Promoted to Jōnin

The battle came to an end. Only after everyone had disappeared did the others slowly arrive.

Several Anbu inspected the traces left at the scene, then vanished.

Only then did the Uchiha Clan's Military Police Force hurry over.

One side fought, and the whole world stirred.

At the Hokage Building, Jiraiya appeared in the Third Hokage's office.

"You're back? Did you test him? What do you think of him?"

The Third Hokage asked softly. For a long time, he hadn't dared put Uchiha Shiraha to use.

After testing him in various ways and gathering intelligence from multiple sources, they had found that he was becoming harder and harder to understand.

Daring to attack the Konoha Military Police Force and openly break with the Uchiha—he'd gone too far.

Even his former teammate, Kagami Uchiha, wouldn't have dared do that.

"His strength makes him worth winning over. He has a chance of killing Orochimaru."

Jiraiya answered honestly. From Shiraha's fierce attacks, he had seen how solid his fundamentals were.

He pushed his speed to the limit with every slash.

"Since you've looked into him yourself, I have a better idea of where things stand. The Uchiha have produced one genius after another since the First Hokage, and the rift between them and the village keeps growing... They're hard to control!"

The Third Hokage sighed. Those in power in any faction needed stability and balance.

If one clan in a village stood above all the others, internal strife was inevitable.

The Bloody Mist Rebellion in the Land of Water was still fresh in his mind. The Mizukage had lit the fuse, and the large-scale purge that began with the Kaguya Clan had weakened Kirigakure until it was the weakest of the Five Great Nations.

Now, the village had lost forty percent of its strength to internal conflict.

That was exactly why the Third Hokage had always turned a blind eye to Danzo's actions.

He was gradually weakening the Uchiha's fighting force to minimize the impact of any rebellion.

No one wanted to end up like the Mist Ninja, with their village battered by conflict involving several shinobi clans.

The combined strength of the Mist Ninja's clans probably didn't even match the Uchiha.

Two complete Susanoo could easily crush several clans.

During the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha had kicked Iwagakure and punched Kumogakure, sweeping all before it.

"Then, old man, I'll keep looking for Orochimaru. Why not let me take the two Uchiha with me to find him?"

Jiraiya replied, planning to keep both Shiraha and Itachi close.

The Third Hokage shook his head slightly. If Shiraha were the only one, it would be fine. But adding Uchiha Itachi made things difficult.

Uchiha Fugaku would never let his precious son serve as a hostage.

He might consider sending Sasuke, but sending Itachi was out of the question.

Because Anbu had tried to ambush Itachi, Uchiha Fugaku had approved the counterattack plan his clan had been plotting for some time.

All in all, Danzo had made a clever move—one that had left Fugaku furious.

"Uchiha Itachi is out of the question. Uchiha Shiraha might work, but we'd lose a valuable piece by doing that. We still haven't placed a spy in the Uchiha Clan. Assign him to you, and his cover will be blown."

The Third Hokage said that Uchiha Shisui would have been a good choice, but Shisui was too outstanding to make a suitable spy.

Besides, Shisui disliked spending time with certain members of his clan, and his relationships with them were strained.

To this day, Uchiha Shisui had attended only one Clan Meeting.

Most of the Uchiha were already dissatisfied with his attitude. They had put up with it only because of his strength, keeping their resentment to themselves.

"Then promote him to Jōnin. If we're trying to win him over, we should be generous. I'll vouch for him—Shiraha is qualified to be a Jōnin."

Jiraiya suggested.

"Since you put it that way, let's do it."

The Third Hokage trusted Jiraiya, so he agreed at once.

"Someone, promote Uchiha Shiraha to Jōnin. He'll be responsible for carrying out the village's assigned missions. Also, make him a candidate for Anbu and send Anbu to evaluate him. If he passes, bring him into Anbu as a trainee."

After a moment's thought, the Third Hokage revised Shiraha's appointment, promoting him from Special Jōnin to full Jōnin.

He also added him to the Anbu screening process, intending to bring him into Anbu as soon as possible.

Outside the Uchiha Clan's rental housing,

Shiraha leaned against a branch high in a tree, reclining sideways with a blade of grass between his teeth.

"Shiraha, what mission are you planning to take next?"

Uchiha Itachi was there too. He hadn't caught Jiraiya and Shiraha's fight. The two had only been in contact briefly, and by the time Itachi had gotten dressed and chased after them, all he saw were several Anbu examining the scene.

Afterward, he returned to the clan compound and only then heard that Shiraha was back.

This time, he'd been assigned to the same team as Shiraha, who was the team leader. They needed to discuss things with him.

Shiraha kept his eyes closed, resting comfortably in the tree as he murmured, "Just wait. Tomorrow I'll see what missions in the village are worth taking."

"I know!"

Itachi said eagerly. He was delighted to have become a Jōnin.

Shiraha was the team leader this time, and he was his assistant.

A team made up of two Jōnin could take on more demanding missions.

"You know? Then tell me: which mission in the village offers the biggest reward?"

"Assassinate the Raikage. The reward is five hundred million, and you're supposed to bring back the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki."

Itachi said. Missions like that usually just sat on the mission board for people to look at.

The odds of killing the Raikage and his brother in Kumogakure were next to none.

"..."

"Let's take that mission after a while. What's the second-highest-paying one?"

Shiraha asked again. The Raikage was no easy target, but after he completed the system's third task, he might consider taking the mission.

He had completed just over eighty thousand Draw-Sword Techniques so far, still a long way from one million.

"The second-highest? The rest are about the same, a little over a hundred million."

Uchiha Itachi shook his head and replied.

During the Third Shinobi World War, the Raikage had attacked Konoha, leaving the village beset on all sides. If the Fourth Hokage hadn't appeared out of nowhere, Kumogakure would have toppled Konoha's government outright during the war.

So the people of Konoha hated the Raikage more than anyone.

Other villages didn't dare accept a mission like that, but Konoha had it posted prominently on the mission board.

"I'll go look for myself tomorrow, then. For now, I'm taking the day off."

Shiraha wasn't in a hurry to think about missions.

The brief happiness he'd felt at becoming a Special Jōnin had soon faded, leaving him with a sense of emptiness.

But what mattered to Shiraha right now wasn't his rank. It was the insight he'd experienced for an instant while fighting Jiraiya.

He'd been lying in the tree for a long time, slowly turning it over in his mind.

The different sword techniques were connected. After this battle, he'd begun applying the Breathing Style to various sword techniques, greatly increasing their power.

"What time tomorrow?"

Uchiha Itachi asked.

"Noon. Let's meet at the village gate after lunch."

Shiraha replied.

As the two were talking, an Anbu suddenly appeared.

"Uchiha Shiraha, by order of the Hokage, you are hereby promoted to Jōnin. Here's your appointment letter."

"Jōnin? Already?"

Itachi blurted out.

The Anbu glanced at him, then handed him the appointment letter.

"I'm not Shiraha. He is."

Itachi quickly waved his hands when he saw the Anbu hand it to him.

All Uchiha were handsome and dashing, so they all looked rather alike.

"Sure was quick."

Shiraha jumped down from the tree, took the appointment letter, and smiled.