False Peace

Kyō Uchiha wanted to say something more, but in the end, he swallowed his words.

There was no helping it; just as he had said, the weak submit to the strong, and Izori Uchiha was the genius of their clan.

She had awakened her Sharingan at the age of five and was held in high regard by the clan!

In contrast, he was six years old and had yet to awaken his eyes, so his status was undoubtedly lower.

"Let's end this farce today. On behalf of Kyō, I apologize to everyone! I hope you won't take this matter to heart; the Uchiha clan is absolutely not what you all think it is!"

Izori Uchiha's words quelled the farce and helped the civilian children regain a bit of their dignity.

Their impression of the Uchiha had improved slightly, but some still weren't buying it.

They remained firmly convinced by the warnings their parents had given them: stay away from the Uchiha clan.

Maruboshi Kosuke was released by his two friends, walked over to Kumonaka Torikaze, and thanked him.

Afterward, he shot a disgruntled look at Izori Uchiha before returning to his seat.

In his view, it was Kumonaka Torikaze who had first spoken up and put the Uchiha clan on the spot.

Izori Uchiha had only stepped in to stop it for the sake of her clan's reputation, and he currently had no good feelings toward anyone from the Uchiha clan!

Izori Uchiha gave a wry smile. "Classmate Kosuke seems to dislike me."

Kumonaka Torikaze pursed his lips. "It can't be helped. After all, Kyō Uchiha's actions provoked public anger, so his prejudice is understandable."

Izori Uchiha understood this logic as well.

She had come to the Ninja Academy precisely to bridge the gap regarding the village's prejudice against the Uchiha clan.

But now, it seemed like Kyō Uchiha had ruined it all.

As a genius of the Uchiha clan, Izori Uchiha was not arrogant, nor did she ever look at people through colored glasses.

She had always felt that the ninjas in her clan shouldn't be so high and mighty.

It was clear that she, like Kagami Uchiha, belonged to the relatively moderate faction within the Uchiha clan.

It was precisely because of Kagami's influence that Izori Uchiha had chosen to come to the Ninja Academy.

Otherwise, a genius like her should have been receiving training within the clan.

"Trying to change the clan's perspective and how people view the clan is truly a difficult task."

Kumonaka Torikaze smiled. "It's not difficult."

"Why?"

"As long as your strength is great enough, the people in your clan will have no choice but to listen to you."

"Just like the seemingly peaceful ninja world right now; it is merely a peace maintained by the major nations out of fear of the Hokage's strength."

Izori Uchiha hadn't expected classmate Torikaze to say something like that.

But thinking about it carefully, to get the old fossils in her clan to accept her and her brother's philosophy, she couldn't bypass the issue of strength.

After all, without strength, everything else was just empty talk.

"If that's the case, wouldn't I be the same as Kyō? Using strength to oppress others," Izori said deliberately.

"Of course it's different. He simply enjoys the pleasure of suppressing and insulting others to satisfy his own selfish desires."

"Whereas you are doing it so that the clan and the villagers no longer harbor hostility toward each other, allowing the Uchiha to truly integrate into the village."

Izori laughed. "Classmate Torikaze is truly an interesting person. You don't seem to dislike the Uchiha at all."

Hearing Izori say this, Torikaze also revealed a gentle smile.

"Everyone is a member of the village, and the Uchiha are the Uchiha of Konoha; there's nothing to dislike."

When she first met Kumonaka Torikaze, although she couldn't put her finger on it, Izori felt he was different from the other students.

When Maruboshi Kosuke was being mocked, even though they had known each other for less than half a day, he had stood up for him.

He also held no prejudice against the Uchiha clan, whom everyone else feared or disliked.

As expected, classmate Torikaze is a special person.

After a while, Suiya Sarutobi returned.

Kumonaka Torikaze didn't believe for a second that he was unaware of what had happened in the classroom.

However, he simply didn't mention a single word about the incident and went straight into the following lesson.

"Alright students, the content for the rest of the day is for you to try and refine chakra yourselves, following the knowledge we learned in the last lesson."

Suiya Sarutobi's words immediately made the students focus.

They had felt deeply powerless regarding the mockery from Kyō Uchiha during the break.

Now that they were finally going to start refining chakra, everyone was full of motivation.

They were all five or six-year-old children who believed their talent was no weaker than anyone else's, and they soon began refining according to the knowledge from the previous lesson.

If they couldn't extract chakra, they wouldn't be able to proceed with the subsequent lessons.

However, for those who had already refined chakra, it was incredibly boring.

I couldn't speak for fear of disturbing the other students, and since I couldn't skip class on the first day, I was forced to sit idly in the classroom.

After about three hours had passed, someone finally succeeded in refining chakra.

"Shinku, well done! To refine chakra in just three hours is truly excellent!"

Kumonaka Torikaze was not surprised by this result.

Shortly after, Maruboshi Kosuke and Umino Ikkaku also succeeded in refining their chakra one after another.

This speed was something even children from the great clans might not necessarily achieve.

Suiya Sarutobi nodded to himself: It seems there are quite a few geniuses in this batch. I should report this to the Hokage, along with that other matter.

As a member of the Uchiha clan, Kyō Uchiha had already successfully extracted his chakra long ago, even though he had yet to awaken his Sharingan.

Watching these commoners he looked down upon succeed in extracting chakra for the first time even faster than he had, he felt an indescribable surge of resentment!

What he hated even more was that Izori Uchiha, a genius of his own clan, wouldn't speak up for him and instead sided with those commoners!

That white-haired guy! I'll make sure to show you what's what during the practical combat class!

Just then, he noticed that Kumonaka Torikaze also seemed to be diligently refining chakra.

He whispered disdainfully, "Tch! I thought you were someone important, but you're just a commoner after all."

He felt even more confident about next week's exam; after all, he had already learned a ninjutsu, so his strength was definitely superior to that white-haired kid's!

If Kumonaka Torikaze had heard Kyō Uchiha's words, he surely would have rolled his eyes.

In truth, he was simply unwilling to waste time sitting around doing nothing, so he used the time to practice Cloud Release.

If he could successfully cultivate a Kekkei Tōta, his dream of a peaceful life would be all but guaranteed.

Seeing Torikaze beside her, Izori thought he was working hard on his training, so she began to practice as well.

As if it were contagious, the students in the classroom who had successfully extracted chakra all began to practice.

Of course, everyone except Kyō Uchiha.

The first day of school ended, and half of the commoner children had failed to refine chakra.

This indicated that their talent was not great, and the highest achievement they could hope for in the future would be the level of a chūnin.

There were happy and disappointed students in the classroom, and Kumonaka Torikaze belonged to the former.

Although today's training had failed at the final moment, he had vaguely identified the problem!

If he tried a few more times, he might just be able to develop Cloud Release.

After school, Maruboshi Kosuke and the others greeted Torikaze and asked if he wanted to walk home together.

Kumonaka Torikaze agreed, and after saying goodbye to Izori, the four of them left the school together.

However, it turned out their paths didn't align; the location of the Kumonaka clan grounds was in the complete opposite direction of the other three boys' homes.

And so, Kumonaka Torikaze had to head home by himself.