Konoha's high-level conference room.
"Slam!"
A dossier was brought down hard on the table by Shimura Danzō.
"Hiruzen, and you two as well, take a look at this."
"This is what Root managed to bring back at great cost, the most detailed intelligence we have on that brat who calls himself Uchiha Shinsuke."
The eyes of the two advisors, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, were immediately drawn to the dossier.
"Uchiha Shinsuke: Threat Assessment — Extreme Danger."
"A young man not yet twenty years old, who crushed and defeated Fugaku after he had awakened the Mangekyō."
Danzō's finger tapped the intelligence report one strike at a time.
"At the same time he was fighting Fugaku, nearly every spy Root had infiltrated was killed, with only two managing to escape back to Root's base."
"Your ANBU, Hiruzen, were thrown out of Uchiha territory like garbage."
"He has declared Uchiha territory a forbidden zone, with orders to kill on sight any who dare spy on it."
"This is not a warning, Hiruzen!"
Danzō's voice was saturated with undisguised killing intent.
"This is a declaration of war!"
"It is a trampling of your authority as Hokage!"
"It is an open betrayal of all of Konoha!"
"The Uchiha, under that brat's leadership, are no longer the proud but controllable clan we have always known."
Koharu Utatane's expression darkened.
"Danzō is right, Hiruzen, the power of the Uchiha Clan has grown beyond our control, and that young man called Uchiha Shinsuke has not a shred of reverence for the village in his eyes."
Homura Mitokado also added in a heavy voice.
"The power of the Sharingan has always carried an ominous quality, and where Fugaku was still prone to hesitation, this Uchiha Shinsuke is a tiger through and through, one that does not know how to sheathe its fangs."
Sarutobi Hiruzen remained silent.
He lifted his pipe and drew another long breath.
Uproot them?
With what?
Use the entire ANBU to confront the Uchiha, to confront Shinsuke's Susano'o?
That was not a war.
That was pouring Konoha's finest forces into a bottomless abyss.
"Then what exactly are you suggesting?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen finally spoke, his manner heavy with exhaustion.
A glint of satisfaction flashed through Danzō's single eye.
Danzō knew that Sarutobi Hiruzen's hollow talk of peace was already crumbling before an absolute threat.
"A direct assault would only ignite a devastating civil war, and that is a price none of us can afford."
Danzō's tone leveled out with unexpected calm.
"But we can approach this differently."
"A blade, if it is too sharp and unwilling to be held in its master's hand, is best dealt with not by breaking it."
"But by letting it corrode and collapse from within."
Danzō's gaze moved slowly across the three others in the room.
Then he spoke a name.
"Uchiha... Itachi."
"Itachi's heart is with the village, and he has inherited the true Will of Fire."
"He desires peace more than anyone, and he cannot bear the arrival of war more than anyone."
"We can offer him a choice."
"A choice he would have to make, for the sake of preserving the village's peace and preventing the Uchiha coup from igniting a full-scale war, the right choice."
What this so-called "right choice" meant was something every person in the room understood perfectly well.
Danzō then laid out his plan in full.
In essence, it was to have Uchiha Itachi carry out the clan extermination mission with his own hands, wiping out the Uchiha Clan entirely.
The conference room fell into complete silence.
"This... this is too..."
Koharu Utatane's voice trembled slightly.
Danzō let out a cold laugh.
"Sentimentality."
"And if Itachi refuses?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen asked in return.
The corner of Danzō's mouth curved into a cruel arc.
"Itachi loves his little brother deeply."
"A dear child like Sasuke should grow up carefree in a peaceful and tranquil village, should he not?"
A naked threat.
Without the slightest disguise.
Using a child's life to force his older brother to slaughter his entire clan.
Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly closed his eyes.
A look of anguish surfaced on his aged face, as though he were bearing the heaviest torment the world had to offer.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was weighing his options.
Weighing a civil war that might destroy Konoha against the annihilation of a powerful and storied clan.
In the end, the scales of the Hokage, without surprise, tipped toward the latter.
"The passing down of the Will of Fire sometimes does indeed require certain... sacrifices that must never be spoken of."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice carried a sorrowful compassion that seemed to mourn the weight of the world.
"To protect the great tree that is Konoha, cutting away a branch that has already gone rotten is the helpless duty of its guardian."
Sarutobi Hiruzen opened his eyes.
Every trace of anguish had receded from those clouded old eyes, leaving behind only the unquestionable resolve that belonged to a Kage.
He had given his silent consent.
He had given silent consent to this most bloody and cruel scheme, proposed by Danzō.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado exchanged a glance.
For the stability of the village.
To suppress those Mangekyō Sharingan that filled them with dread.
This plan had to be carried out.
Danzō's single eye gleamed with the light of a victor.
He knew that Hiruzen was still the same Sarutobi Hiruzen who could sacrifice anything for the sake of the "greater picture."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice rose again.
"But, Danzō."
"I have one condition."
Sarutobi Hiruzen fixed his gaze on Danzō.
"After the clan is exterminated, Uchiha Sasuke's life must be spared."
Danzō's brow furrowed slightly.
"An orphaned survivor of the Uchiha, Hiruzen, if you cut the grass you must pull up the roots."
"No."
Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.
"Keeping Sasuke alive carries significant meaning."
This was the political foresight of Sarutobi Hiruzen as Hokage, a foresight that set him apart from Danzō.
"Outwardly, we can declare that we were targeting the Uchiha rebels, not the entire clan, and an orphan taken under Konoha's protection would be the clearest proof of that."
"Internally..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered his voice further, so that only the four of them could hear.
"A child who carries Uchiha blood in his veins, yet grows up with a heart full of gratitude toward Konoha, may in time become an important piece in our hand."
In this moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen revealed for the first time the coldest face he wore as Hokage.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was not passively accepting a tragedy.
He was, calmly and deliberately, upon the ruins of that tragedy, beginning to lay the groundwork for the next political game, one that would span decades.
Danzō studied Sarutobi Hiruzen for a long, searching moment.
In those clouded eyes, Danzō saw something that mirrored his own, that same extreme hunger to hold absolute command over power.
Danzō concealed his true thoughts and forced a stiff smile onto his face.
"Fine."
"We will do it as you say, Hiruzen."
"All of this, for Konoha."
A consensus was reached quietly among the four highest authorities in Konoha.
What they did not know was that the intelligence Danzō held had been brought back deliberately by a spy Shinsuke had intentionally allowed to escape.
And Shinsuke's purpose was simple: to pressure the Third Hokage and Danzō and the others, so that once Danzō moved to cause trouble, Shinsuke could use that as the opportunity to tear out Root by its roots and destroy Danzō completely.