Talent

That evening, when Kakashi returned home, he found a scroll placed at his door. It contained extensive notes on using the Sharingan, along with several commonly used Sharingan genjutsu.

After studying it carefully, Kakashi gained many insights and also discovered numerous flaws in the details of how he usually used the Sharingan.

With those common genjutsu included, the scroll might not make Kakashi significantly stronger, but it would at least make his combat smoother and enrich his tactical repertoire.

Though Kakashi felt he had benefited greatly, he could not understand Ren's true intentions. But recalling what Ren had said—

Kakashi decided to visit his teacher's child tomorrow.

Mitsuba returned home carrying a thick stack of documents. Normally, she never discussed work details much at home, but this time, she took out two documents from the pile and handed them to her husband, Uchiha Qiyue.

"Don't you like snooping around for gossip and little bits of news whenever you have nothing to do? You can read these. Until today, they were still considered classified documents."

Uchiha Qiyue looked at Mitsuba with concern. "Is it really okay to bring these home?"

"It's fine, don't worry. This is an assignment from the Minister."

Mitsuba said with a light laugh as she looked at the concern in her husband's eyes.

Qiyue did not stand on ceremony anymore. The moment Mitsuba mentioned classified documents, he had barely been able to suppress his curiosity. After receiving confirmation, he picked up the papers from the table and began reading.

As a non-ninja, Qiyue found even the Anbu incredibly mysterious, let alone Root.

After finishing the documents on the table with shining eyes, Qiyue's heart was filled with doubt. Should I really be reading this? Am I really allowed to read this?

Once his curiosity had been satisfied, lingering fear rose in Qiyue's heart, and a trace of terror even appeared in his eyes.

Mitsuba had been watching her husband all along. When she saw the fear in Qiyue's eyes, she quickly reassured him, "Don't overthink it. This is an assignment given by the Minister. After reading the documents, you need to write your thoughts on them. The Minister will review them personally."

Yet Qiyue's doubts only deepened. Regarding the new clan head, the evaluations he had heard from different clan members all described him as powerful, wise, decisive, and the like.

He did not believe the clan head would do anything pointless. From the measures he had taken since assuming office, it was clear that the clan head had been working to ease relations between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha.

But what did Root have to do with easing relations with Konoha? No, Root seemed to have always been undermining the relationship between the clan and Konoha.

Could it be that what the clan head wanted to do was...

At that thought, Qiyue began to see the outline of the answer, though he was not sure whether his guess was correct. Still, he decided to write his thoughts according to that guess.

Now that he had an idea, Qiyue did not take long to write several reflections from different angles.

Seeing that he had written several reflections, Mitsuba smiled and said, "Is there really a need to write so many? You'll only increase the clan head's workload."

Still, Mitsuba took the reflections Qiyue had written and said with a smile, "Let me see what you wrote first."

But as Mitsuba read through them one by one, the smile on her face vanished.

Mitsuba was not some naive little girl who understood nothing. She looked seriously at her husband and asked, "Do you think it could really be like this?"

Qiyue shook his head. "I don't know either. It's just that the clan head's actions gave me that impression."

Mitsuba said, "Then let's leave it at that. I'll submit all of these when the time comes."

While Qiyue and Mitsuba were shocked by their own speculation, they also began to worry about their clan head.

But not every Uchiha clansman worried for their clan head.

Inside a residence somewhere in the Uchiha compound.

"That bastard! Why didn't he die even after all that?!"

"You know his strength. That's perfectly normal."

"Why are all the Uchiha clan heads like this now? Fugaku, that coward, trembled before the Third Hokage."

"After finally getting a powerful clan head, I thought he would lead the Uchiha back to their peak. Who would have thought he'd be even worse than Fugaku? The dignified head of the Uchiha Clan actually took the initiative to visit those obscure little clans!"

"What's most infuriating is that he keeps letting Uchiha Shisui ruin our clan's reputation."

"That's right. We, the Uchiha Clan, are a clan of blood and fire. Yet Shisui, that fellow with no sense of clan honor, spends every day playing the victim!"

"Sigh, what can we do? Not only is he completely unharmed now, but Root's affair has won him even more support."

"My lord, what should we do now? Keep lying low? I feel that if we continue lying low, more and more people will support him."

The person seated at the head finally spoke. "What do you want to do? We lack the strength, so we can only lie low."

"But don't worry too much. We can also use this to determine who among us still remembers the clan's glory."

"Sigh, my lord, I suppose that's all we can do."

The next day, after Ren arranged construction crews to renovate the shops on the commercial street—

As he and Mitsuba headed back to the Konoha Military Police Force, Ren noticed that Mitsuba had hesitated to speak several times.

So he took the initiative to tease her. "What is it? Do you want a raise but feel too embarrassed to ask? It's true that you should be paid separately for your work within the clan."

Mitsuba hurriedly denied it. "No, no, Minister. My salary is already enough. There's no need to increase it."

"No need to refuse. You really should receive another salary. So what did you want to say? Can you tell me, Mitsuba?" Ren asked with a smile on his face.

Having accompanied Ren through quite a few situations, Mitsuba grew even more nervous when she saw his broad smile. Beads of sweat even appeared on her forehead.

In the end, unable to bear the pressure in her heart, Mitsuba gritted her teeth and voiced the speculation she and Qiyue had made. "Minister, are you planning to deal with Danzo?"

After hearing Mitsuba's words, Ren wore a sincere smile. "Mitsuba, it seems you've grown. That's right. Danzo dared to strike directly, so I have no reason not to retaliate."

Mitsuba let out a long breath of relief. So they had guessed correctly, and she had even received the Minister's confirmation. A little joy rose in her heart.

But Ren's next sentence sent Mitsuba's heart plummeting to the bottom, and she nearly burst into tears.

"But Mitsuba, why are you so afraid? Is my smile that frightening?"

What could Mitsuba possibly say? Minister, your smile was handsome and sunny.

But every time you wore that wide smile, nothing good ever happened to those people!!!

Seeing that Mitsuba was so nervous her expression had stiffened, Ren decided to spare her for the moment.

Then he asked, "Mitsuba, how did you figure it out?"

Mitsuba hurriedly explained that she had only understood after seeing the reflections her husband had written while carrying out Ren's assignment.

"Do you have those reflections with you?"

"I do."

"Let me see them."

Ren took the reflections Qiyue had written from Mitsuba's hand. After reading them one by one, he looked at Mitsuba with utter astonishment.

"Mitsuba, the one at your home is a damn talent!!!"