The Uchiha's Stance

Autumn, Konoha Year 50.

Uchiha Clan Residence.

Little Naruto, who had already changed his name to Naruto, listened to his mother and followed an Enlightenment Teacher from the Uchiha Clan, beginning his journey of learning to read and write.

Studying alongside him were Uchiha Sasuke and several Uchiha children around three years old.

Although the Third Hokage was very unwilling to place Naruto with the Uchiha Clan, he could not withstand Kushina Uzumaki's persistent pestering.

Whenever she had no missions, Kushina stayed in the Third Hokage's office.

Kushina now bore the Name of the Nine-Tails Demoness, and with her lingering in the Third Hokage's office every day, rumors had almost started spreading.

The Third Hokage had originally wanted to teach Naruto himself, but Kushina did not fall for that at all.

If the Third Hokage taught him, who knew if it would be that same old Will of Fire again.

Minato had followed the Will of Fire, and then what?

He died in the Nine-Tails' Rampage.

A spirit of sacrifice was all well and good, but Kushina did not want Naruto to go sacrifice himself. Even though Minato Namikaze argued every day in the Sealing Space about the correctness of the Will of Fire.

The Third Hokage compromised, but Danzo was extremely displeased.

He had originally wanted to deal with the Uchiha Clan, but Kushina's involvement was already troublesome enough. Now even the demon fox brat used to restrain Kushina had gotten mixed up with the Uchiha Clan too. How could that be allowed?

So recently, many rumors had been circulating in Konoha about the hero's son being deceived by the Uchiha Clan, and the Nine-Tails Demoness colluding with the Uchiha Clan.

But these rumors were only for civilians and some ninja of civilian birth to hear.

Most Konoha Ninja clans knew the whole story.

It was nothing more than the Hokage faction smearing the Uchiha Clan.

Especially half a year ago, after the Nara Clan leader Shikaku took the initiative to apologize to the Military Police Force and punished the clansmen who had been deceived, many clans had already understood the internal conflict within Konoha.

However, the Nara Clan had already laid their cards on the table, indirectly creating a slight rift with the Hokage faction.

Logically speaking, the Ino-Shika-Cho Clan had always been vassals of the Hokage faction, firm Hokage-aligned clans. Unfortunately, because of Danzo's mess, a gap had formed with the Nara Clan.

And this also made the Ino-Shika-Cho Clan's attitude ambiguous.

Danzo was very distressed, and could only slowly spread rumors.

The Uchiha Enlightenment Teacher was an ordinary middle-aged Uchiha man with one arm severed, one eye blind, and no awakened eyes.

Originally, he had only been an ordinary chunin. After luckily surviving the Second Shinobi World War, he had stayed in the clan as an Enlightenment Teacher.

"Sasuke, is this the son of the Nine-Tails Demoness?" The two Uchiha children looked at this yellow-haired outsider in great curiosity.

After the children introduced themselves, there was not much barrier between them.

Sasuke and Naruto had newly joined the enlightenment class, so the children who had already been studying there immediately went to Sasuke, who was from their own clan.

"Yeah, but that's his parents' skill, not his. Just wait. Sooner or later, I'm going to surpass his parents!"

"No way, Sasuke. I heard he's the son of the Fourth! You might be able to surpass the Nine-Tails Demoness, but there's no way you can surpass the Fourth Hokage!"

"Hmph! If the Fourth Lord could surpass the Nine-Tails Demoness, then I'll surpass the Fourth Lord!" Sasuke said with great confidence.

"Don't talk so big, Sasuke!" Hearing Sasuke's words, Naruto immediately became very unhappy.

"Sasuke! If you've got the ability, surpass me first! Mother already said that when I grow up, I'll be able to inherit the Namikaze surname. When that time comes, if you want to surpass my father, you'll have to surpass me first!"

The children were still arguing when the teacher arrived. The little ones immediately quieted down and listened to class.

At Naka Shrine, Uchiha Fugaku and the Uchiha elders were holding a small meeting in another room.

"Fugaku, getting too close to the Jinchuriki brings no benefit to the Uchiha Clan. Lord Hokage will be even more wary of us."

One elder glanced in the direction of the clan residence.

"Also, why let this Nine-Tails brat receive enlightenment in my Uchiha Clan? Isn't this even more disadvantageous to our clan?"

Fugaku glanced at the Dove Faction Elder who had spoken. "This is my decision."

"Fugaku, don't tell me you're planning to use control over the Jinchuriki to seize..." The Dove Faction Elder stopped there.

"I have no such intention. The Hokage faction accepted Shisui into the Anbu. We can fully wait until Shisui grows up. There is absolutely no need to resolve conflicts through force."

Fugaku was also very displeased. He did not want to go head-to-head with the Hokage faction. That would be very detrimental to Konoha.

Konoha had been built together by the Senju and the Uchiha, and Fugaku did not want to destroy Konoha.

What builder would destroy a work they had poured so much effort into creating?

"Then what does the clan head mean?"

"Originally, through Minato, we could have eased the conflict between the Uchiha and the Hokage faction. But because Minato is dead, we lost that chance. However, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is still here now."

"Our relationship with her is still acceptable. As long as we maintain our relationship with Naruto well, then with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's support, we can also gain a little breathing room in Konoha and avoid being targeted too severely."

"But the rumors about us have not decreased at all."

"That does not matter. As long as we do not openly oppose the Hokage, rumors are merely rumors."

"Then is the clan head planning to both oppose and cooperate with the Hokage faction?"

Another Hawk Faction Elder suddenly spoke.

"Yes. At this stage, the Hokage's faction won't drop its guard against us, and we can't be too weak either. If they want to stay wary, let them. We'll do our jobs in the Military Police Force. Konoha isn't the Hokage faction's private kingdom.

"As for Kushina, she's a smart woman too. She understands that right now, the only ones left who can protect Naruto are the Uchiha."

"What do you mean by that, Clan Head?"

"What do you think Naruto is to Kushina?"

"Her son."

"No. He's the chain around the Nine-Tails. Control him, and it's the same as controlling a Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—especially when Kushina's reputation is growing louder and louder."

"Isn't she afraid we'll control Naruto?"

"That's why I said she's smart. The moment we made such a move, we would have completely fallen out with the Hokage faction. They could even pin the last Nine-Tails' Rampage directly on us. That would mean standing against the entire village.

"If she handed Naruto to the Hokage faction, then in order to control Kushina, who knows what tricks that Shinobi of the Shadows might pull?

"So placing Naruto with the Uchiha Clan is the safest choice."

"Clan Head, are you saying Kushina and the Hokage faction don't trust each other?"

"Trust? Hmph. Ever since Minato died, have you seen how Kushina treats the Third Hokage? Is there much respect in it?" Fugaku had seen Kushina tear into the Third Hokage in the Hokage Office several times.

Whenever her various subsidies, allowances, bonuses, or rewards came up short, she would kick up a fuss. There wasn't the slightest bit of gentleness in her.

Perhaps it was also because after Minato died, she had to raise Naruto alone. A mother grew strong for her child.

"By the way, Clan Head, the number of missing persons reported by the Military Police Force has been a bit high lately."

"Hm?"

Fugaku frowned. That should have been a matter for the Military Police Force, so why was it being brought up at a small meeting?

"I was originally planning to report it today. This is a chart my grandson made yesterday after noticing something was wrong with the number of missing persons. Please look it over."

An elder suddenly took out a document.

After Fugaku finished reading it, he said with a grave expression, "Meeting adjourned. I need to make a trip to the Hokage Office. Dismissed."

"Yes!"