I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 3

But this was truly speechless.

The notice had clearly gone out, telling everyone that the newly appointed Hokage would be visiting the clan today. Since he had chosen the Uchiha as the first stop of his inauguration tour, the Uchiha had to show some courtesy and play their part.

Hadn't he, the clan head, been standing at the entrance to the clan grounds before dawn, waiting for him?

Yet this guy was still at the training grounds. What, was the dignified Hokage not worthy of his welcome?

Even if that was what everyone was thinking, did they have to make it so obvious?!

Left with no choice, Uchiha Fugaku put on an angry expression.

Before he could begin his act, the newly appointed Hokage had already started performing.

"Clan Head Fugaku, don't be angry. Having such a hardworking young man in the family—isn't that something others would envy?"

His azure eyes assessed the utterly bewildered Uchiha Shingen. The new Hokage smiled warmly, then launched into a rapid string of words.

"Your name is Shingen, right? I'm Namikaze Minato. It's a pleasure to meet you. I've heard about your performance on the battlefield. An Uchiha skilled in so many different natures of ninjutsu is quite rare."

Uchiha Shingen did not answer. It was not because he was being rude or had failed to react; his first instinct was simply to think of something else.

Letting the Yellow Flash deep into the clan grounds? Wasn't anyone worried he might casually leave a mark somewhere?

But he was already the Hokage. It seemed they could not refuse him anyway.

"That's true." Uchiha Fugaku's voice was somewhat low. "Shingen's way of thinking differs slightly from the rest of the clan. He is especially interested in ninjutsu."

His voice "reminded" Uchiha Shingen.

"Lord Hokage." He bowed.

"My apologies, Clan Head. I did not know in advance that Lord Hokage would be coming."

"It's fine. I only came to see everyone, after all. I don't understand anything yet as Hokage." Namikaze Minato genuinely appeared not to care much.

By now, his name was renowned throughout the ninja world. He would not fuss over something like this.

Rather, he was more interested in the fact that an Uchiha was practicing Yang Release.

The former head of the Jonin Council, bearer of the title Yellow Flash, a man capable of deciding the outcome of an entire battle alone—Namikaze Minato, having grown to this point, was no longer some clueless rookie.

Whether it was the history of the ninja world or the darkness lurking within the village, he knew what he needed to know.

There were many things that interested him, and many things that embarrassed him as well. For instance, yesterday, after taking office, he had planned to confront Root, only to find himself completely unable to argue against Shimura Danzo. If the Third Hokage had not spoken up for him, he would not even have been able to save face. Realizing that he was a rookie had stung badly.

Still, the human experiments that had previously been uncovered left a knot in his chest.

But he had only just taken office and was far too green. The Jonin Council was his only base; he held no influence in any of the major departments at the top. It would be difficult for him to accomplish anything in the short term.

So he decided to approach things from another angle.

He was, after all, the Hokage—the village's nominal leader. Visiting each of the ninja clans at the beginning of his term was entirely reasonable.

Making the Uchiha, who had long been excluded by Leaf Village's core leadership, his first stop was not only reasonable, but also appropriate.

The recently concluded Third Shinobi World War had proven that the Uchiha Clan was loyal to the village.

Honestly, Namikaze Minato had always felt that although the Uchiha were expressionless, eccentric, prone to making snide remarks, and had a dark history, it was absurd that they had no voice at all in the core leadership despite being one of the most important pillars among Leaf Village's jonin.

During the Third Shinobi World War, Leaf Village had produced two standout talents. Namikaze Minato was one of them; the other was Uchiha Shisui.

The record and age of Shisui of the Body Flicker had made many people wonder whether their own ninja careers had merely been there to make up the numbers.

At just thirteen, the boy killed on the battlefield as easily as cutting grass. During the war, every village instructed its ninja that they could run if they saw him, granting him the same treatment as Namikaze Minato.

That could no longer be called talent. Someone who had not yet grown into their potential was called a talent.

Yet everyone who knew him sincerely considered him a gentle and kind person in everyday life.

Together with the late Uchiha Obito, this filled Namikaze Minato with expectations for the Uchiha Clan's younger generation.

Moreover, he felt he had discovered a pattern: the more unconventional an Uchiha was within the clan, the more strongly they embraced the Will of Fire.

Uchiha Shingen also met that condition in his eyes. What Uchiha, with nothing better to do, practiced Yang Release every day?

So he now looked at Uchiha Shingen with great anticipation.

But as the person in question, Uchiha Shingen felt his skin crawl beneath Namikaze Minato's gaze.

