Chapter 10

Konoha had someone like the Third Hokage who was easy to talk to, and from beginning to end, he wanted to live in peace with the major shinobi villages.

The problem was that the other shinobi villages were not willing.

Who wouldn't be envious of the vast resources belonging to Konoha and the Land of Fire?

Without the First Hokage and the Second Hokage holding down the fort, in the eyes of the other shinobi villages, Konoha was no longer that terrifying. It was simply a fat piece of meat that everyone wanted to step up and take a heavy bite out of.

Coupled with the fact that old scores among the various shinobi villages had not been settled clearly.

Once they saved up enough wealth, the Third Shinobi World War would break out sooner or later.

Meixin also chuckled along. "Yeah, with fewer wars, casualties can be a little lower."

Having stayed in the Ninja Hospital for a long time and grown too accustomed to life and death, she secretly hoped in her heart that the world could quiet down.

"Alright, I'm not going to chat with you kids anymore. Mom is going to go make dinner. You two go on with your date! Hehe!"

After speaking, Meixin walked into the house with brisk steps.

Leaving Yan and Mikoto to look at each other, both with quite helpless expressions.

Soon, lunch was served at the table.

"Yan! Mikoto! Dinner's ready!"

"Coming right away!"

"Yo, looks like our timing was spot on, just in time for dinner!"

Uchiha Senichi pushed the door open with Uchiha Hao, and upon seeing the table full of steaming hot dishes, the father and son spoke with smiles.

Uchiha Meixin gave her man a side-eye and pouting, said, "I knew you guys were coming back, so I specially made an extra portion, otherwise... hmph!"

"Itadakimasu!"

The family picked up their chopsticks and began to chat about today's events while eating.

"Yan, the method you gave really works! Recently, the Konoha Military Police Force has been doing as you said, and the villagers' attitudes toward us have improved a lot. Everyone is quite happy!"

Uchiha Senichi brought up the matter of the Konoha Military Police Force.

A few months ago, he complained to his son, saying that the villagers always disliked the Konoha Military Police Force and he felt stifled inside. Believing that this son of his was smart, he sought his advice.

After all, in Senichi's eyes, there was never a problem that the child Yan couldn't solve.

Yan did indeed give a solution. The core point was this: the Uchiha members of the Konoha Military Police Force should stop always pulling long faces and putting on a superior posture, and find ways to get closer to the villagers.

Putting on airs all day and acting as arrogant as if someone owed you money, how could that possibly work?

The idea sounded simple, but when actually put into practice, it was by no means easy for the Uchiha Clan.

After all, the arrogance in their bones could not be changed just like that.

Uchiha Senichi put in a tremendous amount of effort, relying on his status as deputy captain and hard strength, and it took him several months to barely produce some results.

To completely reverse the bad impression of the Konoha Military Police Force in the minds of the villagers was still a long way off.

"As long as it's useful."

Yan nodded, then continued, "However, in the short term, getting the villagers to completely let go of their prejudice and hostility toward the Uchiha Clan is basically out of the question."

"Not to mention that the job of the Konoha Military Police Force itself is a hot potato; do it well and no one praises you, mess it up and it's all curses;"

"That group of Konoha higher-ups led by Danzo probably won't be happy to see the Uchiha Clan make a comeback in the hearts of the villagers either."

The few people sitting at the table furrowed their brows upon hearing this.

"Why?"

Uchiha Hao couldn't help but ask, "Putting everything else aside, I think the Third Hokage is a pretty good person, right? Several times when our squad took on missions, we ran into him handing out tasks, and his attitude toward me was quite amiable?"

After hearing this, Yan looked at his older brother with a helpless expression and sighed, "Bro, you really should eat more pig brains and properly fix your head!"

"Stop getting fooled by someone putting on a show on stage, alright?"

"Asking a question like this just shows how foolish you are. Outsiders would think our family's IQ is right at this level."

Uchiha Hao: "..."

"So you went around in circles just to call me stupid, right?"

Uchiha Hao stared speechlessly at this sharp-tongued younger brother.

