How a Marginal Figure Survives

"Is it really okay to treat your own clansmen like that?"

As Uchiha Yashiro and Uchiha Tekka supported each other and limped away, Hatake Sakumo's Spirit appeared beside Uchiha Feiyu and asked in confusion.

In the Naruto World, ninja clans were exceptionally close-knit groups. Among them, bloodline clans were especially united. Rogue Ninja who betrayed their villages were common throughout the Shinobi World, but ninja who betrayed their own clans were few and far between. It was no wonder Hatake Sakumo found Uchiha Feiyu's actions somewhat excessive.

"Can't be helped. If it were another ninja clan, joining them would be fine. But the Uchiha Clan is better kept at a bit of a distance."

"You're an Uchiha yourself, yet you're so wary of your own clan? Don't tell me you believe Konoha's widely circulated theory about the evil Uchiha too!"

"Hm!? Is the Uchiha's evil reputation really that widespread?"

"Ordinary Chunin and Genin definitely haven't heard such things, but Jonin have indeed heard those rumors. Still, I don't think the Uchiha Clan is evil."

"I've gone on missions with Uchiha Clan ninja before. At least during missions, they were merely somewhat arrogant. They weren't actually difficult to get along with."

Hearing Hatake Sakumo's words, Uchiha Feiyu shook his head.

"That's because you're Hatake Sakumo. That's why you found the Uchiha easy to get along with."

"In truth, the Uchiha Clan isn't some evil clan. But because of the Sharingan, the stronger an Uchiha becomes, the more likely the ones at the top are to be mentally unstable!"

"And once they awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, they're basically all seriously insane!"

Most ninja were already potential lunatics from spending their lives cutting people down and getting cut down themselves. The Uchiha Clan took that tendency to unprecedented heights. Feiyu thought back over the Uchiha who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, only to discover that the most normal one was somehow Sasuke Uchiha!?

Although Sasuke Uchiha also possessed the Uchiha Clan's characteristic arrogance and conceit, even earning himself the nickname Sunny Sasuke because of it, at least most of his actions and thoughts remained within the realm of what ordinary people could understand.

Compared to him, the thought processes of Madara Uchiha, Uchiha Obito, and Itachi Uchiha were absolutely the sort that belonged in Arkham for life.

Sticking with that bunch of lunatics, he might get stabbed in the back at any moment. Compared to them, even Konoha High Command, stagnant and corrupt as it was, was far safer than these Uchiha!

Granted, there weren't that many lunatics among the Uchiha yet. But the Uchiha who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan weren't good people either. In a sense, Konoha being able to wipe out the Uchiha Clan was entirely the result of competing over who was worse. Clearly, the Uchiha were the worse of the two.

Hatake Sakumo, who had never seen the Mangekyō Sharingan, had no way to refute Uchiha Feiyu's words. Still, he ultimately tried to persuade him.

"Even if you don't want to get too close to the Uchiha, there's no need to completely fall out with the Uchiha Clan! If word gets out, it won't just harm your reputation. It will also make the Uchiha Clan see you as an enemy."

"Don't worry. If the Uchiha Clan sees me as an enemy, then they see me as an enemy! It's not as if they'll come running over to cut me down. Even if they want to teach me a lesson, I can just surrender immediately!"

"As for reputation, do I even have a good reputation in Konoha right now?"

"But if you neither align yourself with Konoha High Command nor remain on good terms with your own clansmen, you'll probably be ostracized."

"No, at most I won't be valued. But with my strength, neither side will openly ostracize me. Unlike you, I don't have any so-called bonds in Konoha, so I've always had the option of simply leaving!"

"As long as I have a way out, am not weak, and haven't shown any threat toward Konoha, they'll only marginalize me. They won't push me into a corner."

Hatake Sakumo froze for a moment, then sighed.

"You're right. Jonin are already valuable combat power. No one would drive a Jonin into defecting just because he wasn't likable—especially when that Jonin might truly defect."

"Exactly. If you'd acted a little more unruly back then, no one would have dared gossip about you to your face!"

Hatake Sakumo's face darkened at those words. He turned into a small black Soul Orb once more and merged into Uchiha Feiyu's body.

After driving off the two Uchiha, Uchiha Feiyu continued living much as he had before, training and cultivating every day while occasionally taking on missions.

Three months passed in the blink of an eye. One day, when Hizashi Hyuga led Team 1 to collect a mission, he suddenly spoke.

"With your current strength, C-rank missions no longer offer you much training value. From now on, we'll be carrying out B-rank missions."

"That's great! I've been bored to death with missions like driving away bandits, wild boars, and black bears. Are we finally going to fight other ninja?"

"Don't let your guard down, Asuma. B-rank missions are the most likely to have unexpected complications."

Though she said that, Kurenai's little face was flushed red, and she wore a faintly excited expression. Clearly, she too had been eagerly looking forward to taking on higher-ranked missions.

B-rank missions were those where combat with ninja was highly possible. They were also the missions with the most difficult-to-define scope and the greatest chance of unexpected developments.

Because ninja were involved, even with Konoha's intelligence-gathering capabilities, it was difficult to determine the strength of the hostile ninja they might encounter during a mission.

The mission intelligence might indicate that the opponents were merely ordinary Genin, only for them to display Jonin-level strength moments later. Or they might believe they were dealing with a few Rogue Ninja from a minor ninja village, then discover that their opponents were actually Jonin from a major ninja village disguised to investigate the mission.

There were simply too many B-rank missions for Konoha to investigate the intelligence of every ninja involved. By contrast, A-rank missions involved enemy Jonin, and Konoha would become extremely cautious when gathering intelligence for those.

As for S-rank missions, there was even less need to mention them. Their difficulty had no upper limit. If they were lucky, they might only encounter two or three Jonin working together, or an elite Jonin with a reputation. If they were unlucky, they might run into a Village Kage wandering around with their Shadow Guard Squad.

However, with Team 1's lineup, even with two deadweights, failing a B-rank mission was about as likely as winning the lottery.