The crowd fell silent, but no one left.
They were still pondering Uchiha Kei's question.
Until they found an answer, they clearly had no intention of letting Kei go.
Not only had the people before him not dispersed, but the crowd of onlookers was growing larger by the minute.
The celebration of a hero's return had gradually shifted away from the Hokage Building and onto the commercial street outside the Uchiha Clan Compound.
The farther back people stood, the more quietly they passed around Uchiha Kei's question: Did the Land of Fire love Konoha, and what exactly was the relationship between the Land of Fire and Konoha?
Those who knew the answer couldn't bring themselves to say it aloud. Those who didn't know only made the atmosphere stranger with their whispered discussions and wild guesses.
Life was disappointing nine times out of ten, so dissatisfaction was the norm.
Greed and envy were human nature. Under the pressure of that question, people's dissatisfaction naturally found a target.
Uchiha Fugaku, who had been about to rebuke Uchiha Kei, stared at him in a daze. For a moment, he couldn't figure out what Kei was trying to do.
Mature people did things for a reason. Fugaku couldn't decide whether he should still think of Kei as an immature child or as an adult with a deeper, more calculating mind.
If Kei was a child, then this series of moves was clearly deliberate.
But if he was a proper adult, Fugaku couldn't understand his purpose.
And Kei had achieved what he wanted. In an instant, he had shifted the villagers' attention from Konoha's battlefield victory to the relationship between Konoha and the Land of Fire.
Actually, Kei's goal was very simple: he was afraid of being sent to the battlefield.
Who in their right mind would want to go to war? As for bleeding and dying, that was something you conned other people into doing. And I, Uchiha Kei, was the one shouting rousing slogans to trick people into going off to fight.
I'm an important man, Lord Kei.
My proper place is here in Konoha, directing the course of the war.
"You've been strengthened by the Will of Fire. Now go and die for it"—that was for underlings like you.
As someone who had endured the ravages of war, Orochimaru naturally understood its true nature. A man who had traveled all across the Shinobi World wasn't about to let Uchiha Kei overturn his worldview so easily.
Or perhaps he had already formed his own answer to Kei's question, and cared so little for others' approval that he simply ignored Kei's attempt to sway him.
He even snatched a Three-Color Dango from his student Anko and gave it to Uchiha Itachi, who was watching with longing eyes.
At that moment, the debate over war and the nation mattered less to him than the sweets in a child's hand.
Minato Namikaze, who was being tempered by war, had the mental fortitude for this, too. Or rather, he knew exactly what he wanted: to lead Konoha to victory in the war.
Everything else was beyond his concern.
Whether the Land of Fire loved Konoha wasn't important. What mattered was that Uchiha Fugaku, who had already been persuaded, had agreed to send more shinobi to join the war. But now, because of this child's words, that agreement seemed in danger of unraveling.
"Lord Fugaku, who is this?"
It seemed that Minato, who had spent so much time fighting far from home, had never even heard of Uchiha Kei.
"Oh, this is Uchiha Elder Uchiha Kei!"
Fugaku was still frowning, racking his brain over what Kei was trying to do. When Minato asked, he quickly gathered his thoughts and answered.
"Kei is a genius of the Uchiha Clan, and the hope of our clan's future."
Kei's face darkened.
He was twelve, an unregistered shinobi of Konoha, and had only just awakened his Sharingan. His strength barely qualified him as a civilian-level Chunin. So the Uchiha Clan's "geniuses" really were just made up on the spot.
Whoever needed to be propped up was a genius.
It was just that, in the past, those geniuses hadn't failed to live up to their reputations, thanks to the clan's investment in them.
But Kei knew that he wasn't a genius, or even a dead-last. He was just an ordinary person.
"Oh, so you're Kei. It's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we get along!"
Minato was warm and friendly, warm enough for everyone around them to feel it.
Kei, however, didn't return the courtesy.
"Oh, Minato, there's no need to be so polite. The Uzumaki Clan has our respect."
From the moment he saw Minato Namikaze, Uchiha Kei had been prepared.
Some people's stories were stirring, tragic, and heartbreaking. But they were best admired from a distance, not drawn close.
Like Lin Daiyu, like Minato Namikaze before him, it was enough to marvel at their lives and feel sympathy for them. Becoming their friend was out of the question.
Their stories always came with sacrifices. Either they sacrificed themselves or those around them. Trying to save them from their fate would cost far too much.
