Morning in Konoha was serene, bathed in soft golden light as the sun crested the distant hills.
A gentle breeze carried the scent of blooming flowers and freshly baked bread from the market district. The village streets stirred to life as shopkeepers opened their stalls, children laughed and raced each other to the Academy, and shinobi patrolled leisurely, enjoying the rare sense of calm that had settled over the Hidden Leaf.
Without warning, a deafening boom shattered the tranquility. The ground trembled beneath the villagers' feet as a column of black smoke erupted from the Shimura Clan Land. Tiles shattered, windows cracked, and the birds that had filled the air only moments ago scattered in frightened flocks.
Panic swept through the streets as the explosion's echo rolled across the village. Mothers clutched their children, merchants abandoned their stalls, and shinobi snapped to alert, eyes wide and senses sharpened.
The once-peaceful morning descended into chaos, shouts filled the air, alarm bells rang out, and Konoha's shinobi forces scrambled to respond, unsure of whether this was an accident, sabotage, or the start of something far worse.
The heavy door to the Hokage's office burst open with a loud crack, slamming against the wall so hard that one of the nearby scroll racks shuddered. Danzo stormed in, his single visible eye blazing with fury.
"Hiruzen!" he barked, his voice sharp enough to make the ANBU guards by the window stiffen. "What in the hell just happened?! Who dares attack me, in my own Clan's land? My home has been destroyed!"
Hiruzen, standing by the window with his pipe forgotten in his hand, turned to face his old comrade. His expression was grim, his brow furrowed deeply as the distant plume of black smoke continued to rise beyond the Hokage Tower.
"Danzo," the Third Hokage said slowly, "I don't have an answer for you yet."
Danzo slammed his hand down on the Hokage's desk, scattering papers and half-burnt ash from Hiruzen's neglected pipe. "No answer?! Are you telling me an explosion of that magnitude happened in the middle of Konoha, and you don't know who's responsible?"
Hiruzen met his glare, but his tone remained steady. "The ANBU and the sensory corps have already swept the area. There are no traces of foreign chakra. No residual jutsu signatures. No signs of infiltration. It's as if the explosion… came out of thin air."
Danzo's eye twitched. "That's impossible. Someone must have done this! Someone capable of hiding from detection, someone dangerous."
"I agree," Hiruzen said, his voice dropping to a low, serious note. He exhaled smoke he hadn't realized he'd drawn. "But until we find even a single clue, there's no one we can accuse. Whoever did this… they were careful, Danzo. Too careful."
Danzo clenched his jaw, his fists trembling at his sides. The thought of being attacked in his own stronghold, without a trace of the perpetrator, burned his pride.
"I want the culprit found," he growled. "And when they are found… I will handle it myself."
Hiruzen said nothing, but as Danzo turned and stormed from the office, the Hokage stared out at the rising smoke, deeply troubled. A threat that left no trace was, perhaps, the most dangerous of all.
Back inside the Uchiha Compound, Kadoya clicks his tongue, listening to the conversation inside the Hokage's office.
"So Danzo didn't get blown to pieces." He murmurs before shrugging, his gaze shifting toward his system again, his eyes locking onto the number of points he could use to do his Gacha rolls.
Sighing, he turned away, his right hand was ready to reach out to press the roll button, but his left hand suddenly sprang out, grabbing his right hand and stopping him.
He wanted to roll for Gacha, but doing so would cause his life to get more boring if he accidentally got a skill he wanted to learn.
This is like someone placing Tsunade in front of a casino with a large amount of money to play, but she is trying to hold herself back from her own addiction.
The temptation was too much, as blood was literally dripping off his mouth, it seemed that biting his tongue wasn't helping much, especially when his [Tailed Beast Chakra] is healing his small wound.
[Tailed Beast Chakra] has this kind of built-in healing factor; otherwise, Jinchuriki who entered the Second Tailed Beast mode and have their skin peel off their body, would take almost forever for them to fully heal.
Looking down at his broken fingers slowly mending themselves back in place, Kadoya sighs before looking back to see that he has converted his 35000 Evil Points into 14 System Points.
Without wasting another second on this, he turned off his system. Pick up his fishing rod and leave to go fishing.
Meanwhile, back in the Hokage building, the village has ordered an urgent council meeting, with the faces of many major clans present. Standing at the head of the table, Hiruzen looked around and noticed that everyone was here.
"Good, since everyone is here. Let's get into business." He said before sitting down.
Originally, there was a seat for the Head of the Uzumaki and Senju, but after Kadoya became more involved with the Uchiha instead of the village.
The Konoha F4 has secretly removed the Uzumaki Seat from the High Council. This decision enraged Tsunade and disappointed Orochimaru.
Giving the Third some faces, she decided not to push this matter any further, otherwise she might be so angry, she would kick Hiruzen out and become the Fifth Hokage a head of time.
But since she doesn't want to become Hokage, Tsunade didn't do that.
Listening to their conversation, Kadoya sat quietly at the edge of the lake, fishing rod in hand, waiting for the fish to take the bait.
Kadoya was getting a bit bored listening to them talking about village safety protocol and stuff before the name Uchiha was mentioned.