Though he felt the other man probably meant no harm, Uchiha Shingen was still uncomfortable. After all, this man was simply too strong—one man worth a thousand troops.

"You flatter me, Lord Hokage." His response lacked much sincerity. "It's purely a personal interest."

Namikaze Minato seemed not to notice Uchiha Shingen's discomfort. Like an old friend he had known for years, he continued with evident curiosity, "I heard that you copied the Mist Ninja's bloodline limit on the battlefield using your Sharingan. Is that true?"

"I did. It happened to work out."

"Would it be convenient for you to show me? I'm just curious, really."

Uchiha Shingen had no choice. He drew his short sword and channeled chakra.

Visible to the naked eye, frost spread across the blade. A thin layer of ice formed, then broke apart and vanished.

"Oh, so this is the Ice Release of the Snow Clan..."

Watching the ice shards dissolve into the air, Namikaze Minato found it novel, while also quietly mocking the Snow Clan, whom he had never met.

Everyone knew that the Sharingan could not copy bloodline limits. If Uchiha Shingen had managed to copy it, then the Snow Clan had to be frauds. Their so-called Ice Release was merely some kind of combined ninjutsu that could be performed once certain special conditions were met.

This was also the view held by the vast majority of Konoha's people after hearing the news, including the Uchiha Clan.

But the Uchiha had been hyping themselves up for business purposes for more than a day or two. Everyone was used to it, even they themselves.

Only Uchiha Shingen knew that it was not that the Snow Clan failed to live up to its reputation.

Year after year, his Yang Release had finally begun to show results. Facts proved that after the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki faded from sight, the Uchiha bloodline and the Senju Clan's Yang Release were a match made in heaven.

The path that could carry him to greater heights was already beginning to take shape.

The Hokage Should Be Feared

The newly appointed Hokage did not linger around the Uchiha compound for long. After all, both sides were here to get things done.

In the end, Namikaze Minato arrived at the meeting room the Uchiha had prepared in advance and held a cordial, friendly discussion with the Uchiha leadership headed by Uchiha Fugaku.

Since he had been made an example of, Uchiha Shingen could forget about continuing his training at the practice ground. As one of the few with a three-tomoe Sharingan, he was assigned to stand guard outside the meeting room.

The door's soundproofing was nothing special. If Uchiha Shingen had to write a brief report, it would probably go something like this:

The Fourth Hokage highly praised the enormous role the Police Force had long played in advancing Konoha's rule-of-law construction. He also passionately called upon all Police Force cadres to strive for greater glory for the village, overcome difficulties in the new rule-of-law construction efforts, forge ahead with determination, make achievements, proceed steadily into the distance, and submit an outstanding "rule-of-law report card" to the village.

The Uchiha Clan stated that they would thoroughly study and implement the Fourth Hokage's rule-of-law thought, and carry out solid and effective rule-of-law publicity and education in the new era. Clan Head Fugaku particularly emphasized that the Fourth Hokage's rule-of-law thought was a great practice for promoting comprehensive governance of the village according to law and opening a new chapter in Konoha-style rule-of-law endeavors. It was the latest achievement in Konoha's rule-of-law theory. To advance comprehensive governance of the village according to law in the new era and properly conduct rule-of-law publicity and education, the Fourth Hokage's rule-of-law thought had to be taken as the fundamental principle and guide for action.

Uchiha Shingen felt that the actual manner of communication between the two sides was even worse than this bullshit he had made up. It was far too obvious.

Still, he understood Namikaze Minato's intentions.

The guy intended to "liberate the productive forces."

The Five Great Ninja Villages' income was divided into three parts: fiscal funding allocated by their nations, commissions taken from mission fees, and taxes paid by villagers and businesses within the village.

The fiscal funding allocated by the nation was subject to dual controls. The village could not use it freely, and its purposes were restricted.

Of the latter two, mission-fee commissions accounted for the overwhelming majority.

This portion was mainly contributed by ninja of chunin rank and above, with jonin being the absolute priority. Raising a mission by one rank increased its fee by at least tenfold. The contribution of the Five Great Villages' jonin to their villages' self-generated income was self-evident.

And Uchiha jonin held a very special position in Konoha.

The Sharingan truly was a wonderful thing, though the cost of acquiring it was extremely high, even for the Uchiha.

The awakening rate was depressing.

But once someone awakened the Sharingan and did not get beaten to death, reaching three tomoe was only a matter of time. Every three-tomoe user was a genuine jonin.

At present, fewer than a hundred members of the Uchiha Clan possessed the Sharingan, and only around twenty had three tomoe.

That was already a considerable number. After all, an Uchiha with a three-tomoe Sharingan could take on two opponents outside the village as basic practice.

