Hiruzen, Confident in His Plan

 The Sarutobi clan, Sarutobi Residence.

Except for Danzo, all the F4 gathered in Sarutobi's reception room. At this time, there were no longer any elders, and the Hokage Tower was no longer their gathering place.

Several people sat around the coffee table, each holding a cup of tea with a happy expression on their faces.

Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi with admiration. When they were resentful that Uchiha Toki had brought them down from the position of elders, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already set up the trap.

Koharu Utatane said with relief, "This time, I want to see what the Uchiha clan will do. They arrogantly wanted to take over the defense work at the border. Heh~"

Homura Mitokado drank his tea and said joyfully, "After this war, the Uchiha clan will fall from the position of the largest clan in Konoha, won't they?"

The two of them were just ordinary ninja, and their position relied entirely on Hiruzen Sarutobi. So they were very clear about their position, and being Hiruzen Sarutobi's lackeys for so many years was quite qualified.

Originally, they thought they would just enjoy their high position until death, making their families shinobi clans.

They never expected that after Uchiha Toki came into power, he would directly pull them down from the top of Konoha.

How could the two of them not hate Uchiha Toki?

Now that the Uchiha clan has been tricked into fighting against the Hidden Cloud Village, they immediately found Hiruzen Sarutobi to celebrate this good news.

And by the way, they asked when they could return to the elders' council.

The reason why the separation of powers could be passed so quickly was also because the two of them did not become obstacles by following Hiruzen Sarutobi's lead.

Hiruzen Sarutobi calmly drank his tea and said, "The largest clan in Konoha? Let's talk about it when the Uchiha clan arrives."

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado felt a chill in their hearts. As Hiruzen Sarutobi's confidants, they knew very well how the Senju and Uzumaki clans disappeared.

They knew very well how ruthless this kind and amiable old man could be behind his back. It was crystal clear to them.

Only that idiot Danzo thought he was an indecisive Hokage.

If Uchiha Toki really wanted to save face and let all the elite members of the clan die on the battlefield, the Uchiha clan would probably disappear silently like the Senju and Uzumaki clans.

Homura Mitokado asked in confusion, "What is Uchiha Toki relying on? Just confidence? Dare to say they can defend against external enemies?"

Koharu Utatane sneered, "What's so strange about that? Those Uchiha guys who look down on others, when have they ever looked at others properly? They think they're invincible just because they have the Sharingan. They always claim to be the founders of Konoha, saying that the position of Hokage should belong to their clan. With their strength, they can't even handle the battlefield."

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not participate in this topic. He smiled slightly, took a sip of tea, and said lightly, "That's enough. We're all from the same village, don't speculate about others without basis. I will select a few people from the ANBU to go to the Daimyo's residence in the Land of Fire to serve as guards. You two come up with a plan."

Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were delighted. Sure enough, the Daimyo valued our side's ninja. Even the personal guards were recruited from our side, which was enough to show how much trust Hiruzen Sarutobi had earned.

When the Uchiha clan was defeated, the two of them would once again become elders of Konoha, surpassing thousands of others!

On the other side, at the Root headquarters.

Danzo angrily knocked a pit into the ground with his cane.

"Damn Uchiha! They actually went to reclaim the Sharingan. Reclaiming the Sharingan is one thing, but they even took people?"

"Kamo!"

A masked young man suddenly appeared in front of Danzo.

"Danzo-sama."

"You take two teams to secretly monitor Uchiha Toki this time. If you have the chance, don't let him come back from the battlefield!"

"Yes!"

...

For a while, all forces were eyeing the Uchiha clan, wanting to know whether Uchiha Toki would really lead his clan to their deaths in such an obvious trap. After all, this was related to the future political direction of Konoha.

However, Toki continued to calmly prepare for the war, seemingly not concerned about it at all.

He secretly held several meetings in the Uchiha ancestral shrine. Due to the unity of the Uchiha clan, there were no traitors infiltrating, which meant that most people had no idea what Toki was planning.

In addition, now that the Uchiha clan no longer had the job of guarding Konoha, all Uchiha clan members were deeply hidden in their remote territory and could not obtain any intelligence.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had originally planned to send a few ANBU members who were friendly with the Uchiha clan to infiltrate their territory and gather intelligence.

But they were stopped before they even entered.

As time passed day by day, it seemed that the Uchiha clan had no intention of heading to the front lines at all.

The people of Konoha were completely anxious. Are you going to fight or not? Give us a sign. What does it mean to say you'll fight, but just stay at home?

Just when Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but question Toki, finally, under Toki's leadership, teams of Uchiha clan members began to rapidly advance towards the border of the Land of Lightning!