Kaze, Just Who Are You?

Uchiha Compound.

Near the Naka River.

Seeing that Shisui no longer wanted to fight, Kaze decided to call it there.

He simply started humoring Sasuke instead.

After learning that Sasuke had come here to practice the Great Fireball Technique, Kaze offered him some verbal encouragement.

Though such encouragement meant little to Kaze.

To Sasuke as he was now, it was a guaranteed hit.

Sasuke's little face reddened as he hoped to show Kaze the results of his recent efforts.

"Sure."

Kaze happily agreed.

And so that his Great Fireball Technique would not burn the grass or leaves, Sasuke deliberately spread his short legs and jogged over to the bank of the Naka River.

He began forming hand seals toward the river's surface.

Watching Sasuke's earnest expression, Kaze could not help feeling a little wistful.

As a Transmigrator, he knew very well.

The reason Sasuke worked so hard at practicing the Great Fireball Technique was to earn his father Fugaku's acknowledgment.

Yet after months of practice, all he received in the end was Fugaku's denial.

Fugaku told him to give up his foolish dream of catching up to Itachi.

Itachi, who had joined the Anbu, also often kept his distance from Sasuke.

"Why do I suddenly feel like Fugaku has rocks for brains..."

The more Kaze thought about these trivial matters, the more he felt that Fugaku was neither a good father nor a good clan head.

And if one wanted to call Fugaku smart, then when it came to major matters of right and wrong, he had neither conviction nor courage.

Not to mention the tragedy of the Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall.

Fugaku absolutely bore the brunt of the blame for the Uchiha Clan being driven to the village's outskirts.

"During the Nine-Tails Incident, he received orders from the Konoha leadership and chose to remain on standby."

"But the Hokage at that time was clearly Minato Namikaze."

"And Minato Namikaze's political ideals were completely different from those of the Third Hokage."

"Not only had he taken Obito as his disciple, he had even considered passing the position of Hokage to Obito."

"Kushina Uzumaki and Mikoto were as close as best friends."

"She had even told Mikoto the truth about something as important as giving birth..."

Kaze mused to himself.

All these details were enough to show Minato Namikaze's recognition of the Uchiha Clan.

Yet Fugaku had actually chosen to stay put!

"If I hadn't been too weak back then, I would've been the first one to charge out."

Whenever Kaze recalled that night, he felt anxious just thinking about it.

If Fugaku had hardened his heart back then.

Ignored the Konoha leadership's orders and led the clan to fight the Nine-Tails to the death, protecting Minato Namikaze.

What would that have been?

That would have been protecting the ruler!

As long as Minato Namikaze survived, Fugaku would have been the second Meritorious Official of the Nine-Tails Incident!

Not only would the suspicion against them have been cleared.

By standing behind Minato Namikaze and rallying support, they could at least have rivaled Hiruzen's faction.

That would have been the best course of action.

If he had been even more ruthless and Launched a coup during the Nine-Tails Incident.

They might have seized the advantage.

Instead...

Fugaku chose the worst possible outcome.

"Ah, in the end, it was still because I wasn't strong enough."

Thinking of this, Kaze shook his head slightly and sighed to himself.

That year, he had only been ten.

Though he had proposed a countermeasure to the clan, Fugaku had forcibly suppressed it.

And that was not even the end of it.

When the entire clan later relocated, Fugaku, as the clan head of the Uchiha Clan, not only failed to protest the baseless accusations of the Konoha leadership.

He had instead actively supported the Konoha leadership's decision.

Going on and on about the bigger picture.

Going on and on about how the Hokage would uncover the truth and clear their names.

He had even helped the other side suppress the voices of his own clansmen.

Fugaku absolutely deserved a share of the blame for the rift between the Konoha leadership and the Uchiha Clan.

"What are you thinking about?"

Just as Kaze was mulling over that mess, Shisui's voice pulled his thoughts back to reality.

At the same time...

Sasuke stood at the bank of the Naka River, skillfully completed his hand seals, and gathered Chakra in his throat.

"Great Fireball Technique!"

