Chapter 24

"A living Uzumaki Mito who stands with the Uchiha is what benefits us most."

As long as Uzumaki Mito was around, she could still keep the Third Generation and his people in check.

If she died, the mountain looming over the Third Generation would collapse for good.

The Senju Clan would be finished along with her.

Then the Third Generation and his people would surely do everything they could to swallow up the Senju and Uzumaki Clan's assets, ninjutsu, ancestral holdings... everything. They would gorge themselves in one fell swoop, and their strength would soar.

At that point, the Uchiha would be their first target for elimination, their greatest enemy.

That was a situation Uchiha Chisato had no desire to see.

Uchiha Chisato knew perfectly well that they could never let the Third Generation and his people get too comfortable.

If they freed themselves up to focus on dealing with the Uchiha, there would be serious trouble. They had to keep creating problems for them, keeping them scrambling, so the Uchiha would have room to breathe and grow stronger.

"Don't worry. Leave this to me!"

Uchiha Xunjing patted his chest and readily accepted the task.

"All right, it's settled, then."

Uchiha Chisato nodded, then added, "Mom's getting back on the road to finish the mission. I'm almost at Jaya Island."

"I should be able to finish this mission today."

"Loguetown is next."

"Unfortunately, I still haven't found a flying summoning beast, so I can't reach Sky Island. That'll have to wait."

If she could get up there, money would no longer be so tight. Gold could not be spent directly, but exchanging it for money at an exchange office in the City of Fire would be easy enough.

"It's fine. There's no rush."

Xunjing's voice was steady. "We'll manage it sooner or later."

"The Pirate World is so big that we're bound to find a suitable flying beast."

"Just keep an ear out for news about them while you're out there, Mom."

"True."

Uchiha Chisato's eyes lit up. "I'll remember that. I'm off, then. See you!"

The moment she finished speaking, she vanished from where she stood, teleporting away.

A few hours later.

"Whew, so this is Jaya Island? It really is a mess."

The moment she reached the island, Uchiha Chisato sensed countless ill-intentioned gazes among the looks sweeping toward her from all directions.

Those eyes were full of scrutiny and malice.

"It really is a pirate island. It lives up to its reputation."

She thought to herself, I'll look around first and map out more of the area, so Xunjing can find a safe place to land later.

Otherwise, with his strength, a place like this would be far too dangerous.

With that in mind, Uchiha Chisato was in no hurry to go ashore. Instead of stopping, she steered her little boat slowly around Jaya Island, studying the surrounding terrain and layout as she went.

The pirates on the island reacted in different ways when they saw this.

Some lost interest and stopped watching her. More, however, began following her in secret, their eyes filled with greed and calculation.

Uchiha Chisato had already awakened her Observation Haki, and its range grew every day. She perceived every one of their little movements with perfect clarity.

A trace of coldness flashed through her eyes.

She muttered under her breath, "You really have a death wish."

A bunch of small fry like these dared set their sights on her? They must have been tired of living.

Before long, Uchiha Chisato steered her boat to a beach on the northern side of Jaya Island.

With a light push of her toes, she leaped gracefully ashore.

Once she landed, she turned and pressed a hand against the hull. With a thought, the entire boat vanished into thin air, stored in the storage space within her Space-Time Gate.

Xunjing had granted her that access.

He had set aside a full ten thousand cubic meters of storage space inside the gate for her exclusive use, making it easy for her to carry all sorts of supplies and spoils on her travels.

Uchiha Mikoto had received the same treatment, of course.

The space inside the Space-Time Gate was absurdly vast anyway, stretching ten kilometers across and more than ten kilometers high. There was more than enough room for anything they wanted to store.

Moreover, as his strength increased, the space would expand automatically.

Perhaps one day it would grow into a real world.

"Look, she's over there!"

"Hahaha, she couldn't resist coming ashore after all! And she's a pretty little thing. Bet she'll fetch a good price!"

"Why sell her? Wouldn't it be better to offer her to the boss?"

"..."

Just then, hurried footsteps suddenly came from the nearby woods, accompanied by arrogant shouts.

Uchiha Chisato knitted her brows and turned to look.

In the blink of an eye, a group of pirates charged out of the trees.

Seeing that Uchiha Chisato had not run, they howled with excitement and rushed at her like madmen.

"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"

The next instant, Uchiha Chisato rapidly formed hand seals, leaned forward slightly, and spat a torrent of flames at the charging pirates.

In an instant, terrifyingly hot flames engulfed an area stretching over a hundred meters ahead of her.

The flames spread in a fan, swallowing every pirate who had pursued her.

"Aaaah!!!"

"No!!!"

Screams erupted one after another, but soon fell silent.

Only when she sensed no signs of life left within the area covered by her Fire Release did Uchiha Chisato stop feeding it chakra.

The flames slowly died out, revealing vitrified patches of ground and dozens of bodies burned to charcoal.

Uchiha Chisato nodded in satisfaction. Then her figure flickered, and she vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.

In ten minutes or so, she covered most of Jaya Island.

To avoid trouble, she also used the Transformation Technique, slipping past quite a few prying eyes.

"Mm, that should do. Time to head back."

After browsing several shops in town without finding anything that caught her eye, she found a deserted corner and teleported away.

In a courtyard within the Senju Clan Grounds in the Ninja World.

"Grandma, you have no idea how much of a stir the Uchiha have caused this time. They're actually willing to open up the Police Department, and they've even set up something called the Elite Police Force..."

After learning about the Uchiha's reforms to the Police Department, Tsunade started discussing them with her grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, as soon as she got home.

"It just doesn't feel like something the Uchiha we knew would do."

"After all, they've always treated the Police Department's authority as their own private property, guarding it so fiercely that they wouldn't let outsiders touch it."

"I don't know what's gotten into them this time."

Tsunade shook her head, looking baffled.

"Yes, I heard about it too."

After listening, Uzumaki Mito nodded. "Monkey already came to speak to me about it."

"Huh? My teacher?"

Tsunade froze, then frowned. "Why would he come to you about this? Does he want you to step in and stop the Uchiha?"

"Stop them?" Uzumaki Mito gently shook her head. "Monkey isn't stupid. He wants to use this opportunity to get his hands into the Police Department."

"He can't figure out what the Uchiha are trying to do, so he wants me to meet Uchiha Chisato and sound her out."

She paused, then continued, "His people sent word back that Uchiha Chisato seems to have suddenly returned to her peak condition."

"Monkey is getting anxious."

The Third Hokage had also mentioned to Uzumaki Mito that, by doing this, the Uchiha were undermining the rules laid down by the Second Hokage-isolating the Uchiha and making the villagers despise them.

Uzumaki Mito had not responded to that.

She had never believed Tobirama's approach was right.

Pushing the Uchiha away and suppressing them too harshly would cause trouble sooner or later, and Konoha would ultimately suffer for it.

Unfortunately, the Third Generation clearly would not listen.

She had not wasted any more breath on it.

Still, she had agreed to meet Uchiha Chisato.

Not to help the Third Generation sound her out, but simply to confirm with her own eyes whether Uchiha Chisato had truly recovered.