Killing a Konoha Shinobi

Forgetting and distorting history is a necessary condition for a social group to come into being.

It was an objectively true, yet deeply unreasonable, fact.

Unfortunately, the shinobi of Konoha had little in the way of a proper education system. As a result, the shinobi at the bottom who labored—and even gave their lives—rarely understood this principle. Those who did understand it were even less likely to explain it to them.

Watching the villagers, their emotions running high as they grew excited and irritable, Qi grew calmer by the moment.

His calm came from cultural confidence. He knew that the greatest advantage he'd gained by coming to this world was his cheat, but his greatest ability wasn't force—it was culture.

He knew all too well how much illiterate people revered culture. Otherwise, why had the gentry and Shaoxing secretaries in feudal societies always managed, once society stabilized, to topple the commoners who had established a new order and quietly bring about a restoration?

And it wasn't just shinobi, who had never even studied history. Even in the world with nine years of compulsory education, online media accounts still had plenty of room to thrive.

It was human nature: a hunger for knowledge.

Of course, another aspect of human nature was laziness, which made people reluctant to learn.

That, in turn, made people prone to putting their faith in authority.

And today, Qi was going to be an authority.

The villagers before him grew more agitated by the moment because of his words. Uchiha Fugaku grew increasingly uneasy, too. He even began to wonder whether he should sacrifice a pawn to save the king.

The Uchiha Clan had long controlled the Konoha Military Police Force, which naturally put them at odds with ordinary villagers. Their relationship was like that between city inspectors and street vendors: without official backing, the conflict could only grow more irreconcilable.

The shinobi before him had just returned from the battlefield, bearing the title of Konoha heroes. Their sense of belonging to Konoha was clearly at its peak. Behind them stood countless ordinary villagers, watching, while a member of a family widely regarded as Konoha's villain spouted nonsense.

If they didn't do something, it would hardly befit their title as heroes.

The reason they hadn't done anything, of course, wasn't that they feared the guards surrounding Uchiha Kei. They simply didn't want bloodshed in the village.

Right. That was all.

They might not be able to beat Uchiha Kei to death in public, but they absolutely couldn't let this wretch off lightly—not someone who spewed lies just to avoid going to the battlefield.

Uchiha Fugaku knew that if tensions rose any further, things might get out of hand. He regretted bringing up Uchiha Kei's assignment in public.🎉✌  👣♔

He had originally planned to use his authority as clan head to pressure Uchiha Kei into agreeing, in front of everyone, to lead his clansmen to the battlefield and win a substantial victory for the Uchiha Clan.

That would give Uchiha Kei a chance to earn merit and allow the Uchiha to introduce another newcomer to Konoha—someone who was both an Uchiha and not the clan head. The Uchiha could accept that, and surely the Hokage could, too.

After all, Shisui had set a precedent. The Hokage had no reason to object.

If Shisui hadn't been so firmly aligned with the Hokage's faction, Uchiha Fugaku wouldn't have wanted to put forward another newcomer.

It would have been a good thing for Uchiha Kei, too. But Qi didn't see it that way.

Kids really couldn't be trusted to handle things. This young man simply couldn't grasp what his superior wanted. Uchiha Danjo was still the more mature and prudent one.

Uchiha Fugaku thought again of Uchiha Kei's subordinate—the old man who kept the clan's affairs in perfect order, always understood what Uchiha Kei was thinking, and helped him cover every gap.

It filled Uchiha Fugaku with envy. Uchiha Kei's subordinates were united and capable. And his own? They were either stubborn old men who still believed in Uchiha Madara's ways or turncoats basking in the light of the Will of Fire.

But a subordinate's subordinate wasn't his subordinate. Uchiha Kei's capable aide could never become Uchiha Fugaku's.

"Hmph. I'll put Danjō in his place sooner or later. I can't let a kid like Qi act recklessly from a position of power."

Qi's behavior today had greatly disappointed Fugaku.

But when one Uchiha suffered, they all suffered. Even though Fugaku had proposed sending them to the battlefield, if they handled this badly, the accusation of cowardice would surely be pinned on the Uchiha Clan.

Then the Uchiha Clan would have to send even more shinobi, and all they'd get in return would be the chance to wash away the disgrace of being branded cowards.

That was not what Fugaku wanted.

But just as Fugaku was about to reprimand Uchiha Kei, pin the charge of cowardice on him alone, and force the branch under Uchiha Kei to go to war, Qi spoke first.

The Konoha shinobi and villagers were already at the height of their anger over his demand for money. This was the perfect moment to shatter someone's convictions.

Killing a person physically was the last resort. The most effective method was to make them doubt the beliefs they held dear.

"Oh, you love the Land of Fire so much? Has the Land of Fire ever loved you back?"

In an instant, the villagers' blood pressure visibly shot up. A surge of resentment rushed to their heads, and several civilian shinobi from Konoha in the front nearly lost control and attacked the Uchiha.

Unable to use force to wipe out the Uchiha rebels, the civilian shinobi in the crowd desperately needed evidence to refute Uchiha Kei.

But when people were angry, it was hard for them to think rationally. Of course, perhaps they simply couldn't find any evidence that the Land of Fire loved the people of Konoha, either.

All at once, everyone fell silent.

"Hm?"

"How could the Land of Fire not love us?"

Or, rather, how could they prove that the Land of Fire loved Konoha, too?

Everyone was filled with the same question.

The crowd, which had just been standing on the moral high ground and angrily denouncing Uchiha Kei, suddenly had no idea how to answer.

The contemptuous smile on Uchiha Kei's face grew more pronounced.

Making a crowd doubt itself—that was how authority was established.

Qi gently shook his head and sighed. "You can't even tell the difference between the Land of Fire and Konoha, yet you come to talk to me about love. Does ignorance give you the courage to face death without flinching?"

With the superiority of his knowledge, the confidence of someone from another world, and a great clan's contempt for commoners, Uchiha Kei seemed to look down on even the shinobi watching from atop the walls, though he stood on level ground.

"Naive!"