The Uchiha are divided into the Radical Faction and the Conservative Faction.
The Radical Faction's philosophy is—hurry up and start the Coup d'état!
The Conservative Faction's philosophy is—let's wait and see.
These past few days, the Conservative Faction had been very uneasy, constantly criticizing Hiromi in secret for being reckless.
How could he go to the center of the village and cause a scene with Susanoo?
That's the center of the village, the most critical place in the village!
But not a single person dared to say it to his face, they only dared to whisper and complain in the shadows. After all, Hiromi had caused the scene for the sake of his brother's gouged-out eyes. An elder brother is like a father, this is filial piety.
As Uchiha, no one dared to blame Hiromi for doing something wrong. They only dared to call him reckless.
While they were hoping Hiruzen would show mercy in dealing with Hiromi, they instead found out first about what Danzo had done—gouging out the eyes of other Uchiha.
Then they recalled previous events: the night of the Nine-Tails incident, the Nine-Tails rumors, the war with Kumogakure and Iwagakure, the Kumogakure treaty...
They seemed to see hope, they hurriedly ran out of the clan compound to tell the villagers the "truth" they knew, attempting to clear up the villagers' misunderstandings about the Uchiha clan.
"On the night of the Nine-Tails incident, it wasn't that we Uchiha didn't go, but that we were stopped and ordered to protect the villagers."
"Nine-Tails' rampage had nothing to do with us Uchiha. If our Sharingan could control Tailed Beasts, why wouldn't we control Tailed Beasts weaker than Nine-Tails?"
"During the war between Konoha and Kumogakure and Iwagakure, we Uchiha were at the forefront. As the front line, we suffered heavy casualties, yet no one knows."
"Regarding the Kumogakure ceasefire agreement, the disappearance of the Kumogakure Envoy Leader has nothing to do with us Uchiha."
"All of this was done by Danzo. He deceived the villagers and concealed the military exploits of our Uchiha clan just to isolate us, so he could gouge out our Uchiha clan's Sharingan."
The villagers were greatly shocked. Under the expectant gazes of the Uchiha Conservative Faction, they asked a question that left them stunned.
"Who is Danzo?"
"Danzo? From the Shimura clan?"
"Is there such a person?"
"What does he look like?"
The Uchiha Conservative Faction was dumbstruck.
Actually... nobody knew who Danzo was?
The villagers who were hostile toward the Uchiha sneered disdainfully.
"The Uchiha are planning to lie again."
"If violent law enforcement doesn't work, are they using soft tactics now?"
"At least make up something halfway believable."
"Exactly. Making up a person who doesn't even exist."
"This is clearly a guilty conscience, anyone can tell it's fake."
The Uchiha Conservative Faction was very indignant and split into three groups.
The first group continued explaining to the villagers while also looking for the village elders to ask about the existence of this person, Danzo.
An old man scratched his head and said, "There should be such a person, he was a guard for the Second Hokage. Didn't he die?"
The Uchiha Conservative Faction became anxious. "How do you know he's dead?"
The old man asked back, "I haven't seen him in so many years. If he's not dead, what is he?"
"Hahahaha!"
The villagers pointed at them, clutching their stomachs and laughing loudly.
The Uchiha Conservative Faction was mocked by the villagers, but they still didn't give up, wanting to find proof of Danzo's existence.
But as an organization that was the Anbu within the Anbu, the Root hidden in the deepest depths of Konoha, how could any evidence of its existence possibly be left behind?
The second group went to find the Nara, Aburame, and other clans, wanting them to help confirm that there was such a person as Danzo.
The heads of the Nara, Aburame, and other clans naturally declined.
"If you Uchiha want to clash with Danzo, go ahead, but why drag our clans into it?"
But the Uchiha Conservative Faction had finally seen a glimmer of hope, and they were unwilling to give up just like that. Therefore, after visiting all the clans and being declined by all of them, they went back again, intending to try for a second round of visits.
They didn't believe they couldn't get through to even one of them.
But before the third attempt could begin, they were convinced that they couldn't get through to any of them. Some clans simply closed their doors, while others directly told them to get lost.
This made the Uchiha Conservative Faction's faces look grim, and they felt lost, not knowing the meaning of their own existence.
Ultimately, they could only pin their hopes on the other two groups.
But after finding the first group and learning that they too had made no progress, they became even more uneasy. They could only go together to find the third group.
The third group went to seek out the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen and persuade him to issue a statement regarding Danzo's position.
It seemed insignificant, but members of the Anbu are not allowed to have their names or appearances known, let alone the Root, which is hidden even deeper than the Anbu.
And as the leader of the Root, how could Danzo possibly advertise his existence to the world?
Not only did they fail to gain Hiruzen's support, but they also received a warning from him.
"Spreading information about important figures in the village is a serious crime. I hope I won't hear these things from anywhere else again."
Hiruzen was the existence that the Uchiha Conservative Faction viewed as their hope.
Since even he had said so, the Uchiha Conservative Faction fell into complete despair.
The three groups of the Uchiha Conservative Faction converged. They looked at each other in silence and walked back to the clan compound filled with dejection.
While passing by the entrance of Shisui's home, they saw a group of adults gathered around a blind five-year-old boy, constantly talking in a way that seemed like they were forming their own faction, which made them feel very disgruntled.
"To think they'd treat a five-year-old kid as the person in charge." They didn't say these words out loud.
After all, Hiromi's stance was not wrong.
Meanwhile, after Danzo heard that the Uchiha Conservative Faction was trying to prove his existence everywhere, he issued another command: "If you encounter a lone Uchiha, kill them without mercy!"
However, this command was abolished just two days after it was issued because a major event had occurred within the Uchiha clan.