I'm Hungry, Meow

Land of Fire, Konoha.

A ninja wearing a gray-blue coat strolled into the mission office at an unhurried pace. He smiled as he greeted acquaintances, exchanging utterly meaningless pleasantries.

"Did your mission go smoothly?"

"Thanks to you, very smoothly."

"I heard your child is entering the Ninja Academy this year. Congratulations."

"Hahaha, thank you, thank you. This child is more talented than I am. Maybe he'll become a jonin someday."

"Really? That's incredible."

After crossing the hall, he headed toward the office for turning in high-level missions. He kept greeting people along the way, clearly someone with excellent connections.

Once he turned into the corridor and there was no one ahead, the smile vanished from the ninja's face instantly.

He moved his mouth and even rubbed his cheeks with both hands, easing the discomfort in his facial muscles.

He had been smiling from the gate all the way here. His face was sore as hell.

Sigh, every word had been nonsense.

He had completed a B-rank mission and returned in one piece. How could it not have gone smoothly?

His kid was going to become a jonin just by entering the Ninja Academy? Why not just fly to the moon?

Meaningless chatter was so irritating.

The people in this village really were worse than the folks in Chaoyang District. They didn't say a single honest thing. Even asking whether he had eaten would sound better than all that pretentious crap.

From the village gate all the way here, he had run into nothing but people who knew him, so the ninja could only keep up a polite smile the entire time.

Smiling without meaning it was especially exhausting on the face.

After working his jaw, the ninja still felt uncomfortable. He had no choice but to rub it hard with his hands a few times. Only when it started to hurt did he finally feel somewhat loosened up.

Then he knocked on his lower back.

Come to think of it, what he hated most were modern ninjas. They fancied themselves part of the "warrior" class and worked hard to learn that bullshit noble etiquette, bowing to everyone they met.

His waist was sore too.

The gray-clad ninja planted his hands on his hips and twisted his waist clockwise several times, then repeated the movements in reverse. Finally, he jumped a few times before his entire body finally felt relaxed.

Then he pushed open the office door, a faintly calm smile appearing on his face.

This time, it was not fake.

The ninja reviewing documents in the office looked up. When he saw the gray-clad young ninja, he smiled as well.

"Not bad. You completed such a difficult B-rank mission. Your promotion to chunin is definitely assured."

"I still have to thank you for recommending me, Captain."

"No need to thank me. I recommended you because you were strong enough. If another chunin had carried out this assessment mission, there probably wouldn't even be bones left to find."

"I still need to thank you."

"In my opinion, opportunities are the most important resource. You gave one to me instead of someone else. That makes me fortunate."

"What is there to thank me for over a dangerous B-rank mission? You could have taken the chunin exams instead..."

The office ninja suddenly trailed off, clearly remembering something.

The standing ninja scratched his head of black hair, then rubbed his nose with a bitter smile and gave a low laugh. "Taking the chunin exams would be far more dangerous than a B-rank mission for me."

"After all, I have the surname 'Uchiha' hanging over my head..."

The office ninja's beard and hair were already gray-white. Hearing his former subordinate's words, he could not help but smile bitterly. "Ah, right, right, right. I really forgot. You're an Uchiha..."

"Ha, Danzo..."

He looked up again at his subordinate, whose face held a bitter smile but whose demeanor remained calm. He could not help shaking his head once more and sighing. "You can't blame me for forgetting. Other than your surname being Uchiha, where do you resemble an Uchiha?"

"Arrogant, hot-tempered, conceited, contemptuous of others, brutal in their methods—you're nothing like them anywhere."

"Haha, at least I have the Sharingan."

"Oh? You really have the Sharingan? I've been your captain for two years. How come I've never seen you use it?"

"Hehe, because you're too strong, Captain. There was simply no need for me to activate the Sharingan."

"You brat, you're still as good with words as ever."

The two chatted and laughed as they completed the mission handover. The old ninja issued the mission certificate.

Only with the certificate could he collect the mission reward.

