"The Uchiha clan head has been confirmed killed in battle!"
"Before his death, he issued an order appointing Fugaku Uchiha as acting clan head."
"His body is now being transported back to Leaf."
The high-ranking officials of Hidden Leaf were visibly shaken.
Following the death of Hyuga Hizashi, a main family member of the Hyuga clan, another important figure from a great ninja clan had fallen in battle.
Moreover, the one who died was the clan head of the Uchiha clan.
It seemed the intensity of the battlefield was about to escalate even further.
On Soen Uchiha's usually rigid face, an unmistakable expression of grief appeared for the first time.
Unlike the shock shown by the others, Gento, who had originally planned to simply coast through the meeting, felt his eyes light up when he heard the news.
The Uchiha clan head was dead?
That was good news!
The position of clan head had become vacant.
Didn't that mean he also had a chance?
He absolutely had to participate in the competition for the position of clan head!
According to the original storyline, Fugaku would officially succeed as the Uchiha clan head after the war.
However, Fugaku's political abilities were truly difficult to praise.
Despite possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan and with prodigies like Shisui and Itachi within the clan, the outcome was still the annihilation of the entire clan.
Even if they had directly risen in rebellion, it wouldn't have ended with total annihilation.
It could only be said that in the position of clan head, even tying a ninja dog to the seat would have done a better job than Fugaku!
Now that he had bound himself to the Family System, rather than letting Fugaku lead the Uchiha toward a dead end, it would be better for him to fight for the position himself!
…
At this moment, the meeting was still continuing.
Hiruzen took a deep drag from his pipe, slowly exhaling a thick cloud of smoke as he spoke in a deep voice:
"Given the current situation, all of you are pillars of Leaf. Do you have any thoughts?"
Homura Mitokado pushed up his glasses, his tone solemn.
"With the Uchiha clan head killed in battle, it likely means the war will escalate even further…"
"Exactly!"
Danzo immediately took over the conversation.
"We should mobilize manpower from all the ninja clans within the village and send them to the front lines at once! We must not allow the enemy villages to seize the initiative!"
Hiashi Hyuga immediately refuted coldly.
"The combat forces of each ninja clan have already been deployed almost in full. What remains is barely enough to maintain the village's basic operations. Where would we find more people to mobilize?"
Koharu Utatane spoke slowly.
"I wouldn't say that. Aren't there still a batch of children in the Ninja Academy who are about to graduate? If they graduate early, they could fill the gap on the front lines."
"Well said! I quite agree!"
Homura Mitokado echoed.
"So what if they're young? In this war, haven't Kakashi Hatake and Shisui Uchiha both become famous at a young age?"
Hiruzen did not express his opinion. Instead, he looked toward Soen Uchiha, who had remained silent since the start of the meeting.
"What does the Uchiha clan think?"
Faced with the Hokage's sudden question, Soen seemed to still be immersed in the grief of the clan head's death.
Because of this, he froze for a moment after hearing Hiruzen's question.
However, Gento, who sat beside him, knew that his opportunity had arrived.
If he wanted to compete for the position of Uchiha clan head, the first step was to demonstrate his political capability.
He possessed the memories of Blue Star and understood the development of the Naruto world's storyline like the back of his hand.
Therefore, he was confident that he could use this information advantage to intimidate everyone present.
He leaned toward Soen and said in a low voice:
"Great Elder, may I speak on behalf of the Uchiha?"
Soen Uchiha, already confused by the clan head's death and unsure how to respond, hesitated.
Considering that Gento was now a Jonin who possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he indeed had the qualifications to represent the Uchiha clan.
After hesitating briefly, he nodded at once.
Gento stood up.
The gazes in the meeting room gathered upon him; curiosity, scrutiny, and indifference alike.
Facing those eyes, he spoke steadily.
"The Uchiha's judgment is completely different from the opinions expressed earlier. The Uchiha believe that not only will the war not expand, it will instead end this very year!"
This was, of course, not Gento speaking recklessly.
It was currently the 50th year of Hidden Leaf.
According to the original storyline, the Third Great Ninja War would indeed end in Leaf Year 50!
As soon as Gento finished speaking, several snickers sounded in the meeting room.
The expression on Hiruzen's aged face did not change as he directly asked in return:
"On what basis does the Uchiha make this judgment?"
