Eight pairs of three-tomoe Sharingan glead in the darkness. Among the Uchiha, three-tomoe Sharingan were synonymous with jonin status, and even the weakest Uchiha jonin could take on two opponents at once. Exceptional talents like Sogen and Shisui? They could handle five, ten, or even more…
In other words, with Sogen and Shisui among the eight Uchiha here, it would take twenty or thirty jonin working together to stand a chance against them.
Unless, of course, you had a few heavyweights like the Third Hokage on your side to reduce the numbers needed. Unfortunately, the Leaf Village was suffering a talent drought. The upper echelons were a bunch of old-tirs, and the Hokage's office might as well be renad the "Old Folks' Club."
The Fourth Hokage's sacrifice didn't just cost the village a great leader.
With a group of elders clinging to power, the village was steeped in stagnation. Orochimaru's defection shattered the Three Sannin, and escalating tensions with the Uchiha cast a shadow of internal strife. Without counting the Uchiha, the Leaf could barely scrape together a handful of young, standout talents.
When you got down to it, Kakashi was about the only one who could hold his own.
"Shisui, don't get so worked up. Pinning the bla on Sogen-kun isn't fair," the Third Hokage said, breaking the icy tension that felt like a winter chill creeping into everyone's bones. "No one could've predicted Mist ninjas would be bold enough to ambush Sogen-kun. At the end of the day, it's the Anbu's fault for being too lax, letting Mist spies run wild in the village."
"Homura, Koharu, you're being too harsh. Give the youngsters so leniency and patience—they need ti to grow."
After hesitating for what felt like forever, the Third finally settled on this outco.
He soothed Sogen, shielded his two advisors, and deftly defused the tense standoff with the finesse of a master diator.
Sogen saw through it. The Third wasn't so enlightened saint—he just didn't want to burn bridges with the Uchiha right now. These old-tirs wanted to deal with the "disobedient" Uchiha at the lowest possible cost, not fight them to mutual destruction.
Especially with him and Shisui, the Uchiha's brightest stars and most prominent figures.
Making a move against them would be tantamount to declaring war on the Uchiha.
Add to that Arashi and the others' unwavering support, and the Third had little choice but to settle on this compromise.
"Hmph!"
Koharu didn't say anything more, just kept her face sour, refusing to give Sogen or the others a shred of warmth. Homura, as usual, was unreadable, his poker face giving nothing away.
At that mont, one of the dical ninjas tending to Naruto hurried over, a relieved smile on his face. "Lord Hokage, the Nine-Tails jinchuriki's injuries are fine. The ntal shock isn't severe—a good night's sleep, and he'll be fully recovered by tomorrow."
Sogen's mouth twitched.
*Are you kidding ?* That's not what they said earlier. According to the last guy, Naruto was on death's door, unlikely to make it through the night. But the mont the Third made his stance clear, suddenly Naruto was fine, ready to bounce back after a nap…
Talk about two-faced. They'd spin anything—black to white, bad to good—in a heartbeat.
"That's great, that's great! Good to hear!"
The Third's worried expression lted away, replaced by the warm, grandfatherly smile he often wore when visiting the ninja academy. He turned to Sogen, chuckling. "By the way, Sogen-kun, if I recall, you don't have a fixed assignnt right now, do you?"
"How about joining the Anbu? You protected Naruto this ti—a comndable feat. The Anbu would give you a bigger stage to showcase your skills…"
Before the Third could finish his pitch, Sogen cut him off. "Lord Hokage, I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to decline. I'm content with my current life. Rather than joining the Anbu, I'd prefer to stay ho and help look after my sister. Honestly, my fighting style doesn't suit the Anbu either. All this commotion? Hardly their stealthy vibe."
He wasn't about to sit through the Third's sermon on the Will of Fire.
Joining the Anbu? No way. That was the Third's domain. Once you were in, they could mold you like dough—or worse, send you off to Cloud or Stone Village as a spy, guaranteeing a one-way ticket to the grave.
"Is that so? Well, that's a sha. I had high hopes for your talents, Sogen-kun… such a pity!"
The Third sighed repeatedly, feigning regret.
"Lord Hokage, if there's nothing else, we'll take our leave."
Sogen had achieved his goal. There was no point sticking around to trade pleasantries with the old man. Better to head ho and hash out the next steps with his crew. Shisui had made his stance clear—the plan was ready to roll.
"The Anbu will handle things here. You're free to go."
The Third nodded, his eyes flicking briefly to Shisui, but he said nothing.
"Then we'll be off."
Sogen didn't waste a second, heading straight for the clan grounds. Shisui hesitated for a mont but didn't linger, following Arashi and the others as they chased after Sogen, vanishing into the deep night.
In the scorched forest, the Third stood silently, still as a statue. After two or three minutes, he spoke. "Danzo, you're late."
"Early or late, it wouldn't have mattered."
A grim-faced man in black erged from the shadows, his cold aura practically screaming "stay away." With an X-shaped scar on his chin, this was Shimura Danzo, the "Darkness of the Shinobi," current Hokage advisor and leader of Root.
"Uchiha Sogen and Uchiha Shisui are cut from different cloth. Your approach won't work on that kid. Even if I'd shown up earlier, it'd just be a waste of breath. Better to take my ti."
The Third frowned but didn't rebuke his old friend. Instead, he nodded. "You're right. Uchiha Sogen… he has no loyalty to the village. And now even Shisui's being swayed… Danzo, he's your problem now."
"You should've done this sooner."
"Handle it quickly. Don't drag it out. I'm worried Shisui will be influenced too deeply. If it cos to it, don't hold back."
"As long as you don't interfere, there won't be any issues."
With that, Danzo turned and left, his figure lting into the forest's darkness.
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**(End of Chapter)**
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