Nara Kōji spoke in a grave tone.
Yes.
This was the sincerity he'd brought this time. The infighting inside the Hokage faction — in today's Konoha, that truly counted as top secret.
Aside from Konoha's F4, only those involved in the Ino-Shika-Cho knew.
And now—
To get Ino-Shika-Cho to integrate into the Uchiha camp, the three senior figures from the Nara clan — Nara Kōji, Nara Shikaku and the others — after long, serious deliberation, had finally agreed to reveal it.
This matter was too important!
If it leaked, the clan members still staying on the Hokage side would be in grave danger!
After all, for Hiruzen Sarutobi, with an external threat like the Uchiha right now, any revelation of deadly internal discord would make them easy targets for enemies to exploit, one by one.
Especially Uchiha Kai!
A man who excelled at schemes, seduction and division — who knew what he might do with such intelligence?
It also showed how much Ino-Shika-Cho had put on the line to join the Uchiha: they'd really burned their bridges.
Nara Kazama stared, shocked.
Yes.
He hadn't known about this — they hadn't discussed it last night.
"Uncle of the clan, you're joking, right?" Nara Kazama blurted in disbelief. "Is Hiruzen Sarutobi out of his mind? Are those two elders crazy?"
"They actually have an enemy as strong as the Uchiha at their side — and they stir up this kind of internal conflict now?"
"This is insane!"
He truly couldn't understand.
Kazama of course knew everyone had private interests. The Hokage faction couldn't be perfectly unified — there were Nara, Akimichi, and Cho (Ino-Shika-Cho), and within the Uchiha was Uchiha Kai.
Those were lessons learned the hard way.
Once someone lost their usefulness, they were naturally pushed out of the inner circle.
But the problem was this:
With Uchiha Kai's rise, pressure on the Hokage side was immense; they might not even be able to take Kai down even if they united. In that situation, internal discord?
Good grief!
Was it like they wanted to die faster?
Nara Kōji merely shook his head and gave a wry smile.
"You can't blame them for that."
"Actually, it's precisely Kai's rise that sharpened their internal contradictions."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi is single-mindedly intent on ending the war and quickly putting Minato Namikaze into the Fourth Hokage position. That would allow him to withdraw into the shadows. On one hand, that would let him control Minato and hand off some of the ordinary, heavy foundational work to him."
"But more importantly—"
"With most of Hiruzen's attention freed up, he could better consolidate the forces under his control and then focus on dealing with the Uchiha."
"The problem is that Hiruzen is in too much of a hurry."
"Maybe Kai's rise came too fast and made him feel threatened, so the Hokage lost his composure."
"Because he rushed, during negotiations with Hidden Stone Village he even waived basic war reparations. He habitually won't take the blame, so he pushed it onto the shoulders of the two elders — Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado."
"These two elders are being framed. After all, what does this have to do with them?"
"But there was nothing they could do."
"One of them controls the administrative department; the other controls Konoha's hospital. They have some real power, but only so much."
"The Hokage controls the Anbu — that's the true power department."
"If they were made scapegoats, would the two elders dare refuse?"
"This incident intensified the grudge between them and the Hokage."
"From the elders' perspective, Hiruzen in recent years had become increasingly overbearing and self-righteous, showing less and less regard for them."
"From the former Uchiha Kyo, to the later Akimichi Torifu and Hatake Sakumo… whoever stepped forward got crushed."
"In that environment, last night, Danzo went to confront the Hokage, unsatisfied with his weakness — and the Hokage flew into a rage and smacked Danzo away."
"Perhaps the Hokage acted in that moment of anger without thinking. Having held in frustration for so long, he used Danzo as an emotional punching bag."
"But it terrified those two elders."
"They feared that once they lost their usefulness, Hiruzen would move to eliminate them completely."
"That's why they wanted to make their voices heard."
"They wanted to teach Hiruzen a lesson — to make him know they weren't to be trifled with."
"So they approached Danzo. Because in the past those two elders had been the Hokage's sycophants, Danzo naturally made them give a blood oath."
"In that situation, they set their sights on Sarutobi Shinnosuke."
"Shinnosuke commanded the Anbu and was also the Hokage's son. Killing him would both weaken Hiruzen's power and, more importantly, serve as a warning."
"Most importantly, Danzo could pull the two elders completely into his camp."
"If they had killed the Hokage's son, the elders would lose all other options and be forced to align with Danzo."
"Because Hiruzen still had a second son, this method left Hiruzen some hope: it would wound him deeply without driving him completely mad."
"As long as the Uchiha were handled, internal infighting would be inevitable — Danzo comes out ahead."
"…"
Nara Kōji's voice dropped low.
This had been discovered by Yamanaka Inoichi. Nara Shikaku could see a lot as well, but not as clearly as Kōji.
Essentially, once Shikaku came to him on the second day after the incident and told him this, Kōji immediately started to reason it out.
His words were like a diligent investigator's notes.
Everyone's inner states and thought patterns — he had it all mapped out.
Even Nara Shikaku was left stunned after hearing it.
"Well, alright." Nara Kazama shrugged. "Their hearts are truly dirty."
Uchiha Kai nodded slightly.
His expression was solemn.
To be honest—
Upon hearing of Shinnosuke Sarutobi's death and seeing the clash between Hiruzen and Danzo, he'd sensed something off.
But likewise, without personal involvement and lacking many clues, he could only tell that two people were in conflict, and that the matter concerned Shinnosuke's death.
Beyond that, he had little to guess.
After all, his Observation Haki was powerful, but at most it covered the Uchiha district.
He couldn't extend it far beyond that!
And besides—
Even as a normal person, he needed to rest. He couldn't keep his Observation Haki on 24/7.
"Oh, I see!"
"This is actually good news, and with some scheming it can be used."
"I'm very satisfied with Ino-Shika-Cho's gift."
"Welcome to the fold — from now on we're comrades-in-arms!"
"But at the same time—"
"Since Kōji has also perceived this opportunity, what methods do you have in mind to make use of this precious intelligence?"
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