Following the principle of "don't use those you doubt, and don't doubt those you use,"
Rengoku assigned all patrol and alert positions in Konoha to the Hyuga clan.
He pushed the Hyuga's functionality to its absolute limit.
Among the Ino–Shika–Cho trio, Nara Shikaku was promoted by Rengoku to Hokage's assistant, practically the ultimate designated worker.
After all, all recent administrative work had been dumped on that poor old man.
The freed-up mission system was handed over to Akimichi Torifu to manage.
The intelligence department was given to Yamanaka Inoichi.
The other remaining clans more or less got some authority as well.
But Rengoku did not delegate control over education.
Edo Tensei Minato and Miroku spent five days relocating all the people from the Land of Demons to Konoha Village.
If Minato hadn't spent two days finding those who weren't in town, it could've been done in three.
Once Minato used Flying Thunder God to take them outside the Land of Demons' borders, even Obito couldn't track where they went.
For three days straight, Minato kept draining Nine-Tails' chakra bit by bit, carrying group after group across four small countries back to Konoha.
Now the Land of Demons was basically dead in name, but both its leader (Miroku), its nobles, and the citizens were all willing to leave.
And five full days had passed, yet Moryo's stone golem still hadn't walked out of the Land of Demons.
After setting up the warning and defense barrier last time, Miroku was now working with the Yamanaka clan to create a communication barrier, basically the same amplification device the Yamanaka used during the Fourth Ninja World War in the original timeline.
Except that was technology; Miroku was using an array technique instead.
Rengoku also joined the barrier team, using the masks obtained from Namiendo as formation cores to set up a series of arrays: Perception amplification, chakra suppression, space wave detection, and even the Netherworld Formation of the Marching Void Sky for soul suppression.
You could say Konoha's internal defenses were maxed out.
Recently, a lot of spies had been sneaking into Konoha, so Rengoku shoved Karin into the barrier team too.
He had her use the amplification array to enhance her Kagura Mind's Eye.
And honestly, Kagura Mind's Eye truly deserved to be called one of the strongest sensory abilities.
After amplification, she could even cover over half of Konoha, and this wasn't even her peak period.
With that kind of sensory range, Karin caught eight spies trying to infiltrate Konoha for intel on the first day alone.
In the following few days, she caught eleven more.
After seeing how strict Konoha's defense was, the other powers stopped sending spies altogether.
However, under Rengoku's orders, Konoha's forces didn't respond to the provocations from the three great ninja villages along the borders.
He even pulled back all personnel stationed outside.
Basically saying, "Invade the Land of Fire if you want, I don't care."
That attitude made all three villages hesitate.
They just froze along the border, stuck in a stalemate.
Everyone was afraid it might be some kind of Uchiha Rengoku trap, nobody wanted to be the first bird out of the cage.
After all, every single one of them had been beaten up by Rengoku before.
And while they were hesitating, Rengoku was preparing to move against Sarutobi Hiruzen.
———
[Konoha Hospital]
Tsunade stood inside a wooden tub in one of the rooms.
Her eyes were locked on two large buckets of blood beside her,.gathered from spies recently captured and killed.
Inside wasn't just blood, there were bits of organs, broken bones, dismembered flesh, disgusting and terrifying.
Rengoku waved his hand and spoke to the nearby medical-nin, "Do it."
The two medical-nin lifted the buckets and poured them right over Tsunade's head.
"Ahhhhhh!"
The blood and organ chunks splattered onto her, and in that instant, Tsunade's mind replayed the scene of Dan's death years ago.
Her body went stiff, endless terror rising within her.
Rengoku folded his arms and watched Tsunade struggle, with his hearing, he could clearly pick up her rapidly accelerating heartbeat.
Her eyes were bloodshot.
She was fighting the fear, resisting her hemophobia.
Rengoku stepped closer and said softly, "If you can't even overcome this little fear, then you don't get the chance to kill Sarutobi Hiruzen."
Tsunade's pupils shrank sharply. Her frozen body began to move, little by little.
Rengoku, impatient with her slow movements, grabbed her and shoved her straight into the blood pool.
The blood completely submerged her, her fear hitting the absolute peak.
Rengoku lifted her back up, his voice like a devil's whisper, "If you're afraid, you'll never avenge Dan Kato!"
"If you're afraid, you'll never avenge Nawaki!"
"Nawaki, such a sweet child, died under Sarutobi Hiruzen's schemes!"
"Nawaki, who loved the village so much, was betrayed by it!"
Each line he spoke, he forced Tsunade back into the pool again. It was brutally cruel and sadistic.
Even the medical-nin nearby couldn't help stepping back a couple of paces.
The Fifth Hokage was terrifying, she cut straight into the soul.
Rengoku didn't stop; he pushed Tsunade into the pool again and continued, "The Senju clan, an entire clan, men, women, children, all alive and well, until Sarutobi Hiruzen's plot."
"They all died inside the very village their own clan leader founded…"
"AHHHH!"
Tsunade's rage exploded.
Images of every Senju clansman, Nawaki, and Dan spun through her mind.
She suddenly broke free from Rengoku's grip and stood up from the blood pool.
"Cough! Cough!"
Tsunade coughed twice, wiped the blood off her face, her expression a mix of anger and frustration.
"Rengoku, are you trying to drown me?"
Rengoku spread his hands, "Isn't this what you wanted?"
"If you still have hemophobia, I'm not letting you go this time."
Tsunade snorted and stepped out of the pool.
"I'll wash up and come to the meeting."
Rengoku gave her an OK sign, "Alright, I'll go ahead and wait."
———
[Uchiha Clan Grounds]
[Meeting Room]
After the previous setup, Sarutobi Hiruzen had been forced to flee Konoha in humiliation.
Even though he took away a number of Anbu and ninja from other clans, Rengoku didn't care at all. Anyone who wasn't loyal to him was a potential threat anyway.
A Konoha cleansed of parasites would only grow stronger.
The Daimyo was a cowardly turtle, Hiruzen wouldn't dare provoke him, and neither would Uchiha Rengoku.
The letters sent to Konoha were all filled with vague, bureaucratic nonsense:
[Hopefully both sides can sit down and talk peacefully.]
[Resolve conflicts, ensure a smooth transition of power.]
A whole pile of such phrases, mostly useless filler.
But the core message was simple:
[You can fight your fight, just don't involve me.]
"I won't take sides, at most I'll take in some civilians."
All the groundwork Rengoku had been laying up until now was for one reason, justification.
You don't need a reason to kill, but you need one to govern.
This time, the main strike force, the debt-collecting Akatsuki leader, Nagato (in Pain form).
The grieving parents seeking revenge for their bullied son, Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina.
And the avenger from the Senju bloodline, Tsunade.
Among them, Tsunade's desire for revenge burned the strongest.
Not only did she use forced desensitization to cure her hemophobia, she even put on battle gear she hadn't worn in years.
That alone showed just how deep her hatred ran.
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