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

If he wasn't afraid that his parents would beat him up later, and if he didn't still have to rely on that Spirit Refining Method taught by Yan, he really wanted to slap the kid across the face and let this brat know what it meant to be an elder brother acting like a father.

"Otherwise?"

Yan spread his hands, a hint of disdain in his tone, "If the Third could temporarily step up to the position of Hokage after something happened to the Second, and still steadily occupy this chair amidst the cracks of so many large clans, do you really take him for a benevolent and kindly old good guy? That thought of yours is painfully naive."

Uchiha Hao: "..."

Fine, he admitted that he had thought things were too simple.

As for the Third, to call him a pure villain would be going too far, but to say he was a kind elder was sheer nonsense.

Well, the one truly rotten to the core was still Danzo.

That fellow was the textbook definition of the four words 'selfish and self-interested'.

At this time, Uchiha Senichi frowned, stared at Yan, and asked, "Are you saying that Danzo and the Third will definitely work against us in secret and won't let us easily flip our reputation around? Then what should we do?"

"Just let it be."

Yan spread both hands, his tone extremely casual, "Unless we pluck out that whole bunch of higher-ups like Danzo, or even make them vanish directly, and shake off the burden of the Konoha Military Police Force from the Uchiha, these problems simply cannot be solved."

The Uchiha's reputation in Konoha stank to this high heaven; it couldn't be reversed just by relying on themselves alone.

Come to think of it, back in the Warring States period, the relationship between the Uchiha and the major shinobi clans wasn't nearly as stiff as it was now.

At that time, the Uchiha had plenty of dependent shinobi clans and allies in their hands.

Inside Konoha, they couldn't even make a single friend, let alone a solid alliance.

"You child."

Meixin, sitting off to the side, couldn't listen any longer. She picked up her chopsticks and lightly tapped Yan on the head, scolding in a low voice, "Can you just casually say things like that outside? If anyone overheard, our family and the entire Uchiha would be in deep trouble."

"I know, I know."

Yan immediately raised both hands in surrender, "Aren't we at home? With the sealing barrier blocking things, I even scanned the area with spiritual energy; there's absolutely no problem."

As early as a year ago, he knew that the cheap Third he had acknowledged would use the Telescope Technique to spy on the entire village.

Back then, he had his parents set up a barrier at home to isolate prying eyes.

Coupled with the spiritual energy their whole family had cultivated through practicing the Spirit Refining Method, it was basically foolproof.

"Then, is there really no other way out?"

Uchiha Senichi's voice was somewhat heavy.

He had originally thought that since he had achieved results, the Uchiha's days would gradually get better.

And the result?

It wasn't what he thought at all.

In the past year or so, he hadn't talked less with Yan.

He knew very well in his heart that to make something of themselves in the village, and perhaps one day in the future produce a Hokage from the Uchiha, the very first thing to do was to wash away that stinky reputation they carried in the village.

Yet now, this most crucial step could not be taken any further at all.

Yan shoveled a mouthful of rice and nodded, "There really aren't any good ideas at the moment. The only thing to speak of is to strengthen ourselves to the fullest and make the Uchiha's foundation much more solid."

"Develop in a low-key manner, and don't let outsiders fix their eyes on us. Once too much is exposed, we'll still be targeted."

"When our strength is accumulated enough and the timing is ripe, we'll go find the higher-ups of Konoha and hash things out clearly."

"If reasoning doesn't work, then switch to reasoning with physics. When your fists are hard enough, whatever you say is hard."

"Those tricks of playing schemes and playing mind games cannot last long in the face of absolute power."

"So! Dad! Big Bro! Get your spirits up, all of you, and cultivate properly!"

"I'll set a small goal for you guys first—reach Kage Level combat power within three years, how about that? It shouldn't be too hard, right?"

Actually, Yan knew well in his heart that breaking this deadlock wasn't entirely without a path. It was just that those methods all required spending a massive amount of time playing mind games with Danzo, the Third, and these people, fighting hidden battles and slowly grinding it out.

That would also require all the Uchiha to be united against the outside and not produce any stupid people holding them back.

In this world, all strength starts from oneself. Yan couldn't be bothered to mess with those things.

When his strength was sufficient, he wouldn't need to do this at all.