As for his promotion to chunin, he still had to wait for the process to be completed.

That was because a ninja's promotion had to be approved by the Hokage and only took effect after the Hokage personally signed it.

Before he left, the old ninja called his subordinate back.

"Uchiha Yu, you're no longer a member of the Police Force. What do you plan to do next?"

Uchiha Yu shrugged and answered naturally, "No particular plans. I'll just be a mission ninja."

"Thanks to you, I'll be promoted to chunin soon. After that, I can take on missions myself. With my strength, making a living definitely won't be a problem."

The old ninja shook his head and sighed. "Sigh, there aren't many missions that can be completed alone. Even if you can survive, life will be tight."

"I can't help it. I'd still like to work for the Military Police Force, but Elder Uchiha Setsuna thinks I'm too weak and unsuited to displaying the Uchiha clan's majesty. He insisted on expelling me, and Captain Yashiro had no way around it."

"So that's what happened. I was wondering. You did such a good job in the Military Police Force that even the Uchiha clan's reputation improved, yet you were expelled."

"So it was that idiot Setsuna."

The old ninja was clearly a senior figure. He showed no courtesy at all when calling Uchiha Setsuna an idiot.

Uchiha Yu naturally agreed completely. In his eyes, Setsuna was his clan's useless teammate. Together with their political enemy Shimura Danzō, the two had formed a perfect pair, attacking from within and without to push the Uchiha clan into the abyss.

As for Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi, they were merely the final struggles of the younger generation after the clan had already reached a dead end.

Of course, Shisui was merely stupid.

He was so foolish that he could not distinguish friends from enemies. He stubbornly believed that the clan's political enemies could help the clan, ultimately driving himself into a stifled suicide.

And Itachi was insane.

There was no logic to his actions.

There was also Uchiha Obito, an utterly selfish madman.

Whenever Uchiha Yu thought of how all three had awakened the Mangekyo, his future seemed completely gray. Above his own head and those of all his relatives hung blood-red countdowns.

Most of those countdowns displayed the same number.

I really want to defect.

But the Ninja World was dangerous, and he was too weak. Only by living in the Uchiha clan compound and relying on the Uchiha clan's protection could he ensure his safety.

For the time being, it was not suitable to fall out with old man Setsuna, so Uchiha Yu did not follow up on his captain's words.

He simply smiled.

He smiled as he waited for the old captain to finish venting, then saluted and took his leave.

He exchanged the mission certificate for a reward of 120,000 ryo, then pulled out several bills and went to the market to buy ingredients.

This mission had taken seven days.

Since there was no refrigerator at home, the stored food had definitely all gone bad. He had to buy everything again.

Konoha's market was prosperous and well-stocked. Uchiha Yu quickly bought white sesame seeds, seaweed, chicken breast, carrots, and eggs.

After thinking about it, he also bought soy sauce and several spices.

After returning home, he first cleared out all the rotten, spoiled food, then cleaned away the dust that had accumulated over seven days.

He checked the rice jar and found no rice weevils and no traces of rats.

Uchiha Yu nodded in satisfaction. He scooped out a full bowl of rice, rinsed it twice, then poured it into the pot with an appropriate amount of water and lit the fire to cook it.

Just as the fragrance of rice began to spread, there was a bang, and the window Uchiha Yu had deliberately unlatched was knocked open.

A gray shadow burst into the room. Like a gray bolt of lightning, it bounced twice between the windowsill and the back of a chair before landing in front of him.

A Tabby Cat sat gracefully on the table, proudly raising its head to look down at the ninja before it and letting out a meow.

"You're finally back, meow, Yu."

"I'm hungry, meow."

This new story is still Naruto fanfiction, but this time I'm telling it from a different angle.

This way, I won't make the mistake of creating a setting that is too grand for me to control.

Also, updates will still be two chapters a day, at 12 noon and 8 PM.

Before release, each chapter will be 2K+ words. After release, they will return to 4K+ words.

Well, that plus sign might also mean an extra 1,000.