Chapter Four

Hidden Leaf

The sun shone on the hidden leaf, but for such a beautiful morning the village itself was filled with a feeling of dread and confusion.

Word had spread.

In one night the village had lost its most powerful clan, the news spreading through the village had been repeated and alerted an unknown amount, but one thing stayed the same the Uchiha clan was killed off by Itachi Uchiha the son of the leader of the Uchiha and Ban Uchiha.

Their motivation for doing so was that they both had no attachment to the clan and wanted to test their strength and this was the way they came up with, of course this was the motivation spread by Danzo and the third hokage to trick the people of the village.

Even though the reason made little to no sense, and the leaders of the shinobi clans of the village didn't believe it, it did them no good to ask about it, after all, they were all veterans and could see the problems between the village and the Uchiha before.

But so what. The Uchiha were gone and it was a fact they wouldn't put their clans in the line of fire trying to find out the truth.

So while the normal villager would discuss it in hushed tones, the ninja clans took the approach of not talking about it at all, unless the Hokage himself brought up the topic.

While the hidden leaf residents were dealing with the news, the spies hidden in the village had already gotten into action sending information back to their villages.

This was an opportunity, the Uchiha was gone now the hidden leaf was weaker than ever.

This was not something that only they knew. The third Hokage also knew. This is why soon shadows disperse from the Hokage tower heading to each major shinobi clan in the village.

(Hokage Tower)

" By now you all have heard of the genocide that took place in the Uchiha clan last night." The third said watching the reactions of the clan leaders and Jonin present.

" Uchiha Ban and Itachi Uchiha have now been listed as S-rank rebel ninja of the village, and there will be a funeral for the dead members of the Uchiha clan in the coming days." He continued.

" Lord Hokage... has the reason for the actions of the two been found out?" Shikaku Nara asked.

Causing the other two members of the Ino-Shika-Cho to look at him in surprise.

' Looking at the situation, it seems the third wants to use this opportunity to put the matter to rest after all we all know about the problems between the village and the Uchiha. Asking this question now is what the third wants.' He thinks feeling the gaze of his comrades.

' As always, Shikaku knows how to read the situation.' He thinks looking at him.

"Sigh….I managed to stop both of them in the chase after the events, it seems like they have been consumed by the hate and hunger for power that appeared after they both obtained the mangekyo Sharingan." He said a look of sadness and pity on his face that seemed to work for some of the more gullible Jonin.

The clan leaders present were focused on another thing, the mention of the mangekyo sharingan.

" Lord Hokage, what is the mangekyo Sharingan you mentioned?"

" It is a power awakened in the Uchiha clan, from intense negative emotions, but it's easy to be swallowed by it." He said.

" Itachi and Ban have betrayed the village and killed the Uchiha clan which will soon be known to the other villages, I called you here today not only to explain to you the situation with the Uchiha but also to make preparations for the aftereffects." The third says his expression serious.

' He told us some truths but mostly nothing, it seems as expected things aren't as straightforward as most would believe, then when he didn't want to talk on the subject anymore he switched the topic to something even more serious, to cause us to ignore it. The third is getting more dangerous with age, but I still have to play along.' Thinks Shikaku.

" You mean the possibility of war?" Shikaku says.

His words cause the room to become tense as murmurs and echoes.

" Lord third do you think..." a random Jonin began to ask.

" There is a chance, especially when it comes to the hidden cloud."

The head of the Hyuga clan clenched his fist at the mention of the cloud village.

" So for now we need to plan out our response, emergency messages have already been sent to all shinobi out on missions and they will be returning soon. Also, I need the Yamanaka, Hyuga and Inuzuka clans to send out some members, even though we have informants in the hidden cloud extra channels of information wouldn't hurt." The third says.

Shikaku Nara looked on with no change in expression, but his thoughts moved quickly.

'There won't be a war, I'm sure the hidden cloud will put some pressure on the village but it won't reach the point of starting a war, no matter how it looked all the villages were much weaker than they were before the third and second ninja war, they are using this time to recuperate, added to the fact that we won the last couple wars they will be hesitant. There will be a war down the line without a doubt but not for a couple of years.' Shikaku thought looking around the room noting everyone that seemed to have some reluctance and those that didn't.

"Lord Hokage, if that's all I'll withdraw now to begin preparations in the clan, the Nara Yamanaka and Akimichi clans are ready to protect the village at any time." Shikaku stands and says as Inoichi and Choza nod in agreement.

'The whole situation is not right but I can't do anything about it, it's best to leave things as they are, the chances of the third attack us are low as we have always supported him, and shown we are firm with him.'