Although Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen, those old comrades, had numerous disagreements regarding the position of Hokage, they shared an unusual tacit understanding when it came to dealing with the Uchiha Clan. After all, their teacher Senju Tobirama's attitude toward the Uchiha Clan was exactly that terrible.
Upon hearing this, Uchiha Fugaku immediately became agitated. He suddenly furrowed his brows and said discontentedly, "It's true that our Uchiha Clan is invincible, but to confront the Hidden Mist Village..."
Hearing this, Danzo let out a cold laugh. "Heh, so the invincible Uchiha are actually afraid of the Hidden Mist Village holed up on that small island? If you don't dare to go, just say so. We can assign someone else."
At these words, Uchiha Fugaku immediately stood up, slamming his right hand hard on the table with a loud "bang." Then, pointing at Danzo, he roared, "What are you barking about, you old dog? What does the Hidden Mist Village amount to? Would our Uchiha Clan be afraid of them? We'll take this mission."
The insulted Danzo showed no trace of anger on his face. Instead, a smirk of success curled at the corner of his mouth. It seemed the Uchiha were about to suffer greatly, having been targeted by that old schemer Danzo.
Actually, Uchiha Fugaku was well aware that Danzo was full of malicious intentions. Everyone present was an old fox—what kind of act were they putting on?
However, this was an open conspiracy. Given the Uchiha Clan's inherently proud nature, if Uchiha Fugaku backed down from the Hidden Mist Village this time, he might as well forget about remaining clan leader upon his return. Thus, Uchiha Fugaku could only sit back down in his seat, silently fuming.
At this moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke up. "In that case, the Hidden Mist Village front will be handed over to the Uchiha Clan. The village will also dispatch three hundred additional ninjas."
This statement was directed at the other clan leaders, hinting that they should contribute some people to serve as cannon fodder on the front lines. No one objected to this request. After all, the Uchiha were bearing the brunt of it, so it was only reasonable for the others to contribute a portion as well.
However, Hayato Ren and Tsunade appeared particularly bored at this moment. Due to the policies of the First and Second Hokages, the Senju clan, once equal in fame to the Uchiha, had long disappeared from public view. Most of the Senju clan members had integrated into the Leaf, becoming entirely part of the village. If not for Tsunade taking over as clan leader, the Senju clan would have existed in name only by now.
Thus, even though Tsunade was the leader of the Senju clan, these matters had little to do with her. As for Hayato Ren, there was even less to say—he was the epitome of "if one person eats, the whole family is full," and the affairs of this meeting had even less relevance to him.
So, the bored Hayato Ren began playing with Tsunade's fingers. Strangely enough, Tsunade's skin was exceptionally smooth and tender, so tender it seemed you could squeeze water from it.
Hayato Ren strongly suspected that Tsunade must have been secretly maintaining her body.
How could such a pair of hands, which could have been delicate and slender, deliver such devastatingly high damage?
While playing with Tsunade's fingers, Hayato Ren pondered this question.
After no one else raised objections, Sarutobi Hiruzen began spouting some empty, grandiose rhetoric.
For example, they were all from the same village and should unite to overcome difficulties together now that they were facing hardships...
The Will of Fire would never perish, and the Leaf would endure for ten thousand years...
After finishing his speech, Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up his teacup and gulped down a large mouthful.
All that talking had long since made his throat dry.
However, he had thoroughly enjoyed the feeling just moments before.
Unfortunately, everyone present showed no interest in what he had just said.
"The Sand Hidden Village might blame us for the disappearance of the Third Kazekage and subsequently launch a war against us. This is something we must guard against," Sarutobi Hiruzen continued after catching his breath.
Danzo immediately chimed in, "They're nothing but a pack of ungrateful wolf cubs. The First Hokage should have wiped them out back then."
However, given the Sand Hidden Village's environment full of wind and sand, even if the Leaf completely defeated them, it would be impossible to occupy the territory.
After all, who would want to go to that godforsaken place?
In the original story, after losing the ninja war and having their funds cut by the Land of Wind, the Sand Hidden Village even needed the Fourth Kazekage to extract gold dust from the desert to repay debts and alleviate the village's economic crisis.
This alone shows what kind of "treasured land" the Sand Hidden Village really was.
Unlike the Leaf, which occupied the central region of the world's most fertile land.
Even if the Land of Fire's daimyo wanted to strangle the Leaf, he would have no way to do so.
Returning to the main topic, Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at Hayato Ren and Tsunade, the master and disciple pair who were "fooling around" below.
He then cleared his throat lightly, intending to remind them to be mindful of the occasion.
However, Sarutobi Hiruzen failed to get the attention of either Hayato Ren or Tsunade.
Left with no choice, Sarutobi Hiruzen could only continue speaking, "The border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind will be guarded by Tsunade and Ren leading six hundred ninjas. If the Sand Hidden Village truly invades, we'll provide additional support accordingly."
Caught off guard by being called out, Tsunade suddenly looked up and gazed at Sarutobi Hiruzen with somewhat bewildered eyes. "Old man, were you just calling me? Can you repeat what you said?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head and could only repeat what he had just said.
Among his three disciples, Tsunade was still relatively better.
Although she didn't regard him as her teacher or the Hokage at all, at least she would listen to him on important matters.
Unlike Jiraiya, that guy who still hadn't returned to the village at a time like this—what a mess.
Of course, it would be best if both Tsunade and Jiraiya could be like Orochimaru.
Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but cast an approving glance toward Orochimaru.
At this moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen had no idea that Orochimaru and Danzo were quietly preparing a major scheme behind his back.
Villagers in the Leaf had been frequently disappearing recently, and these missing villagers all shared one common trait: they possessed varying degrees of Senju clan bloodline.
Sarutobi Hiruzen knew about Orochimaru's human experimentation—as long as those people were death row prisoners or enemy ninjas, it wasn't a big issue.
However, Sarutobi Hiruzen had never even dreamed of this.
In their collusion, Orochimaru and Danzo actually chose to directly target people within the Leaf Village.
Moreover, they even dared to dig up the grave of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju—such audacity knew no bounds...
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