Akatsuki Ninja Village.
The cold wind dispersed the remaining warmth of late summer, and the coolness of autumn became more and more apparent.
In a trance, not much of this year was left.
Uchiha Makoto stole a moment of leisure from his busy schedule, finding a rare opportunity to rest.
To relax, he simply went fishing by a river in the Akatsuki Ninja Village.
He sat on a smooth blue stone, his fishing rod hanging quietly over the water, the shadow of the line swaying gently with the shimmering light. All the troubles of the past were forgotten at this moment, his eyes fixed only on the bobber drifting on the water surface.
"This is really nice... No wonder men unknowingly awaken the angler profession after getting married and working."
"Two-Tailed Cat, don't wander around my feet. Fishing requires concentration... Go sunbathe obediently."
"If you don't behave, I'll send you to the Chakra Extraction Center tomorrow!"
"...."
The Two-Tailed Cat had just pawed at Uchiha Makoto twice, asking for pets.... and then was "threatened" by Uchiha Makoto.
It ran away unhappily—bad human, you weren't like this before!
A moment later, feeling the weight on the fishing rod.
Uchiha Makoto exerted a little force, and then, taking advantage of the moment the opponent was exhausted, he pulled up sharply.
"Jackpot! Such a big one... I have to parade this around the village!"
"Two-Tailed Cat, we're having fish soup tonight!"
A large fish was quickly dragged ashore by Uchiha Makoto. He lifted the fish to feel its weight; it was probably around twenty pounds.
A good start!
Then, Uchiha Makoto threw the line back into the water with a smile—he had a hunch that the next fish would be even bigger than this one.
However.... something disappointing happened to Uchiha Makoto.
"Lord Kōkage, a letter from the Uchiha clan has arrived."
"I know."
Uchiha Makoto sighed slightly.
Being the Kōkage was like this. Once you put on the Kōkage's official robes, the leisure time of ordinary people almost said goodbye to you... Whenever he wanted to rest for a while, some inexplicable event would always appear to occupy Uchiha Makoto's precious rest time.
Subsequently, he put down the fishing rod in his hand, reached out to take the letter, and then waved his hand to signal the ANBU ninja to withdraw.
"Konoha has been quite peaceful lately... What happened again?"
"It's probably Senju Tobirama wanting to do something again."
"Really doesn't let anyone have a moment of peace!"
Before opening the letter, Uchiha Makoto couldn't help but guess—nine times out of ten, it was related to Senju Tobirama.
Uchiha Makoto skipped the useless pleasantries at the beginning of the letter.
Just reading a small part of the beginning, he couldn't help but get interested.
In the letter... the Uchiha clan revealed to Uchiha Makoto the reform plan that Senju Tobirama intended to carry out at the high-level meeting of all Konoha.
And the vast majority of the measures were almost copied from the rules and regulations of the Akatsuki Ninja Village.
"Interesting... Senju Tobirama finally couldn't help but start making changes within Konoha..."
"This guy is really tsundere, a naturally evil white-haired tsundere old ghost... He even had the nerve to call me a heretic... The copying is too obvious."
"But... it won't be that easy."
To be honest.
Uchiha Makoto was pessimistic about Senju Tobirama's reform plan.
In the past, he put too much pressure on Senju Tobirama, and even trampled his face on the ground once or twice. So although there was still a fundamental difference in their thinking—Uchiha Makoto wanted to flip the table in the ninja world, directly overturning the underlying system of the ninja world and sending those vermin to see the Sage of Six Paths, while Senju Tobirama still had the mindset of ruler and subject in his bones. However, after being tortured and tormented by Uchiha Makoto for so long, he gradually matured and became a reformist.
But this did not prevent Senju Tobirama from "learning from barbarians to control barbarians" and making substantial institutional changes within Konoha.
But the problem was....
Senju Tobirama was under too much pressure, and a few months ago he suffered an "ultimate insult."
His mentality was already unbalanced.
Senju Tobirama wanted to catch up with the Akatsuki Ninja Village too much, and then slap Uchiha Makoto in the face hard. So the reform plan he promoted in Konoha was too radical—even a superior system, if it did not fit the actual situation, would be difficult to implement.
And currently, Konoha's overall thinking was still that set of traditional ninja thinking from the Warring States period. Getting that group of old stubborn uncles in the village to make actual ideological changes was simply extremely difficult.
