Fleeing from Konoha-Chapter 562 - 77: Direction (Part 4)

However, when faced with the Hidden Waterfall’s difficulties, it’s actually enough just to delay.

Because with Nohara Rin’s disappearance, the Hidden Waterfall Village couldn’t provide concrete evidence that Nohara Rin stole the Hidden Waterfall’s Seven-tailed Beast, it was merely a claim from the Hidden Waterfall.

However, due to not wanting to sour relations with the Hidden Waterfall Village and the fact that other Ninja Villages seemed to be secretly fanning the flames, Hiruzen had no choice but to respond directly to the Hidden Waterfall. But regarding the disappearance of the village’s Chunin, Nohara Rin, and the theft of the Hidden Waterfall’s Seven-tailed Beast, he has blurred over.

Until there is concrete evidence, Hiruzen would not admit that the theft of the Hidden Waterfall’s Seven-tailed Beast was the work of Konoha Ninja.

After all, the entire incident seemed too strange.

Based on the time provided by the Hidden Waterfall of the Seven-tailed Beast’s disappearance, it was exactly during the time when Nohara Rin disappeared from the Konoha Camp in the Land of Grass.

Kakashi found remnants of Wood Style on a battlefield in the Land of the Waterfall, suggesting a Wood Style Ninja may have appeared in the Land of the Waterfall.

Thereafter, the Hidden Waterfall accused Konoha, claiming that their village’s female ninja stole the Hidden Waterfall’s Seven-tailed Beast.

However, since Rin had already disappeared, Hiruzen felt that the truth should not be entirely based on the Hidden Waterfall’s words.

Once the crime of stealing a Tailed Beast was established, Konoha would bear the stigma of breaking the Tailed Beast agreement, and it would be extremely challenging internationally.

Besides, how could a Chunin find the Jinchuriki in the Hidden Waterfall, then quickly extract the Seven-tailed Beast from the Jinchuriki’s body, seal it within themselves, and escape from the Hidden Waterfall Village?

Therefore, the Hidden Waterfall’s accusations only made Hiruzen take the matter seriously, but he refused to acknowledge the theft of the Tailed Beast.

He also dispatched a team from Anbu to monitor Rin’s parents day and night, hoping to find some clues.

Half a year passed, and the Nohara couple’s behavior was completely normal. They were only saddened by their daughter’s disappearance and resumed their spirits after some time. There was no suspicious behavior during this period.

The missing Rin had also not returned to the village to secretly meet with her parents.

It wasn’t until two days ago that an incident occurred with the Anbu guarding the Nohara couple; they were found unconscious at the scene. When they awoke, the Nohara couple had mysteriously disappeared from their home, their whereabouts unknown.

This caught Hiruzen’s attention.

Hiruzen immediately sealed this information, especially ensuring that the Hidden Waterfall representatives stationed in Konoha did not find out about it. Otherwise, they would certainly think that Konoha felt guilty, believing that the Nohara couple’s disappearance was Konoha’s doing.

There have been many recent events; Konoha is at a stalemate with the Hidden Cloud, and the issues between the Uchiha and Hyuga also need to be appeased as much as possible.

Arrangements concerning Orochimaru and the excessive power of Danzo also require restriction.

The Fourth Hokage election issue.

All these matters fall on Hiruzen’s shoulders alone.

Now, with the disappearance of Nohara Rin’s parents from Konoha, there was one more thing to deal with.

Hiruzen felt very troubled.

If only there was an aide by his side to advise him.

The Yuanfei Clan had quite a few Jonin, but they lacked the strength and status to help in these matters.

Consequently, everything fell upon him alone to support.

Hiruzen could envision that once the war ended, irrespective of what he said, he would have to step down.

The situation was inevitable.

But there were still unresolved issues, like the Uchiha problem, and the balance between the Ninja Race and commoners was not perfect. Additionally, the large-scale defection incident of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans from a few years ago also required a lot of time to prepare.

"Time waits for no one."

In the blink of an eye, he was already over fifty, his energy not what it used to be.

Without resolving those issues, he couldn’t rest easy with relinquishing the position of Hokage to the next generation.

Be it Orochimaru or Minato, they were too young. They couldn’t handle these matters perfectly, nor did they have the experience to communicate with the Ninja Race.

Therefore, he still couldn’t completely sever his ties with the position of Hokage.

He picked up a scroll and spread it out in front of him.

There were only two names on it.

Orochimaru, Namikaze Minato.

The position of the Fourth Hokage would only be between these two.

In terms of clarity, he leaned more toward his disciple Orochimaru.

However, if Orochimaru took the position and allied with Danzo, he would be marginalized.

Upon reflection, Minato seemed a more suitable choice.

When the time comes, Minato could handle the miscellaneous matters, while he could focus entirely on resolving the Uchiha issue and maintaining the balance between the Ninja Race and the commoners.

He would clean up the mess he left behind.

But by then, would there be enough time?

Hiruzen sighed again, then resolutely made a decision.

He knew very well that under his conservative style, Konoha might seem strong, but its power was already beginning to wane.

But stabilizing internally was necessary to address external threats.

Unlike other villages, Konoha was a Ninja Village with a rather prosperous Ninja Race.

The Uchiha, Hyuga, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame, Inuzuka, etc. To balance and perfect the relationships among these Ninja clans was no easy task.

Precisely due to these intricate relationships, he had been seeking an internal stability policy for years.

Without unifying the internal voices, Konoha would remain stagnant.

The first target, Hiruzen had already decided.

Uchiha.

If the Uchiha issue was solved, most problems would no longer be problems.

Hiruzen looked out the window towards the distance, where the Uchiha Clan Land was located. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Speaking of which, I haven’t been there in a long time..."