"What about the Uchiha? How could they let an enemy infiltrate the village so carelessly like that?" The Shimura Clan Head said, which nearly made Kadoya fall into the lake.
This guy... sure has a thick skin. It was because of his Clan members that the Uchiha decided not to guard their land. Back when he was still in that room, this Shimura Clan Head always kept his head low and didn't dare point his finger at the Uchiha.
Now that he was kicked out of the council room, this shameless weakling dared to speak so highly. His reaction now is no different from the shameless Third Hokage, who is beginning to increase the amount of crap about the Will of Fire taught in the Ninja Academy.
That old fool even began leaving some hints, saying that he is the strongest Hokage, as the newer generations didn't know about legends like Hashirama and Madara, or even the Second Hokage, Tobirama.
This is what he is trying to say. When Hashirama was alive, even Madara couldn't be his rival. When Hashirama is dead, only Hiruzen Sarutobi could rival him.
It's just stupid.
Getting bored by their long talk about the Will of Fire and how the Uchiha are turning their back against the village, not even bothering to show up in the council meeting to answer to their demand.
But if one looks closely, there isn't even a seat for the Uchiha, Senju, or Uzumaki in that council room.
"Well, since I exhausted most options, let's open that shop I've been wanting to open," Kadoya murmurs to himself before disappearing using the Body Flicker.
After the tense meeting, the Konoha F4 all gather inside the Hokage's office to conduct their own high-level meeting, planning on a more important matter: how to deal with the Uchiha.
With the rapid growth of the Uchiha, there have also been a couple of rumors running around. Trying to defame and cause distrust between the village and the Uchiha.
Kadoya just countered with his own rumors. Like how the Uchiha have a total of three thousand shinobi, with over a thousand jonin-level shinobi. Finally, there were even rumors that Madara Uchiha was still alive and within the Uchiha clan.
This caused those who spread the previous rumors to back off immediately.
They couldn't compete. The Uchiha had even brought out their ancestors; what could they use to fight back?
Because of these rumors, even people who dislike the Uchiha didn't dare to look at them now.
With how wealthy the Uchiha are now, owning 1/4 of the village land, having many high-paying industries, their school system, part of these rumors could in fact be true.
Koharu hesitated and said, "Is there a possibility that the Uchiha really do have three thousand ninjas along with Madara Uchiha?"
The Third Hokage turned his head and looked at Koharu in disbelief.
These words were like a thunderbolt to him.
"Koharu!" The Third Hokage said dumbfoundedly, "You actually believed it?"
This was his elder! An elder of Konoha? An elder who helped him govern Konoha?
What kind of thing did he find to help him?
Who the hell would believe the Uchiha have three thousand ninjas along with Madara Uchiha?
The likelihood of those numbers being real is quite high. But Madara Uchiha is still alive and living inside the Uchiha Clan?
You have to be a fool if you believe that!
The Third Hokage covered his face with a pained expression.
He didn't know what to say anymore.
Koharu Utatane, I want to give you two big slaps! And both on the same side of your face!
Koharu looked sheepish.
Was it that exaggerated?
Homura asks. "Hiruzen, who do you think is behind this?"
Danzo then said, "With how those Uchiha are growing, having three thousand ninjas might only be a matter of time."
They didn't disagree with him.
When put into calculations, the Uchiha wealth has proximity reached around 2.1 billion ryo, and that does not count their lands, shops, entertainment, etc, enough to fund an entire village.
Damn these Uchiha, living in the protection of the village but they didn't even share a portion of their wealth with them.
Did they realize that because of them, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire actually retracted most of Konoha's funds to support them? Even the action of opening up their own school system was a direct challenge to Konoha's belief in the Will of Fire.
They should have labeled the Uchiha as rebels and wiped them out completely.
Yet none of them dare to say this out loud or even try to enact that plan, since the current Uchiha is just too strong.
Clashing with them now meant they would lose, and the village would fall into the hands of the Uchiha.
As students of the Second Hokage, they all believe that the Uchiha are a naturally evil clan and should be kept in check.
To them, the Uchiha is more like a blade. Good to point toward others and keep their enemy away, but bad when that same blade is pointed at them. So they wanted to do everything in their power to weaken this powerful Clan.
Suddenly, an Anbu appeared, kneeling before them. "Lord Hokage."
Seeing the Anbu, the Third Hokage stops his earlier conversation and asks in a firm voice. "What's the matter?"
"This..."
"What? Can't you say it?"
Having no patience, Danzo's voice was naturally intimidating.
"No, it's not that!" The Anbu's face was covered with a mask, so they didn't notice his conflicted expression. He said, "It's Kadoya Uchiha!"
"Him? What about that traitor Uchiha?" Danzo continued to press, adding more pressure to the Anbu.
"He has left his Clan Land, and he opened a... shop!"
"A shop?"
The Konoha F4 were all surprised and stood up at the same time.
This just doesn't make any sense. The Uchiha are already wealthy enough. So does this Clan still secretly neglect this child of Kagami, and he is now opening up his own shop to gain some money?
"What kind of shop? What is he trying to do?" Koharu asked, her voice stern.
"This, this..."The Anbu stammered.
"Speak!" Homura scolded sternly.
The Anbu said tremblingly, "A cremation shop!"