A Brief Peace

"Please walk slowly, Third Hokage."

Watching the Third Hokage and his party depart, the tension that had been stretched to the breaking point inside the Konoha Military Police Force headquarters since the afternoon finally snapped with a resonant "hum."

Immediately, in some unknown corner, someone let out a sigh of relief, acting like a signal that ignited long-suppressed emotions.

"Ha... Hahaha!"

A young Uchiha was the first to laugh out loud, wiping his face vigorously, his eyes still lingering with an incredulous sense of excitement.

"We... we actually did it! The Hokage really just walked away like that!"

"That's right!"

Someone nearby immediately chimed in, their voice trembling with agitation.

"So much for the 'Strongest Hokage'! In front of us Uchiha, he still had to choose compromise! He didn't even dare to force his hand to take anyone!"

The heavy, suffocating atmosphere from before was swept away, replaced by a triumphant, ecstatic joy.

"Did you see that? This is the power of the Uchiha!"

"Let's see who dares to whisper behind the backs of the Konoha Military Police Force from now on; we'll arrest them all!"

"We should have done this a long time ago!"

Amidst the clamor, Uchiha Tekka and Taohuo punched Uchiha Yashiro on the shoulder, grinning to reveal their white teeth.

The usually composed Uchiha Yashiro couldn't help but let the corners of his mouth lift as well.

Uchiha Fugaku watched his cheering clansmen, his mind finally relaxing.

Surrounded by the joy of the Uchiha, a strange feeling welled up in his heart.

"So, even the Hokage will compromise."

"Have we been wrong all these years?"

Fugaku stared blankly at the gates of the Konoha Military Police Force, the confusion rising in his heart making him desperately want to find someone to talk to.

He turned his head to look at Mikoto, whose eyes were filled only with Uchiha Ren, and then spotted Shisui in the crowd, his face flushed with excitement as he spoke with members of the Hawk Faction.

Everything was so harmonious and natural, as if it were meant to be this way.

Fugaku suddenly felt that the confusion in his heart was no longer worth mentioning.

Ren stood where he was, his back to the cheering crowd, gazing out the window at the still-lit Ginza building—the Uchiha clan crest illuminated the Third Hokage and his party below.

Mikoto walked to his side, her voice soft, her eyes filled with tenderness. "It has been a long time since everyone was this happy together."

Hearing this, Ren tilted his head slightly, his gaze sweeping over the young faces behind him, brimming with excitement and pride, before finally landing on Mikoto's beautiful, smiling face.

Before he could speak, Yashiro in the crowd suddenly shouted.

"Brothers and sisters, all of this is thanks to the guidance of Lord Ren!"

Hearing this, Mikoto winked at Ren, then stepped out from the crowd, her dark hair swaying behind her.

She stood before everyone, her clear, spirited eyes fixed on her clansmen, waving her right fist as her passionate voice echoed all around.

"Clansmen, it is Lord Ren who helped us reclaim our lost dignity!"

This sentence was like lighting the final fuse; after a brief silence, the fanatical cheering erupted like a volcano.

"Long live Lord Ren!"

"Long live the Uchiha!"

The waves of sound grew higher and higher.

The young clansmen were flushed red, as if they wanted to roar out all the humiliation and frustration they had bottled up for over a decade in this very moment.

Many older Uchiha also had moist eyes; they understood better than the youth how hard-won this sense of triumph truly was.

Internal disunity, the neglect of the village and other ninja clans, and the oppression from the Konoha high command.

These were like three great mountains, weighing heavily on the sensitive hearts of the Uchiha.

Now that two of them had been removed at once, how could they not be overjoyed?

In the center of this boiling sea of sound, Uchiha Ren stood as still as before.

He raised his hand in a gesture to press down, and the roaring cheers quickly subsided, leaving only pairs of eyes filled with fanaticism and expectation, fixed firmly on their leader.

"Dignity."

Ren's clear voice echoed through the hall, every word striking the hearts of his clansmen. "It is not something bestowed by others, but something we reclaim with our own strength."

He scanned the room, his gaze sharp.

"Today, we have merely taken back what should have belonged to us all along."

"The future of the Uchiha—"

He paused slightly, extending his right hand with his palm facing downward, his voice rising sharply.

"Will surely be forged by our own hands!"

After a brief silence, even more fanatical cheers shook the entire Konoha Military Police Force building.

Mikoto gazed at the figure who, surrounded by his clansmen, appeared increasingly imposing.

She saw not only the man who had captured her heart, but also a clan head truly capable of leading the Uchiha Clan toward the future.

As the night deepened, the heads of the various clans who had left the Konoha Military Police Force building dispersed.

Sarutobi Hiruzen walked at the front, the hem of his Hokage robe fluttering slightly in the night breeze.

The cheers and clamor emanating from the brightly lit building behind them felt like a tide of needles, wave after wave, piercingly clear and grating to the ears.

"Long live the Uchiha!"

"Long live Lord Ren!"

Every cheer felt like an invisible slap across the face of Konohagakure's highest ruler.

Utatane Koharu's face had already turned livid; she stopped abruptly, her chest heaving as she could no longer suppress her boiling rage.

Her voice sounded as if it were squeezed through her teeth, carrying a sharp, questioning edge.

"Hiruzen! Are you really going to let them be this reckless?! Listen to those sounds! This is a provocation! They are openly celebrating the trampling of the Hokage's authority!"

"If we retreat like this, the Uchiha's arrogance will only become even more lawless!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen finally stopped walking.

He slowly turned around and looked back at the Konoha Military Police Force building, which seemed to be flaunting its power in the night.

The light spilling from the building's windows flickered in his cloudy pupils.

He did not immediately answer Koharu's questioning, but instead silently took out his pipe, lit it, and took a deep drag.

Amidst the swirling smoke, the wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen, but beneath that gentle facade lay a bottomless chill.

"Lawless?"

"Koharu, tell me, at this very moment, what does Konohagakure have to suppress this 'lawlessness'?"

He turned his head, his gaze cold as he looked at his old friend and advisor.

"The Sannin are away, Minato and the main forces are far off on the front lines, and the village is empty."

"The three Uchiha elders are armored and armed, with dozens of jonin and hundreds of chunin standing at the ready, along with two powerhouses of the younger generation..."

"Are you and I supposed to take our respective clans and throw our lives away to fill the gap?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled a ring of smoke, which drifted past the grim-faced Utatane Koharu.

"If we tear off the mask now, the resulting civil strife would be enough to make the spies of other hidden villages laugh their heads off, and then they would seize the chance to march straight in."

"By then, you and I would be the eternal sinners of Konohagakure."

Utatane Koharu was choked by the reality depicted in his words, but she remained unwilling to give up.

"Are we just going to let them..."

"Let them?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen interrupted her, "This is merely a temporary 'strategic retreat'; if Heaven wishes for one to perish, it must first make them go mad."

"The Uchiha's strength will inevitably arouse the vigilance and unease of the other clans."

"Today we took a step back, which in the eyes of the other clans is a concession for the sake of the big picture, while the Uchiha's aggression will only leave them more isolated."

"Furthermore..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke as if muttering to himself, audible only to Utatane Koharu.

"Let them fight for the Konohagakure they helped create, just as the teacher did."