The Third Hokage: First Move Send Danzō to Prison

"Shikaku, this is the new 'Phoenix of Konoha' Itachi Uchiha!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled broadly, puffing on his pipe as he clapped Itachi on the shoulder and introduced him to Nara Shikaku.

Shikaku raised an eyebrow, eyes sweeping over Itachi. Once an S-rank rogue ninja, Itachi now wore a freshly pressed Konoha jōnin uniform, his headband secured properly across his forehead, and his expression calm as still water.

I see...

Shikaku immediately understood. Compared to Orochimaru who had defected, returned, and was now buried in school research Itachi was the real "deep cover ace" of the Akatsuki.

The Third Hokage made a warm, theatrical show of introducing his two most trusted strategists. He highlighted Itachi's exploits in the pirate world, and how he returned with vast resources that had significantly boosted Konoha's treasury.

Beaming, Hiruzen looked from one to the other and declared proudly, "You two are the backbone of Konoha. I expect great things from this partnership!"

Shikaku, hearing Itachi's achievements, put on a respectful face and bowed slightly. "I pale in comparison."

But inwardly, Shikaku was shouting with glee: Perfect! Tomorrow I'll spread the news that the Phoenix of Konoha is ten times smarter than me. Let them chase him instead!

Just yesterday, the bounty on Shikaku's head rumored to be the brains behind Konoha's strategy had surpassed that of the Hokage himself.

Now he didn't even dare step outside the village gates. Everyone looked like a potential assassin to him.

"Don't be so modest, Shikaku. You're still my number one advisor," Hiruzen said, not missing a beat.

As a wise ruler, he couldn't allow newcomers to eclipse loyal veterans.

Shikaku immediately assumed a pose of teary-eyed gratitude, ready to swear eternal loyalty to the Hokage and the village.

Hiruzen stopped him with a laugh. "Meeting you, Shikaku, was like a fish finding water."

Thus, yet another round of mutual admiration played out in the Hokage's office an all-too-familiar sight.

This strange, theatrical atmosphere left Itachi feeling slightly uncomfortable. He still wasn't used to New Konoha.

Trying to steer the conversation back on track, he interjected, "Hokage-sama, did you summon us to discuss the Akatsuki situation?"

At the return to serious matters, both Hiruzen and Shikaku straightened their postures.

"Ahem, yes," Hiruzen said, clearing his throat. "Itachi, you've read the key intelligence briefings, correct?"

"Yes, sir," Itachi replied calmly.

"Shikaku, show him the new system Orochimaru developed."

Shikaku walked over to the desk and pressed a hidden button.

With a mechanical click, one wall of the office flipped, revealing a massive LED display. The room lit up with a cool blue glow as the screen flickered on.

"Gentlemen, direct your attention to the screen," Shikaku said, pulling out a laser pointer like a seasoned detective.

A 3D projection of Akatsuki members appeared, each accompanied by detailed bios.

Hiruzen nodded with satisfaction. Say what you want about Orochimaru he might be useless in a brawl, but his tech upgrades had pushed Konoha toward modernity. At this rate, the village might catch up to the Boruto era in just two more years.

"The Akatsuki's main base has been confirmed to be in the Hidden Rain Village. As for the organization's leader…"

Shikaku glanced at Hiruzen, who waved off any concern. "Go ahead. It's fine."

"The group is led by Pain and his lieutenant, Konan both former students of Master Jiraiya, which makes them, in a way, your academic grandchildren, Hokage-sama."

"As for the other mastermind 'The Man in the Mask' he is none other than Obito Uchiha, a former disciple of the Fourth Hokage. Since his abilities have been exposed, his threat level has dropped considerably. Kakashi Hatake even attempted to capture him recently, though the mission unfortunately failed."

"Despite internal faction struggles, both sides of Akatsuki share the same ultimate goal: to capture all nine Tailed Beasts and resurrect the legendary Ten-Tails."

In other words, nearly all of Akatsuki's core members were former Konoha shinobi descendants of the previous generations of Hokage.

Itachi's lip twitched ever so slightly.

Shikaku scrolled down, revealing the organization's relationship map and estimated combat capacity.

Pain's Faction: Konan, Sasori, Deidara, Kakuzu, and Hidan. Pain and Konan also command the Hidden Rain, while Sasori has deep-cover spies scattered across every major village.

Obito's Faction: Zetsu and an army of artificial White Zetsu soldiers potentially enough to ignite a full-scale ninja world war.

"According to Jiraiya's latest intel," Shikaku continued, switching to photographs of the Hidden Cloud's ruins and records from Jiraiya's mission in the Rain, "the Akatsuki is experiencing serious internal conflict. Our main threat now is Pain's faction."

The images showed a once-mighty village reduced to rubble.

More followed scanned pages from Jiraiya's reconnaissance log.

Shikaku's tone turned grave. "Itachi, you know these people well. Our analysis suggests they breached Cloud's defenses in record time. Pain finished the job by leveling the village with a single Shinra Tensei."

Itachi nodded solemnly. "Each of them could destroy a small country on their own. On the battlefield, their threat multiplies. Apart from the immortal duo, the rest are exponentially more dangerous in group scenarios."

"The problem is," Shikaku switched to a 3D map of Konoha, "if the battle takes place in our village, even a victory would come at catastrophic cost. Pain, Konan, and Deidara all have large-scale, terrain-altering techniques. Sasori could fight as an entire army by himself."

If war came to Konoha, all their recent reconstruction would be wiped out.

Itachi stepped closer to the screen, but rather than focusing on the Cloud's ruins, his eyes scanned Jiraiya's notes on the Rain Village.

"These Rain shinobi respect Pain and Konan far too much," he said. "They've been ruled by mystery and fear for too long."

Shikaku's eyes lit up. "Exactly. They're not as isolated as they claim to be."

They shared a look.

"Moving the battlefield to the Rain might be our best option."

Yes Nagato and Konan cared deeply about their people. They wouldn't risk using their most destructive abilities on home soil again.

No second Shinra Tensei.

If things got chaotic in Rain, Nagato would be the one hesitating not them.

Hiruzen watched his two top advisors bouncing strategies off each other, and couldn't help but think: Now this this is what real advisors look like. Danzō, you were an embarrassment.

Konoha's Dragon and Phoenix fixed their eyes on the Hokage, awaiting his decision.

As proper advisors should they always left the final word to the Hokage.

Unlike a certain someone.

Danzō, you absolute clown.

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