Uchiha Zheng's Wicked Hair!

"In that case, I'd like to hear the teachings of a wise man like you."

"Fine. Are you hungry?"

Uchiha Shisui was taken aback.

"What?"

"Uchiha Teppan's okonomiyaki shop. I'll give you the chance to treat me to a meal."

Qianyu walked off toward that shop on his own.

"Lord Shisui, this bastard is way too arrogant!"

"Who does he think he is? Just a mad dog that bites anyone it sees!"

Uchiha Shisui shot them both a glare.

"Shut up."

"Never underestimate that man."

"Someone the clan head would go to any lengths to protect, even willing to clash head-on with Lord Hokage, and someone Lord Hokage personally ordered us to sound out..."

"How could he possibly be simple?"

"You two, wait outside the shop."

"...Understood, Lord Shisui."

Uchiha Shisui followed Qianyu's steps into Uchiha Teppan's okonomiyaki shop.

The busy old couple, Uchiha Teppan and Uchiha Kashi, both froze for a moment.

"Not just Lord Qianyu, but even Lord Shisui has come?"

"Today's quite lively..."

"Lord Qianyu, the usual today?"

"Mm, thanks for the trouble."

"And Lord Shisui?"

"Same as him."

"Alright."

Uchiha Shisui looked around. He remembered Uchiha Itachi saying he liked this okonomiyaki shop too.

Not just because the food was good, but because of the warmth and human touch of the old couple.

Now that he saw it, Itachi was right.

"Are you a regular here too?" Uchiha Shisui asked.

Before Qianyu could answer, Uchiha Teppan chuckled.

"Not a regular, but he's our great benefactor."

"Oh? How so?"

Uchiha Kashi said bitterly, "There used to be a bunch of thugs who came to the shop every day causing trouble. Not only did they eat without paying, they'd bully other customers, start fights all the time, break tables and chairs constantly, and once they nearly burned the whole place down!"

"We reported it to the Police Force, and they just locked them up for a few months. When they got out, they came back even worse. They knew we were the ones who reported them, so they showed up every day to take revenge—kicking, punching, tormenting, humiliating us. We couldn't go on living..."

Uchiha Teppan picked up with a smile.

"Thanks to Lord Qianyu..."

"That day, he happened to come to the shop and ran into those thugs. Without a word, he didn't leave a single one alive—killed them all!"

"After that, the shop finally got peace, and business slowly picked up..."

He cheerfully set the okonomiyaki on the table with both hands, placing it before Qianyu.

But Uchiha Shisui frowned.

"They were just thugs, after all. Despicable, sure, but..."

"Did they really deserve death?"

Uchiha Teppan and Uchiha Kashi trembled, their faces changing in unison.

"Lord Shisui, those villains didn't deserve death, but does that mean we old folks deserved to die?"

"That's not what I meant..."

"Hmph, we understand Lord Shisui's meaning very well. But if everyone thought like you—arrest them, release them, arrest them again—sooner or later, those villains would torture us to death!"

"That's right, they didn't deserve death. But by the time they beat us to death and finally deserved to die, who would we go to for our two lives?"

Uchiha Shisui was left speechless.

The old couple's words left this young man, who had never experienced the chaos of the world or the treachery of human hearts, with nothing to say.

Of course, Uchiha Shisui knew what darkness was.

He had experienced war, even witnessed slaughter more brutal than most.

He charged into battle, fought valiantly, and on the battlefield he was undoubtedly a prodigious youth, a hero of Konoha.

Yet, faced with the gray zones of the real world, the tangled and unseverable sins of everyday life, he was utterly ignorant and helpless.

"Here."

Uchiha Kashi tossed the pancake onto the table with some irritation, landing it in front of Uchiha Shisui.

Qianyu silently ate his pancake, taking another big gulp of soup.

Uchiha Shisui, however, fell into silence.

Was this man before him right in his methods?

No, that couldn't be...

Killing enemies on the battlefield was only natural.

But in the village, there had to be a gentler way to resolve problems...

"Qianyu, maybe your approach has its own reasoning."

"But I still believe, unless necessary, why resort to such extremes?"

"Once you kill someone, you cut off every possibility."

"What if you kill the wrong person? What if it's a wrongful case? What if they still had a chance to repent? Who gives them that chance?"

Qianyu chewed his pancake in large bites, not lifting his head.

"When you kill enemies on the battlefield, are you this indecisive too?"

Uchiha Shisui shook his head.

"That's different."

"What's the difference?"

"On the battlefield, there's no right or wrong, only sides—it's kill or be killed."

"If I don't kill him, he'll kill me."

"Besides, it's to protect the interests of the entire village."

Qianyu let out a scoff.

"In other words, you're ensuring your own survival, or the greater good of the whole village."

"So, why should your life be placed above others'?"

"Why should Konoha's interests be placed above other villages'?"

Uchiha Shisui thought for a moment.

"Indeed, they shouldn't, but as I said, it's a matter of sides."

"People naturally love themselves first, then those close to them—interests have degrees of magnitude, and love has degrees of closeness."

"My family, my kin, my clan, my village—they naturally come before others."

"It's the same for enemies; what they protect is identical."

Qianyu said, "So there's no justice, only sides?"

Uchiha Shisui shook his head.

"Active expansion, active invasion, actively harming the interests of others or other nations—that's naturally unjust. To resist such unjust war is naturally just war."

Qianyu said, "Then is Amegakure just or unjust?"

"What?"

Uchiha Shisui was bewildered.

"Amegakure, in the last shinobi world war, was forced to serve as the battlefield for three great nations: Konoha, Iwagakure, and Sunagakure."

"They didn't invade anyone, but when the three great nations tacitly used Amegakure as land to pour their warfire into, they never asked Amegakure's opinion. To Amegakure, is Konoha just?"

"Well..."

"But Hanzo of the Salamander once declared war on the entire shinobi world..."

"That wasn't a declaration of war; it was forced defense."

"If you were Hanzo, and other great nations used your country as a battlefield, recklessly pouring warfire onto your land, making your villagers homeless, letting innocent people die—what would you do?"

Uchiha Shisui fell silent.

"In the end, what you call 'no right or wrong, only sides' is nothing but the arrogant posture of the great nations."

"When Amegakure actively resisted the invasion of the great nations, Konoha, and every other great nation, tacitly painted Hanzo as a warmonger, yet never considered..."

"Since Konoha was founded, the shinobi world has suffered three full-scale wars, and every single one was undoubtedly started by the Five Great Nations themselves."

"Now, do you still think there's no right or wrong, only sides?"