Catching Cats

Chapter 26: Catching Cats

After spending the entire day getting familiar with their teamwork, Kagami and his teammates dispersed without doing much else.

After dispersing, Kagami went to the training ground as usual to train. It was not until evening that he leisurely made his way home.

At the entrance, his mother was still waiting for him to return, but this time, his father was beside her as well.

When she saw Kagami return, Yuko Uchiha came over and fussed over him, asking if he was tired or hungry. Kagami answered her repeatedly.

As for Uchiha Takashi, after Yuko Uchiha finished speaking, he asked with a stern expression,

"Today, you met your teammates and guiding Jonin, right? How are your teammates? Who's your guiding Jonin?"

Kagami smiled faintly.

"One of my teammates is rather straightforward and pretty cute, while the other is more composed. I haven't seen her show much emotion. As for the guiding Jonin, it's Hatake Kakashi."

Uchiha Takashi was shocked.

"Hatake Kakashi? That Kakashi who slaughtered his comrades? Damn it! Do those village higher-ups really assign a teacher like that to our Uchiha Clan's genius? As expected of those people in the village. And that Kakashi..."

At that point, obvious disgust appeared in Uchiha Takashi's eyes.

"He's an outsider, yet he possesses our Uchiha Clan's Sharingan. When you get right down to it, he got it from that dead Uchiha Obito, didn't he? Hmph! Anything belonging to the Uchiha should be returned to the Uchiha! Especially something as important as the Sharingan—how could it be allowed to fall into outsiders' hands? If the Fourth Hokage hadn't protected him back then..."

"Father!"

Kagami suddenly shouted, interrupting Uchiha Takashi.

Uchiha Takashi froze, then realized that they were currently standing outside the entrance. Discussing something like this here was inappropriate. Fortunately, their family was just an ordinary household within the Uchiha Clan. The Anbu did not have enough manpower to monitor every household one by one. They only monitored the overall movements of the Uchiha Clan and several important families.

Uchiha Takashi turned around and walked into the house.

"Come inside. Don't stand out here anymore. Those shameless Anbu bastards are watching our Uchiha Clan every moment of every day."

Kagami and Yuko Uchiha followed Uchiha Takashi into the house.

The conversation being interrupted this time allowed Kagami to understand two things.

First, Kakashi's reputation was apparently terrible at present. He was even known as "Kakashi who slaughtered his comrades." This was probably because of the incident involving Obito. After Kakashi entered the Anbu, the darkness brought about by Obito and Rin had caused him to show no mercy during missions for a period of time. He had been extremely cold-blooded, which was how he had earned such a reputation.

Second, the Uchiha Clan deeply hated Kakashi, an outsider who bore the Sharingan. It made sense when one thought about it. What was a Kekkei Genkai? It was a clan's foundation, an unshakable root. Take Sei of the Mist Village, for example. After obtaining a Byakugan, he had to keep it hidden at all times because he feared angering the Hyuga Clan and provoking Konoha into declaring war on the Mist Village.

It was easy to imagine how heinous it was to steal a clan's Kekkei Genkai. It was practically a provocation against the entire Uchiha Clan!

And now, the village had helped Kakashi keep the Sharingan. This had undoubtedly greatly intensified the Uchiha Clan's hatred of both Kakashi and the village.

In the original story, why had the Third Hokage made Kakashi Itachi's captain in the Anbu? Because in everyone's eyes, Kakashi and the Uchiha were mortal enemies who could never stand on the same side. Wasn't assigning someone like that to lead the Uchiha genius and monitor the Uchiha an excellent choice?

However, Itachi was not someone who became entangled in minor familial grudges. Thus, when faced with matters of right and wrong, Itachi did not hate Kakashi. As for Kakashi, he had received Obito's eye—the best gift his close friend had given him before dying. How could he behave like an ungrateful wretch and retaliate against his friend's clan?

Therefore, although Kakashi knew that the Uchiha had little goodwill toward him, he did not care. As a result, Itachi and Kakashi got along fairly well in the Anbu.

As for Kagami, after entering the house, he and his parents discussed the matter for the entire night. Uchiha Takashi decided to ask the Uchiha Clan Head, Fugaku Uchiha, to request that the village replace Kagami's guiding Jonin.

Would you allow someone you deeply hated to teach your child? Obviously not.

The next day, at Fugaku's house.

Inside the room, Fugaku sat on the tatami and looked at Uchiha Takashi and Uchiha Kagami before confirming,

"You want me to plead with the village and have them replace Kagami's guiding teacher?"

Uchiha Takashi nodded.

"That's right, Captain. I'm counting on you."

The Uchiha Clan was responsible for Konoha's Police Force, and many Uchiha shinobi worked there. Fugaku was the captain of Konoha's Police Force, so the shinobi working there were accustomed to calling him Captain Fugaku rather than Clan Head.

Uchiha Fugaku felt somewhat troubled.

"Takashi, you know what the relationship between our Uchiha Clan and Konoha is like. My request may not work. Kagami, what about you? What do you think? Do you also want to change your guiding Jonin?"

Kagami pursed his lips and spoke cautiously.

"As far as I'm concerned, I don't really mind."

"Nonsense!!"

Uchiha Takashi shouted loudly.

"How can you let that Hatake Kakashi teach you?! The village is trying to ruin you! Captain, I'm truly asking for your help this time. Kagami isn't only my son; he's also the public face of this generation's Uchiha genius. Isn't the village assigning Hatake Kakashi to teach Kagami an insult to our Uchiha Clan?"

Uchiha Fugaku let out a sigh. He said nothing aloud, but thought to himself,

Takashi is nowhere near as intelligent as his son. Forget it. I have no right to criticize Takashi. Am I not the same?

A true wise man could naturally see that the Third Hokage assigning Kakashi to teach Kagami was not an insult but, on the contrary, a sign of how much importance he placed on Kagami. A closer look made it obvious. At present, among all of Konoha's forces below Kage Level, who reigned supreme? Kakashi might not be the strongest, but he was certainly among the strongest.

Sending such a prominent figure below Kage Level to teach Kagami—once one set aside the grudge between their clans—it became clear how highly the Third Hokage valued Kagami.

The problem was that most people could not possibly set aside their clan grudges when looking at matters. This was especially true of the Uchiha, a clan that placed extraordinary value on emotions.

In truth, the Third Hokage was helpless as well. He knew perfectly well that sending Kakashi would provoke the Uchiha Reflection, but who else could he send besides Kakashi? Some random person? The Third Hokage was genuinely afraid that Kagami, a genius, would fail to receive proper guidance and eventually become locked in a life-or-death conflict with Konoha. Faced with an absolute genius and a clan with which relations were already tense, the Third Hokage weighed the matter again and again and ultimately chose the former.

Politics, as they say, often did not involve choosing a good method, but choosing a method that was not quite as bad.

In the end, the matter of replacing the guiding Jonin came to nothing. Uchiha Fugaku repeatedly emphasized the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and the village, explaining that the village would not agree. With no other choice, Uchiha Takashi gave up as well.

After that, for quite a long time, Kagami followed Kakashi into the dull life of catching cats.

That was right. As newly promoted Genin, they could only take on D-rank missions. Well, to put it nicely, D-rank missions were missions with almost no danger in which they would not encounter enemies. To put it bluntly, they were odd jobs. They did everything.

In fact, the most common assignment was catching cats. Kagami was nearly driven insane by it. He really wanted to ask: Where did this lousy village get so many cats? They caught them every day, yet never seemed to run out.