At the Konoha headquarters.
Several members of the Uchiha clan walked together toward the tents where the Konoha Jonin and other senior officers were staying.
Along the way, other Konoha ninja cast glances at them, but those gazes lacked any warmth of camaraderie. Some even carried undisguised looks of distaste.
These were all Konoha ninja, people who should have been comrades in arms by any reasonable measure. Yet the scene playing out was one of the Uchiha clan members moving as though separated from the rest of Konoha's forces by a transparent wall.
A sense of distance. A feeling of strangers, keep away.
The Uchiha members were fully aware of the emotions and gazes surrounding them. And they responded to that awareness with complete arrogance, showing no respect and not even deigning to look directly at the people watching them.
They approached the commander's tent. The guards moved to announce their arrival, but unexpectedly the lead Uchiha simply walked in, bringing several clansmen with him without waiting. He showed no patience for formality whatsoever.
"You..."
"It is fine, stand down."
The guards started to intervene but were waved off by the people already inside the tent.
Inside, along with the regular command staff, there were several other senior army leaders, including the head of the Hyuga clan's branch family present for this deployment.
They appeared to have been in the middle of discussing a defensive strategy for the ongoing engagement against the Sand Village.
Before leaving, Hiruzen had repeatedly instructed them that unless the situation became completely uncontrollable, they should not launch any offensive against the Sand Village. Passive defense was sufficient.
This way losses would be minimal and the Sand Village would be the side expending the most energy.
"Kimu. Is there something you need?"
A man who knew the Uchiha clan's temperament and recognized the one who had entered first asked with a practiced easy chuckle.
The man, Uchiha Kimu, swept his gaze across everyone present in the tent, his eyes cold. When his gaze reached the Hyuga clan's branch family members, he spoke directly.
"What is the meaning of this? The Hokage sent our Uchiha clan here to help you deal with the Sand Village, and you cannot even be bothered to inform us of the battle plans and arrangements?"
The other person understood the displeasure immediately.
"Currently we are engaged with the Sand Village in a series of small-scale conflicts. In engagements of this scale, the tactical options are limited.
Furthermore, with your clan and the Hyuga clan present, the tactical pressure is not particularly great. What we are discussing right now is simply a defensive strategy targeting the Sand Village.
We do not need to take the initiative. Your clan focuses on eliminating the enemy. The Hyuga clan's doujutsu handles the defensive coverage."
He continued.
"To achieve better coordination, I was about to call the Hyuga branch family disciples down to go over the river crossing arrangements.
I did not inform your group yet because I did not want to waste your energy unnecessarily. You have all just come off a fight with the enemy and should be resting properly."
He offered the explanation calmly.
Uchiha Kimu still looked skeptical.
"Ah." He sneered. "Before coming here, I heard you were severely beaten by the Sand Village on the front lines. And the threat was not only from those medical ninja. A great many soldiers died at the hands of Blood Doctor Yuji."
As soon as those words landed, the moods of the other Konoha officers in the tent immediately soured.
Those with relatively composed temperaments suppressed their discomfort and nodded.
"Blood Doctor Yuji and Akasuna no Sasori are indeed the primary targets we need to be wary of. They are also the strongest individual combatants currently operating within the Sand Village army, capable of inflicting direct and significant damage on our forces on the battlefield..."
Before the sentence could be finished, another Uchiha clansman cut in with a clearly sarcastic tone.
"Really? We did not find this Sand Village army particularly difficult to deal with. In several consecutive engagements we have killed a large portion of their soldiers, their ranks are scattered, and that Blood Doctor Yuji has not shown his face at all. Most likely he heard the Uchiha clan was coming and decided to hide."
He continued.
"Judging from the current situation, the Sand Village is not nearly as powerful as you are making them out to be. As commanders, should you not wake up and consider where the real problem lies? Is the enemy too strong, or are you simply too weak?"
The moment those words left his mouth, the arrogant expressions on the Uchiha members' faces became even more apparent.
"Uchiha Kikuchi! What exactly do you mean by that?!"
A senior Konoha army officer shot to his feet, glaring at the one who had led this little speech. Even the officer who had been handling the conversation with practiced patience, the smile now gone from his face, raised his hand to stop his colleague from escalating further.
Both the Hyuga and the Uchiha were prestigious Konoha clans. Regardless of their internal village politics and positions, once they reached the front lines they were comrades in arms and deserved to be treated as such.
Furthermore, the commander understood clearly how important both clans were to this campaign, and he had every intention of showing them appropriate respect and consideration.
At this crucial moment, if the Uchiha clan disrupted the atmosphere within the army and sparked internal conflict, the consequences would be disastrous.
In truth, before the Uchiha clan had even arrived, he had already anticipated that managing them would be a persistent headache. Their demeanor was well known throughout the village. He also had some understanding of the village's more delicate internal dynamics.
But he had not expected that within only a few days of reaching the battlefield, they would already be causing trouble and seemingly on the verge of clashing with others directly.
"Blood Doctor Yuji and Akasuna no Sasori were both highly renowned and powerful figures during the Second Great Ninja War. They were targets that even the Hokage himself had to pay personal attention to. They are not as simple as you seem to think."
"Ah."
One of the Uchiha chuckled softly.
"Kimu, if you want to participate in tactical planning, you are welcome to join us afterward," the commander said with a calm and level expression.
On the battlefield, military discipline was strict and every person was bound to adhere to it absolutely. As the commander, his position and decisions could not be questioned.
If it had been anyone else behaving this way, the response would not have stopped at simply asking them to leave. Punishment would have followed.
But this man would rather absorb the loss of face himself than allow any internal conflict to take root within the army.
"As soon as our Uchiha clan arrived on the battlefield, we immediately produced a clear advantage for the village," another Uchiha spoke up.
"Perhaps Brother Kimu should take on a command role. Anyone capable of leading or supporting the village is ultimately serving the village, and the main goal is to win this great battle. I do not think anyone here would have objections to that, would they?"
"Shut up."
Uchiha Kimu heard his clansman say this and reprimanded him immediately in a low, firm voice.
It was clear he understood where the line was.
They were not harboring genuine malice or deep resentment toward the people in this tent. It was more a matter of ingrained habit and disposition, a reflex that made them feel, even here on the battlefield, that the village's senior officials were somehow targeting their clan.
The fact that the tactical discussion had not been announced to them had naturally produced a surge of resentment. And once that feeling surfaced, it reinforced the suspicions they had already carried with them from the village.
Even if a perfectly reasonable explanation existed, once the seed of suspicion was planted it was very difficult to uproot.
Afterward, the other Uchiha members left the tent. But Kimu remained and continued the tactical discussion with the others.
However, his presence made the atmosphere noticeably different from what it had been before. Shikaku and Minato exchanged a brief glance across the tent. Neither of them said anything.