Even using actual benefits to guide them would be half the result with twice the effort.
The best way was still to directly use physical means to make them disappear completely from this world.... For example, creating a huge war, leaving behind young people whose thinking could be changed, and sending all the difficult-to-handle uncles into battle as cannon fodder.
This was also very consistent with the survival strategy of ninja villages—the older generation dying for the younger generation, preserving the young seeds as much as possible.
Unfortunately, Senju Tobirama couldn't do this at all. If he wanted to start a war, even a local war, Senju Hashirama's iron fist would hit him first.
And the worst thing was...
Because Senju Tobirama took too big a step and needed money in too many places, he couldn't even bring out actual benefits. Instead, he had to "exploit" the ninjas in the village to accumulate primitive capital for Konoha.
This would offend even the grassroots ninjas!
Even with Senju Hashirama personally endorsing him, the pressure he bore himself was huge.
"Don't cause public outrage in Konoha... or even create a joke of clearing the Kage's side in Konoha."
"Allies serving heaven to quell chaos... seems... also plausible."
Uchiha Makoto shook his head, unable to help but imagine this explosive scene.... It's just that the probability of this was too low, low enough to be negligible.
Then he continued reading the letter.
The next part of the letter detailed Uchiha Setsuna's highlight moment in the meeting room—how he ridiculed Senju Tobirama in public, how he made Senju Tobirama unable to step down in public, how he took the lead in opposing Senju Tobirama's reform plan, and the process of arguing fiercely with Senju Tobirama in the meeting room... The smugness between the lines almost burst through the paper.
Clearly.
The elders of the Uchiha clan all thought this was a victory... and the situation was indeed so.
However, Uchiha Makoto couldn't help frowning at this moment.
"Something's wrong... something's wrong..."
"The Uchiha clan would actually oppose Senju Tobirama's reform plan at this time... and in such a radical and resolute way, this is too weird!"
"This is not Uchiha at all!"
He quickly smelled the scent of conspiracy.
Indeed.
The Uchiha clan was a group of stubborn old guys controlling the family power, and they would indeed find ways to obstruct Senju Tobirama's reform plan in the future.
But according to Uchiha Makoto's understanding of the Uchiha clan and Konoha's situation....
Senju Tobirama must have received Senju Hashirama's endorsement to promote this radical internal reform plan for Konoha.
As the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama's prestige was still very effective, whether for the group of uncles in the village or for the Uchiha clan.
At least on the surface, this group of opposition would absolutely not publicly hold opposing views, but would only use extreme means in secret to obstruct Senju Tobirama's reform plan.
This was the strangest part.
Those old things in the Uchiha clan absolutely did not have such keen political acumen, nor did they have such great determination and courage. In the case where Senju Tobirama indicated that he had Senju Hashirama's support, they so clearly opposed Senju Tobirama tit-for-tat at the high-level meeting of all Konoha, expressing their opposition in a way that almost tore their faces apart.
The timing was extremely precise, and the attitude expressed was extremely decisive, enough to win over a large number of high-level officials within Konoha who opposed the reform plan.
But... is this f*cking still Uchiha?
If the Uchiha clan really had such vision and decisive determination, they wouldn't have played themselves to extinction in the original plot, and their popularity wouldn't have been so bad that few families were willing to stand up and say a few fair words for them.
"This matter is not that simple. There is definitely someone pushing behind the scenes."
"Interesting... It seems the family is hiding something from me this time too."
Suppressing the displeasure in his heart.
Uchiha Makoto continued to focus on the content of the letter.
It was still a long-winded session of belittling and praising.
The belittling was undoubtedly Senju Tobirama. The Uchiha clan skillfully blamed all of Konoha's current difficulties on Senju Tobirama.
There was nothing wrong with saying this.
He who wears the crown must bear its weight. Since Senju Tobirama controlled the core power of Konoha, he had to be responsible for everything in Konoha.
—You can't only admit to being the Shadow Hokage of Konoha when Konoha is leading.
As for the praising session...
There was praise for Uchiha Makoto, praise for the Akatsuki Ninja Village, and of course, ultimately, it had to be blown back to the Uchiha clan itself.... This was very Uchiha!
Uchiha Makoto glanced roughly, skipped these meaningless contents, and saw the second half of the letter.
The Uchiha clan finally mentioned the purpose of writing the letter.
