I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 21

After finishing his first lesson of the second cycle, Uchiha Shingen brought the little-browed Uchiha Itachi—whose brows were nearly twisted into a knot—back to the Uchiha compound with Flying Raijin.

After returning the woozy Uchiha Itachi to Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Shingen went home.

It had been a long time since he had taught anyone. He was a little rusty and felt that he had not performed very well.

This was not his first time being a teacher. During the first cycle, he had briefly filled in as an instructor at the Ninja Academy.

Thinking about it was rather miserable. When the Ninja Academy had first opened, an entire class had contained only thirty-eight students.

At the time, Leaf Village was still primarily made up of ninja clans. Everyone was used to teaching their children at home. The ninja clans still retained that custom now: they sent a few children to the Ninja Academy, but most still received clan education within their own clans.

Come to think of it, that class had been packed with big names.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Shimura Danzo, Uchiha Kagami, Akimichi Torifu, Mitokado Homura, and Utatane Koharu had all been in it.

Uchiha Kagami had simply been unlucky. Otherwise, as a fellow member of Senju Tobirama's guard squad, he would certainly have had a place in the Third Hokage's administration. If that had happened, the Uchiha Clan's situation would probably have been much better as well.

Still, to be fair, an organizational structure like that of the ninja clans would eventually collapse on its own. It was only a matter of time.

Hmm, he seemed to have said that to someone before?

He could not remember. Whatever.

What mattered now was timing.

He had asked about it today. Uchiha Itachi's age of five was counted by nominal age; next year, he would truly be five. Uchiha Mikoto had only recently become pregnant, and this year had already entered its fourth season. That meant Uchiha Sasuke would be born next year. He was the same age as Naruto, so by that calculation, Obito would come to Leaf Village next year to seize the Nine-Tails.

He needed to prepare properly for this.

Uchiha Shingen was not worried about the Nine-Tails being released. What worried him was Namikaze Minato dying for love, just as he had in the original timeline after the Nine-Tails was released.

Namikaze Minato dying for love now would not be a good thing for the Uchiha.

If he truly knew the core techniques of the Uzumaki Clan, he would definitely slap another pile of seals onto Uzumaki Kushina. Don't tell him it could not be done—BUFFs could stack, DEBUFFs could stack, so why could seals not stack?

It would merely affect stability, but should they not first ensure that the Nine-Tails could not get out?

Uzumaki Kushina truly had been raised in the Uzumaki Clan. She followed the Uzumaki Clan's traditions closely and was a technical enthusiast.

During the first cycle, Uchiha Shingen had dated an Uzumaki girl. He would not do something as foolish as persuading an Uzumaki girl a second time. He decided to rely on his own craftsmanship to change the fate of a certain wife-obsessed man.

In the days that followed, Uchiha Shingen settled into a very fulfilling nine-to-five work routine with weekends off.

The Hokage Building never assigned another mission to the Uchiha Clan.

During that brief quarter before, the Uchiha Clan and Hyuga Clan had even teamed up to grind missions, to the point that several other ninja clans had voiced objections. The Hyuga were one thing, but the Uchiha had always been an entire clan of public servants. It had been understandable when they were short-handed at first, but as the market gradually stabilized, it was no longer appropriate to let the Uchiha Clan take part in missions.

In Uchiha Shingen's view, this was perfectly normal.

Public-service ninja had never been part of that mission allocation system. The wages Leaf Village paid public-service ninja were not low to begin with, their salaries basically set according to the minimum mission payout for the corresponding ninja rank.

Uchiha Shingen was a jonin, so his monthly base salary was the minimum amount for an A-rank mission. There were also subsidies on top of that, and those were merely the monthly payments issued by Leaf Village's administrative department according to its salary system. The Uchiha Clan itself also provided its ninja with various allowances and dividends.

While that still did not compare to the money earned from S-rank missions, it was still a considerable sum over the course of a year.

Uchiha Shingen was someone who knew contentment. Just because he had done S-rank missions did not mean he would look down on this money.

