Inoichi Yamanaka:...He just wanted to ask about the Yamanaka Clan's stance in this matter, so how did his daughter jump straight to the topic of 'Ino–Shika–Chō dividing up the Public Security Division'?
'The Akimichi Clan members are chubby and generally have gentle personalities. Therefore, they are very suitable for handling ordinary public security issues—walking around the streets every day also helps prevent their weight from affecting their agility. The reason the Uchiha Clan has such a bad reputation and many people are dissatisfied with their law enforcement is because they are too arrogant and unapproachable... We are all Ninjas, far stronger than ordinary people; there's really no need to project an imposing aura through a poker face.'
'The Nara Clan members generally have sharper minds. Having them handle arrests, tracking, and other delicate intellectual tasks is just right. Especially when dealing with Ninjas from our own village, the Shadow Secret Technique is particularly suitable...'
'Our family's strengths lie in reconnaissance and early warning—in the future, step by step, we can separate out departments like intelligence analysis and interrogation.'
'The Barrier Team can be completely handed over to the Public Security Division, and then the Prison... slowly. As long as the village's finances are tight, if we liaise more with Elder Homura Mitokado and Elder Utatane Koharu, and as long as our proposals are well-founded and beneficial for easing financial pressure, all this will follow naturally. This is getting a bit too far ahead. In short—we must take control of the Public Security Division!'
Ino laid out a clear plan for Inoichi Yamanaka, outlining a system dominated by the Yamanaka Clan with support from the Akimichi and Nara Clans.
This system had previously only been used in three-person Ninja combat teams, but now it was evolving into a much grander model.
However, Inoichi Yamanaka, who understood the Third Hokage better than Ino, frowned and said, 'Taking control of the Public Security Division won't be easy.'
If the Uchiha situation were 'resolved peacefully'—including but not limited to negotiation or the assassination of Uchiha Shisui—then the Third Hokage would definitely choose a conciliatory approach, allowing the Uchiha Clan to continue controlling the Public Security Division.
'Where there's a will, there's a way—if we succeed, our three clans will greatly benefit. Even if we fail, so be it; it's not a big deal...'
This kind of 'risk-free venture' had no real cost, so why not give it a try?
There was no need to approach such a matter with a must-succeed mindset.
'Next...'
Inoichi Yamanaka spent a full two hours or so with Ino before leaving. At such a critical time, 'two hours' was an incredibly luxurious amount of time.
After Inoichi Yamanaka left, Ino was still thinking about the Uchiha Clan—she thought, 'In my past life, I never knew there was such a coup attempt before the massacre, one that just didn't get launched. And the leader of this coup was actually Uchiha Fugaku, who later became known as a dove...'
From being the leader of a 'hawkish' armed revolt to seize the Hokage's position, to a 'dovish' stance of swallowing insults and seeking other paths... What exactly did Uchiha Fugaku experience to undergo such a drastic change?
This kind of transformation—
Ino racked her brains and could only think of two people who corresponded to this: one was Qin Hui, the other was Wang Jingwei.
'Perhaps... it was Uchiha Shisui's death that completely broke his spirit.'
So Ino thought.
'Then, if this time, Uchiha Itachi is dealt with along with the others, and the Uchiha Clan loses the support of its ambition, the massacre shouldn't happen, right?'
'If the Uchiha Clan isn't massacred, and only an older brother dies while both parents survive, then Sasuke probably won't become someone constantly pretending to be a cold avenger...'
It seemed a 'cold, handsome guy' was about to collapse because of this... She remembered Sasuke was quite cute as a child; she'd seen a GIF of young Sasuke that could make anyone smile with maternal affection. A mischievous and adorable little Sasuke seemed quite nice too.
'Princess Ino!'
Nana and Kana approached from a distance, interrupting Ino's reverie... In the following months, Konoha was rife with undercurrents and a tense atmosphere. The Hokage and the Advisors constantly found various reasons and excuses to communicate with the Uchiha Clan's old-timers. Colleagues familiar with the Uchiha also invited their peers one after another, probing for information and testing the waters.
The Third Hokage placed his hopes in communication and understanding, doing everything possible to resolve the issue through negotiation; he truly couldn't bear to see Konoha's 'pots and pans' shattered.
But the results of the communication were far from ideal.
'Heh, old man, you're still so naive... Indeed, the former ninja hero has grown old...'
A pale face blended into the crowd, glancing at the Third Hokage on the Hokage Rock. A hoarse voice made the surrounding people feel a momentary daze, as if they sensed this person yet felt nothing at all. He casually walked into a courtyard.
Pressing a hand to his face and giving it a light wipe, though his complexion remained pale, he had already taken on another person's appearance—
Gloomy, stern, with a pair of unusual golden vertical pupils emitting a chill.
That chill felt like death.
The Cold Lord.
Orochimaru.
This 'Cold Lord,' one of the 'Legendary Three Ninja,' was currently the only one still remaining in Konoha. His equally famed comrades, Jiraiya and Princess Tsunade, had left Konoha for their own reasons, scattered to the four corners of the earth, their whereabouts unknown... Orochimaru thought, 'Perhaps I should leave too.'
He had grown increasingly weary of this place—
The stagnant atmosphere was suffocating.
Under the hands of a man in his twilight years, Konoha had also fallen into twilight. He disliked such static things—
'Static' things were dead things; dead things didn't move. And what he detested most was death; he wanted to stay far away from death.
But the current Konoha was enveloped in that aura of death, suffocating him.
'This place is like a motionless windmill...'
Therefore:
He even despised appearing before others, either researching his own projects in the laboratory or changing his face to hurry through the crowd.
He crouched down, formed hand seals for a release jutsu with both hands, and pressed them against the ground. Ripples of sealing formulas spread out, forming a Sealing Technique expansion pattern centered on straight lines in the eight directions of due south, due north, due east, due west, and two intersecting diagonals.
A door emerged from the ground as if from thin air.
It had actually always been there, just sealed. Orochimaru had merely unsealed the ground, revealing this door.
Orochimaru pushed the door open. A foul stench of corpses and the pungent odor of chemicals wafted out, accompanied by an underground draft.
Orochimaru's figure disappeared into the doorway, and as the Sealing Technique reactivated, the door vanished once more.
Located at the rear of Konoha—on the plain atop the Hokage Rock steps, not far from the rock face, atop a Water Tower.
A pair of crimson Sharingan eyes belonging to an Uchiha were fixed on a spot—precisely the courtyard Orochimaru had entered.
These eyes had been tracking Orochimaru for a full day, and during that entire day, they hadn't blinked once!
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