Someone Wants to Harm Me? It Must Be Danzo!

The war between Konohagakure and Iwagakure has ended.

After completely expelling the Iwagakure Ninja from the Land of Grass, Konoha can finally begin clearing the battlefield and settling war merits.

The rewards for the Battle of Kannabi Bridge haven't even been settled yet.

Pat-pat!

Qingye placed the briefcase he had just received from Shikaku Nara on the wooden desk. He opened it to find it filled with money.

"Ten million Ryo?!"

Hyuga Himon's eyes widened.

Yūhi Kurenai also gasped, her breathing quickening.

Even with an elite Jonin for a father, she had never seen so much money!

The reward for just one mission was a full ten million Ryo!

However, thinking about Qingye's previous achievements – killing so many Iwagakure Ninja and single-handedly turning Konoha's dire disadvantage into a stalemate – ten million Ryo seemed reasonable.

"But neither Himon nor I played a significant role," Yūhi Kurenai said, restraining herself despite her envious expression.

If it weren't for Qingye, she and Hyuga Himon would likely have died in the Land of Grass, and they certainly wouldn't have survived the encirclement by so many Iwagakure Ninja.

Hyuga Himon nodded as well. "This mission was directly counted as five S-rank missions, which is more than enough for us."

This contribution was even enough to apply for the Jonin assessment!

"Don't say that, you both helped me a lot."

Qingye directly took out two large stacks of money from the case and, to the sound of Yūhi Kurenai and Himon's rapidly quickening breaths, handed one stack to each of them. "Besides, you both used so many Explosive Tags. Himon, you even took out a loan."

He no longer cared much about this amount of money.

Not to mention the thirty million Ryo remaining from the donation of Gari's body from the Explosion Release user, which was still in his black market account. Once Konoha and Iwagakure reached a peace agreement, Kitsuchi's ransom would bring in another large sum.

Furthermore, after awakening his Mangekyo, Qingye's current strength meant he no longer needed to spend money buying too many Explosive Tags.

"Ahem, since you put it that way, Qingye, I'll accept it."

Hyuga Himon's expression remained unchanged as he reached out and swept the stack of money into his arms, his heart pounding.

"Himon, you're not being polite at all!" Yūhi Kurenai couldn't help but tease.

"Oh?" Qingye asked with a chuckle. "It seems Kurenai, you don't need this much. In that case, I'll take some back."

"Eh?"

Yūhi Kurenai's face stiffened.

She was just being polite!

Seeing Qingye's half-smiling expression, she knew she was being teased and quickly gathered the money on the table.

Being teammates with Qingye is the best, Yūhi Kurenai thought happily.

She could improve her strength, accumulate war merits, gain substantial rewards, and he was easy on the eyes too... though the process was a bit too stimulating.

After another month stationed in the Land of Grass, a large number of Konoha Ninja began to withdraw.

Long before they reached the gates of Konohagakure, the sound of gongs and drums celebrating their return could be heard. A large crowd of Konoha villagers had gathered at the village entrance, their faces beaming with enthusiasm, shouting, "Welcome home, heroes!"

"We're finally back..." Nohara Rin murmured softly.

"After we get back, we'll go bury Obito," Kakashi Hatake said grimly.

He and Teacher Minato had retrieved Obito's body earlier, but unfortunately, the corpse was too mangled to even vaguely resemble Obito.

As the Kakashi team entered Konoha's gates, murmurs arose from the surrounding villagers.

"Is that white-haired guy Kakashi Hatake?"

"It must be him! I heard he and his teammates abandoned their mission on the battlefield! Hmph, how can they be worthy of being Konoha Ninja?"

"What was his teammate's name again?"

"Uchiha Obito! Heh, and from the Uchiha clan!"

"It's a good thing we didn't lose the war because of them, or even dying to atone wouldn't be enough for these guys!"

The hushed whispers mingled with the jubilant sounds of gongs and drums.

Although he couldn't hear everything clearly, Kakashi could guess from the expressions on their faces that it wouldn't be anything good.

"Are they talking about Obito?" Nohara Rin asked indignantly.

Obito died for Konohagakure, so why are these people like this!

"Don't mind them, Konohagakure villagers are just like that."

Aoya pouted.

As an Uchiha who wasn't well-liked, he knew these villagers' faces all too well.

But as soon as he finished speaking, the Konohagakure villagers lining the road as he passed by suddenly brightened.

"That's Uchiha Aoya, right?"

"So handsome!"

"He's really as young as the rumors say!"

"I heard he single-handedly killed hundreds of Iwagakure Ninja?"

"Only hundreds? I thought it was thousands?"

"Are you sure?"

"I heard he even captured the Third Tsuchikage's son, so killing thousands of Iwagakure Ninja is normal, right?"

"What a coincidence, one is a failure who abandoned his mission, and the other achieved such great merit. They're both from the Uchiha clan!"

"..."

Aoya couldn't help but blink.

These villagers... their words were actually quite pleasant to hear!

But what was going on?

Why did it seem like his name was known to everyone?

This felt wrong.

"Brother Aoya is very popular with the villagers."

Itachi Uchiha, who was following Fugaku, thought to himself, no wonder Father told me to learn more from Brother Aoya.

However, when he followed Uchiha Fugaku into the village, the villagers nearby didn't react at all as Uchiha Fugaku passed by.

It was as if they didn't recognize him at all.

Itachi Uchiha was confused again.

Why wasn't his father welcomed?

Was his father so much worse than Brother Aoya?

He wanted to ask, but seeing his father's cold expression, Itachi Uchiha choked and held back his question.

After entering Konohagakure, Aoya wasn't interested in being put on display for the villagers. After saying goodbye to Yūhi Kurenai, he returned home.

"This isn't right!"

"Is someone trying to harm me?"

His achievements in Iwagakure were exaggerated, but it wasn't to the point where so many Konohagakure villagers would recognize him.

Is someone targeting me?

"Is it Danzo?"

The thought popped into Aoya's mind instinctively.

Even though there was no basis for it, it was always right to suspect Danzo first!

Just as he was thinking, footsteps suddenly sounded from outside. Before the person arrived, a voice, old and deep, came from the courtyard:

"You've made quite a name for yourself now."

An old man with a gaunt face walked in slowly.

"Great Elder, why have you come?" Aoya stood up to greet him.

The person who arrived was the Great Elder of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Setsuna, who had once followed Uchiha Madara during the Warring States Period and was the last clan elder passed down from that era.

"You awakened that pair of eyes, didn't you?"

Uchiha Setsuna entered the living room and suddenly activated his Sharingan, meeting Aoya's gaze. "I guessed it the moment I saw the battle report."

"That's right."

Aoya nodded straightforwardly.

"Your achievements on the Iwagakure battlefield were too brilliant."

Uchiha Setsuna shook his head and sighed. "At your age of twelve, with such rapid improvement in your strength, anyone who understands those eyes would have guessed it."