"Hope to give the Konoha exchange students a holiday for a period of time... return to Konoha..."
"Want to use the mouths of the exchange students to promote the Akatsuki Ninja Village, and then use this to attack Senju Tobirama, improving the Uchiha's prestige and status in the village... Nice trick."
"But... the Konoha students returning from the Akatsuki Ninja Village might not necessarily speak according to the family's ideas."
Uchiha Makoto finished reading the Uchiha clan's request and quickly understood the family's intention in doing so.... He and the Akatsuki Ninja Village were the family's best golden signboard. Praising the Akatsuki Ninja Village was tantamount to raising the ability and prestige of the Uchiha clan in disguise, and incidentally could continue to attack that bastard Senju Tobirama.
But...
Those students from Konoha were young people and hadn't been "poisoned" by traditional ninja thinking. During their long time in the Akatsuki Ninja Village, they had been thoroughly injected with the Will of Light by Uchiha Makoto. Coupled with the increasingly prosperous scene of the Akatsuki Ninja Village, this period of study time was no less than a spiritual baptism for them.
This group of students had become pro-Akatsuki, and their favorability towards the Uchiha clan had also increased because of the Akatsuki Ninja Village. It was indeed possible to belittle Senju Tobirama and lower his prestige within Konoha through these students, but... they were also potential reformists.
And the Uchiha clan was the opposition to internal reform in Konoha.
"One-track mind, blocked at both ends, quite the Uchiha style. This should be an idea the Uchiha clan came up with themselves, very consistent with their intelligence level."
Uchiha Makoto sighed in his heart.
However, he could also understand the Uchiha clan's thinking.
The position of the Second Hokage was too important for the Uchiha.
This was not just for power, but also meant that the Uchiha clan had defeated the Senju clan in another way, reshaping the pride of the Uchiha clan that had been nearly crushed by the Senju clan.
The Uchiha clan was probably red-eyed with anxiety for that Hokage throne!
Now, whatever means could strike at Senju Tobirama's prestige and drive him out of the Hokage's office, the Uchiha clan would find a way to use.
Get the Second Hokage position in the bag first, as for the rest... they probably subconsciously ignored it.
"Still too well protected, completely unaware of the pressure Senju Tobirama faces from the Akatsuki Ninja Village..."
"Competition between villages is cruel. Even if it's an ally, I won't show mercy."
After reading the letter, Uchiha Makoto crumpled it into a ball and threw it forcefully towards the center of the lake.
The paper ball fell into the water in a beautiful parabola in the blink of an eye.
Subsequently...
Uchiha Makoto began to seriously calculate the current situation in Konoha.
The Uchiha clan had obtained assistance from an unknown source, slightly making up for their lack of intelligence. At least in the internal struggle of Konoha, they could now deal with Senju Tobirama, who was backed by Senju Hashirama's support, with ease, tit for tat, evenly matched.
And this advantage would continue to expand in the future.
Because Senju Tobirama's promotion of internal reforms in Konoha was destined to be extremely difficult.
The Uchiha clan had already publicly declared themselves as opposition, and the other uncles in Konoha couldn't solve it at all.
Senju Tobirama was destined to be constrained by them everywhere.
He wouldn't cut the leeks of the nobles, and his steps were so big. The extra economic income relying solely on a few projects of cooperation between the Akatsuki Ninja Village and Konoha was obviously not enough, so he could only cut the leeks of the middle and lower-level ninjas in Konoha, offending the middle and lower-level ninjas again.
It could be said that the longer it dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be for Senju Tobirama.
Perhaps in a few years, Konoha wouldn't change much.... It's hard to do something well, but too simple to ruin something.
And the Akatsuki Ninja Village would become stronger and stronger. The Uchiha clan naturally had a big advantage over Senju Tobirama. They were not most responsible for Konoha's predicament and could point fingers at Senju Tobirama from the moral high ground.
"Senju Tobirama, your situation is much more difficult than in the original story."
"Maybe you really could be driven out of the Hokage's office by the Uchiha."
"Three seconds of silence for you."
Although Uchiha Makoto really wanted to send Senju Tobirama to see the Sage of Six Paths quickly, he still felt deep sympathy for his encounter. After all, the root of all this.... was still with him.
"However, Uchiha... you are so strong in Konoha now, and you even hooked up with someone else behind my back."
"I don't like such a strong Uchiha!"
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