I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 40

A furious shout came from behind him.

Uchiha Shingen turned around and saw a Leaf Village ninja leap onto Hokage Rock.

"Why is an Uchiha standing on Hokage Rock?"

Shingen recognized the man's background at a glance.

The major ninja clans of Leaf Village were actually quite distinctive in appearance; the Hyuga Clan and Uchiha Clan went without saying.

As for the men of the Sarutobi Clan, their square faces and abundant body hair were their defining traits.

Just from the thick black beard that nearly ringed the man's entire face, along with his habitual stance when using taijutsu, Shingen knew he was a Sarutobi Clan ninja.

Don't misunderstand—he had nothing specifically against the Sarutobi Clan. But the current Sarutobi Clan was indeed rather strange.

How should he put it? They possessed far too much of a "master of the village" mentality and loved inserting themselves into everything.

Normally, a few harsh words would have been no big deal. But tonight, Uchiha Shingen was in no mood for interpersonal relations.

After glancing at him, Shingen turned away and continued staring at the city district. "Is Hokage Rock your property?"

Incidentally, he was currently standing on Sarutobi Hiruzen's stone statue.

But so what? There was no rule saying Hokage Rock couldn't be stepped on.

"Why has the Uchiha Clan suddenly assembled? And why are you forcibly relocating the civilians from the city district!? The Hokage Building gave no order for you to do this!"

"Don't talk to me, idiot." Uchiha Shingen turned back. "Get lost!"

The three-tomoe Sharingan made the Sarutobi Clan ninja realize the gap between them.

Without another word, he wisely vanished.

The Sarutobi Clan's quality had actually been declining in recent years, though their growing numbers had concealed that fact.

If this had been the Warring States era, a Sarutobi Clan ninja in such a situation would never have run. He would have started fighting immediately.

That clan's fiery temper was as famous as its Fire Release.

Who knew whether Sarutobi Hiruzen taking office had been good or bad for them.

But one thing could not be denied: the Sarutobi Clan's official ninja were now mainly active in the ANBU, and because of the Third Hokage, their unofficial ninja did not need to go to overly dangerous battlefields either.

As a result, the current Sarutobi Clan ninja were badly out of touch with reality. They had a strong sense of ownership but lacked the bigger picture, and they easily blew things that were fundamentally not worth mentioning completely out of proportion.

For instance, toward the Uchiha Clan, they even openly displayed hostility, believing the Uchiha's "lack of unity" weakened the village.

After Namikaze Minato took office, the Sarutobi Clan had not changed much either. Most of their official ninja held important positions in the ANBU, and at first, they even reported their work directly to Sarutobi Hiruzen, practically operating as a "second office."

That was because they believed Namikaze Minato was too young and did not yet know how to be Hokage, so he needed Sarutobi Hiruzen's assistance—not as mockery, nor as an excuse, but because they genuinely thought so.

Even Sarutobi Hiruzen found it absurd, and he had severely rebuked those people from the very beginning.

After driving off the Sarutobi Clan ninja, Uchiha Shingen continued sensing chakra while using his Sharingan to observe within the limits of his vision.

At last, he sensed that familiar chakra fluctuation.

Uchiha Shingen activated Flying Raijin at the same instant.

The moment he teleported, he punched the ground without hesitation. On the ground, the curse markings of a Summoning Technique had just emerged.

BOOM!!!

Amid the thunderous crash, the ground shattered beneath his fist. As fragments of stone flew everywhere, a black-robed figure leaped upward.

Uchiha Shingen drew his blade and vanished from his original spot again, the flash of steel slashing directly at the other man's neck.

"Flying Raijin Slash!" As though he had foreseen it, the man evaded the strike. The voice beneath the mask was clearly gritting its teeth. "You really did leave a mark on me!"

"Did this 'Madara' old man just get beaten up?" Uchiha Shingen sneered. "I knew you were up to no good. You wanted to screw over the Uchiha Clan, didn't you?"

