Trying to Draw a Tiger, But Ending Up with a Dog!

Something is wrong!

Uchiha Jin hesitantly scrutinized the two men before him. Logically speaking, there was nothing surprising about this pair of old rivals, famous within the clan, acting this way.

In fact, the fact that these two hadn't actually come to blows was what many outsiders found strange.

Yet, looking at their mutual hostility and recalling the fragmented words he had overheard along the way, a bizarre and eerie sense of a "ship" suddenly crept into his mind.

This...

Isn't this just a carbon copy of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo?

Fugaku Sarutobi? Setsuna Shimura?

Yes.

Uchiha Fugaku was responsible for playing the kind and friendly "red-faced" leader, while Uchiha Setsuna was responsible for playing the fierce and irritable "black-faced" high-ranking official. This combination was enough to make honest ninjas feel a chill, making subsequent attempts at either recruitment or suppression twice as effective.

Of course.

To Uchiha Jin, who had been educated in the "art of dragon-slaying," this simple political maneuver was merely a rudimentary form of political organization.

It was essentially an "enhanced version of the scapegoat tactic," but it was enough to make waves in the political wilderness of the ninja world.

And as for the effectiveness of this political trick, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo next door were already sufficient examples.

Yet, Uchiha Jin had never imagined that a clan destined to perish through infighting and self-destruction would actually possess the seeds of such "high-level" political thinking.

This is very wrong!

If the Uchiha clan truly possessed such capability, how could they have ended up as the scattered sand they were today?

One had to realize that while the overall strength of the Uchiha clan couldn't compare to the entire Konoha Village, if two high-ranking officials with sufficient political acumen had emerged to unify them, they would have been a force to be reckoned with.

With the clan united internally and employing a strategy of befriending distant neighbors while attacking those nearby, they would have become a terrifying power that no ninja village in this world would want to face.

Damn it!

Realizing this, Uchiha Jin gnashed his teeth, and his gaze toward Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Setsuna grew increasingly filled with frustration at their incompetence.

"What is this guy thinking?"

The Clan Head and the Great Elder frowned simultaneously, vaguely sensing that Jin might be thinking of something offensive.

That's right.

A contemptuous smirk curled on Uchiha Jin's lips. He gave the two Uchiha giants a look of affirmation, his expression growing increasingly hostile.

I am mocking you two pieces of trash!

The Uchiha clan might not have the nominal authority that Sarutobi Hiruzen held as Hokage, but given the Uchiha's heritage and strength, their influence shouldn't have been any less.

Uh...

Uchiha Jin silently observed the uncontrollable "fierce eyes" on Uchiha Fugaku's face and the "gentleness" that could barely be hidden beneath Uchiha Setsuna's aged, wrinkled features.

The appearances were indeed a bit off, and the roles were severely mismatched.

But that wasn't the point!

The point was that you two little pieces of trash are truly useless. You clearly had Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo as templates, yet you couldn't even manage the simple task of copying their homework.

You created the so-called radical and moderate factions, but their actual effect was near zero, and you even nearly triggered a real internal conflict.

You tried to paint a tiger but ended up with a dog!!!!

Pfft!

"Excuse me, my throat is a bit uncomfortable!"

Uchiha Jin grinned at the two men without a hint of apology. Under the increasingly hostile glares of Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Setsuna, his mind raced at breakneck speed.

So, the reason I've been working so hard is because of you two idiots!

Uchiha Setsuna, who was playing the role of the "scapegoat leader," lacked the political awareness of Shimura Danzo, who was brave enough to take the blame. Instead, he actually wanted to drag the Uchiha Clan Head, who was playing the glorious image, down with him.

If Great Elder Setsuna had started by saying, "Fugaku, you will regret this!", and then immediately defied the Clan Head's wishes to secretly gather men and launch a lightning-fast armed coup...

Then, wouldn't the Uchiha—a Konoha powerhouse with overall strength clearly superior to the Sarutobi and Shimura clans—have had a real chance of successfully stealing the home of Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo?

