"I know, meow, but there's something else we might need to pay attention to, meow."
"What is it?"
"My clansmen told me that three Uchiha Clan members have mysteriously disappeared over the past few months. They were all under ten years old."
The Shadow Clone Technique frowned. Was there some child molester in Konoha? No, even a child molester wouldn't target only the Uchiha, would they?
After thinking it over, the Shadow Clone Technique quickly connected it to human experimentation. At this point in time, there were only a handful of people capable of reaching into Uchiha affairs.
"My guess is that Senju Tobirama has started making moves."
"That person really does look hard to deal with, meow."
"Hmph! He's a dying man, that's all. Just wait a little longer... a little longer."
In Year Five of Konoha, as the last snow of late winter melted away, Uchiha Gen finally returned to Konoha with five others. The delay had been entirely because they had spent extra time enjoying themselves on the road.
He himself had never tried out the results those tool people had created, so he had deliberately taken the chance to indulge this time.
"As expected of something made for nobles. It really was comfortable, though it was a bit expensive."
"What's the big deal? Lord Yuan was paying anyway. And didn't you see the Yuan-character signs over those shop doors? Those were all Lord Yuan's businesses."
"Lord Yuan really is rich~"
"..."
Uchiha Gen's face darkened. He was beginning to regret taking them for a full-body treatment. Perhaps the tool people's mentality had changed after holding power for so long; what they had come up with had gone far beyond Uchiha Gen's original design concepts, making them even better suited to the current tastes of the nobility.