I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 18

"Lord Hokage, working overtime?" Uchiha Shingen asked curiously.

"Everyone's been out on missions lately, so a lot of administrative work has piled up." Namikaze Minato relaxed his brow. "The mission went smoothly, right? Did you encounter anything worth noting?"

I ran into your student. He wants to take your wife.

Uchiha Shingen felt he could not put it that way.

It was far too ambiguous, and there was no way to explain his source of information.

Besides, the Fourth Hokage's true attitude toward the Uchiha was still unknown. He could not judge based on his personal preferences from when he had read the manga. That would get people killed.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, who was widely considered a scheming old fox, was really a balance freak. He would reject any action that might cause upheaval. He was the most opposed to openly breaking with the Uchiha, yet also the most insistent on keeping them firmly pinned inside the Police Force.

The great villain Shimura Danzo was a hawk through and through. On the surface, he was hostile toward the Uchiha, but in truth, he was hostile toward anyone other than Sarutobi Hiruzen who wanted to become Hokage or had already become Hokage.

The two advisory elders who appeared to merely coast through life were exceptionally skilled at administration. Conflicts between departments could generally be mediated at the institutional level in their hands. They were more wary than trusting toward the Uchiha, but held no great malice either. They were neutralists who wanted everyone to get along.

Namikaze Minato appeared to be the kindest of them all, as though he were pro-Uchiha, but in reality, he was the most ruthless among them.

Just like Senju Hashirama, the village was his life. Even if it were his beloved, close friend, or sworn brother, if they threatened the village, he would kill them.

If the Hidden Leaf Village were not so hard to leave behind, and if he did not have a whole family on the Uchiha side, Uchiha Shingen would have quit long ago.

Why the hell should he keep being a ninja? He should go traveling.

"It went quite smoothly. Nobody caused any trouble," he told Namikaze Minato.

"Yes, the mission went very smoothly. The Rain Daimyo, he..." Uchiha Shisui thought for a moment and chose a relatively neutral term. "...has quite a personality."

"Oh, as long as everything's fine. Looks like the Rain Daimyo isn't that difficult to deal with after all." Namikaze Minato was extremely satisfied. With this, the Hidden Leaf Village's daimyo protection business had another excellent achievement to its name. A cause for celebration indeed.

Though he wanted to chat with them a little longer, there were simply too many documents. After receiving their mission report, he casually offered a few more words of encouragement, then sent the two home to rest while he shut himself away and continued working.

Uchiha Shingen could not have wanted anything more. He left like the wind.

After returning home, he washed up thoroughly, then paid a visit to Uchiha Fugaku's home, only to be told that he was still at the Police Force.

After thinking about it, he realized he had not been to the Police Force in quite some time either.

So Uchiha Shingen returned home, changed into his Police Force uniform, and headed over.

The moment he entered the Police Force, he drew his colleagues' attention.

After that sparring match, he had become somewhat famous within the clan.

"Shingen, you're back at work?" A clansman smoking in the break room greeted him when he saw him.

"I just finished a mission, so I came back to take a look." Uchiha Shingen glanced around. "Where's Tekka?"

"Oh, he just took leave to pick up his little brother from the Ninja Academy."

"Oh, alright. Is the clan head in his office?"

"He is. Go see him. He probably doesn't have much going on right now."

"Alright, carry on."

Uchiha Shingen left the break room, went upstairs, arrived outside Uchiha Fugaku's office, and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Uchiha Shingen pushed the door open and entered.

Uchiha Fugaku was feeding a cat.

"You're back. Where's Shisui?"

"Probably went to see the Third Hokage." Uchiha Shingen glanced at the coffee table and saw that tea had already been prepared.

"Did someone just come to visit you?"

"No, I made it for you two. I thought you'd both come over." Uchiha Fugaku stood up and sat down on the sofa. "Have a seat. Tell me about the mission."

"Overall, there were no surprises. We just ran into someone we shouldn't have." Uchiha Shingen had no intention of hiding it from Uchiha Fugaku.

In the original timeline, Uchiha Obito had been single-mindedly determined to destroy the Uchiha Clan. But now that Uchiha Shingen had seen through his identity, he had lost the conditions necessary to scheme from the shadows. He would probably abandon his original approach.

Still, he would definitely have backup plans.

"That sounds rather interesting." Uchiha Fugaku took a sip of tea. "Knowing your personality, if you came specifically to tell me about this, then that person must be related to the clan, right?"

"Yes. I ran into Uchiha Obito."

"I see..." Uchiha Fugaku set down his teacup. "Does he bear resentment toward the clan?"

"Not exactly."

"That sounds like good news. Then why hasn't he returned?"

"It seems he hates the entire ninja world."

"..."

Chapter 32: Clan of Love

As the head of the clan, Uchiha Fugaku was obligated to know everything about every clansman who had awakened the Sharingan.

When news of Uchiha Obito's sacrifice had returned, he had done his homework.

But Uchiha Fugaku had thought it over for a long time today. No matter how he thought about it, he could not understand what a girl not liking the boy who liked her, liking someone else instead, then voluntarily dying at the hands of the person she liked, had to do with hating the ninja world.

Why did the Uchiha Clan always produce such weirdos!?

The current Uchiha Clan head thought this unhappily.

"Did you try to talk him out of it?" Unable to make sense of it, Uchiha Fugaku asked the person involved.

He remembered that those two had been fairly close.

"I did. At first, he even pretended to be Uchiha Madara in front of me."

"Oh? That's some remarkable intelligence." Uchiha Fugaku nearly failed to maintain the stoic expression passed down through his family. "What did you say to him? You have to understand that the clan has its own difficulties. Back then, he hadn't even awakened his eyes. Your understanding of clan policy is outstanding among those your age—you explained it to him properly, right?"

