Across from the One Heart Chamber of Commerce.
"Itachi, do you think what White Dove is doing is wrong?"
Watching the smiles on the faces of the clan members receiving their pay, Shisui found himself wavering too.
"No. Uchiha White Dove is just buying people's loyalty to pave the way for taking the clan leader's seat and starting a rebellion. We have to stop him!"
Uchiha Itachi gave his verdict without hesitation.
Yes, in his eyes, Uchiha White Dove wasn't doing good deeds. He was showing his ambition.
The same thing could look completely different to different people.
Shisui saw the smiles on the clan members' faces, while Itachi saw White Dove's ambition—and the threat he posed to the village.
"Itachi..."
Seeing how prejudiced Itachi was against Uchiha White Dove, Shisui was just about to try to talk him around when—
Whoosh!
An Anbu wearing a mask appeared beside them and delivered an order to Uchiha Itachi.
"Lord Hokage summons you!"
After receiving the order, Uchiha Itachi nodded to Shisui and followed the Anbu away.
A ninja's efficiency was terrifying.
It hadn't even been a full afternoon since Yashiro had made a scene, and Konoha had already reacted.
Maybe that was why ninjas served as the military might of the various nations, rather than local forces that took days or even weeks to mobilize just to suppress a band of thieves.
As for why they hadn't sent Shisui?
It was because Sarutobi Hiruzen feared Danzo might really make a move. With Itachi inside the village, at least he'd be under the Hokage's watchful eye. Danzo shouldn't dare act... probably.
After handing out the pay, White Dove finally left the One Heart Chamber of Commerce as the city lights began to glow.
Passing the department store up ahead, he saw that the building was brightly lit and the crowd outside was much larger than usual.
After the other department stores that had followed suit had "gone up in flames," this was the only department store left, so naturally it was drawing more people.
Even though individual purchases still weren't allowed, "bulk" purchases were possible.
Bulk orders came with a discount of several percentage points, which added up to quite a lot.
Under the streetlights around the building, several Uchiha from the Konoha Military Police Force kept sweeping their eyes over the crowd, making sure nothing went wrong.
The Uchiha might have been ostracized by the village, but nobody doubted their strength. The place was orderly beyond compare.
White Dove had no intention of going over to take a look.
Uchiha Yashiro and the others were in charge. As the chairman, he didn't need to worry about everything himself.
It wasn't like the early days, when he had to handle every matter personally.
"Dove-dove!"
The clear, sweet voice made White Dove turn around.
A girl with a short, shoulder-length brown bob, bright brown eyes, and a small beauty mark at the corner of her eye came running over, waving.
Well, all the younger clan members liked calling him "Dove-dove."
He was always treating them to food, after all, and he regularly gave them little gifts and red envelopes, too.
And this girl was especially important!
She was the daughter of Aunt Uchiha Yezue, and she'd followed him around ever since she was little. He'd only started keeping his distance from her in recent years for certain reasons.
Her name was... Uchiha Izumi!
That's right—the genius girl who only appeared in the White-Eyed Wolf's memories.
At first, White Dove hadn't known who she was. Her childhood nickname was different from her real name, and it wasn't until she went to school and started using her real name again that he remembered Izumi's role in the original story.
Of course, he hadn't distanced himself from her because she liked the White-Eyed Wolf.
During the Nine-Tails Incident, he'd taken the mother and daughter straight to a shelter. Naturally, that meant the White-Eyed Wolf never got the chance to "save the beauty."
(Naruto: Victim +1)
So Izumi didn't have any special feelings for Itachi, the clan leader's son. In fact, under White Dove's subtle influence, she even disliked him a little.
The reason White Dove had distanced himself from her was... that there was something wrong with her personality.
Everyone knew the Uchiha could be obsessive and extreme, so White Dove was genuinely afraid he'd turn into "Makoto" one day. That was why he had to keep his distance.
But when Izumi wasn't acting crazy, she really was sweet and adorable.
"Izumi...!"
White Dove discreetly dodged the arms she'd thrown around him.
He didn't dare give her the chance to get any closer.
"Hmph, Dove-dove, why won't you let me hug you? We used to do more than hug. We even slept together at night... Mmmph!"