Namikaze Minato was different from the old guard. In his view, keeping such a group of ninja trapped in the Police Force was an utter waste.

Was massive Konoha really short on people to patrol the streets?

On the contrary, Konoha was stronger now than before the war. Konoha's greatest previous loss had been the suicide of the Konoha White Fang. Now that Minato had become Hokage, if he could free up the Uchiha's combat power, the addition of Uchiha Shisui alone could fill the Konoha White Fang's place.

That way, Konoha would have more manpower to take on more high-level missions.

After all, following this war, the Sand Village would lose the trust of a large number of clients, causing many mission orders to be diverted elsewhere.

Konoha, the Stone Village, and the Cloud Village were all eyeing those orders greedily. All three villages had issued strict orders: no jonin were permitted to take leave, and all had to remain on standby at all times.

Through the door, listening to the occasional discussion inside about the late Konoha White Fang, Uchiha Shingen felt somewhat dazed as well.

Without realizing it, his hand gripped the hilt of his short sword.

He thought again of that overly serious man.

With such a standard square face, why were you so emotional, delicate, sensitive, and obsessively devoted that you ultimately turned your own life into a tragedy?

The Konoha White Fang had also been a very special figure in Konoha's history. It was not a matter of whether he was strong or not; his ability to act was simply outrageous. He was a complete mission-harvesting machine, absurdly efficient.

Before his downfall, his mission record could be summed up in three words—he went berserk.

Uchiha Shingen's Body Flicker Technique had been greatly inspired by the Konoha White Fang.

That was also why he had begun using a short sword. The way the White Fang combined the Body Flicker Technique with a short blade had left a deep impression on him.

To be fair, it really was useful.

Especially that moment when the blade got snapped.

While absentmindedly spacing out, Uchiha Shingen heard the laughter inside grow louder, followed by the sounds of a group of people rising to their feet.

So he adjusted his stance.

The next moment, the door slid open. Namikaze Minato emerged first, followed by a group of satisfied-looking Uchiha whose average age was over thirty. Among them, thirteen-year-old Uchiha Shisui made an outstanding contribution to lowering that average.

Konoha's ninja probably could not imagine that in less than ten years, if Uchiha Shingen failed to change certain things, Konoha's upper ranks would become a complete old folks' club. The currently radiant Fourth Hokage and the Legendary Sannin would be dead, defected, or gone; the jinchuriki would be a mere toddler; the Uchiha would simply cease to exist. The greatest village in the ninja world would find itself in the awkward position of suffering a talent gap.

And this change would begin with the incident that would occur a year later.

The man before him was one of the key figures in it.

"You've worked hard, Shingen." Namikaze Minato looked positively ecstatic. "I actually noticed the application you submitted some time ago. You wanted to replace Obito at Kannabi Bridge."

"Yeah, too bad the village didn't approve it." Uchiha Shingen smiled.

It was a little awkward. He had barely submitted the application before getting chewed out by some elder.

They said he was just joining in the fun.

Indeed, the situation over there hadn't merely been bad—it had been terrible.

The Stone ninja had carried on their long-standing fine tradition of launching sneak attacks, leaving Leaf Village in a very passive position. In the clan's eyes, Uchiha Obito had been cannon fodder, thrown out to answer for it.

At the time, Uchiha Shingen had wanted to replace Obito and take advantage of Madara.

But looking back now, that had been rash. He'd gotten carried away. It was a good thing he hadn't been approved.

It was safer to take advantage of Black Zetsu instead. That guy had plenty of good stuff on hand; it just depended on whether Shingen got lucky.

"Don't worry, there'll be opportunities." Namikaze Minato warmly patted Uchiha Shingen on the shoulder, wearing the mischievous look of someone who had good news but simply refused to tell him yet.

Then he left with a bright expression.

A group of Uchiha followed behind him, seeing the new Hokage out.

Only after they had all left did the other Uchiha follow, hearing Namikaze Minato endlessly say things like, "You're all too polite. I can head out by myself. Let's all work hard together from now on!"

"Big Brother Shingen."

A voice came from beside him.

Uchiha Shingen turned his head and saw no one. Then he understood and looked down.

Uchiha Shisui, who had already transformed from a "genius" into an "expert," was walking beside him, looking up at him.

"Big Brother Shingen, don't you like Lord Hokage?"

Kid, don't act cute in front of me. I'll hit you!

Forget it. I might not be able to beat him now.

Because this guy had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"I'm a Leaf Village ninja," Uchiha Shingen said. "I shouldn't like him. I should revere him."

"Why be afraid? Lord Hokage is a very nice person."