"The moment I said his act wasn't convincing, he got angry. Then we had a fight." Recalling the situation, Uchiha Shingen could not help sighing. "Young people these days have no composure at all."

"Mm." Uchiha Fugaku regained control of his expression. "Sorry, I shouldn't have asked. Just thinking about it is enough to understand. That must have been a terrible feeling."

"It's fine, Clan Head. I'm doing quite well."

"I wasn't talking about you."

Uchiha Fugaku decided not to ask any further. He picked up his teacup again.

There was no point hoping for it. If it had been him, he would not have come back either.

"Have you noticed what Obito intends to do?"

"He wants to get the Nine-Tails."

"Hmm?" Uchiha Fugaku set down the teacup he had just lifted. "Are you certain? Is the source of this intelligence reliable?"

"Extremely reliable. He told me himself." Feeling thirsty, Uchiha Shingen picked up his teacup and drained it in a few gulps before continuing, "There was this lump of something beside him that claimed to be the embodiment of Uchiha Madara's will. That thing isn't simple. Obito's strength is nothing like before—he's even awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan."

At this point, Uchiha Fugaku was not merely unable to drink tea—he could barely stay seated in his office.

What kind of joke was this? That was the Mangekyo Sharingan, not some roadside bucket!

"Describe that embodiment of Uchiha Madara's will."

"Mm... It actually looked pretty distinctive. Clan Head, you know what I mean—like a little lamb letting out a goat fart. Both stylish and slutty."

I don't know shit!

Uchiha Fugaku nearly lost control and gave Uchiha Shingen a Mangekyo package of his own.

The younger generation really was strong—two Mangekyo Sharingan users, and one more suspected of having awakened one.

Since the village had been founded, the Uchiha had never been this loaded.

But each of them had more issues than the last, and Uchiha Shingen was somehow the most well-adjusted among them.

Uchiha Fugaku decided that, from today onward, he would intensify Uchiha Itachi's training.

Come to think of it, Itachi, like Uchiha Shingen, had been born with three chakra nature transformations: fire, wind, and water.

Uchiha Fugaku made a decision.

"Shingen."

"Hmm?"

"Is there a girl you like?"

"Huh?" Uchiha Shingen was startled.

Ninja clans shared many characteristics with the great family clans of Blue Star—for example, their concern for their younger members' reproductive prospects.

The Uchiha Clan had even set up a special "matchmaking corner," though none of the young people ever went. The only ones who did were already fathers and mothers.

And for someone like Uchiha Shingen, who had awakened the Sharingan, the Uchiha Clan would do everything possible to keep his marriage within the clan. If he found a girlfriend from elsewhere, they would investigate her family background for three generations, terrified that her genes might be poor.

Uchiha Shingen declared himself a non-marriage advocate.

What if there was a third run someday?

Besides, compared to doing homework, he felt he was better suited to assigning it to others.

"Clan Head, you know..."

"I don't!" Uchiha Fugaku cut him off. "Just say whether you do or not."

"I do, of course I do." Uchiha Shingen's face lit up. "That medicine-scented uncle has been there too."

"Hmm!?" Uchiha Fugaku was startled at first, but then he truly understood.

Sure enough, this brat needed to be set up on blind dates. He simply lacked someone to keep him in line.

Thinking of how his own wife had changed before and after marriage, Uchiha Fugaku sneered inwardly.

You think you understand women? No, kid, you don't understand them at all.

"Alright, I understand. I'll arrange something for this later. Don't put too much pressure on yourself—getting to know more people won't hurt. There's one more matter, a personal one." Without giving Uchiha Shingen a chance to babble his way out of it, Uchiha Fugaku moved directly to the next topic. "What do you think of Itachi?"

"Itachi?" Uchiha Shingen's attention was drawn away. "Has something happened with him recently?"

"Earlier, I asked Shisui to help train him. Now I'd like you to teach him for a while as well. His chakra nature transformations are the same as yours."

"Oh?" Uchiha Shingen thought back.

He did not remember such details, only vaguely recalling that Uchiha Itachi seemed to know Water Release.

In the past, Uchiha Shingen really would not have wanted to teach him, but now he did not mind.

"That won't be a problem. But Clan Head, aren't everyone out doing missions right now?"

"Don't worry. Over these past three months, the frequency of our clan taking missions has already dropped. At the very least, there won't be so many high-level missions anymore."

Uchiha Shingen nodded at that. Three months was indeed about right.

In the ninja forces, shinobi holding official positions normally did not take missions. If not for the Uchiha Clan previously competing for high-level missions, they would not have had so many opportunities to take missions.

But there were only so many high-level missions during peacetime, and three months had been enough to use up quite a few.

It was nearly the end of the year now. The quota that could be assigned to the Uchiha Clan had presumably been almost exhausted.

"Understood. When do we start? Oh, and are there any requirements for what I should teach?"

"No requirements. Just use your own judgment."

"Alright, then Clan Head, regarding..."

"Mm, there's nothing else. Go back first. Your intelligence is very important; I need to contact the elders immediately and discuss it with them." Uchiha Fugaku cut Uchiha Shingen off once again.

Uchiha Shingen knew he was doing it on purpose. He grumbled inwardly a couple of times, but did not really mind.

It was just a blind date. What was the big deal?

A blind date was only one step away from acting like a hooligan. It was only because he, Uchiha Shingen, had principles and did not prey on those close at hand that he needed Uchiha Fugaku to introduce someone to him.

The two women at his home brought back a pile of matchmaking profiles every time they went out.

Before Uchiha Obito "died," his grandmother had brought back even more.

What use was that?

So no one could stop him from shining and giving his all for this world.