In the office, Hiruzen picked up the report handed in by the Anbu and opened it to read carefully.
As for the extent of the destruction, since the main battlefield was concentrated in the northeastern and southeastern regions of the village, as well as the Death Forest Zone, the actual area of damaged buildings in the village was rather limited—the reconstruction wouldn't be too difficult.
With Konoha's reserves on hand, they could fully recover and resume operations in a short time, so there wouldn't be any major issues.
But the real problem was that after this upheaval, Konoha had lost nearly a hundred ninja in total. Among them, about ten Jonin had fallen in battle, half of whom were from the Hyuga Clan.
Moreover, if you added in the Jonin who defected from the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Branch Family, the losses were enough to shake Konoha's very foundation.
A dozen or so Jonin-level forces—on the battlefield, that's enough to support a small-scale ninja war.
Overlooking losses of this scale, those Uchiha and Hyuga ninja who left were all special ninja with Kekkeigenkai, and this was what truly made things thorny for Hiruzen.
If this matter were announced publicly, the impact on Konoha's reputation would be overwhelmingly negative.
Especially in such a sensitive time of war, it would certainly cause panic within their ranks, and give their enemies cause for unrestrained schadenfreude and ridicule.
Just then, the door of the office opened; Advisors Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu entered first, followed by Root Leader Shimura Danzo.
The Anbu Ninja waiting quietly on the side witnessed this, and proactively used the Instantaneous Body Jutsu to withdraw, giving these village higher-ups the space to act.
The three entered the office, standing in silence. Ultimately, it was Utatane Koharu who broke the oppressive quiet, raising her voice to Hiruzen: "How do you plan to deal with this matter?"
"I intend to play down the impact of this large-scale defection."
Hiruzen sighed, meeting Koharu's gaze.
"Impose a gag order?"
"Pursue charges of defection against the main criminals and minimize the presence of the others." Hiruzen paused, then continued, "When the incident happened, all the ninja in the village had their attention drawn by the Nine-tailed, so they don't really know what happened on the Uchiha and Hyuga sides. Even if anyone did notice, it was only a very small number of ninja. I have already instructed them to keep it secret."
Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura exchanged glances, then nodded. This was indeed a feasible approach.
Release information only about Chiba Hakushi and Uchiha Ruri as the main culprits, and downplay the rest of the accomplices.
Given it's wartime, those accomplices could 'fall' on the frontline as Konoha ninja; that would provide a clear enough explanation for their 'disappearance' from the village.
But even so, they knew this was not a long-term solution. If the matter was dug up later, they'd just handle it then.
As for the reason for the disturbance and fire at the Hyuga Clan compound that night, it could be explained as a strong enemy attack. The Hyuga ninja fought with all their might and eventually eradicated the enemy, sacrificing some Hyuga ninja in the process.
The most important thing now was to maintain the morale of Konoha's ninja and minimize damage to the village's reputation.
As for the main culprits, Chiba Hakushi and Uchiha Ruri, they were too conspicuous—there was no way to minimize their part in this.
And with so major an incident, they had to provide a reasonable explanation—nail these two to the pillar of disgrace, unite the Konoha ninja in indignation, and shift the focus; it was a good way to handle it.
"Danzo, what do you think?"
Hiruzen looked toward Danzo, asking his opinion.
During the night of turmoil, Danzo's tireless effort had also gratified him. In the village's hour of crisis, he unhesitatingly stepped up to fight the enemy, standing shoulder to shoulder with comrades, shouldering the responsibility Konoha ninja ought to bear.
"There's news from the Uchiha that Uchiha Shikora is retiring."
Danzo brought up something seemingly unrelated to the current topic.
"A dangerous name… From the Warring States Era all the way to now—he really is long-lived."
Koharu's face showed a trace of dread.
Uchiha Shikora was now one of the few ninja in Konoha who had survived from the Warring States Era to this day.
"When Hiruzen took over as Hokage, that old man was actively purging internal dissent in the Uchiha. Not long after, Kagami mysteriously died in action during a mission… It's hard not to see unpleasant implications in that."
Mitokado Homura sighed.
From that point on, their surveillance over the Uchiha was utterly broken.
Without Uchiha Kagami providing information, the Uchiha Clan was completely out of control, becoming a forbidden area they could no longer interfere with at will.
"There's no point in idle speculation—Kagami just died unfortunately in the line of duty."
Hiruzen didn't want to engage in such useless conjecture, since they had no evidence to prove Uchiha Kagami was killed by someone from the Uchiha itself.
For a ninja to perish on a mission—there was nothing unusual about that at all.
"But for that old man to abdicate at this moment…it's awfully coincidental. So then, who leads the Uchiha now?"
Koharu asked.
"Uchiha Fugaku."
Danzo replied.
The answer Danzo gave did not surprise the other three.
Uchiha Ruri had already defected and become a highly dangerous S-Class Renegade Ninja. Of the younger Uchiha generation, only Uchiha Fugaku was able to take up the mantle.
"Just keep an eye on things—as long as that old man isn't still presiding in secrecy over the Uchiha from behind the scenes, it's not a problem."