Deeply Moved, Firmly Rejected

Moved but refused

After tea, Fugaku, without beating around the bush, formally extended an invitation to Shunren.

The fact that the Uchiha Clan Head personally paid a visit was a great honor.

However, Shunren's attitude towards this was one of being moved but ultimately rejecting it.

There's nothing more to say. This isn't about giving face or not. Shunren clearly understands Fugaku's ambitions and the Uchiha's plans.

In this election for the Fourth Hokage, the Uchiha clan will undoubtedly be strongly suppressed by the Konoha leadership. Although, because of him, Konoha has one less Orochimaru to compete with Fugaku, as expected, Hashirama and Tobirama have now secretly returned to Konoha and are supporting Minato Namikaze. Uchiha Fugaku has absolutely no chance of winning.

If Shunren supported the Uchiha, perhaps the Uchiha would still have a sliver of hope. However, he was not interested in the political struggles of Konoha. To him, whether Minato Namikaze was in power or Uchiha Fugaku was in power, it had nothing to do with him.

However, based on Shunren's personal preference, he still slightly favors Minato Namikaze as the Fourth Hokage. After all, according to Minato Namikaze's performance in the original work, although his time in power was not long, the relationship between the Konoha High Command and the Uchiha was improved to some extent during this period.

The Hokage's wife Kushina Uzumaki, and the Uchiha Clan Head's wife Uchiha Mikoto, were also very close friends in private. Even Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Fugaku, who were originally rivals, established a relatively friendly communication mechanism because of this connection. After all, compared to the Third and Danzo's Danzo, the Uchiha did not have as deep prejudice against Minato Namikaze, who came from a commoner background, and the two got along quite well.

Nevertheless, Shunren only slightly favored Minato and didn't pay much attention to him, much less publicly express his support.

On the other hand, after receiving the answer, Fugaku couldn't help but feel disappointed. However, he could understand Shunren's detached thinking, and more importantly, the latter did indeed have the strength to be independent.

However, not everyone was as clever as Fugaku. Upon hearing Shunren explicitly refuse their invitation, the hot-tempered Yashiro jumped out, shouting, "You brat... do you even consider yourself a member of the prestigious Uchiha Clan? This is a crucial moment for our clan to achieve glory, and you want to cower like a coward? Listen up! When we Uchiha Hokage Position, we will definitely come back and teach you a lesson..."

Faced with Yashiro's rabid roar, Shunren merely glanced at him indifferently, "Noisy!"

A terrifying killing intent swept over us.

"Blade of Killing Intent!"

"Thump~" In that instant, before Yashiro could even activate his Sharingan, his body was unexpectedly pressed down by the heavy and fierce killing intent, forcing him to his knees.

"Huff huff huff huff~" Yashiro's eyes widened, his face as pale as paper. The oppressive killing intent made it almost impossible for him to breathe, and he couldn't even groan.

Although Fugaku and Tekka were not under Shunren's killing intent, they still keenly sensed the terrifying power and subconsciously activated their Sharingan.

Fugaku placed one hand in front of Yashiro, and said in a deep voice, "Shunren, please show mercy."

Tekka stood taut beside Fugaku, his expression extremely serious.

The murderous intent came quickly, and it went quickly too.

Shunren did not possess the violent temper to kill at the Yashiro provocation. He merely gave Yashiro a mild reprimand for his insolence, without even needing to actually take action.

Of course, if the latter still comes to him to act arrogantly and court death, Shunren will not show the slightest mercy, just like swatting a fly that buzzes around his ear all day long.

"Fugaku, please return. Although I will not participate in your Uchiha's operations, now that I am residing here, I will not allow anyone to easily invade."

Shunren's stance was clear: he remained neutral in the power struggle between the Uchiha and Konoha, and because he lived in the Uchiha settlement, he would not stand idly by if the Konoha people tried to enter his territory and cause trouble.

Fugaku's eyes flickered, and he understood Shunren's meaning. He thought that this was not a bad idea. After all, the path of power struggles is extremely dangerous. If they were not careful, the Uchiha might even fall into a desperate situation. At that time, out of the idea of "love me, love my dog", Shunren would not just watch the Uchiha perish.

In this way, Shunren also became the Uchiha's last line of defense, albeit unwittingly.

"Shunren is indeed a man of great wisdom and righteousness. If we fail, then we will entrust the Uchiha Clan to you..." Fugaku respectfully bowed to Shunren. As the saying goes, it is easy to add flowers to brocade, but it is easy to provide charcoal in the snow. If one day the Uchiha were to fail in the power struggle, the worst outcome would be annihilation. However, Shunren was guarding the Uchiha's last path to survival.

After the conversation ended, Fugaku and Tekka, along with Yashiro who had not yet recovered his mobility, left Shunren's house.

Meanwhile, after seeing off Fugaku and the others, Shunren also went out for a while.

Without any particular purpose, he wore Bamboo-Copter and flew freely in the sky above Konoha.

Overlooking Konoha, a place called a village Konoha, originally a major clan government, has a high degree of economic, political, and military independence.

Compared to the barren lands of Sunagakure to the west, which is economically fragile and has to rely on the financial support of the Daimyo of the Land of Wind for a long time, it is subject to constraints everywhere, and even the position of Kazekage requires the support of the Daimyo.

However, Konoha was different. They selected the Hokage internally, went through a few formalities, drafted the appointment letter, sent it to the Hokage Position, and had him stamp it—that was it.

The daimyo of the Land of Fire had no objection to this. He said that Konoha should handle its own affairs as long as it ensured victory in the war and secured benefits for the Land of Fire. He added that funding would be negotiable.

However, these are all digressions. Shunren was never interested in politics; he treated it as just watching a play.

Under a blue sky and white clouds, Shunren flew aimlessly and unknowingly arrived at a residential area in the southern part of Konoha.

From his vantage point, far away, Shunren's keen eyesight allowed him to see a house below with the words "Xi Ri Jia" (meaning "Yuhi Clan") written on it.

With a slight shift in his gaze, Shunren murmured softly, "It's been quite a while since I've seen that little girl, Hong..."

Once the thought arose, Shunren put away the Bamboo-Copter on his head and headed back towards his Yuhi Clan.

Shunren shape, landing rapidly with his back to the ground, feeling the cool, refreshing airflow hitting his skin...