With Sasuke's childish roar, a mass of flames burst from his mouth and blazed across the river's surface.

The fireball alone had a radius of nearly one meter, illuminating Sasuke's figure beneath the evening sky.

Shisui's attention was also drawn to the sight, and he simply sat down beside Kaze.

A gentle breeze brushed past them, giving Shisui a rare sense of ease.

"That's impressive."

"At such a young age, he can already use a Great Fireball Technique on this scale."

Shisui's eyes shifted as he could not help praising Sasuke.

"Right?"

Kaze nodded slightly. On this matter, he and Shisui had surprisingly reached an agreement. "Sasuke's talent isn't bad, and he works hard enough. His future achievements won't be any worse than Itachi's."

"But in Fugaku's eyes, Sasuke is still just an ordinary talent."

Kaze could not help complaining to Shisui about it.

Soon, the Great Fireball Sasuke had created began to shrink and vanish.

Yet he did not turn around and immediately show off his performance to Kaze.

Instead, he continued forming hand seals.

Clearly, he was still dissatisfied with the Great Fireball Technique he had just used.

That meticulous attitude made his small figure seem especially tall.

"An ordinary talent?"

Shisui smiled. "Compared to his older brother Itachi, he is indeed a little lacking, but he is nowhere near an ordinary talent."

"Perhaps Clan Head is under too much pressure, which is why he is a little harsh on Sasuke."

"However..."

Shisui suddenly changed the subject. He did not want to discuss Sasuke's family education with Kaze.

"The Security Force has always had a poor reputation in the village."

"Even children sometimes imitate adults and spit at Security Force members behind their backs."

Since he could not make Kaze understand the Will of Fire.

He might as well start with the Security Force.

He wanted Kaze to realize that the department he trusted had become infamous everywhere.

That was not a place where Kaze should bury his talent.

"I know that."

Kaze nodded.

There were still a few hours before the Clan Meeting began.

He had nothing else urgent to do anyway.

Since Shisui wanted to chat, they might as well talk.

"Then do you think the clansmen in the Security Force have really done anything so heinous?"

Kaze sat on the grass and turned to look at Shisui.

No matter what, he was now a member of the Security Force.

Shisui, meanwhile, was an Anbu operative.

Most of what Shisui knew about the Security Force's reputation was hearsay.

After Kaze's careful observation.

Even the Hawk Faction within the Uchiha Clan was merely arrogant and full of itself.

Besides, not everyone in the clan belonged to the Hawk Faction.

There was also the Dove Faction, which wanted to maintain good relations with Konoha.

Quite a few of them also served in the Security Force.

But to say that they relied on their law enforcement authority to commit illegal acts.

That was utter nonsense.

The pride of the Uchiha Clan would never allow them to bully ordinary people.

If he had to put it another way...

The Security Force was a bit like the city inspectors from before Kaze transmigrated.

It was easy for people to form stereotypes about them.

As long as there was a mistake in even one enforcement incident.

People usually did not care about the truth. They would only rely on their stereotypes and assume that all law enforcers were bad people.

Once someone seized on that point and made a big deal of it.

The label of violent law enforcement became very difficult to remove.

"Maybe you have a point..." Shisui was stunned. He had not expected Kaze to defend the Security Force from such an unusual angle. "But the issue of rough enforcement..."

"It's easy to solve." Kaze interrupted Shisui before he could finish voicing his concern.

"Hm? How?" Shisui asked eagerly.

If they could truly solve the problem of rough enforcement, the Security Force's reputation might change.

That would absolutely be a good thing for easing the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha.

Yet even the Third Hokage had been helpless before such a problem.

"Record the enforcement process with a video camera. Whether Security Force members are enforcing the law roughly, or criminals are simply being unreasonable, will naturally be obvious at a glance."

"If there really are scum in the ranks who bully the public."

"Dismiss them from their posts and investigate them!"

Kaze spoke with force, and his eyes gained another trace of determination.

Watching Kaze's reaction, Shisui suddenly recalled his Ninja Way.

My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror; all I do is justice!

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