Facing the Hokage's question, Gento showed no timidity and continued his analysis:
"First, Minato-senpai destroyed the Kannabi Bridge during the Kannabi Bridge battle. The lifeline of the Hidden Stone Village's supply line has been cut. The war between Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Stone Village can already be declared over."
The eyes of the Leaf high officials flickered upon hearing this.
What Gento said was correct.
Ever since the Kannabi Bridge battle ended, the Hidden Stone Village and Hidden Leaf had already begun withdrawing the shinobi stationed along the border between the two countries.
A ceasefire between the two nations had practically become inevitable.
Seeing the expressions of the high officials, Gento knew he had spoken correctly, so he pressed on while the momentum was still hot:
"Second, the Hidden Stone Village is simultaneously fighting Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud Village on two fronts. Once we reach a ceasefire with the Hidden Stone Village, they will be able to dispatch a large number of shinobi into the Land of Lightning.
"I conclude that the Third Raikage will certainly suffer a major defeat. There is even a possibility he may die!
"Once the Hidden Cloud Village loses the Raikage, it will become even more difficult for them to continue the war."
The death of the Third Raikage was also one of the landmark events of the Third Great Shinobi War, so Gento remembered it quite clearly.
However, several Leaf officials beside him directly burst into laughter after hearing Gento's words.
A few of them even began whispering to each other.
"Did I hear that right? Did he just say the Third Raikage would die in battle?"
"That's the strongest Raikage in history, how could he possibly die so easily?"
Danzo, sitting nearby, directly spoke up to reprimand him:
"Hmph, ignorant youngster. What do you understand!
"The current Raikage holds the titles of the strongest spear and the strongest shield. How many people in the Hidden Stone Village could possibly threaten him?
"It is impossible for him to die so easily!"
Several more mocking gazes were cast toward Soen, as if saying: So this is the youth of your Uchiha clan?
The political insight of the Uchiha clan is as poor as ever.
Elder Soen's face reddened slightly under those stares.
He felt somewhat regretful. Allowing Gento to speak had indeed been too rash.
Such an exaggerated prediction sounded absurd even to him.
From below the table, he tugged at Gento's sleeve, signaling him to sit down and stop embarrassing himself.
At that moment, a Root Ninja suddenly appeared behind Danzo.
The ninja leaned close to Danzo and whispered something into his ear.
Danzo's expression changed from calm at first to stunned.
The fingers gripping his cane had already turned pale.
Hiruzen, sitting beside him, noticed that something was wrong and asked:
"Danzo, what happened?"
Danzo remained silent for a moment. His eyes flicked toward Gento with a complicated expression before he finally spoke stiffly:
"Urgent report from the front lines… The Hidden Stone Village dispatched ten thousand shinobi to launch a surprise attack on the Hidden Cloud Village. The Third Raikage fought the enemy alone, battling for three days and three nights… before dying from exhaustion."
Dead silence.
Danzo's words froze the expressions on the faces of the Leaf high officials.
The mocking looks they had worn slowly turned into astonishment, disbelief, and finally deep suspicion.
One gaze after another focused on Gento again.
This… he had actually predicted correctly?
Was this still the Uchiha who had always been politically inept?
In previous Leaf High Council Meetings, members of the Uchiha clan would only sit there acting aloof.
Even when they spoke, they rarely said anything meaningful.
Since when had the Uchiha become so sharp in judging the political situation?
And the words he had spoken had been verified soon after!
No wonder Danzo's expression looked so unpleasant after receiving the intelligence… he had been slapped in the face on the spot by a brat from the Uchiha clan.
Danzo's face alternated between green and white, yet he still forced out a cold snort:
"Hmph! The Uchiha must have obtained the intelligence beforehand!"
Many people suddenly realized: of course, that must be it!
The Uchiha must have received the intelligence in advance and then deliberately came to show off at the High Council Meeting.
They all looked toward Soen, only to discover with surprise that this Great Elder of the Uchiha clan also wore a baffled expression… he seemed even more confused than they were.
Soen was indeed stunned.
The Uchiha had obtained intelligence beforehand?
Then why didn't he, the Great Elder responsible for managing clan affairs, know about it?
Hiruzen took in Soen's expression.
He looked deeply at Gento before arriving at a conclusion:
Could it be that he really was a genius?
After taking a deep drag from his pipe, he said to Gento:
"Please continue."
...
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