized control of the narrative, Konoha could raise the banner of justice high.
And justice would naturally attract passionate young shinobi, allowing them to gather into a force that could not be ignored.
As for whether it was actually justice...
Who would bother thinking about that?
The people who thought about such things were usually the very ones waving the banner and sending others to their deaths.
They were the ones most skilled at convincing themselves that they represented justice.
Hiruzen believed that the prestige he had accumulated through decades of leading Konoha would be enough to make people believe whatever he said.
The only problem now was figuring out what crimes to pin on Kei.
Cowardice?
That wouldn’t work.
Kei had already explained his position regarding the legitimacy of the war. Hiruzen had only just managed to suppress that line of discussion. Bringing it up again now would only invite people to debate it.
And once people started debating it, they might actually determine whether the war was truly justified.
Because although Kei had been accused of making excuses for his unwillingness to fight, he had not actually lied.
Konoha truly had no need to fight a war for the sake of the daimyō.
This entire campaign was nothing more than the hidden villages seeking greater military funding.
The amount of money involved might look enormous, but it could not simply be handed directly to the shinobi who fought on the battlefield. The village itself needed money for construction and development.
If all the money went into the hands of the shinobi, how would the village continue to develop?
But could the shinobi accept such an explanation?
Of course not.
Therefore, Hiruzen could not stir up this topic again for the time being. It could easily backfire.
Then what about accusing Kei of defecting?
That wouldn’t work either.
Kei had merely relocated.
He had moved from Konoha back to his ancestral home.
Ever since Kei’s speech, no one had the authority to declare the Uchiha to be missing-nin merely because they had relocated.
After all, the Senju had once relocated their entire clan.
Why couldn’t the Uchiha do the same?
Besides, this was merely a redistribution of the clan’s population.
Hiruzen racked his brain until his head throbbed.
Kei looked reckless on the surface, but once Hiruzen actually tried to target him, he discovered that the man was incredibly slippery.
It seemed Hiruzen had underestimated Danzō.
Framing someone and finding a suitable crime to pin on them was not an easy task after all.
Should he ask Danzō for advice?
That was a field Danzō excelled in.
Hiruzen felt that perhaps he should let Danzō handle this matter.
Professional work should be left to professionals.
But there was no need to rush.
He still had another move to make.
Those Uchiha orphans should be put into action as well.
Having lost Kei’s protection, they must have already experienced quite a lot, hadn’t they?
Spoiled children were always unaware of how vast the world truly was
They might act timidly and submissively toward outsiders, but when dealing with the people who spoiled them, they could be remarkably ruthless.
After all, they knew that outsiders would not indulge them, whereas the people who loved them would continue indulging them.
It was time to mobilize those insatiably greedy Uchiha elders and have them drive those children out.
As long as Uchiha Kei took pity on them once again and accepted them, Hiruzen would have another trump card capable of shaking Kei’s resolve at a critical moment.
All he needed to do was create a few circumstances that the orphans could easily misunderstand.
For example, he could make those orphans believe that Konoha’s hostility toward the Uchiha was the consequence of Kei’s long-standing favoritism toward the clan.
Once those children accepted that reality and came to believe that Kei was the one at fault, Hiruzen could arrange for them to suffer further injustice.
They could be driven out of their homes.
Konoha could refuse to take them in.
They could even be prevented from buying basic necessities.
Then, when they came to Hiruzen for help, he could put on the helpless expression of a Hokage who was powerless to do anything.
All of it would be because of Uchiha Kei.
That way, they would eventually find themselves unable to survive in Konoha and would have no choice but to seek Kei’s protection.
At the same time, they would come to blame everything they had suffered on the consequences of Kei’s supposed crimes.
There were several dozen orphans.
If even one of them stood behind Uchiha Kei with hatred in their heart, it would be the day Kei died.
Hiruzen yearned to see the moment when Uchiha Kei led his people into confrontation with him, only to be stabbed in the back by one of his own.
What dignity could a leader possibly retain after being killed by his own people?
Perhaps, by then, there would not even be any need to start a civil war.
This was Hiruzen’s third move.
Each step locked into the next.
Each link connected to the following one.
First, he would exploit the weaknesses of the Uchiha elders and make the clan’s upper echelon abandon Uchiha Kei.
Without the support of the clan’s leadership, Kei would have no natural allies.
Then he would use sufficiently large incentives to make the Uchiha clansmen tolerate what was happening.
Sacrificing someone else in exchange for benefits for the majority—including themselves—would certainly make people feel guilty.
But it would also make the decision easier to accept.
People would always find enough excuses to justify their own unjust actions.
That would strip Kei of his popular support.
Finally, Hiruzen would incite hatred toward Kei among the very Uchiha who had once followed him, burying the danger in the place Kei believed was safest.
And that was merely Hiruzen’s three-pronged strategy against the Uchiha from within.
He had arrangements for the outside as well.
Externally, he would incite public opinion among Konoha’s civilians and gather enough strength to minimize the losses Konoha would suffer while eliminating Uchiha Kei.
He would also dump the blame for Orochimaru’s human experimentation onto Kei, thereby washing his beloved disciple clean.
That rebellious disciple of his...
Even after growing this old, he still needed his teacher to clean up his mess.
What a way to repay all those years of teaching.
Hiruzen even considered that, if the opportunity arose, he could use the momentum of a great victory to force the surviving Uchiha to return to the battlefield and atone for the harm Uchiha Kei had brought upon Konoha.
Six top-tier combatants against a single branch of the Uchiha Clan.
The advantage was entirely on his side.
How could he possibly lose?
At least, Hiruzen couldn’t think of a way.
With such a lineup, even destroying Sunagakure would not be a problem, let alone dealing with one branch of the Uchiha.
Recently, Hiruzen had developed a new hobby.
Inside the Hokage Building, he would sit down and play shogi while facing in the direction of the Naka Shrine, as though he were playing an invisible game of strategy against Uchiha Kei.
Outside the village, the Uchiha ancestral grounds surrounding the Naka Shrine were filled with life.
Everything was flourishing, bursting with vitality.
The scene remained vivid in Hiruzen’s mind.
He had to admit that if Uchiha Kei had not been an Uchiha, Hiruzen would have admired him greatly.
Perhaps, under Kei’s leadership, Konoha might have become even more prosperous.
Unfortunately, fate was fate.
There would always be people who chose the wrong side at the crucial crossroads of their lives.
And there would always be people who were never even given the chance to atone for the Uchiha.
Including Kei.
And including those Uchiha who were still associating with Kei at a time like this.
Certain that victory was already in his grasp, Hiruzen monitored the roads leading toward the Naka Shrine.
He watched as one Uchiha after another went to visit Uchiha Kei.
A cold smile appeared in his heart.
Even at a critical juncture like this, after Hiruzen had offered so many benefits and made his position so unmistakably clear, there were still people who could not see which way the wind was blowing.
Their contempt lasted until Hiruzen spotted a familiar figure among the streams of people coming and going.
Orochimaru.
For the first time, the confidence of the Third Hokage, who had believed that everything was under his control, finally faltered.
"What is that rebellious disciple planning to do?"
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