Chapter 10

With someone as easygoing as the Third Hokage in Konoha, he had wanted peaceful coexistence with the major ninja villages from beginning to end.

But the problem was, the other ninja villages were unwilling.

Who wouldn't covet Konoha and the Land of Fire's vast resources?

Without the First and Second Hokage holding the fort, Konoha no longer seemed so terrifying in the eyes of the other ninja villages. It was a juicy piece of meat, and everyone wanted to step up and take a vicious bite.

On top of that, the old scores between the various ninja villages had yet to be settled.

Once they had built up enough strength, the Third Shinobi World War was bound to break out sooner or later.

Meixin smiled as well. "Yeah. Fewer wars mean fewer casualties."

Having spent so long at the ninja hospital and grown used to seeing life and death, she also hoped the world could finally become peaceful.

"Alright, enough chatting. Mom's going to cook first. You two carry on with your date! Hehe!"

With that, Meixin walked into the house with light steps.

Xuan and Mikoto were left looking at each other, both wearing helpless expressions.

Before long, lunch was brought to the table.

"Xuan! Mikoto! Food's ready!"

"Coming!"

"Well, looks like our timing was perfect. We arrived just in time for lunch!"

Uchiha Senichi pushed open the door with Uchiha Hao, and father and son both grinned at the sight of the steaming dishes covering the table.

Uchiha Meixin rolled her eyes at her husband and curled her lips. "I knew you'd be back, so I deliberately made extra. Otherwise... hmph!"

"Let's eat!"

The family picked up their chopsticks and chatted about the day as they ate.

"Xuan, your idea really worked! The police force has been doing as you said lately, and the villagers' attitude toward us has improved quite a bit. Everyone's pretty happy about it!"

Uchiha Senichi brought up the police force.

A few months ago, he had complained to his son that the police force was always disliked by the villagers, which left him feeling stifled. Since he thought his son was clever, he had asked him for advice.

After all, in Senichi's eyes, there was nothing Xuan could not solve.

Xuan had indeed offered a solution. Its core was simple: the Uchiha members of the police force should stop keeping such stiff faces and acting superior, and find ways to get closer to the villagers.

They could not keep putting on airs all day, acting like everyone owed them money.

The idea sounded simple, but carrying it out was not easy for the Uchiha Clan.

After all, the pride in their bones was not something they could change overnight.

Uchiha Senichi had put in tremendous effort. Relying on his position as vice-captain and his own strength, he had spent several months achieving only modest results.

They were still far from completely overturning the villagers' bad impression of the police force.

"As long as it worked."

Xuan nodded and continued, "But in the short term, there's basically no chance of making the villagers completely let go of their prejudice and hostility toward the Uchiha Clan."

"Not to mention that police work itself is a hot potato. Do it well and no one praises you; mess up and all you get is blame."

"And Danzo and the rest of Konoha's higher-ups probably don't want to see the Uchiha Clan turn their reputation around in the villagers' eyes."

Everyone at the table frowned upon hearing that.

"Why?"

Uchiha Hao could not help asking, "Putting everything else aside, I think the Third Hokage is a pretty decent person, isn't he? A few times when our squad took missions, we ran into him assigning work there. He was always quite friendly to me."

Xuan looked at his older brother helplessly and sighed. "Bro, you really ought to eat more pig brains and give your own brain a boost."

"Could you please stop being fooled by the act he puts on in public?"

"Just asking that makes you look so dumb. Outsiders might think our whole family's intelligence is at this level."

Uchiha Hao: "..."

"So after all that circling around, you're still calling me stupid, right?"

Uchiha Hao glared speechlessly at his sharp-tongued little brother.

Uchiha Hao opened his mouth, wanting to retort, but could not find the words.

If he were not afraid their parents would beat him afterward, and if he did not still need the training Xuan had taught him, he really wanted to slap this brat and show him what it meant for an elder brother to be like a father.

"Of course."

Xuan spread his hands, his tone carrying a trace of disdain. "The Third Hokage managed to temporarily take the Hokage position after something happened to the Second Hokage, and then held that seat firmly amid so many powerful clans. Do you really think he's some kind old man? That thought is so naïve it hurts."

Uchiha Hao: "..."

Fine. He admitted he had oversimplified things.

As for the Third Hokage, he was not exactly a pure villain, but calling him a kind elder was complete nonsense.

Mm, the one rotten to the core was still Danzo.

That guy was the very embodiment of selfishness.

At that moment, Uchiha Senichi frowned and stared at Xuan. "You mean Danzo, the Third Hokage, and the others will definitely sabotage us in secret and won't let us restore our reputation so easily? Then what do we do?"

"Nothing much."

Xuan spread his hands again, his tone exceedingly casual. "Unless we remove all those higher-ups like Danzo, or even make them disappear outright, then shake off the burden of the police force from the Uchiha Clan, these problems simply can't be solved."

The Uchiha's reputation in Konoha had become this foul; they could not reverse it through their own efforts alone.

Speaking of which, back in the Warring States era, the Uchiha's relationship with the major ninja clans had not been nearly as strained as it was now.

Back then, the Uchiha had no shortage of subordinate ninja clans and allies.

Yet in Konoha, they could not even make friends, much less establish a solid alliance.

"You child."

Meixin could not bear listening anymore. She lightly tapped Xuan on the head with her chopsticks and scolded him in a low voice, "Can you just say things like that openly? If someone overhears, our family—and the entire Uchiha Clan—will be in serious trouble."

"I know, I know."

Xuan immediately raised both hands in surrender. "But we're at home, aren't we? There's a sealing barrier blocking surveillance, and I swept the area with my spiritual power too. There's absolutely no problem."

As early as a year ago, he had learned that the Third Hokage he had reluctantly acknowledged used the Telescope Technique to watch over the entire village.

Back then, he had asked his parents to set up a barrier at home that blocked surveillance.

Combined with the spiritual power their family had cultivated through the Spirit Refining Method, it was basically foolproof.

"Then... is there no other path?"

Uchiha Senichi's voice was somewhat muffled.

He had originally thought that after producing results, the Uchiha's circumstances would gradually improve.

But what happened?

It was nothing like he had imagined.

Over the past year or so, he had talked with Xuan quite a lot.

He understood very well that if the Uchiha wanted to make something of themselves in the village, or even have an Uchiha-born Hokage someday in the future, the first thing they needed to do was wash away their foul reputation in the village.

But now, this most crucial step had completely become impossible to take.

Xuan took a mouthful of rice and nodded. "At the moment, there really aren't any good ideas. The only thing we can do is go all out to improve ourselves and build up the Uchiha's foundation."

"Develop quietly, and don't let outsiders set their sights on us. Once we expose too much, we'll still be targeted."

"Once we've accumulated enough strength and the time is right, we can go settle things with Konoha's higher-ups."

"If reason doesn't work, then we switch to physics. When your fists are hard enough, everything you say carries weight."

"Those schemes and tricks can't last long in the face of absolute power."

"So! Dad! Big Bro! Get your spirits up and train properly!"

"I'll set a small goal for you first—reach Kage-level combat power within three years. That's not too hard, right?"

In truth, Xuan knew there was not absolutely no way to break this deadlock. It was just that those methods would require spending vast amounts of time playing mind games and secretly battling people like Danzo and the Third Hokage, slowly wearing them down.

That would also require every Uchiha to stand united against outsiders, without any idiots dragging them down.

In this world, all strength began with oneself. Xuan could not be bothered with such trouble.

Once he was strong enough, he would have no need to do any of that anyway.