In the following days, Kakashi, the son of the White Fang, left the Anbu, his position as Anbu captain now void, and he took on the mantle of Hatake clan leader. A choice that left many bewildered, but saw hope in the resurgence of the Hatake clan. The Hokage faction, however, blamed the Uchiha clan. Fugaku's meeting with Kakashi was clearly the cause, but there was nothing they could do about it.
Unknown to them, the sharingan in Kakashi's left eye had lost its light, although the 3 tomoe were visible if observed carefully; it did not respond to light. It had been sealed by Uchiha Setsuna, a grandmaster of fuinjutsu among the Uchiha. The Sharingan, while powerful, had severely limited his growth in the last three years, so Fugaku proposed that Kakashi seal it and unseal it if he needed it or was ready.
Another explosive event was the choosing of a clan leader by the Senju clan, Ide Senju, a 43-year-old elite jonin of the clan. Evident that Tsunade was never gonna take the mantle, a hard choice was made. The Senju would revive. These undercurrents unsettled the Hokage faction, but there was little that they could do.
5 years soon went by… In those five years, the Uchiha had eliminated all spies and traitors inside the clan. Internal development had taken root, with academy graduates being retrained to fit the new clan standard. Uchiha Fugaku had revised squad formations to include sensors and medical ninjas, while the sharingan was exceptional at tracking; unlike the byakugan, they could not anticipate ambushes.This was enforced due to root operatives, ambushes as their specialty; many Uchiha had died in the wars due to ambushes. Medical ninja to preserve lives as shinobi with a sharingan were worth more than gold.
In a frenzy, all clans were now focusing on internal development spurred forward by the Uchiha, the Hokage faction observing this could only watch, torn between whether they should strengthen their own clans or the civilian ninjas whom their faction represents. If they supported their own clans, then they would lose support of the civilian ninjas, but if they chose the civilian ninjas alongside their clans, the cost would be too much. The village revenue was split between maintaining the village and the clans, but asking the clans was out of the question, given the rift between the two factions.
The subtle strengthening of Konohagakure did not escape the eyes of the 4 great villages, but the loss of Minato, the fourth Hokage, was devastating in military and in politics. The lack of a suspect was even more so, painting Konoha as incompetent. Anbu divisions moved in the dark, searching for who could be capable of such a feat, as they also reinforced their defences and kept tight watch on their jinchuriki.
Sunagakure, led by Rasa, a rank S ninja, began training their shinobi to become elites, limited by the desert in population, quality was the only way forward. Kumogakure began exploring the secret techniques of clans spread out in the world, as well as kekkei genkai. Over the 5 years, the shinobi world settled into a brittle peace as the waves caused by Orochimaru's defection and Minato's death settled.
Murata Tanehiko, in those 5 years, used his resources to understand what a shinobi was, and he didn't like what he found. The ideology mirrored a merchant's ideology so much that he feared for his son, but he knew that there was no other way. He then told his wife Ina what he had decided. Ina, of course, had refused strongly, but with recent events, she eventually agreed. Murata wanted his son Kudo Tanehiko to become a thinker, not a tool to be used and discarded. So, he focused on educating Kudo, developing his analytical skills from a young age with puzzles, quizzes, and directives to be followed. While Kudo did not share his father's enthusiasm, he was dedicated; to him, it felt like a special activity unique between his father and himself.
Towards the end of the 5-year period after the nine-tails attack, another major event took the world by storm, a possible civil war within Kirigakure. Relations between the fourth Mizukage's faction and the Kekkei genkai clans had soured beyond reproach, and a civil war was inevitable within the next 3 years. While the news did not break the peace between villages, it intensified relations within Konahagakure; the current atmosphere could also dissolve into a civil war.
To bridge the gap, the Hokage's faction had proposed to induct Itachi and Shisui Uchiha into the Anbu as a part of an inclusivity initiative, but Fugaku refused vehemently. Itachi and Shisui were absurdly talented even by Uchiha standards; therefore, he would not let them be corrupted by the Hokage faction, and instead, he proposed that the Uchiha police force be opened to more clans in the village, as that would broaden the scope of the inclusivity initiative, but this proposal was refused by the Hokage faction.
The Uchiha police limited the growth of the Uchiha clan and kept them from explosive growth by confining them within the village, and even then, their movements could be monitored. Fugaku did not allow Shisui and Itachi to graduate early; by keeping them longer with the clan, he hoped to foster a sense of belonging to the clan and nurture them to put the clan first. Because, without the clans, there is no village, the coexistence of the clans gives birth to and maintains the village.
In Itachi, by exposing him to the horrors of war early, he had created a pacifist, a pacifism that was not good for the clan, and he sought to correct the mistake and redirect those feelings and ideals budding in Itachi.
Another minor occurrence was the appearance of the fox brat in the village, the jinchuriki of the nine-tails Naruto Uzumaki. While a few clan leaders wanted to take in Naruto due to being Minato's son, for those in the know, internal and external pressure did not allow it. Internally, should he rampage, a clan would fall, and externally, from the other clans. The Hokage faction, by pushing rumors of the fox brat, successfully isolated Naruto.Just like that, those 5 years went by.