A great many footsteps rapidly approached from the distance—the sound of ninja moving.

Suspended in midair, Uchiha Obito realized that despite being in the center of the city, there was not a single person on the streets.

This seemed somewhat different from what he had expected.

As that thought crossed his mind, a barrage of shuriken came flying straight at him.

"Uchiha Shingen, don't underestimate me." Anger entered Uchiha Obito's voice as the shuriken passed through his body and landed on the deserted street.

"Then do something that will make me respect you." Uchiha Shingen appeared again, and a kunai flew out at the same time, nailing toward Uchiha Obito's face just as he released Kamui.

When the Sharingan activated an ocular technique, there would be fluctuations in ocular power. Back in the Land of Rain, Uchiha Shingen had already memorized the frequency of those fluctuations.

The kunai passed through him again, entering through the mask and emerging from the back of his head.

"I told you..." Uchiha Obito had been about to mock him, when he noticed that Uchiha Shingen's left hand was still held in a one-handed seal.

Instinctively, he activated Kamui again.

With a thunderous explosion, flames swallowed his field of vision, overturning the already heavily damaged ground once more and temporarily concealing Uchiha Shingen's figure.

So it was an explosive tag...

Uchiha Obito suddenly understood. Uchiha Shingen had transferred an explosive tag onto the kunai he had thrown earlier.

This guy used Flying Raijin differently from that teacher of his.

This time, he did not deactivate Kamui. Before the flames and heatwave had even faded, he had already rushed out of the explosion range of the explosive tags and lunged at Uchiha Shingen.

Compared to his familiar teacher, this neighbor whom he had once thought he knew but actually knew nothing about was the greatest threat to his plan!

Chakra sensing really was an incredibly useful ability, and when paired with the Sharingan, it became even better.

Chakra rarely lied.

The moment the first batch of explosive tags detonated, Uchiha Shingen knew the blast had achieved nothing. He immediately canceled his ninjutsu and used Flying Raijin to change position.

Even so, more than half a city block had been blown to ruins.

It was inconvenient to fight within the village. Many methods were difficult to use. Even though he had modified this technique, he still had to employ it carefully.

Mainly because if he blew things up too badly, he would have to pay compensation.

He could not help but miss the First Shinobi World War. Other things about that time had been terrible, but at least there had been one advantage: he could blow things up however he pleased, and nobody had any qualms about it.

Unless you experienced the joy of fully immersive explosive warfare yourself, you would never understand it.

If there was a downside, it was that it cost money. Poor people really could not afford to play like that. It was a pleasure reserved for the rich.

Uchiha Shingen probably did not count as rich, but he had a reimbursement budget provided by someone who was.

Before the smoke from the explosion had dispersed, Uchiha Obito's figure had already slipped free of the blast zone without the slightest hindrance and grabbed Uchiha Shingen.

Space immediately began to twist, but Uchiha Shingen's body exploded once more amid a flash of intense light.

Kamui was a useful ocular technique, but Uchiha Obito only had one eye, and it was the defensive one. His attacking methods were limited to just a few moves.

Uchiha Shingen had been waiting for him to make a grab.

However, like ordinary Flying Raijin, Kamui activated instantly and without hand seals, so this explosive tag still failed to injure Uchiha Obito.

But that sudden flash of light still gave Uchiha Obito quite a jolt.

It even brought tears to his eyes.

Where did this guy get so many explosive tags?

Uchiha Obito could not figure it out. He had not even seen Uchiha Shingen reach anywhere to take them out.

He held a blade in one hand and formed seals with the other. Was he pulling out explosive tags with a third leg or something?

And if it was Flying Raijin, Namikaze Minato's Flying Raijin teleportation did not work like this either.

"What technique is that?" Uchiha Obito asked.

His answer was a blade coming straight down at his head.

Uchiha Shingen did not bother responding.

On a dark night made for murder, with high winds made for arson, why the hell was he still chatting?