Before Izumi could finish complaining, White Dove clapped a hand over her mouth, ruffled her hair, and hastily clarified:
"Don't make things up. We haven't slept together since we started school!"
He was always out of place in the Shinobi World because he wasn't nearly perverted enough.
Here, little kids thought about either grabbing a blade and killing someone or falling in love. In the world he'd come from, children in their thirties and forties were everywhere, let alone kids of just a few years old!
He'd originally thought they were simply like brother and sister. But... once he realized what was going on, he'd grabbed his things and run.
He was genuinely afraid of this "childhood friend."
"Hmph, I'm an adult now, so stop ruffling my hair!"
Izumi pushed away White Dove's hands, frowned, and complained.
"All right. I still haven't congratulated you on graduating at the top of your class. Aunt Yezue gave you the graduation present I got you, right?"
Looking at the adorable Izumi, White Dove finally offered his congratulations in a soft voice.
She'd graduated this year, but he hadn't been able to celebrate with her at the time. Then some older clan members had taken her on a mission outside the village, and she'd only just returned.
Her gift was a chakra short sword he'd specially commissioned from the Artisan Village.
It had cost him nearly ten million ryō. If he hadn't had the One Heart Chamber of Commerce, he couldn't have afforded such an expensive "gift."
"Of course I love it!"
Izumi's eyes lit up.
The chakra short sword had been made just for her, and White Dove had given it to her. How could she not love it?
"By the way, your Sharingan hasn't been exposed, has it?"
White Dove suddenly lowered his voice to ask.
"Of course not!"
Izumi clasped her hands behind her back and gave him a playful answer.
She always listened to White Dove, except when it came to one particular thing.
White Dove was so concerned about Izumi's Sharingan because it absolutely couldn't be exposed. Otherwise, things could get troublesome.
She'd awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan two years ago. If he hadn't told her to keep it hidden, she might have been the true Uchiha prodigy.
A ten-year-old with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan—her talent was even more astonishing than Shisui's or the White-Eyed Wolf's.
From this, one could draw a conclusion.
The more obsessive and twisted an Uchiha was, the greater their talent.
Those who were as normal as ordinary people, on the other hand, tended to lack talent.
Incredible!
So White Dove could only sigh over the fact that he wasn't perverted enough. That was why his Sharingan talent was lacking and he had to take shortcuts.
"The Sharingan puts a heavy strain on your body. If you use it too soon, you could develop a kekkei genkai disease later, and it could affect your future, too. So you absolutely mustn't use it, understand?"
White Dove reminded her again and again. Even though he kept his distance from her, that didn't mean he didn't care about her.
There was a reason he kept warning her.
His research skills were no joke. Even if he couldn't match a super-genius like Orochimaru, he was still firmly in the T1 tier.
As a transmigrator, with no particular talent of his own, he'd thrown himself into researching biology and botany, in addition to using his imagination to develop powerful ninjutsu.
There was no helping it. In the Shinobi World, the potential of the biological sciences was simply too absurd.
Never mind everything else—Hashirama Cells alone were practically a panacea.
And plants were even more important.
The ultimate answer of the current era was the Ten-Tails, which was also the God Tree. How could he not study plants?
With such strong research skills, plus his knowledge of the story, he understood just how much strain the Sharingan placed on the body.
Using the Mangekyo and bleeding from the eyes all the time wasn't just a matter of ocular power. It was also because the user was too young for their body to handle the strain.
Take Uchiha Madara, for example. He was already an adult when he awakened the Mangekyo. His ocular power still drained, but he didn't constantly bleed whenever he used it. That alone made the issue clear.
White Dove could now say this to every Uchiha:
"Nobody understands the Sharingan better than I do!"
He'd seen the answers beforehand, of course, but he'd also worked hard to study and research everything related to it after transmigrating. That was what gave him the confidence to take a "shortcut."
"Mm-hmm!"
Walking behind White Dove, Izumi nodded obediently, enjoying his concern.
At that moment, White Dove suddenly stopped and said to Izumi:
"Izumi, go home by yourself first."
He'd seen the message Tekka had relayed with hand signals.
"...All right!"
Izumi frowned at first, but eventually gave in.
"Forgive me, Izumi!"
White Dove tapped her forehead with a finger, then turned and left, leaving the disgruntled Izumi to head home alone.
Before you continue