At the Uchiha compound, Minato Namikaze had come visiting with his wife.
It was a diplomatic visit between their wives.
Both Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto Uchiha were already pregnant, and the two women chatted happily about the precautions and experiences of pregnancy.
The men, who should have taken advantage of the opportunity to have a pleasant conversation of their own, instead sat facing each other in silence.
"Have some tea."
"Mm."
Those had become the words Fugaku and Minato exchanged most frequently these days.
Minato was irritated.
The Third Hokage had decided to hold a summer festival to commemorate the shinobi who had died fighting for Konoha.
But the more than one hundred people who had been slaughtered by the Uchiha were not included.
Minato had argued with the Third Hokage about it.
Yet Hiruzen remained adamant that those shinobi had not died fighting for Konoha and therefore were not worthy of being commemorated.
Minato could not accept that reasoning.
He knew the real reason.
Uchiha elders Kagami and Setsuna would be leading members of the clan in participating in the ceremony.
The Third Hokage had to take the dignity of these two Uchiha elders into consideration. He wanted to nip any possible excuse for them to make trouble in the bud.
From Minato’s perspective, it looked as though Fugaku was pressuring the Third Hokage.
What Minato did not know was that Fugaku was equally furious about the matter.
Damn it. The Uchiha are becoming more and more outrageous.
Uchiha Kei could do whatever he wanted without consulting Fugaku, and that was one thing. After all, Kei had the strength to back it up.
But Kagami and Setsuna...
You two useless old fools actually dare to pay lip service to my orders while secretly going against them? And at a time like this, you’re still cozying up to the Third Hokage?
"It is time to make a choice."
Fugaku’s eyes narrowed.
"If we don’t eliminate those two, Uchiha Kei will eliminate their entire families. The loss would be far too great for the Uchiha."
In Fugaku’s mind, all of this was ultimately the result of the Third Hokage’s attempts to divide the clan.
And Minato represented the Third Hokage.
Hiruzen wanted to create cracks within the Uchiha and destroy them from within.
Nothing could have been better for him.
Unfortunately, Kagami and Setsuna were foolish enough to play along.
And now Minato’s visit had clearly come with ulterior motives as well.
Fugaku couldn’t afford to show him any friendliness.
He couldn’t let Kei misunderstand the situation, and he certainly couldn’t allow the Third Hokage to keep pushing his luck.
Fugaku understood one thing clearly:
As long as the Uchiha remained united, they had nothing to fear from any outside enemy.
Yet the moment Minato had entered the Uchiha compound without being thrown out, another rumor began swirling through Konoha’s political undercurrents—
The Uchiha Clan was fully supporting Minato Namikaze’s bid to become Hokage.
Three half-awakened Mangekyō Sharingan had given Fugaku and Kei the courage to stand together through thick and thin.
But Fugaku had underestimated the Third Hokage’s methods.
What you actually think is not important.
What matters far more is the misunderstanding you create in the eyes of everyone else.
And so both Minato and Fugaku were furious.
Thus, this meaningless social visit became unbearably awkward.
One man wanted to leave but had no choice except to stay.
The other didn’t want him there but had no way to throw him out.
"Have some tea."
"Mm."
Two of Konoha’s most renowned figures had already drunk enough tea to fill their stomachs with water.
And Hiruzen’s machinations went far beyond this.
Shisui Uchiha had returned to the village.
Yet he had not taken even a single step into the Uchiha compound.
What exactly was his current situation?
Had he awakened his Sharingan?
Fugaku, the clan head, had no idea.
Shisui had been extremely busy with the Third Hokage lately.
On the very first day of Shisui’s return, Hiruzen took him to the Valley of the End to "pay his respects" to the founders of Konoha, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.
At the same time, he told Shisui about the contributions made by the Uchiha and Senju when they joined forces to bring an end to the Warring States Period, as well as the two great men’s hopes for the future.
Then Hiruzen formally presented Shisui with a request.
He hoped Shisui would inherit the founders’ will and lead Konoha toward a glorious future.
Shisui, who had dreamed of becoming Hokage since childhood, was tremendously excited.
He swore that he would devote everything he had to Konoha.
He failed to realize that the Third Hokage had promised him everything while, at the same time, promising him absolutely nothing.
After receiving Shisui’s pledge, Hiruzen took him to visit two of Konoha’s senior elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.
It was called a "visit."
In reality, Hiruzen solemnly entrusted Shisui to the two elders.
The Konoha elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, likewise expressed their expectations for Shisui’s future.
It was a friendly meeting.
An open and candid meeting.
Next, Hiruzen took Shisui to meet the Civilian Shinobi Alliance.
With tens of thousands of shinobi gathered around the Third Hokage and cheering for him, Shisui’s blood began to boil.
