They Weren't Grateful to the Uchiha

Hyuga Kiyonari set the food container on the table. The moment he lifted the lid, a rich, savory aroma filled the room.

"Chicken soup?" Tsunade's eyes lit up. She leaned closer, delighted. "How did you know this was my favorite?"

"Maybe... it was a lucky guess."

Tsunade inhaled the tempting aroma deeply, then eagerly ladled herself a full bowl. She blew on it before taking a small sip. The warm broth slid down her throat, soothing the rawness left by the alcohol.

She sighed in satisfaction. "Delicious. This soup is really good. Where did you buy it?"

Kiyonari's lips curved into a faint, somewhat smug smile. "Guess."

Tsunade eyed him suspiciously, squinting at him. "Don't tell me... you made it yourself?"

"Of course." Kiyonari nodded calmly. "I live alone, so I had to learn how to take care of my own stomach."

Tsunade took a few more sips. Her satisfied expression deepened. "Not bad, not bad."

After finishing a bowl of hot soup, Tsunade's spirits, dulled by her hangover, visibly lifted. A healthy flush returned to her pale cheeks.

"I feel much better."

She let out a long breath, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from her shoulders. As she got up to serve herself a second bowl, her gaze happened to pass over Kiyonari's face, and a sudden realization stirred in her heart.

If she hadn't received that Drift Bottle a week ago, she might have been throwing chips around at some casino right now. If Shizune hadn't gone to the barbecue restaurant that afternoon, she might have missed the chance to get to know this boy.

One coincidence after another had woven together, thread by thread, until they had finally brought him before her.

If she had received the Drift Bottle even a little earlier or later, any one change in the sequence of events might have kept her from this bowl of chicken soup.

So this was what it meant for the timeline to change—and for parallel worlds to come into being.

From the moment she received the Drift Bottle, every Tsunade had become one of a kind.

Tsunade picked up a piece of chicken and put it in her mouth, chewing slowly. "Kiyonari, what do you know about the Uchiha?"

Kiyonari thought carefully for a while before answering. "The Uchiha Clan... Honestly, I have mixed feelings about them."

"Mixed feelings? What do you mean?"

"As far as I know, most Uchiha graduate from the academy and join the Konoha Military Police Force. Since the Force enforces the village's laws, the job is bound to make people dislike them. And because the Uchiha don't tend to take on other roles, most villagers only encounter them as members of the Force."

Tsunade nodded thoughtfully, signaling for Kiyonari to continue.

"Besides, Sensei, you should know the Uchiha. They're generally proud and difficult to talk to. Those traits are magnified when they're enforcing the law."

"That's true."

When Tsunade remembered seeing Fugaku Uchiha yesterday, she recalled how surprised she had been. In her subconscious, the Uchiha would have considered attending such a banquet beneath them—especially one hosted by a Senju.

Kiyonari continued without pausing. "They already tend to keep a straight face. When they're enforcing the law, it makes them seem distant and cold."

"What's wrong with that?" Tsunade asked. "That's how law enforcement should be. They have to be impartial to ensure fairness."

"From the standpoint of law enforcement, there's nothing wrong with it." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "But as I just said, most villagers only encounter the Uchiha as members of the Konoha Military Police Force. Over time... they start applying their impression of the Force to the entire Uchiha Clan."

"The Force seems cold, so the Uchiha are cold. The Force is hard to talk to, so the Uchiha are all hard to talk to. Add in the nature of their work, and that's why villagers isolate and ostracize the Uchiha."

Tsunade fell silent, then went on. "Then have the Uchiha ever abused their authority while enforcing the law?"

"No." Kiyonari shook his head. "Honestly, the Uchiha are very fair when it comes to law enforcement. It doesn't matter who someone is. If they break the rules, the Uchiha dare to arrest and punish them."

"As law enforcers, the Force is both strict and impartial. The Uchiha's pride makes them scorn bribes, and they won't bow to power. But... most ordinary villagers have a hard time recognizing how much it takes to maintain that fairness."

"Ever since the village was founded, the Uchiha have been responsible for the Konoha Military Police Force. The villagers have grown used to the Force enforcing the law. To them, that fairness is only natural—anyone could do it."

Tsunade understood. "They aren't grateful to the Uchiha for being fair."

"Right." Kiyonari spread his hands, looking somewhat helpless. "The villagers only focus on whom the Uchiha punished harshly and how coldly they enforced the law. They remember the ways the Uchiha made them unhappy, but not the effort the clan put into maintaining order in the village."

Tsunade frowned. "In that case, the Uchiha Clan really has been treated unfairly."

"That's not all," Kiyonari continued. "The Uchiha's own nature is a double-edged sword. It helps them enforce the law fairly, but it also deepens the divide."

"They're too proud. They scorn explaining their actions to the villagers, and they're unwilling to lower themselves to talk with people. In their eyes, if they're doing the right thing, they don't need to explain themselves to anyone."

"And the more the villagers ostracize the Uchiha, the more the clan closes ranks. That only means less interaction and a deeper divide. Eventually, the villagers even feel as though the Uchiha are separate from the village."

Tsunade's expression turned grave. "Separate from the village?"

Although every ninja clan in Konoha had its own compound and residential area, none of them had as little contact with other clans or took part in as few village-wide events as the Uchiha.

Combined with their work as law enforcers, this left the Uchiha with almost no friends or supporters in the village. If public opinion ever turned against them, no one would stand up for them.

Wasn't the Nine-Tails Incident the best example?

The higher-ups suspected the Uchiha, and the villagers ostracized them.

This constant, silent hostility could drive a single person mad.

How much worse, then, was it when the whole Uchiha Clan had to endure it? They were already a group prone to instability. And ironically, the more easily their emotions spun out of control and the more unstable their minds became, the stronger they grew.

What's more, they worshipped this power called the Sharingan.