That level of income already crushed that of most of Leaf Village's jonin.

Every day, he went calmly to and from work, trained diligently, and occasionally took Uchiha Itachi out to observe the world, teach him history, and guide him in ninjutsu.

Life was quite pleasant. There was only one downside: the Yang Release within him still acted like a salted-fish middle-aged man, the sort who could not even be bothered to turn over.

Forget it. He could not force it.

A forcibly twisted melon was never sweet.

Only tea tasted fragrant no matter how one drank it.

To show that he was not someone who kept good things to himself—and to prove that he was not quite so stingy—Uchiha Shingen had rare generosity before and invited Uchiha Shisui out for tea.

That batch of tea had been exceptionally potent. Tekka and the others had gone wild, and the medicinal flavor had unlocked new positions again.

That uncle was truly the perfect example of someone who hid his talents. Where was the initial awkwardness now? He had become unbelievably seasoned.

Only Uchiha Shisui had remained like a quail throughout the whole affair, and even his hands had turned red.

Uchiha Shingen always felt that day, he had not taken Uchiha Shisui out for tea. Rather, he had brought tea for the young ladies.

Every one of those young ladies was a pillar of talent!

Unfortunately, even such an explosive scene had failed to awaken Uchiha Shingen's Mangekyo Sharingan.

Regrettably, he had once again missed the chance to become a great figure of the Uchiha Clan who linked the past and the future, unable to provide ironclad proof that "Yang Release at one's side, joyful awakening" was the correct path for the Uchiha.

He was not making it up. His three-tomoe Sharingan had awakened while drinking tea, and it had felt absolutely wonderful.

The days passed one after another. Winter finally arrived, and continuous snow began to adorn the world. Heavy white frost covered the houses. Leaf Village gradually lost its former bustle; pedestrians became scarce on the streets, which slowly grew desolate. The occasional sound only made the streets seem even quieter.

In truth, winters in the Land of Fire were not particularly cold, but the people of Leaf Village had grown accustomed to the warmth and indulgence of sunlight. When this season came, they no longer liked going outside.

It was even more apparent in the western district. Without lush green trees to adorn it, the area even looked somewhat rundown. No one went out in the early morning anymore. Only around noon did its residents gradually emerge, gathering together wherever the sunlight was good.

But Uchiha Shingen did not dislike such weather at all.

His Ice Release had been cultivated amid a world of ice and snow.

The vast earth was clad in silver. There was no finer scenery than this.

Another morning, Uchiha Shingen left his home. He strode across the pristine snow, leaving countless trails of footprints behind as he entered the training ground and began to practice.

As his hand seals constantly changed, crystalline, dazzling ice sculptures rose from the ground one after another, only to dissolve away like water.

Through repeated experiments and continual adjustments to the chakra ratio, Uchiha Shingen had finally begun to grasp the trick to Ice Release after learning it for so long.

He clapped his hands. The snowfield trembled slightly, and a massive palm rose from beneath the snow.

"Took a bit too long..." Uchiha Shingen muttered, circulating his chakra to dissolve the giant hand once more.

Whether it was shape transformation or nature transformation, although there was still room for improvement in activation speed, this jutsu had finally reached the level he had expected.

The next step was figuring out how to integrate sealing techniques into this jutsu.

Chapter 38: Uchiha Shingen's First Title

Whether it was the Complete Body Susanoo or Wood Release ninjutsu, they shared the same trait—they could carry ninjutsu cast by their user's actual body.

Uchiha Madara's Susanoo could form hand seals and cast ninjutsu. Uchiha Sasuke's Susanoo could use Amaterasu and senjutsu. Senju Hashirama's Yang Release was unparalleled in the world, so his Wood Release could absorb chakra and use senjutsu energy just like him.

Both were releases born from two nature transformations, but compared to Wood Release, Ice Release seemed rather pathetic.

