Will of Fire? Just a Slogan!

Uchiha Jin offered no words.

Some things were actually invisible in the Shinobi World because a shinobi's core was still martial might, but if he were dropped into just about any other world, Shisui could definitely be called an ultra-wealthy elitist!

Born into a millennium-old noble clan like the Uchiha and serving as the grandson of Kagami Uchiha, a member of the Hokage faction, these foundations allowed him to obtain things without any effort that others had to risk their lives to get.

This naturally left him incapable of truly understanding the dregs at the bottom!

Just like Emperor Hui of Jin who cried, "Why don't they eat minced meat?", Shisui might have always wanted to interact with others, but the haughty arrogance of the Uchiha prevented him from ever truly lowering his head to take a look.

Under such circumstances, people would respect him, but they would never treat him as a friend.

Quite the opposite!

It was already lucky if people weren't cursing you behind your back; after all, you filthy rich elitist didn't need money, but the rest of us bottom-feeding peasants did.

"Why?"

"How could it be like this? This is nothing like what I imagined!"

"Then—what about the Will of Fire?"

At this moment, Shisui was somewhat broken down, unable to help himself from asking.

He found it impossible to accept!

Though his reason told him that everything Uchiha Jin said was the truth, his heart still refused to accept it.

The village had taught the "Will of Fire" since childhood, but the things Uchiha Jin spoke of weren't the least bit "Will of Fire."

And in response to this,

Uchiha Jin rolled his eyes. "That's just a slogan. You just shout it a couple of times on ordinary days, and if you take it seriously, you lose."

"What do you mean?" Shisui asked, dumbfounded and completely blank. "It's just a slogan?"

Uchiha Jin let out a sigh. "The Will of Fire says withered leaves burn to illuminate new sprouts, but why is it that every time a World War breaks out, the Konoha High Command stays in the rear while the ones dying on the front lines are a bunch of youngsters?"

"This, of course, is..." Shisui wanted to retort.

Before he could finish his rebuttal, however, Uchiha Jin cut him off. "Don't drag out the big picture. There's a saying among the common folk: if anyone talks to you about doing something for the big picture, you are definitely not inside the big picture!"

"The villagers and other ninja clans aren't stupid. Everyone might shout the 'Will of Fire', but not a single person takes it seriously."

"It's just a slogan. Do you remember when your squad came to the front lines to support us?"

Shisui's expression flickered between green and red, his entire person on the verge of a complete breakdown.

His scalp went numb.

Had he not seen Uchiha Jin truly mingling and playing alongside civilian ninjas and ninja clans, his personality would have made him genuinely want to split Uchiha Jin in half with a blade.

However, the problem was—

Though Shisui had never been exposed to the things Uchiha Jin spoke of, his brain was still fairly decent, and after some thought, he realized there really was nothing wrong with them.

That was the end of it!

Because this fundamentally differed from his beliefs, didn't it?

Therefore,

he exercised as much restraint as he could, finally asking with a helpless sigh, "I remember. Could there be a problem with that too?"

"Of course, a huge problem!" Uchiha Jin said, full of disdain. "Our squad received the notification long ago."

"The Nara Clan sent a ninja hawk message. The very day your squad received the mission, the Nara Clan Head notified us."

"But unlike what you imagined, we didn't plan to contact you. On the contrary, we avoided you as much as possible."

"Do you think we didn't rest and took the initiative to accept missions truly for the sake of that damn 'Will of Fire'?"

"No, you're wrong!"

"We realized that the Sunagakure ambush against us was fishy. After all, the supplies we were transporting weren't important; they weren't worth Sunagakure specifically coming out to assassinate us."

"At the time, we suspected we were being targeted by certain bigwigs in the rear, which was why our whereabouts were leaked to Sunagakure."

"So we worried that if we stayed there, those bigwigs in the rear would specifically issue some 'death-seeking' orders!"

"Do you know what mission we accepted?"

"Deeper into the Land of Rain, to investigate Pakura's objective!"

"But in reality, the moment we accepted this mission, the other party directly gave us the Sunagakure intelligence. We just needed to go hide in the Land of Rain for a while and then take the 'intelligence' back to report for duty."

"Our purpose in entering the Land of Rain was, on one hand, to cultivate in secret, and on the other, to hide from the bigwigs in the rear."

"You might ask why anyone would help us. The reason is that the person in charge of issuing missions at the Kikyo Mountain encampment is a former core confidant of Hatake Sakumo."

"And our team includes Hatake Kakashi!"

"So there was no way we were going to let your squad find us, because the Uchiha are all a bunch of damned, stubborn fools."

"Never mind other people in the village, even I hate the Uchiha!"

Hearing this, Shisui sat frozen in place.

Damn it!

This was completely different from what he had imagined!

His worldview was on the verge of a total explosion, and he even felt that the village in his mind and the village in Uchiha Jin's eyes were simply two completely different versions, dammit.

His brain began to spin frantically, and after a long period of thought, he couldn't help but ask, "You must know that I completely trust the village. Why are you telling me these things? Aren't you afraid I'll go report this to Hokage-sama?"

He found it impossible to understand!

Those initial words were things he could roughly comprehend.

After all,

they didn't matter!

But the things Uchiha Jin was leaking right now—wouldn't a single misstep drag him into the abyss?

Why?

He couldn't quite figure it out!

Yet in response to this,

Uchiha Jin appeared completely relaxed, a hint of disdain even lingering in his gaze.

"The reason I'm doing this is, on one hand, that I'm genuinely grateful to you. After all, you've truly been very good to me, and my principle in life is actually very simple: a favor received by a drop of water should be repaid with a gushing spring."

"Since you treat me with sincerity, no matter the reason, I naturally have to reciprocate."

"Second, you can't do it!"

"Just as your backing is the Uchiha Clan, I, Uchiha Jin, also have a background nowadays."

"Hatake Sakumo is the Anbu Commander, Intelligence Department Head, and Jonin Commander. Do you know how many supporters and confidants he has?"

"The Nara Clan are absolute confidants of the Hokage, and Takada Fujiwara also represents the civilian class. These people are genuinely my own people."

"These are all the foundational assets of Hokage-sama. Shisui, if you choose to blow this matter wide open, do you think Hokage-sama would dare to thoroughly investigate it?"

That's right.

Uchiha Jin genuinely wasn't afraid!

Let alone the fact that the Uchiha themselves weren't embraced by the village mainstream, Uchiha Jin had used his own squad members to directly sink his tentacles deep into three directions: civilian ninjas, Hatake Sakumo's supporters, and the Nara Clan.

This matter could not be blown wide open!

These three factions, including the Hokage himself, would never allow this matter to be exposed!

Shisui: "..."

He wore a blank expression.

Not lacking in intelligence himself, he quickly had an epiphany.

There was no help for it!

He realized there was truly nothing wrong with what Uchiha Jin said; this was no longer an internal Uchiha problem, but something involving every single aspect of the village.

And so, ah!

With a helpless sigh, he no longer knew what else to say.