This was not some training session where one asked questions and the other answered.

Uchiha Obito was equally frustrated. With both of them skilled in space-time ninjutsu, he could accomplish almost nothing relying solely on Kamui.

More importantly, he had not come here to fight.

Yet summoning the Nine-Tails required a physical medium bearing the summoning array, and Uchiha Shingen gave him no chance at all.

With different goals in mind, the two continued exchanging blows, both silently calculating how to break the deadlock.

One wanted to summon the Nine-Tails. The other would not allow it.

And as the battle dragged on, Hidden Leaf Village ninja had begun converging from every direction.

There were members of the police force, ANBU, regular forces, and ninja from clans who were not part of the official roster.

Hiding personnel was standard practice for ninja clans. Even if there was no need, they still had to hide a few people, or their peers would laugh at them.

Among them, the largest group was the Third Hokage's direct faction, led by Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo.

Ninja of the Sarutobi Clan were among them as well.

The Nara Clan, Yamanaka Clan, and Akimichi Clan formed another group. These three clans had been allied with the Sarutobi Clan for generations, but they were ultimately not one and the same.

Members of the Hyuga Clan were using the Byakugan from far away, directing everyone toward the combatants.

It could not be helped. Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Shingen moved too quickly, covered too much ground, and constantly changed locations.

Everyone converging from all directions was not to show off or demonstrate some sense of hierarchy. If they did not do it this way, they simply could not catch up.

Earlier, they had all been running in one direction, only to receive notice midway that they had to change directions again.

Their mentality had truly exploded.

But what exploded even more was that, this time, every faction in Hidden Leaf Village had seen it clearly.

Uchiha Shingen could use Flying Raijin.

This technique was no longer monopolized by the Hokage's line.

An Uchiha who could use Flying Raijin!

Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo had the most complicated feelings of all.

Although they had suspected it before, deep down, they had hoped something like this would never happen.

"They hid it well, Uchiha Clan..." Having finally reached the vicinity of those two, Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the two ghostlike figures with a heavy heart. "And who is that other person?"

"Forget the masked one for now. Are you confident you can bring Uchiha Shingen under control?" Shimura Danzo asked.

Although the two of them appeared to argue constantly, they had always been close partners who divided their duties and worked together to protect the interests of this group.

For years, Shimura Danzo had acted as though he was completely unafraid of being cursed at. It was not that he truly did not care, but that he did not care about those who cursed him.

This was the path he had chosen. Having Sarutobi Hiruzen, someone who understood him, was enough.

Unless one day, Sarutobi Hiruzen no longer understood him.

"I don't know." Sarutobi Hiruzen gripped the Adamantine Staff. "But as long as you and I are here, Leaf Village won't fall into chaos."

"Of course." Shimura Danzo nodded. "Still, there is probably no one in this village capable of restraining him anymore. Not even your disciple."

"Everyone has their own strengths. Besides, it hasn't reached that point yet. We have Minato, and he has the Uchiha Clan. Even within the Uchiha Clan, there are young people like Shisui."

At the thought of Uchiha Shisui, the two old men immediately felt much better.

"From now on, assign him more missions and gradually separate him from the Police Force," Shimura Danzo said. "After all, ninja employed in public office are, in principle, not allowed to take missions. It would also fill the gap left by Namikaze Minato."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded in agreement, but another shadow still lingered in his heart.

The chakra shrouding Leaf Village belonged to the Nine-Tails.

What exactly was happening on Minato's side? Had he succeeded or failed? There had been no word at all.

It gave him a bad feeling.

There was no Cao Cao in the world of Hokage, so there was no saying, "Speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives." But perhaps in the future, they could say, "Speak of Minato and Minato arrives."

"Lord Third!" Namikaze Minato appeared directly beside Sarutobi Hiruzen, his expression dreadful.

"Minato, how is Kushina?" Sarutobi Hiruzen hurriedly asked.