Chapter 27: Part 4

- Fugaku Uchiha -

"The Tsuchikage?"

"Yes. He has sent a delegation to congratulate the new Hokage, hoping he can discuss any alliances in the future."

"As if I would believe that. Onoki would be the last person to congratulate us. If anything, he would be looking for any chances to jump on us and rip us to pieces."

"That's what we think too. They are probably planning to look around and judge the extent of damages we have suffered before attacking. The last war… Minato really did a number on them and I doubt he would make any moves until he is sure of our condition. I think he is not making any moves because the Fourth Raikage hasn't made any yet and everyone is scared about the… possible divine intervention." Shikaku said.

Fugaku expertly controlled his winces at the memory.

The Divine Intervention or the Divine Judgement was the name given to that day's incident by the people of the world. The day even Gods stepped down to punish the evil which had taken root in Konoha. Some people had tried to twist the words in a way which would make it seem that Konoha was cursed and anyone who did business with them would be punished by the Gods themselves but a quick intervention had helped change the perspective back.

The new story was that the Gods had stepped down to punish the criminals like Danzo Shimura and bring down the corrupt rule of the previous government. That's why they left the rest alive and even fixed the damage to Konoha.

This story also helped him do something he had been dying to do for a long time… execute the previous Hokage's advisors.

During the investigation and the following thorough search of their brains had revealed several incriminating pieces of evidence about them. This was already a done deal, something everyone knew would happen.

As someone who had been at the top for several decades already, these people had plenty of buried skeletons in their closets. Corruption, embezzlements, assigning selective positions to their clan members and several more. They even had the memories of the secret eliminations for several ninjas of the village, people whom they considered dangerous. They mostly worked behind Danzo and while catching Danzo would have been the best for his cause, he couldn't have it all.

Sure, every village does that and some people did need to be eliminated for the safety of the village but these kinds of things were done in the dark and should never come to light. Now that it had come, no one would accept them publicly even if they agreed with them. Moreover, the whole village just needed a reason, no matter how small to put them under the hatchet and what they found was more than enough.

These incidents also made Itachi think about his own actions, especially after seeing their bias against the Uchiha Clan, something they had inherited from Tobirama Senju, a man who had been a diehard enemy of the Uchiha Clan for the better half of his life.

Hopefully, he will come around.

As for Hiruzen Sarutobi… Fugaku couldn't directly execute him or there would be many problems down the line, including the grudge of his followers. Hiruzen did hold office for decades and had raised several generations of ninjas under his rule. Even after everything that had happened, there were people who trusted him, mainly because not all the reports of the investigation could be made public.

Moreover, directly killing the previous hokage right after taking on the position of the hokage, especially one of the Uchiha Clan would make many people suspicious. It would also sully the dignity of the Hokage position which would be a massive loss to him. That's why he decided to take on a different route.

He sent a secret parcel to the third hokage's place, containing the evidence collected against him… and a kunai. The message was clear and apparently Hiruzen Sarutobi understood it too.

The next day, Hiruzen Sarutobi's body was found in his hospital room. He had taken his own life and left a note behind, apologising for the mistakes during his rule. The man even went as far as to add an apology to the Gods and hoped that they would forgive Konoha.

These things had greatly assuaged the public and combined with the story they had spread, had helped Konoha regain their customer base.

Not only that, the new temples they had built for the Gods were slowly becoming a famous tourist destination in the Land of Fire.

It has been over a month since that incident and Konoha was healing quickly but yet, the memory of that incident was not something that would go that easily.

"So, what is it now?"

"They have sent a few people who wish to talk to you first… and visit the temple of the Gods we have made. The Fire Daimyo has made sure that everyone in the Elemental Nations knows about the temples he had constructed and now they want to see it too." Hiashi said with a frown.

"Keep an eye on them every moment they are here. I don't care about their privacy. I want all their movements monitored. Hiashi, have your clan members observe from a distance. Make sure they don't know you are there."

"Alright."

"Observe them for two days and give them a meeting for the day after that. Don't show any weakness in front of them. Increase the patrolls on the borders. Has Jiraiya returned from investigating the new forests behind the Hokage Mountains?"

"Not yet."

"Then send him a message. Tell him to head the patrols around the borders. The Tsuchikage will surely make some moves in secret." After some thought he added. "Oh, and inform the monks of the temples that are stationed there about this. If those people have made it their business to get involved with Konoha, they better lend a hand."

"Hmm."

More than a month had passed and Konoha was in a very precarious situation even now. While the losses during the attack weren't much. In fact, it was far less than the Nine Tails attack, Konoha still lost a large number of ninjas. On the bright side, Tsunade was now back in the village so they had regained a Kage level fighter.

Then there was Fugaku himself.

In this time, he had completely adjusted to his new eyes and the changes were astonishing go say the least. His chakra reserves had increased by a level and the stress from using his Mangekyo techniques were much lower now. Lastly, he could now use the complete Susanno.