Unless he became the supreme ruler for all time, he couldn't afford that price.
So Kei pointed out Minato's other identity without the slightest courtesy, right to his face.
Others might treat him like the future Hokage, but in Uchiha Kei's eyes, he was merely a son-in-law of the Uzumaki Clan.
They said not to hit someone in the face or expose their sore spots.
Minato Namikaze had married Kushina Uzumaki for love, of course.
Willingly becoming a son-in-law for love was a way of showing respect for the Uzumaki Clan, a renowned clan in the Shinobi World.
The clan was nearly extinct, but Konoha's emblem still bore its crest. They deserved at least that much respect.
Everyone in Konoha accepted Minato's marriage as an expression of respect for Kushina's clan. No one treated his becoming a son-in-law as an actual act of marrying into the family.
The dead deserved respect, especially those whose entire family had died.
And if showing enough respect brought greater benefits, why not do it?
But acceptance was one thing. Marrying into the family was still marrying into the family. The word "son-in-law" clearly set the noble clans apart from ordinary people.
From the moment Kei realized he couldn't be friends with Minato Namikaze, he had already decided to cut ties with him completely.
Kei didn't believe Minato was entirely without pride. Surely he was angry at being insulted to his face like that?
If it were Kei, he definitely wouldn't be able to put up with it.
When petty people came across something that benefited them at someone else's expense, they liked to assume everyone was just like them.
But when they were asked to benefit someone else at their own expense, they hoped others would see things from their perspective and do what they wanted.
Kei was exactly that kind of petty person.
But Minato Namikaze clearly wasn't.
He just scratched his head with a hint of embarrassment and laughed cheerfully. "So you know my wife, Kei!"
His embarrassment seemed to come from being a newlywed, not from being called a son-in-law. He didn't look angry at all.
But by calling her his wife, Minato made his meaning clear. If Kei didn't want to be close, Minato wasn't the sort to force it.
"Wife" was a respectful way to refer to one's spouse when speaking with someone one wasn't close to.
Their conversation seemed to be coming to an end.
The people of Konoha continued discussing Kei's question in private. Minato was thinking of another way to secure the clans' support for the front lines, while Kei was ready to go home for dinner.
But today seemed determined not to let Kei off the hook. The Uchiha family was a broken bucket: whenever you'd used all your energy to solve an outside problem, someone inside would find a way to cause trouble.
Uchiha Itachi had accepted a piece of Three-Color Dango as a bribe from the Hokage faction in the form of Orochimaru. It seemed he had once again felt the warmth of the Will of Fire.
"Big Brother Kei, since our Uchiha Clan lives in Konoha, we naturally have to shed blood for our country. If you're worried about the dangers of the battlefield, I can go in your place."
Children's sensitivity was always ill-timed. Unlike Uchiha Fugaku, who was overthinking things and still guessing at Kei's motives, Itachi's instincts told him that Kei, who spoke so self-righteously, was genuinely afraid of going to war.
And he really did want to go in Kei's place. That way, he could ease his father's burden and put Big Brother Kei's worries to rest.
It was a win-win solution.
Kei had been exposed by Itachi, and he wanted nothing more than to slap the little turncoat dead.
As expected of a little brat with the Hokage's way of thinking—always eager to ease the Hokage's burdens.
Did he have any idea how many problems he'd just solved for the Hokage?
He didn't, but Kei wasn't going to let him find out.
Kei ignored Itachi and instead said to Fugaku, "Lord Fugaku, Itachi needs to study the history of our clan properly."
Fugaku had become completely afraid of the children's thoughtless remarks. Today had been a lesson. The generation gap really was a problem; he couldn't keep up with Uchiha Kei's way of thinking at all.
Whether or not he understood, they could wait until they got home to discuss it.
Fugaku hurriedly agreed.
But the villagers of Konoha seemed to have found a way to deal with Kei.
They still hadn't figured out the answer.
But they absolutely couldn't lose to a child like Kei.
"That's right! The Land of Fire raised us. You, a clan living on the Land of Fire, don't want to do anything for it!"
"Traitor! Get out of the Land of Fire!"
"Uchiha, get out of Konoha!"
The people had found a new outlet for their anger.
And another Uchiha had given it to them. Once again, they had seized the moral high ground.
Kei, thoroughly incensed, decided he was done letting them off the hook.
"Your backgrounds really do limit your thinking. You know nothing about the history of the Uchiha Clan, you lowlifes!"
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