This was exactly what Itachi feared.
He understood that friction and conflict were inevitable. No system of reform could move forward without resistance.
But if every internal clash caused the clan to retreat further into isolation, then how could the deep-seated rift between the Uchiha and the Village ever truly be resolved?
His brows knitted unconsciously.
A finger suddenly pressed against his forehead.
Itachi froze as Roshi gently smoothed the crease away.
"Don't overthink yourself into knots, Itachi," Roshi said, withdrawing his hand.
"What you're seeing now is normal. A person's mindset doesn't change overnight."
"Even the Senju—who disbanded their clan long ago—still have members who would band together and fight if they felt their interests were threatened. And that's a clan that willingly dissolved itself."
"Compared to them, the Uchiha—who have lived together on clan land for generations—are bound to change even more slowly."
Roshi's gaze drifted toward the courtyard, where sunlight filtered through leaves, casting shifting shadows on the ground.
"But these things will change," he continued calmly.
"Take your own future, for example. Your path in Anbu is decided by the Hokage."
"And for those who enter the Political Affairs Department, promotions and evaluations depend on the two advisors."
"In such a system, as long as the clan head doesn't deliberately cling to forceful methods to preserve the old, closed structure, people will naturally begin choosing personal prospects over rigid clan loyalty."
"For a better life. For broader opportunities."
"The so-called 'clan mentality' will fade on its own."
"Ninjas are still people," Roshi said quietly. "And the Uchiha are no exception."
"As people, they desire stability, advancement, and a future with possibilities."
"The fewer individuals who can only survive by relying on the Uchiha Clan itself, the fewer will remain trapped by it."
He turned to look directly at Itachi.
"As for the problems that arise along the way—they're unavoidable."
"And they must be faced."
"This is a long road you'll have to walk, Itachi. Don't expect quick fixes."
"Solutions that work too quickly usually hide costs that no one can afford to pay."
Roshi picked up one of the pastries Itachi had brought. Red bean paste—lightly sweet, restrained.
After finishing it, he brushed the crumbs from his hands.
"Anything else on your schedule today?"
"No," Itachi replied. "Today's a rest day."
"Good," Roshi said immediately. "Because I don't have one."
A willing pair of hands had come knocking—wasting them would be irresponsible.
He slid open the door to the study. Itachi glanced inside and saw open document boxes and scrolls scattered across the desk.
"These are classified documents, aren't they?"
"It's fine," Roshi replied casually. "You can read them."
"…Captain," Itachi said after a pause. "Are you slacking off?"
"No. I'm sharing," Roshi corrected. "Just like you shared your worries."
Itachi wasn't one to shy away from work. After confirming there was no risk of information leakage, he followed Roshi into the study without complaint.
—
Danzō had considered many possible courses of action.
And rejected all of them himself.
Unless he resorted to direct force, there was no way to remove the four Anbu guards stationed around him. But doing so would amount to open rebellion.
Even at the height of Root's autonomy under the Third Hokage, he had never dared to openly defy the Hokage's orders.
At that moment, Hiruzen came to see him once more.
"Uchiha Madara… It was indeed an Uchiha," Danzō said coolly. "Hiruzen, if this is Madara's doing, then the Uchiha cannot be trusted."
"The Uchiha within the village are trustworthy," the Third Hokage replied evenly. "There's no need for suspicion. Fugaku personally intervened and handed over the involved clan members to Anbu custody."
"As for this 'Madara,' and the being known as 'Zetsu'—do you have any information?"
Danzō fell silent, his single visible eye narrowing slightly.
"There are no leads on the masked man."
"But there is a record regarding the creature resembling a pitcher plant."
"During the last incident—when Kirigakure hired rogue ninja to harass the Land of Fire's borders—it was that being who intervened and dealt with them."
"Kirigakure…" Hiruzen murmured.
The direction aligned perfectly with Tsunade's earlier suspicions.
Yet last year, the Hidden Mist had signed a peace treaty with Konoha. On the surface, relations appeared to have thawed considerably.
As Hiruzen pondered this, Danzō suddenly spoke again, his voice flat and emotionless.
"Hiruzen," he said, "your previous proposal… I agree to it."
—
"Not bad at all." Tsunade flipped through the proposal in her hand. "Once the Old Man and the others review it, we can begin testing its implementation."
Then she added, almost casually, "Danzō has agreed to retire."
Standing before her desk, Roshi showed no surprise.
"How much did he give up?" he asked.
Retirement was little more than a façade. Roshi understood that—and Tsunade understood it even better.
Danzō's true objective was obvious: to escape the constant Anbu surveillance.
As long as he relinquished his position as advisor and handed over assets of sufficient value, Tsunade had little justification to continue pressing him. Hiruzen and the remaining two Advisors wouldn't allow matters to be pushed much further either.
If one truly compared decades of contribution to the Village, Tsunade—who had spent many years away from Konoha—was hardly in a position to claim her merits outweighed Danzō Shimura's.
"A roster of Root agents stationed outside the Village," Tsunade replied flatly. "And the location of a secret warehouse containing intelligence he's accumulated over the years."
"As for whether that's everything…" She paused briefly. "There's no way to verify it. For now, this is as far as we can go."
"Without his advisor title, he can no longer openly interfere in matters between the village and the Uchiha," she continued. "At least on the surface."
"Now," Tsunade said, shifting topics, her brows knitting slightly, "there's also the matter of the Hidden Mist."
The intelligence extracted from Enjin made one thing clear: Kirigakure was deeply entangled with this so-called 'Madara.'
