A Sudden Impulse

If they threaten my life, then I'll kill them!

Having made up his mind, Uchiha Yu began considering the details of his plan.

Among the conversation he had just overheard was one crucial piece of information: the four Root ninja targeting him had been communicating and acting in secret, without reporting to their superiors.

As long as he made their bodies and souls vanish before they could pass the information on to Root, it would be as though nothing had happened.

The inexplicable conflict made Uchiha Yu feel deeply uncomfortable, but if he took the initiative to strike back, Root would feel just as uncomfortable—and utterly baffled.

If four Root ninja disappeared while monitoring the Uchiha clan, no matter how imaginative Shimura Danzō was, he could only connect it to the Uchiha clan's upper ranks. He would never think of Uchiha Yu.

Blaming everything on the Uchiha clan was Shimura Danzō's habit. He would believe the Uchiha had provoked him again and hate them even more for their lack of respect.

Shimura Danzō was so determined to see the Uchiha die. Why couldn't those people just obediently die and donate their eyeballs to him?

No matter why he suffered losses, Shimura Danzō would shout to the heavens that it was the Uchiha's fault. Even if nothing happened at all, he would still yell that the Uchiha were evil by nature.

So Uchiha Yu did not consider Shimura Danzō's resentment a problem. The clan's young patriarch and elders surely would not consider it a problem either.

Everyone was used to it.

Everyone, including the Third Hokage, would think that Danzo was simply stirring up trouble again, throwing another unreasonable tantrum.

That was the consequence of crying wolf too many times.

Even if one of the dead Root ninja was someone Danzo would be reluctant to frame, someone whose death might lend him a little more credibility, so what?

That tiny bit of credibility was nowhere near enough. The outcome would not change at all.

In the end, a major matter would be reduced to a minor one, the minor matter would be settled, and the whole thing would fade away unresolved.

Even after working out his plan and its consequences, Uchiha Yu could not help sighing inwardly.

In his previous life, he had been born in a peaceful era. Although he had been a police officer, he had worked as a neighborhood cop, accustomed to dealing with domestic squabbles and, at most, petty thieves who picked locks.

He had never killed anyone, nor had he liked killing.

But in this life, Uchiha Yu was a ninja. The nature of his profession was to kill. To survive, he could only slaughter without restraint until killing became numbingly familiar.

Yet Uchiha Yu still hated killing. Therefore, when his old captain retired, he gave up the chance to be promoted to chūnin and become a captain, joining the Uchiha clan's Police Force instead and living a peaceful life.

He had not killed anyone for six years, yet his luck had been bad today, and he had to start killing again...

Wait, something was wrong with this luck.

If he called it good luck, Root had inexplicably set its sights on him and senselessly put him in a life-or-death situation, leaving him no choice but to kill.

If he called it bad luck, he had followed a sudden impulse to come out for a late-night meal, overheard a conversation unfavorable to him, and gained the chance to prepare in advance.

Was this Precognition?

Interesting. It was starting to feel like cultivation.

Uchiha Yu was very practiced at killing. He knew that before acting, he had to consider how to clean up afterward.

If Uchiha Yu wanted to stay out of it, he needed an alibi, a suitable battlefield, and finally, a way to dispose of the bodies.

An alibi was simple. Aside from Fire Style, Genjutsu was what Uchiha Yu excelled at most. Deceiving the nearby diners would be easy; no one would notice him leaving to kill someone.

But there was one problem Genjutsu could not solve. He glanced at the noodles he did not have time to finish slurping and decided to find someone to help deal with them.

Summoning Jutsu: Rika-chan

The white smoke and explosive sound were concealed by Genjutsu. The tabby cat Miwa Masayo appeared directly in Uchiha Yu's arms, and no one noticed that an extra tabby cat had appeared.

With Genjutsu hiding them, no one could hear the conversation between him and the cat.

Miwa Masayo had clearly been asleep. After being awakened by the summoning, she barely opened her eyes and asked, "Meow, is something urgent? I was sleeping."

"I'm going to kill someone. I need your help."

Miwa Masayo's drowsiness vanished instantly. "Okay!"

Uchiha Yu told her in detail about what he had overheard, including his decision to kill them to silence them. He hid nothing from his summoned cat.

Miwa Masayo washed her face with her white-gloved paws, thoroughly waking herself up.

"Why are they Root ninja, meow?"

"Killing a few Root ninja won't be difficult, but we won't be able to hide the traces, meow. They'll find us, meow."

"It's fine. I'll deal with the bodies. No one will suspect us."

"Okay, I'll help you, meow."

"Shimura Danzō is a mad dog, and all the subordinates he raises are mad dogs too! Yu, I think we should find an opportunity to kill Danzo. He's far too troublesome."

"Mm. Sooner or later, I'll kill him, but not now."

"Why not, meow?"

"Shimura Danzō has many enemies in the village, but his only political opponent is our Uchiha clan. Killing him would intensify the conflict between the Third Hokage and the clan."

"When the nest is overturned, how can the eggs remain intact? If civil war breaks out, I could very well be caught up in it."

"Then how long do we have to endure it, meow?"

"Until I can defeat the Third Hokage with one hand."

Miwa Masayo tilted her head and asked, "Why do you have to kill the Hokage first if you want to kill Danzo, meow?"

"Because they're back-to-back political allies, blood brothers from different fathers and mothers."

"Meow meow meow?"

"Haha, human relationships are far more complicated than cats', Rika-chan. Don't worry about those details."

"I told you not to call me Rika-chan, meow!"

"Also, haven't you already become an immortal? You even have the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. You still can't beat the Third Hokage?"

"First, I haven't become an immortal. I've only completed the Hundred-Day Foundation Establishment and formally stepped onto the path of immortality. A qualitative change in my strength still requires time to accumulate."

"Second, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan is only fairly good among jōnin, but the Third Hokage is stronger—much stronger. I can't beat him."

"Although Hiruzen Sarutobi's title of the 'strongest Hokage of all generations' is greatly exaggerated, he is still the Hokage, the strongest ninja in Konoha."

The tabby cat stopped questioning him.

The Third Hokage was very powerful. Hiruzen Sarutobi's title as the Professor of Ninjutsu had not been self-proclaimed; he had earned it by killing during the First Shinobi World War.

The titles of powerful ninja might be boasts. Titles like "the strongest Kazekage," "the strongest Hokage of all generations," "the strongest battlefield killing maniac," and "seven people together can kill the Hokage" were basically all untrustworthy.

But every nickname passed from ninja to ninja had been built upon the bones of enemy ninja. Every title recognized by ninja who lived with blood on their blades carried the rich scent of blood they knew best.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's strength was not yet something the Uchiha Yu of today could challenge.