Hiruzen patiently instructed him.
"Shinobi are the foundation of Konoha. Integrating the shinobi clans into the greater body of the shinobi community—that is the future of Konoha."
Shisui, whose emotions had been stirred beyond words, passionately made a promise before the countless civilian shinobi.
"Lord Third, I will definitely lead the Uchiha and integrate us into the great family of Konoha!"
The civilian shinobi of Konoha immediately erupted into cheers at his words.
Having won the recognition of Konoha’s civilian shinobi, Shisui was now brimming with confidence.
Hiruzen then took the opportunity to organize a discussion between Konoha and the daimyō’s Guardian Shinobi.
He arranged for the triumphant Shisui to meet representatives of the daimyō.
Hiruzen’s eldest son, Asuma Sarutobi, was one of the daimyō’s Twelve Guardian Ninja.
He was also part of their leadership.
An ANBU captain who was simultaneously Konoha’s representative among the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
How interesting.
Far too interesting.
Unfortunately, Shisui didn’t understand what this arrangement actually meant.
And no one explained it to him.
In any case, the meeting was a pleasant one.
Asuma even introduced Shisui to the daimyō’s permanent adviser stationed in Konoha.
The allocation of the daimyō’s shinobi missions was handled by this adviser.
Asuma had spent years associating with him.
In fact, Asuma’s wife was the man’s daughter.
After the meeting ended, Hiruzen took Shisui on a tour of Konoha’s food and weapons markets.
The Akimichi family’s food and secret medicines.
The Nara family’s medicines and card houses.
The Yamanaka family’s flower shop.
The Hyūga family’s business empire.
Hiruzen showed Shisui around while explaining everything to him.
But Hiruzen did not visit the Uchiha family’s weapons shop.
Instead, he specifically emphasized to Shisui that the Uchiha still controlled the largest share of Konoha’s economy.
The Uchiha monopolized the village’s ninja tools.
That was the information Hiruzen deliberately implanted in Shisui’s mind.
"Shisui, monopolies are detrimental to the development of commerce. In the future, you must think of a way to solve this problem."
As for the truly profitable industries—
Entertainment.
Chakra materials.
Clothing.
Restaurants.
Real estate.
Carriages and transport.
Hiruzen did not mention a single one of them.
Shisui, however, was already overwhelmed with shame.
He almost wanted to immediately dissolve the Uchiha family’s ninja-tool shop and distribute its assets to the civilian shinobi he had just met.
Seeing that Shisui had accepted Konoha’s vision for future development, Hiruzen convened another meeting.
The Konoha Elite Jōnin Council consisted of thirty elite Jōnin.
Minato was no longer part of it.
Orochimaru was no longer part of it.
Jiraiya was no longer part of it.
To appease them, even Konoha’s elders were no longer included.
They had all been granted elevated positions and would no longer need to participate in Konoha’s Elite Jōnin meetings.
Might Duy and Shisui were brought in to fill the vacancies.
And so, today, Minato had been dispatched to negotiate with Fugaku, while Shisui was meeting another group of Konoha’s important guests—
the nobles who supplied Konoha with enormous numbers of missions.
Apart from the daimyō, they were the greatest economic pillars supporting Konoha’s shinobi.
The economic pillars supporting shinobi and those supporting the shinobi clans were, of course, two different things.
This was Shisui’s eventful life these days.
Minato was far too familiar with the process Shisui was going through.
He had experienced it himself not long ago.
Fugaku was even more familiar with it.
He had been through all of this himself.
And he had practically groveled before every one of these people.
Once you have too much of something, it loses its value.
Even the successor to the Hokage was no exception.
News about Shisui continued to reach the ears of Minato and Fugaku.
The two men ground their teeth in frustration while continuing to drink tea with each other.
"Have some tea."
"Mm."
It seemed that apart from those two words, they had nothing left to say to each other.
Thinking back on the past, neither man had any desire to negotiate with the other.
Hiruzen wasn’t merely putting flies into their mouths.
He was practically holding Minato and Fugaku by the jaw and stuffing maggots down their throats.
What a masterful move.
Hiruzen was certain Minato would stand on his side because Minato had no other choice.
The Uzumaki Clan alone lacked the strength to support Minato in establishing his own faction.
At the same time, Hiruzen wanted to see what Fugaku would choose if the Uchiha actually had a chance of producing a Hokage.
Hiruzen was immensely pleased with himself.
Not only did he possess overwhelming combat power, but he was also dividing and dismantling his opponent’s strength.
Yet he had forgotten one thing:
When you try to hold together a pile of loose sand by gripping it tighter, the harder you squeeze, the faster it slips through your fingers.
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