But how to handle it… she hesitated.
Roshi didn't immediately offer his opinion. Instead, he raised a finger and lightly tapped the corner of his eye.
Tsunade froze for a moment. "Yagura Karatachi is a Jinchūriki," she said slowly. "One who can wield a Tailed Beast's power…"
The reason she suspected the Mizukage was being controlled was precisely because Kirigakure's previous irrational provocations could not have continued without a Kage's approval.
She muttered under her breath, "But if it's 'Madara'… then it's not impossible."
"Their show of peaceful intent last year didn't feel staged," Roshi finally said. "Given the contrast in behavior, it's possible that Kirigakure's internal leadership noticed the Mizukage's abnormality and made adjustments."
With Obito's existence effectively confirmed through Enjin's testimony, Roshi saw no reason to continue masking his speculation.
"In that case," Tsunade sighed, "handling the Hidden Mist becomes even more troublesome."
"The Mizukage was being controlled by a Sharingan. Even if they choose peace to recover for now, there's no guarantee what will happen later."
The more she thought about it, the worse it became. She clicked her tongue irritably.
"That damned man… always leaving messes for Konoha."
Complaints aside, problems still needed solutions.
"As for Uchiha Mōka and the others," Tsunade continued, "the interrogation results confirm they were unaware of 'Madara's' existence. Their actions—including the use of genjutsu on the Daimyō—will be classified as internal Village offenses."
"After several years of detention, provided no further incidents occur, the Village may consider transferring them to the Police Force's prison for supervised custody."
This was Tsunade's concession—her reward for Fugaku's proactive cooperation. With another Mangekyō Uchiha lurking outside the village, she couldn't afford to completely strip the clan head of his authority.
"You'll inform Fugaku of this decision."
"As for Uchiha Enjin," her voice hardened, "his case will be handled entirely by Anbu. There will be no negotiations."
Roshi agreed. Upon leaving the Hokage's office, he went straight to the police headquarters.
Uchiha Fugaku received him in his office. For reasons he couldn't quite explain, hearing that Roshi had returned to the village gave him a faint sense of relief.
At the very least, whenever this man was present, the Police Force's reforms had never spiraled into such severe internal chaos.
After hearing Tsunade's ruling regarding Mōka and the others, Fugaku's hands—resting on his knees—relaxed almost imperceptibly.
This outcome was far better than the worst-case scenario Itachi had relayed earlier. More importantly, it preserved the possibility that those individuals might one day return to the clan.
As for Enjin…
After learning of "Madara's" existence, Fugaku had already written him off. Enjin hadn't merely plotted against the Village—he had intended to overthrow Fugaku himself, the clan head, from within.
That, Fugaku knew, was something that could never be forgiven.
—
Iwagakure—Tsuchikage's Office
"Eight thousand people?"
Ōnoki stared at the intelligence report in his hand, genuine surprise slipping into his voice.
"Based on current estimates, the average ticket price is approximately twenty thousand ryō," the jōnin in charge of analysis reported carefully. "Ticket sales alone generated a massive profit. This figure doesn't even include additional revenue from separate tickets for team and individual matches, nor the spending on lodging and food in the surrounding area…"
Ōnoki set the scroll down slowly.
"Eight thousand people at twenty thousand ryō each… that's one hundred and sixty million ryō." He snorted. "That brat of a Raikage really raked it in this time."
Iwagakure's finances had never been comfortable. The number of external missions they could accept was limited, and for years the village had relied heavily on direct allocations from the Land of Earth's Daimyō.
To keep their shinobi forces operational, they had often been forced to issue war-related missions—border clashes, small-scale conflicts, constant friction.
Thanks to Ōnoki's long-standing relationship with the Earth Daimyō, maintaining the current level of funding wasn't an immediate concern.
Sunagakure, meanwhile, had shown signs of agitation under Torisuke's provocations, but no concrete action had followed.
All signs pointed to a period of relative peace across the ninja world.
And peace, Ōnoki knew, demanded preparation.
If war wasn't coming, then Iwagakure needed to secure a new, stable source of income—one that didn't rely on bloodshed.
If Kumogakure could pull it off, there was no reason Iwagakure couldn't do the same.
A dedicated competition arena? For shinobi skilled in Earth Release, that was hardly an obstacle.
As for participants…
Iwagakure wielded considerable influence in the surrounding regions. Villages like Kusagakure and Takigakure—traditional allies of Konoha—could be pressured into sending teams.
They wouldn't dare refuse.
Between offending Iwagakure and dispatching a few squads to compete, smaller villages knew exactly which choice was safer.
"Konoha's Chūnin Exams are in September," Ōnoki muttered.
"Then Iwagakure will hold ours in September as well."
He didn't expect to match Kumogakure's scale on the first attempt. The Cloud had prepared for a year, secured Konoha's participation, and launched their publicity early.
But that wasn't the real point.
What interested Ōnoki was Konoha's reaction.
If Konoha couldn't sit still—if they were tempted into pouring resources into commercialization just as Kumogakure had—then what would Kumogakure think when they saw the difference in crowd size and attention between simultaneous events held by Konoha and Iwagakure?
After all, Kumogakure's location was remote. Their profits depended heavily on drawing outsiders in.
And if Konoha wasn't tempted—if they stuck to a traditional, politically driven Chūnin Exam—
Then what?
Faced with allied villages participating in both exams due to Iwagakure's joint scheduling, would Konoha apply pressure?
Or would they quietly tolerate it?
Ōnoki's lips curled faintly.
Now, he could finally see how Princess Tsunade intended to play this game.
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