Naruto?

He walked into the classroom, and many classmates looked at him with a hint of disgust, but Yoru no Tsuki didn't care and went straight to his seat and sat down.

I still have to train hard! I've got the gist of the situation, but I can't really help right now. I'll go look for Hiashi after school; hopefully that little favor I did before will come in handy.

Yoru no Tsuki immediately entered a meditative state. Ryuho had said his spiritual pressure was still about two to three times short of materializing her in the real world, so the system's captain‑level spiritual power of 48,000 should be the amount needed to meet the Bankai condition.

But he's only at about half of that now, so he's still quite lacking.

Meanwhile, the Hokage's office was already in a chaotic uproar.

Last night, after Fuyue was summoned by Minato, Minato didn't say much—just asked about the situation, then issued a wanted notice for Uchiha Setsuna.

Actually, this matter for the village…

But this incident happened within the Uchiha clan, so Fuyue, as clan head, had to take some responsibility. Minato's punishment was to cut the Uchiha's budget by one ninth. Fuyue had no objections; given the circumstances, that was already a fairly good outcome.

However, some villagers were clearly very dissatisfied with that result.

In the Hokage's office, Danzo stormed in, fuming.

"Kobayashi Minato! Do you realize how much risk your handling poses to the village?" Danzo immediately called Minato by name; that was his usual style—no one had ever gotten Danzo to address him as Hokage.

Minato set down his pen and asked, "I'm not sure which matter you're referring to, Elder Danzo?"

"Hmph! Stop pretending. I'm talking about the Uchiha defectors, of course!" Danzo sneered.

Danzo's rude words didn't anger Minato; he replied calmly, "I've already grasped the whole story. The Uchiha's defection does stem from lax internal discipline, and I've already imposed punishment on the clan. What questions do you have, Elder Danzo?"

"Minato, are you kidding me? Cutting the budget by a ninth—does that even count as punishment? If those defecting Uchiha leak village intel, do you realize the impact?" Danzo said, squinting.

"I've already dispatched ANBU members to hunt them down, and the Uchiha clan is willing to cooperate in tracking the rogue ninja.

The Uchiha have contributed a lot to the village. Not long ago, the invasion from Kirigakure was repelled thanks to the Uchiha's Shisui, causing the enemy to retreat before battle. In the Third Great Ninja War, the Uchiha also performed excellently, repelling Kirigakure and protecting the village.

I think my handling is fine," Minato insisted. He had been aware of the Uchiha's situation in the village even before he became Hokage.

Such a powerful clan being constantly ostracized, even to the point of almost severing ties with the village, is a bit unreasonable.

Though the Uchiha can be somewhat arrogant, a closer look shows most have good hearts and value bonds with comrades greatly.

Therefore, Minato has long wanted the Uchiha to reintegrate into the village. He also had some rapport with Fuyue, and their ideas aligned, which made him even more eager to implement it. However, when he started, he realized how difficult it would be.

Within the Uchiha clan, there were already two major factions: one sought closeness to the village and wanted to join the Leaf's big family; the other craved power and wanted the Uchiha to dominate Konoha alone.

That's one obstacle. Moreover, Minato noticed that the Konoha Guard policy instituted during the Second Hokage's era deepened the conflict between the Uchiha and the villagers; many villagers even wished the Uchiha would vanish entirely.

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That's why Minato previously devised a plan to let other clans join the Konoha Guard, hoping to lessen villagers' hostility toward the Uchiha.

But when he proposed the idea, he encountered another barrier—the biggest one now: the village's upper echelons all despise the Uchiha, and none support him.

Fortunately, the measure wasn't huge; after pushing through dissent, he still carried it out. But today's issue became troublesome—Minato could imagine that more than just Danzo were looking to kick him while he's down.

Danzo let out two cold laughs after hearing Minato's explanation and said:

"These are two different matters. Every clan and individual in the village should contribute to the village; that's not something to be praised. In fact, those who don't contribute should be punished! In short, I will never agree with your handling of this."

"I've already decided on this. Can't a Hokage make his own decisions?" Minato frowned, feeling a spark of anger.

"Minato, you might be forgetting something. If all the elders oppose, they can overturn the Hokage's decision. I think it would be better to consult more people before deciding how to handle this." Danzo said calmly, as if he had everything figured out.

"Indeed, your handling of this matter is somewhat inappropriate." At that moment, Rissho entered, smoking his pipe, followed by Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu.

"Let's hold a meeting with all the village clan heads and decide what to do with the Uchiha." Mitokado Homura suggested.

"All the elders disagree with your approach, Minato. Are you still going to act unilaterally?" Danzo opened his eyes and looked at Minato.

Looking at the four elders before him, Minato truly felt how great the resistance to his plan was.

"Then… you decide the meeting time." Minato sighed helplessly.

At this point, even if he persisted, it wouldn't mean much. The Third Hokage still held considerable power, and even some ANBU obeyed his orders.

He could simply issue a punishment order against the Uchiha himself.

"Then summon all the clan heads tonight." Rissho said, pipe in mouth.

The other three elders around him nodded in agreement...

Outside the Iruka class at the Ninja Academy

Yoru no Tsuki sat with his eyes closed, leaning against the wall, meditating as spirit particles continuously merged into his body.

"Wow! Sasuke's really something—he got called out of class and can still fall asleep." Naruto exclaimed, watching Yoru no Tsuki with his eyes closed. Two little boys stood beside him.

One had a pineapple‑shaped hairdo, hugging his head with both hands against the wall; the other was chubbier, looking very hearty.

"Grr~" The chubby boy's stomach let out a sudden rumble.

Dōji covered his belly, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Shikamaru, I'm so hungry…"