The Snow Clan's Ice Release only had a few tricks. They either raised shields, used the principle of chakra interconnection for spatial transfer, or transformed ice into senbon and kunai for attacks. And that was it. At most, it could freeze someone a little, but the temperature was nothing special. Typical—decent defense, garbage offense.

But that was a matter of cultural differences. The Hidden Mist was just like that, especially fond of assassination. The Snow Clan followed the classic assassin path, dumping all their points into agility.

It was completely unsuitable for Uchiha Shingen, not even worth adding to the Uchiha archives. So he had not copied a single one of the Snow Clan's techniques; he felt it would be a waste of ocular power.

Could spatial transfer possibly be more useful than Flying Raijin?

And making a lump of ice behind someone before firing senbon and kunai at them—how could that be more practical than Flying Raijin Slash or Flying Raijin Second Stage? It was not as though he was the reincarnated heir of some needle-wielding old nanny.

Shields were passable, but there was no need to develop a technique for that. He could simply make ice and shape it.

After thinking it over, he decided it was more reliable to imitate that overly nice Clan Head from his first playthrough.

There was just one problem. Ice was hard enough, but it lacked wood's toughness. Even after adjusting the chakra ratio, the limit was making Godzilla or Kong. Trying to restrain Tailed Beasts like Wood Release did? Forget it. A Tailed Beast could do a set of calisthenics and there would not be even scraps left.

So simply copying it would not work.

But that did not matter. In his zeroth playthrough, Uchiha Shingen had not been a ninja. He had been an anime fan.

If Naruto was not enough, then One Piece could fill the gap. When it came to anime, could that really be called plagiarism?

He did not create skills. He was merely a transporter of skills.

Having clarified his goal, Uchiha Shingen began playing ice sculpture games in the training ground every day, enjoying himself immensely.

Noticing his unusual interest during winter, one day, his aunts, great-uncles, and the like came to ask him to make ice sculptures for the children of the clan to play with.

He could not refuse. The elderly had so few hobbies. Watching their grandsons and granddaughters play was their greatest pleasure—far happier than playing themselves. No, that was their way of playing.

When Uchiha Shingen had still been a little brat, he had been played with by grandparents of the same age.

So he readily used Ice Release to put on an ice sculpture exhibition, originally intending to treat it as practice for his craft.

The result was that the clan exhibition day was extremely lively. The children were delighted, the grandparents were even happier, and even upper echelons such as Uchiha Fugaku brought their children along to have fun.

That gave Uchiha Shingen a sudden flash of inspiration. At his strong urging, backed by his solid skills, the Uchiha Clan applied to the Hokage Building to hold an ice and snow exhibition. Tickets were very cheap: one hundred ryo for ordinary people. Children under six and seniors over sixty entered free. Ninjas paid five hundred ryo, though ninjas disabled in the line of duty were admitted free.

The Hokage Building did not think much of it and approved the application. Setting Namikaze Minato aside, the old men and women all felt that hardly anyone would go see it. Who would want to leave home in the middle of winter? Wasn't it freezing?

Then Leaf Village experienced its liveliest winter since its founding.

With great seriousness, Uchiha Shingen gave the exhibition a name—the Uchiha Ice and Snow Exhibition.

Leaf Village had tens of thousands of ninjas alone, and its population exceeded one hundred thousand with the villagers included. The enthusiasm these people unleashed utterly dazzled the Hokage Building.

The Uchiha Ice and Snow Exhibition was packed on its first day, then continued for a full three months, lasting all the way into January of the following year. Uchiha Shingen churned out ice sculptures every day. To keep it attractive, he had to make different sculptures each day. Among them, he recreated all manner of famous buildings from Blue Star based entirely on memory.

After three uninterrupted months of sculpting, the speed of his Ice Release—which he had constantly criticized—was no longer a problem. Later, all he had to do was clap his hands, and everything would appear.

It just left him completely numb from overworking.

He could not afford not to be numb. It was not enough to merely make ice; he also had to arrange the lighting inside.