And once the decapitation strike was successful, while all of Konoha was plunged into helplessness, Clan Head Fugaku, who had failed to control his clansmen, could have jumped out and shouted:

"This was all Uchiha Setsuna's own doing; it has nothing to do with the Uchiha clan. We will strip Uchiha Setsuna of his status as Great Elder and sentence him to life imprisonment..."

Following this "enhanced version of the scapegoat tactic," and combined with the threat Konoha would inevitably face from the four other great ninja villages...

In such a situation, if Uchiha Fugaku were to "accidentally" reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan in his "excitement," the final result would very likely be him "reluctantly" becoming the Fifth Hokage...

"It's hard to carry teammates who are like pigs..."

The further Uchiha Jin thought, the more his mind wandered. His gaze toward Uchiha Setsuna grew increasingly strange, and his look toward Uchiha Fugaku became filled with sympathy, until he finally couldn't help but speak up again.

"Clan Head, it's really been hard on you all these years..."

As soon as Uchiha Jin said this, not only did Uchiha Fugaku's expression turn extremely strange, but even Jin himself couldn't help but freeze for a moment.

Wait... Uchiha Fugaku doesn't deserve sympathy either!

Even if this guy didn't have a good teammate like Danzo to take the blame, that was no excuse for his failure as the head of the Uchiha clan.

A temporary worker... even if his subordinate was ignorant, as the leader, could he afford to be ignorant too?

Uchiha Setsuna was a senile old fool, and Uchiha Fugaku should have taken the responsibility to remind him; otherwise, wouldn't that just be a repeat of the future tragedy between Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo?

Hmm...

Now it was confirmed...

Wherever there is a crouching dragon, there is surely a fledgling phoenix within three paces!

Whether it was Uchiha Setsuna or Uchiha Fugaku, these two guys were both complete disasters!

"As expected, in this world where great power belongs to oneself, one cannot pin their hopes on those stupid power games!"

Fortunately, Uchiha Jin had never placed his hopes on these two pieces of trash before him. Thinking only of when he could attend their funerals to feast, he quickly snapped back to reality. The look of sympathy vanished without a trace, replaced once again by the same disdain and arrogance he had arrived with.

"One hundred million ryo! Don't just stand there, pay up!"

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In a brief moment, Uchiha Jin's unpredictable expressions and his undisguised malice made the two Uchiha leaders feel absolutely furious, and the flippant number mentioned at the end made their already poor complexions turn even darker.

"Do you have any idea how much one hundred million ryo is!"

Despite holding the title of the "Wicked Eye," Uchiha Fugaku was the first to calm down. After stepping forward to block Uchiha Setsuna, who was about to explode, he coldly questioned the handsome figure before him.

One had to know that while it was certainly easier for ninjas to make money than commoners, one hundred million ryo was not a small sum for any faction; it was even enough to place a bounty on the corpses of three Hokage's sons in the black market.

Therefore.

Even though he felt that Uchiha Jin surely wouldn't act without a reason, Uchiha Fugaku, as the "moderate clan head," chose to ask for the cause first. If it really was something trivial, it wouldn't be too late to give him a beating later.

However, Uchiha Jin, who had just realized how hopeless these two guys were, naturally didn't have a pleasant look on his face, and he scolded them with an expression of disappointment in their lack of ambition.

"Why ask so many questions? Just pay when I tell you to pay. Leaving so much money with you is a waste; it would be better to hand it over to me to improve the foundation of the Uchiha clan!"

Hmm!

Upon hearing this, although Uchiha Fugaku's face turned as black as Great Elder Setsuna's, a hint of joy couldn't help but rise in his heart.

As expected!

Although Uchiha Jin was extremely annoying, it seemed he had really come up with another good idea this time.

The Clan Head tilted his head slightly to glance at the Great Elder beside him, and the latter's eyes also revealed a trace of a smile. In that instant, the tacit understanding between them seemed to transcend space and time.

Finally!

"Money or whatever is beside the point!"

The gentleness on Uchiha Fugaku's face vanished instantly, replaced by a cold, stern expression, while Uchiha Setsuna flashed behind Uchiha Jin and chimed in with perfect coordination.

"But today, it seems I really ought to teach you a lesson on what it means to respect your elders!"