Surviving Would Only Be Humiliating (Please Recommend and Bookmark)

"Captain, everyone's here."

Behind Uchiha Tekka stood more than a dozen Uchiha clansmen, all the shinobi on duty in the Uchiha Security Force today.

Normally, at this hour, most of them would still be patrolling Konoha's commercial streets, food streets, and other areas.

Even though the shinobi war had already been raging for eight years, the lives of Konoha's ordinary civilians had not been greatly affected.

Fighting to the death was the business of shinobi. What did it have to do with ordinary civilians? The Five Great Ninja Villages had a tacit understanding on that point.

Those smaller ninja villages, however, were not nearly so law-abiding. When they could no longer make ends meet, they resorted to every trick imaginable to seize the property of civilians within their villages.

Some shinobi from small ninja villages even defected outright to avoid combat missions assigned by their villages, choosing to become rogue shinobi because they knew those villages lacked the strength to hunt them down.

As a result, civilians from smaller ninja villages began fleeing in a deliberate stream toward the Five Great Ninja Villages. Naturally, Konoha was the most suitable place to settle down.

While Konoha's number of shinobi had decreased, its ordinary civilian population had actually risen rather than fallen after the First Shinobi World War.

This made Konoha's commerce even more prosperous, leaving the Uchiha Security Force's workload consistently overwhelming.

When there were more people, there were more oddballs of every kind. Petty thefts emerged one after another, and all of them had to be dealt with by the Security Force.

And it was not only ordinary civilians who came to Konoha. Spies from the various major ninja villages were hidden among them as well. The Uchiha Security Force also cooperated with the Hokage's Anbu to secretly deal with spies.

"Captain, what is it that required you to call over everyone on duty? We've been worked to death these past few days."

"Yeah, Captain. What's happening with the expansion of the Security Force's staffing? Lord Hokage still hasn't given us an answer. We simply don't have enough people right now. We need to pull in some ordinary clan members. We're managing civilians anyway; it doesn't have to be shinobi."

"..."

Uchiha Inohi stood behind Uchiha Tekka and complained. He and Tekka were twins, and they had served in the same squad as Uchiha Nan on the battlefield.

The two of them were not shinobi officially registered under Konoha's system and held no formal position in the village.

They were shinobi trained by the clan, essentially Uchiha private troops. The shinobi war had lasted a full eight years, and even some of the clan's private forces had been drafted to the battlefield.

The brothers were very close to Uchiha Nan. After all, they had fought together, and Uchiha Nan had once saved Tekka's younger brother Inohi's life.

The moment he entered, Inohi noisily began complaining about all the recent mess.

"Captain, I really didn't want to withdraw from the front lines. Handling these trivial little matters every day is worse than letting me fight on the battlefield."

"Captain?"

Uchiha Nan said nothing and simply kept staring at Inohi. That look in Uchiha Nan's eyes made Uchiha Inohi uneasy.

The last time the captain had looked so serious was when the few of them had been trapped inside a stone cave by more than a dozen Kumogakure jonin. If the captain had not suddenly exploded in strength and slaughtered his way through them, they would have left their lives there.

"Captain, I didn't say anything wrong, did I?"

Uchiha Inohi gave an awkward laugh while shooting meaningful looks at his brother Tekka.

"Inohi, shut your mouth. The captain hasn't even spoken, yet you're the only one rattling on nonstop."

Tekka rapped Inohi on the head, then turned to Uchiha Nan and waited for him to speak.

Seeing Inohi fall silent, the other Uchiha clansmen tactfully shut their mouths as well.

Although Uchiha Nan had always treated everyone in the clan amicably and gently—after all, he had received Nine-Year Compulsory Education under the red flag before transmigrating—and had merely quietly built up his luck to spin the Gacha Wheel and make himself stronger, no one dared provoke him.

Uchiha Nan was a monster on the battlefield. Lightning covered his body, and within the dazzling electric radiance lurked Blade Aura. In an instant, his enemies' heads would fall to the ground. Uchiha Nan had not become captain of the Security Force through nepotism; he had been promoted through battlefield merits.

It was obvious that every Uchiha present could sense that their captain, Uchiha Nan, was acting unusually today.

"Inohi, you just complained that Lord Hokage has been unwilling to expand the Security Force's staffing?"

Uchiha Nan released Manji from his hand, rose to stretch his body, and looked at Uchiha Inohi as he spoke.

"What's wrong with what I said?"

Uchiha Inohi rubbed his head. That blow from his brother Tekka had hurt quite a bit.

"Hmph."

Uchiha Nan sneered.

"The expansion of the Uchiha Security Force's staffing will probably be delayed for a while. Lord Hokage no longer has the chance to approve it."

"Just now, I received word that Lord Hokage has already died in negotiations with the Raikage."

Uchiha Nan's words struck the Uchiha present like a heavy hammer, leaving every one of them dizzy.

"Captain?"

"You're not joking, are you? Lord Hokage is dead?"

"And he died during negotiations?"

Uchiha Tekka's voice was filled with disbelief. Tobirama Senju's death felt absurd to him.

That man was famously cunning. When the clan elders who had survived from the Warring States period cursed Tobirama in their daily lives, they always attached words like sly, black-hearted, and scheming bastard.

Some pessimistic elders had even declared, "That cunning Tobirama brat will probably outlive me. It seems the Uchiha won't have an opportunity for decades. Who in the clan can outscheme that black-hearted bastard Tobirama? Heaven does not favor the Uchiha."

Having been taught by his clan elders since childhood, Tekka had heard such words far too often.

Among those elders who had survived from the Warring States period, some bore unforgettable hatred for Tobirama. Forced by circumstances, they could only curse him verbally. Yet even as they cursed him, they were remarkably unanimous on one matter: Tobirama Senju was very good at staying alive.

"Is this the kind of thing I would joke about?"

Uchiha Nan looked at Uchiha Tekka seriously.

"According to the intelligence I received, Kinkaku and Ginkaku, subordinates of the Second Raikage, launched a coup and ambushed the Second Raikage and Lord Tobirama at the negotiating table."

"The Second Raikage died, while Lord Tobirama was severely wounded. He fled with the Shadow Guard while being pursued by Kinkaku and Ginkaku's elite troops. In the end, in order to cover the Shadow Guard's escape, he lured away the pursuing forces alone and fought until his death."

Uchiha Nan briefly explained what had happened. Tekka felt his head swelling. If the person before him had not been Uchiha Nan, he would have wanted to slap him.

What kind of nonsense was this? What did he mean, the Hokage covering the Shadow Guard?

What kind of Shadow Guard would let the leader of a village cover their escape?!

Wouldn't surviving like that be humiliating enough?!

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