Still, when the accounts were settled at the end of the month and his share of the profits arrived, Uchiha Shingen felt that all the hard work had been worthwhile. It was more than he had made from that batch of missions last year.

The Uchiha higher-ups happily decided to hold it every winter. No one had expected the ice and snow exhibition to be so profitable or so popular.

The Hokage Building had no reason not to approve it, because over those three months, it was not just villagers who came to enjoy it. People from elsewhere in the Land of Fire came after hearing of it, and eventually even foreigners showed up. Business was unbelievably good.

The Uchiha Ice and Snow Exhibition had already been hailed as one of Leaf Village's signature attractions.

At Uchiha Shingen's urging, although the Uchiha Clan higher-ups were quite reluctant, they still set aside another sum of money and gave it to the Hokage Building. In the Hokage's office, Uchiha Fugaku frantically memorized the speech Uchiha Shingen had written for him, shouting that if they did not accept the money, he would not leave. He insisted that he had to contribute to Leaf Village's development.

The old men and women from the original Third Hokage faction were dumbfounded. In the end, they personally escorted Uchiha Fugaku out of the Hokage Building, reminding him all the way not to overwork himself and to balance work with rest. Uchiha Fugaku had struggled to keep up the act, but he felt it had been worth it. He had never been treated so gloriously in the Hokage Building before.

Even Shimura Danzo held back, no longer wearing his usual deadpan scowl.

It was rather amusing: Shimura Danzo's attitude toward the Uchiha was the standard weather vane for the Hokage Building's attitude toward them.

The other members of the Uchiha Clan quickly sensed the difference in the village atmosphere. Administrative Department ninjas would even take the initiative to greet the Security Force members on the streets, wearing expressions that said, "We're all part of the system, so we ought to be closer."

Their popularity had skyrocketed.

Uchiha Shingen had become famous as well. Now, whenever he walked through the streets of Leaf Village, everyone warmly called him "Master Shingen."

He himself did not much like the title, though. It made him feel as though he had suddenly aged sixty years.

But it was not without its perks. During the Ice and Snow Festival, Uchiha Shingen could eat and drink at any tavern for free—it practically felt like an emperor choosing from his consorts' name plaques.

"Why do they call me Master? Do I look like someone who'd take advantage of that?" Uchiha Shingen, who had just been called Master again while walking down the street, looked awkwardly at Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi beside him. "And Itachi is one thing, but what are you doing here today?"

"Brother Shingen, have you been too tired lately? You seem pretty irritable," Uchiha Shisui said with a cheerful smile. He loved the atmosphere in the village now. "Still, as expected of you, Brother Shingen. You improved the villagers' attitude toward the clan in one go."

"This is only the beginning." Uchiha Shingen shook his head. "The real good stuff hasn't even started yet."

He looked up at the sky.

Winter had passed, and a new year had begun. That meant the real crisis was coming as well.

At Last, I've Been Waiting for You

Winter gave way to spring. As the morning sun rose, flocks of swallows once again appeared in the skies above the Hidden Leaf Village.

The streets gradually regained their bustle, packed with traffic during the day and brilliantly lit at night.

Uchiha Mikoto's belly had grown quite large by now, and Uchiha Fugaku no longer felt comfortable letting her go out alone.

But as the head of the Police Force and the Uchiha Clan's patriarch, taking paternity leave was simply out of the question.

Fortunately, he had a well-behaved son.

That day, Uchiha Itachi accompanied his mother out shopping as usual.

He did not quite understand why his mother seemed like a completely different person whenever she went shopping, but that did not stop him from carrying out his protective duties like a little adult.

Just as he and his mother stepped out of a shop, he noticed a red-haired woman across the street, also heavily pregnant, waving in their direction.

"Mikoto!"

"Kushina!" Uchiha Mikoto was delighted to run into her close friend, whom she had not seen for many days. She immediately walked over. "Did you come out to get some fresh air too?"

Hearing that, Uchiha Itachi instinctively glanced sideways.