I'm an Uchiha and have Tobirama's talent!

"Where there's life, there's hope. Even though Ashina isn't here, I hope you'll fully convey what was said today," Danzō said with a face full of false sincerity, as if he were doing it for their own good. "Sigh, the major villages are coming at us fiercely. This is the only thing Konoha can do. I hope you can understand."

"Hahahahaha!" Yuuichi was directly enraged to the point of laughter by Danzō's words.

He knew very well that Konoha's interference at this moment wasn't to help, but to seize everything the Land of Whirlpools had.

Money, supplies, food, people... Konoha wanted it all.

"What are you laughing at?" Danzō frowned tightly, clearly displeased.

"I'm laughing at how stupid you are. Laughing at how shameless Hiruzen is." Yuuichi's smile gradually twisted into a grimace, his gaze turning ice cold.

"Ho back and tell him, don't think he's the only smart person in the world, and that everyone else is a fool. From the moment Konoha abandoned the Land of Whirlpools, our trust was gone. And now you're pretending to be the good guys? Pretending to help us? Let me make this clear, even if the Land of Whirlpools is doomed to perish, Konoha will get nothing from us. Push me too far, and I'd rather give everything to the other villages than let you have a single scrap!"

"You're really misunderstanding us..." Danzō's chest heaved violently. It took him a while to suppress his rage before continuing in a coaxing tone, "We only want to help."

"Help? Fine then! Send some actual ninjas to support us! Can you do that?"

"Didn't we already send Tsunade..."

"Shut up!" Yuuichi exploded in fury the moment Danzō mentioned her. "She came of her own will. What the hell does that have to do with you, or with Hiruzen, or with Konoha? Where are your ninjas? Where are your supplies?"

"It's not that we don't want to send troops, it's just that..." Danzō began to explain.

"Please, keep your excuses to yourself," Yuuichi cut him off immediately. "We've made things this clear. What makes you think you can still persuade me? What makes you think Konoha can just waltz in and reap the rewards?"

"I won't waste any more time talking to you. I want to see Ashina." Danzō said, demanding to see the person in charge.

"Get out."

Danzō was about to explode from fury, his chest heaving violently.

"Do as you please." He flicked his sleeves and left. He had made up his mind, once back in Konoha, he would urge Hiruzen to send troops to conquer the Land of Whirlpools.

---

Once Danzō was far gone, Shin emerged from a hidden staircase.

"Do you think Konoha might actually send troops to attack us?"

"They won't," Shin said with absolute certainty, shaking his head. "Not unless Hiruzen wants to stop being Hokage. He's always worked hard to build his image. After so many years of effort, everyone sees him as a righteous, compassionate man. Even now, by not sending troops to help us, he still portrays himself as pained and helpless. If he sends troops now just because Danzō, that whole image will shatter instantly. For someone like him, whose power rests entirely on his reputation, that image is everything. He can't afford to let it collapse."

"But what if Konoha starts publicly claiming they wanted to help us, and we rejected them?" Yuuichi quickly spotted a potential scheme. "Then most of the civilians will believe it. They'll think the Land of Whirlpools was being unreasonable or made a bad call. If he rides the wave of public opinion, he might actually succeed. Even if people realize the truth later, it may already be too late."

Shin paused for a moment, then spoke, "Then it all depends on whose propaganda gets out first, and more effectively. Since he has already made his move, we can't just sit back and pretend nothing happened. I'll return to Konoha. If anything comes up, speak to my clone."

---

One day later, just as Danzō arrived at the border and had yet to return to Konoha, a bombshell rumor had already exploded throughout the village.

The rumor claimed that he had gone to the Land of Whirlpools and met with Ashina.

During their conversation, Danzō allegedly proposed that Konoha could secretly send troops to help evacuate all the civilians, property, and talented Uzumaki ninjas, preserving their legacy even if the nation itself fell. But Ashina, having seen through Danzō's true intentions, that he didn't really want to help, but wanted to take advantage of the situation and annex everything, was furious and drove Danzō away.

Before leaving, Danzō was said to have issued a harsh threat: he would strongly urge Hiruzen to send troops to attack the Land of Whirlpools and that they'd best prepare themselves.

The people of Konoha were shocked upon hearing this. The Land of Whirlpools was in the middle of a war, and even though they had just won a battle, the price had been high. The crisis was far from over.

And yet he tried to loot them during their hardship?

How could anyone be so... heartless?

When the plunder failed, he then allegedly threatened to convince the Hokage and other ninja villages to turn on their own ally.

Outrage erupted across Konoha. Cries for justice and condemnation of Danzō filled the village.

Even Mito stormed into the Hokage's office with Kushina, confronting Hiruzen face-to-face.

Left with no choice, Hiruzen had to appear and explain: he claimed to know nothing of this matter and that it was all Danzō acting on his own.

He promised the people a satisfactory explanation.

Sadly, Danzō hadn't even officially established Root yet, and the blame had already been dumped on his head.

When he returned to the village, just as Yuuichi had feared, he was preparing to launch a smear campaign, painting the Land of Whirlpools as ungrateful and shameless for refusing Konoha's "goodwill."

His aim was to manipulate public opinion to justify a campaign to attack the Land of Whirlpools. But before he could even start, Hiruzen summoned him and gave him a harsh scolding, ordering him to stay home and reflect.

Having finally learned the full story, Danzō was dumbfounded.

What the hell happened?!

His meeting with Yuuichi had been a private conversation, with no third party present.

Yet somehow, the entire event had been leaked and was now the talk of the entire village, anyone who believed no one was pulling strings behind the scenes would be a fool.

"Yuuichi, Ashina… very good!" Danzō gnashed his teeth in fury.

He actually saw himself as the victim, completely forgetting that he was the one who had tried to exploit a disaster and even considered using it as a chance to destroy the Land of Whirlpools.