At this moment, Danzō spoke up.
"The Uchiha Clan is already very strong, and this time they have even secured a Tailed Beast."
"We must take over and bring it under our control."
"I sent people over previously, but they were actually rejected by the other side."
"They even went so far as to claim that the Leaf Village belongs to their Uchiha Clan. I trust the Third Hokage understands the implication of this."
How could the Third Hokage not understand the implication?
The Uchiha Clan was truly too arrogant, too bold.
It seemed this clan would absolutely never submit to him, the Third Hokage, nor submit to the Leaf Village.
Their even greater strength now would likely only encourage them to plot a rebellion.
However, what displeased him was that this old fellow, Danzō, had actually acted before him to demand the Tailed Beast Jinchūriki from the Uchiha Clan.
He did not want the Uchiha Clan to grow stronger, but naturally, he also did not wish for Danzō to take control.
The Uchiha Clan coveted his position, and Danzō likewise coveted his current position.
If he handed over such a powerful combat asset as a Tailed Beast Jinchūriki to Danzō, the man would dare to ride over the Hokage's head by tomorrow.
He feared that in the future, it would not be so easy to reject this guy's suggestions.
The Third Hokage would not allow Danzō to possess even greater influence.
He spoke slowly.
"As for the Tailed Beast Jinchūriki, I will issue a command as the Lord Hokage to the Uchiha Clan, ordering them to hand the Jinchūriki over to the Anbu's custody. I believe they will not resist."
He had this confidence; after all, he was the Third Hokage, the supreme leader of the village.
Hearing this, Danzō became anxious.
"The Two-Tails Jinchūriki must remain with my Root. The Hokage already controls the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki; this other Tailed Beast should be given to my Root."
If the Two-Tails Jinchūriki were also handed over to the Hokage's Anbu, the Hokage would possess two Tailed Beast Jinchūriki. His position in the village would be abnormally stable, and it would be nearly impossible to shake him.
From beginning to end, Danzō felt that the position of Hokage should have been his. If he hadn't been just one step too slow back then, how would Sarutobi Hiruzen have ever had the chance to ascend to the seat of Hokage?
One had to know that the previous Second Hokage had always favored him.
His methods were far more brilliant and decisive than Sarutobi Hiruzen's.
Hearing his words, the Third Hokage felt a bit depressed. Recently, Naruto hadn't respected him as he used to; his control over the boy had diminished, and it was all the doing of that damned Uchiha Ryōsuke.
He hadn't expected that Naruto would be won over by just a bowl of ramen. Children were truly too simple.
And the Two-Tails Jinchūriki was known as a perfect Jinchūriki. As long as he could control them, they would absolutely be an immediate and powerful combat asset. How could he possibly hand them over to Danzō?
He refused directly.
"No. I gave you two talents last time, and you didn't handle matters well. I cannot hand the Two-Tails Jinchūriki over to you."
Seeing that the Third Hokage actually refused, Danzō spoke with a face full of displeasure.
"The Third Hokage is being a bit too greedy, aren't you? Controlling the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and still wanting to control the Two-Tails Jinchūriki."
In this way, the opponent's combat power would reach an unprecedented height.
The Third Hokage and Danzō remained in a stalemate, neither willing to yield to the other.
Finally, Danzō steeled his heart, because this was absolutely an unacceptable condition for him.
"If the Third Hokage does not wish to hand them over to our Root, then I fear Root will no longer have the capacity to cooperate with Lord Hokage in handling matters in the future."
The Third Hokage's expression changed abruptly.
"You fellow, you actually dare to threaten me like this?"
Facing the Third Hokage's rebuke, Danzō remained unmoved; he did not intend to back down.
The Third Hokage's expression was extremely ugly. Although this guy always fought with him, this time he was actually threatening him.
However, he really was threatened by the other party.
The current stability of the Leaf Village relied not only on him but also on Danzō's activities in the dark.
Not only for intelligence gathering outside but also for helping him handle things that were inconvenient for him to do personally.
Without his help, the manpower he could mobilize would be greatly reduced, and his control over Konoha would be much weaker.
He spoke helplessly.
"I can hand the Two-Tails Jinchūriki over to you, but the prerequisite is that we must first resolve the matter of the Uchiha Clan."
It wasn't just Danzō who worried about the Uchiha Clan; the Third Hokage was equally worried about them.
The current Uchiha Clan was showing strong momentum again.
Of course, he wouldn't hand the Two-Tails Jinchūriki over immediately; naturally, he had to delay it as much as possible.
Hearing the other party's words, Danzō also breathed a sigh of relief. He didn't want to have too stiff of a falling out with the Third Hokage either.
After all, the other party was the Hokage in the light, and Danzō needed his permission to do many things.
Otherwise, how could a Konoha Consultant Elder have such real power?
However, it was good that the other party accepted his conditions. A little delay didn't matter.
If they let the Uchiha Clan develop their power and reverse their terrible impression within the village, he feared that even if he and the Third Hokage joined forces to wipe out the clan, they would suffer heavy losses. This was naturally not something he wished to see.
He spoke slowly.
"Good, I can accept that. The first step is we receive the Two-Tails Jinchūriki. The second step is we must revoke the Uchiha Clan's duties in the Konoha Military Police Force. The power of this Police Force is truly too great."
"Lower the status of this clan and turn them into an ordinary large clan."
Of course, he had his own ideas about this.
The members of the Uchiha Clan's Police Force basically lived off the salary issued by the village.
If they no longer had these duties, they would have to go out and perform missions to earn money. Then, he, Danzō, could move against these people unknowingly. It was simply killing two birds with one stone.
The Third Hokage's expression changed.
The power of the Uchiha Clan's Police Force was indeed great; they even dared to arrest and sentence his son.
But to revoke the Uchiha Clan's Police Force duties... that was something his teacher, the Second Hokage, had bestowed upon them.
Frowning, he said, "I thought you had some good idea. Revoking their Police Force duties? They will definitely not agree to it."
How could anyone voluntarily give up the power in their hands?
Moreover, the other party was currently at the height of their influence in the village.
Danzō's idea was too simple and crude.
But Danzō smiled and said, "Naturally, I know this is a difficult matter. But as long as we can achieve it, we can absolutely suppress the Uchiha Clan, and even make the clan's reputation among the villagers of Konoha worse again."
The Third Hokage became interested and asked, "What do you plan to do?"
Danzō responded with a smile.
"As long as there are a few more people complaining, we can unite with the other clans to revoke the Uchiha Clan's Police Force duties. When that time comes, we will also need the cooperation of the Third Hokage."
The Third Hokage understood what the other party meant: simply manufacturing public opinion.
If there were many complaints and many dissatisfied people, then he, Sarutobi Hiruzen, naturally had the right to strip them of their Police Force duties.
Since it was the duties given to them by the Second Hokage, he, the Third Hokage, naturally had the real power to take them back.
The current Uchiha Clan indeed needed to be suppressed a bit.
Otherwise, the village would only know of the Uchiha Clan and not know of the existence of him, the Third Hokage.