That alone was a massive benefit to the village.

Fugaku still felt that he couldn't wield that power for as long as he wanted to and that's why he decided to do something else.

The things discovered at the Root base had disclosed several things which were being reviewed recently. The ones heading the review were Tsunade and Fugaku himself. Among the things they had discovered, the most important were the research on the Sharingan. In fact, some of the research on the Sharingan was done by the second Hokage, Tobirama Senju himself and kept from the public.

Even Tsunade was unaware of these things and actually apologised to him after discovering the documents.

Fugaku had however not blamed her, opting to guilt trip her into a favour instead.

The said favour being the second most important research topic… Hashirama Cells.

As they had discovered, those cells had incredible vitality, so much so that they could devour the cells of the ones they were implanted in and that's what led to their deaths. The only survivors of the experiments to make wood style ninjas being Yamato and his wood style… left far to be desired.

There was however an exception and that's when the yang chakra of the Cells were balanced by an equally powerful yin chakra… the Sharingan. That's how Danzo had survived being implanted by the Hashirama Cells.

From the research on the arm left by Danzo, it was found that the flesh had gained incredible healing powers and increased chakra reserves but more importantly… Hashirama Cells seem to restore the damage caused by the Mangekyo Sharingan. 

This discovery alone was groundbreaking.

Fugaku knew how much this could change the future of the Uchiha Clan, especially Itachi's who possessed a Mangekyo Sharingan himself.

That's why he asked Tsunade to help him out with this. He got Hashirama Cells implanted into both himself and Itachi.

Danzo's research and Tsunade's expertise made sure that the process went smoothly. The cells even had a positive effect on the health of Itachi as well as reducing the stress on his eyes when he used them.

As for him, his chakra reserves had increased drastically. Even his physical strength and endurance increased and the cells were still merging with his body so these effects would only increase further.

Even Tsunade was inspired by this and now wanted to use Hashirama Cells to make artificial limbs for people who had lost their limbs and had to retire because of this, possibly granting them a second chance at life.

This was also the reason for his confidence to protect Konoha in case any other nation attacked.

But even after this… Fugaku doubted he would last one move against one of them.

Hashirama Senju was called the God of Shinobi and yet… he doubted even he would be able to do anything against true gods.

_________________________________x_________________________________

Hiashi stood with a report on the Iwa group in his office.

Fugaku read the files and frowned. "Is this real?"

Hiashi looked stoic as usual and yet he could feel a hint of embarrassment on the man's face. "Yes. As surprising as it is, I verified everything myself."

"Who is the boy?"

"His name is Deidara. He is the direct disciple of the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki and someone that old man has high hopes for. According to our spies, he is a prodigy of sorts and an expert in explosion Ninjutsu, weilding a kinjutsu from Iwagakure."

"But what's that got to do with this behaviour of his?"

"Coming to that. He has… an eccentric temperament and considers himself an artist and explosion as his art. To say he is obsessed by them is an understatement. Apparently, he was on the outskirts of the Land of Fire during… the divine intervention and saw the attack from a close distance. Since then he has been acting crazy and when he heard that the attack was from a Goddess, he wanted to visit the Temple in Konoha himself. Umm…" Hiashi looked like he was hesitating.

"What is it?"

"I even spied two of their people talking that it was apparently due to his behaviour which had become more and more erratic recently and his consistent insistence to visit the temple of the Goddess that the Tsuchikage was forced to send a delegation to Konoha or he was going to wait and watch. One of them even thought that seeing that attack broke his will and made him crazy."

"Seriously?…"

"Hmm. The boy has done nothing but stare in daze at the temple of the Goddess, saying weird things like becoming her worshipper and making explosions all over the world to honour her. It's all crazy talk one would hear from some lunatic to be honest. A crazy man with a kinjutsu which can cause mass destruction… that doesn't sound good to have in our village." Hiashi offered.

"What about the others?"

"They seemed to be framing around the village, but it looked like they were trying to assess the damages we had suffered. They haven't done anything else yet."

"Observe them. As for the kid… I will meet him myself. Actually, make sure that I am not disturbed while I have a talk with the kid, not even by the Iwa entourage."

Hiashi raised an eyebrow but didn't ask anything else.

With that, Fugaku left the Hokage building and headed towards the temples.

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Author's Note:

So, the Comiket Event has ended and the repercussions of the events are being seen now.

Many things happened.

People are panicking due to the fight Silas had with Katerea.

Ajuka, as usual, found everything and yet couldn't get anywhere due to Ainz, who as usual went overboard with everything.

Zeref returns and Ikki is off to the Soul Society.

Sirzechs and the others are bringing Serafall to have a talk… and preparing strong barriers for this.

Lastly, Fugaku… he is learning Hokage Style politics.

I am thinking about starting a new arc in the next chapter while we see what Ikki and the gang do in the Soul Society.

Oh and there will also be progress on the Underworld side of things.

Enjoy the new chapter.

Good Day, Peace Out.