If I Were Clan Head

Habara had never expected Shisui to plan on carrying out missions with him.

What surprised him even more was that after Shisui reported it, Old Man Sarutobi Hiruzen had actually approved it!

It was understandable that Shisui wanted to come along. After all, he still had many questions to ask and many things he wanted to understand.

But as an Anbu, leaving the village whenever he pleased was no easy matter, especially now that the Uchiha Clan's situation was becoming increasingly complicated.

Yet reality often exceeded Habara's expectations. Sarutobi Hiruzen had truly agreed to Shisui's request, making Habara unable to help but ponder the old man's intentions.

Could it be that he wants someone tagging along to see what exactly they plan to do?

Habara thought maliciously, but after considering it carefully, he seemed to understand. This was probably Sarutobi Hiruzen's way of winning people over.

Shisui currently appeared completely loyal to Sarutobi Hiruzen and loyal to Konoha, and his special status placed tremendous pressure on him.

Sarutobi Hiruzen knew exactly what the situation within the Uchiha Clan was like. Under such suffocating pressure, wanting to take a walk outside with a friend was only natural.

As for Habara, he had always displayed a fairly good temperament since childhood. Within Konoha, he had been friendly toward everyone.

He lacked the Uchiha's uniquely baffling arrogance. Even when ordinary people ran into trouble, he would help if he could.

No matter how one looked at it, someone like him was fundamentally different from other Uchiha. Sarutobi Hiruzen probably considered him someone who possessed the Will of Fire.

Of course, that alone was far from enough.

At the end of the day, just like the Second Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen simply did not trust the Uchiha. But Shisui was not the only card in his hand.

He also had Uchiha Itachi. That was likely another reason he had allowed Shisui to come out and relax. He could make Shisui feel trusted without worrying that he would have no one left to deal with things if something truly went wrong.

After figuring all this out, Habara relaxed a little. At least he no longer needed to worry about someone following behind him and making him afraid to speak freely.

"Still, the Third Hokage really is generous. He actually gave you a whole month to relax."

Walking along the main road, Habara could not help glancing at Shisui beside him before asking curiously.

"Will you really be all right after being away for so long?"

"Come to think of it, it's all because of you. I really ought to thank you."

Shisui Shook Head lightly before speaking calmly.

"If it weren't for you taking on so many baffling missions and even making me gather intelligence through Anbu channels, Lord Hokage might not have given me so much time after finding out."

Habara paid those words no mind at all. Even if Sarutobi Hiruzen knew some of the details, he did not care.

He truly was going to seek trouble with some jonin and even rogue shinobi, so he was not worried about being investigated.

And using Anbu channels to gather intelligence was actually an unspoken rule.

After all, the intelligence gathered by the Anbu might be far more reliable than what the client possessed, and Shisui would be going with him this time as well.

So long as they did not violate the rules, Shisui could provide some intelligence for them to use together.

Besides, if the Anbu had more detailed information about missions posted at the mission center, they would submit it to the Mission Department according to procedure.

Unless certain missions were specifically meant to train students, in which case more details would not be made public.

For example, that mission in the Land of Waves. Habara did not believe Konoha lacked more specific intelligence, nor did he believe Kakashi's rather clumsy performance.

Neither of them was slow, and before long, they had already put quite some distance between themselves and Konoha.

The targets of their missions this time were mostly rogue shinobi. Their skill levels were not low, and they were rogue shinobi from other villages.

It was rather interesting, actually. Generally speaking, shinobi villages had very little intelligence on rogue shinobi from their own village.

It sounded ironic, but it was the truth. Or rather, the entire Shinobi World was like this.

When a village produced a rogue shinobi, that person would generally not remain in the country where their village was located. The Anbu were not susceptible to the darkness beneath the lamp.

And once they fled to another country and were discovered by another village, so long as they did not do anything excessive there,

those villages would protect them to a certain extent and would not leak their information.

But such protection was not truly for the rogue shinobi's benefit. If the rogue shinobi was strong, the village could contact them and obtain intelligence from them.

If they were weak and possessed no intelligence value, then they would be kept around to disgust the village they had defected from.

Or, during some future exchange of interests, they could be handed over as a show of sincerity.

Put plainly, being a rogue shinobi was Really Not easy. Likewise, rogue shinobi from one's own village were often the hardest to capture, and once caught, their fate would be extremely ugly.

"Come to think of it, why are you going after so many jonin?" After they had traveled some distance, Shisui finally asked his question. "While it can let us stay away from Konoha for a long time, I think you must have more plans than that, right?"

"Just treat it as a training process." Habara chuckled before continuing, "After all, I need to train myself properly, and I told you that I also need to think things through."

"Can I ask you something?" Shisui fell silent for a moment before asking softly, "If—if you became Clan Head, what would you do?"

"If? Clan Head?" Hearing Shisui's question, Habara could not help smiling. "After becoming Clan Head, the first thing I would do is naturally unify the entire clan."

At that, Habara paused slightly. Then he raised his head and looked toward the sky before speaking slowly.

"A clan can have many voices, since everyone thinks differently. But there is one thing that must be achieved.

That is, our thoughts and will must be unified. Only then can we stand together and accomplish what we need to accomplish.

But even that is far from enough. We need complete political demands and a plan of action.

Only then can every clan member know what we intend to do and what we intend to gain, instead of blindly thrashing about without any goal at all."

After saying that, Habara withdrew his gaze and looked at Shisui. Then he reached out and gave Shisui's shoulder a heavy pat.

"Every action needs a clear objective. Our objectives can be divided into two stages.

The first is to stop the clan's internal conflict, so that we can live our lives properly and peacefully.

The second is to make all of Konoha hear our voice and let them know that we do not want Konoha to fall into civil strife.

More importantly, we must let them know that we Uchiha have always been in Konoha. We have never left!"

Habara's words rang out forcefully, and Shisui's heart surged with emotion as he listened!

That was right. Although the Uchiha had gradually drifted farther from Konoha, their ultimate goal was to return, because they had never left