The Uchiha's "Caged Bird" spread its wings

Hiruzen Sarutobi was awash with conflicting emotions.

He should have realized it sooner!

Every word this inherently evil Uchiha brat spoke, every move he made, carried a deeper meaning, as elusive as an antelope hanging by its horns...

He had been put in check again.

"Shinji... can we discuss this a little more?"

Shinji pressed a hand to his forehead. "If we can't fill the police force's vacancies, what is there to discuss? The Uchiha kids go to the Ninja Academy, then enter the Hokage's chain of command after graduation. How are they supposed to join the police force? We might as well train them from childhood to become qualified police officers."

Hiruzen Sarutobi wanted to curse him out. He wanted to walk away. But he truly had no options left. He couldn't do that, and he didn't dare.

Regardless of whether Shinji was exploiting the opportunity to seize benefits, dilute his authority as Hokage, and increase the Uchiha's influence in the village...

Sometimes, even if someone put a pile of shit in front of him, he had to hold his nose and accept it. Hadn't he done that often enough?

Konoha was now weaker than it had ever been!

First, Konoha's White Fang had committed suicide. Then came the Third Shinobi World War, followed immediately by the Nine-Tails' Attack and the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife.

Even now, Konoha was still struggling to rebuild.

The new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki would only turn eight next year, barely old enough to enter the Ninja Academy. Not only was he useless for now, he was also a ticking explosive tag!

Of the Konoha Sannin, one had defected, one was too disheartened to be of much use, and one was roaming the world like some street bum, looking for some bullshit Child of Prophecy.

Now Danzo lay in a hospital bed, his survival uncertain. Root was leaderless, and Hiruzen Sarutobi had effectively lost an arm, leaving the major clans itching to make their moves!

No one would willingly remain beneath someone else forever. When you weakened, the situation only grew more dire.

Everyone wanted to shit on your head!

The Uchiha were in a league of their own, having produced a troublesome little bastard like Shinji Uchiha!

The disturbance last night had only left him more frightened and uneasy.

More than once last night, Hiruzen Sarutobi had considered killing off the Uchiha, ending the problem once and for all, and clearing the dark clouds hanging over Konoha.

But his remaining reason had held him back.

He had a premonition...

The destruction of the Uchiha would inevitably be followed by Konoha's precipitous decline. He firmly believed that!

So.

—It seemed his only choice was to compromise and continue his old approach of boiling a frog slowly.

"Shinji, how about this?"

After pondering for a long while, Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "Setting up an office inside the academy is clearly impractical... I can issue a directive through the Hokage's office allowing the police force to recruit three graduates directly each year."

Shinji frowned. "Three?"

"..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed. "It is a little low, barely a drop in the bucket compared to the police force's staffing shortage, but... the war only ended recently, and the Nine-Tails' Attack left a huge gap in student enrollment. Students aren't weeds, after all. They don't sprout again with the spring breeze."

Shinji tapped his fingers against the desk. "Three is too few. Make it six per semester, enough for four ninja squads a year, with the right to select recruits by name at any time and have them graduate early. That's not too much to ask, is it, Third?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi hesitated, weighing the advantages and disadvantages.

"Well..."

Shinji glanced at him, then said thoughtfully, "In return, the Uchiha will send twenty-four children of the appropriate age to the Ninja Academy each year. Of course... we can't keep that number up forever. Our clansmen having children is, as you said, not something that happens with the spring breeze, much less something I can control as Clan Head."

At that, Hiruzen Sarutobi sank into thought.

Was he losing out? Or coming out ahead?

Or would this benefit both sides?

A long while passed.

He raised his head, his gaze resolute. "It's a deal!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi firmly believed.

As long as the Uchiha and Konoha maintained a channel of communication, and large numbers of children entered the Ninja Academy to be raised from a young age through the bonds between classmates and teammates, through the great Will of Fire...

He would surely cultivate many talents like Kagami Uchiha and Uchiha Itachi!

"Good!"

Shinji was overjoyed. "Third, you certainly won't regret the decision you've made today. In the future, the village and the Uchiha will become one, with no distinction between them!"

"Let's hope so."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, his gaze unreadable.

"Then..."

"Shinji."

Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned forward and said earnestly, "Since we've been this open with each other, shouldn't you tell me—tell the village—what happened in the Uchiha compound last night, so everyone knows where things stand?"

Shinji froze. "Well..."

"Clan Head! We failed to complete..."

Suddenly, a voice came from outside the office. A member in police uniform rushed in, filthy and bloodstained, his face anxious. Upon seeing Hiruzen Sarutobi, he immediately stopped speaking.

He stood at a loss.

"Get out! Can't you see I'm discussing matters with Lord Hokage?" A faint flicker of panic crossed Shinji's eyes.

Hiruzen Sarutobi studied Shinji's expression, then turned to look at the Uchiha member...

He frowned.

"Yes, Clan Head!"

Shinji watched his subordinate leave, then turned back to Hiruzen Sarutobi with an apologetic smile. "Third, sorry you had to see that..."

"Hmm... not at all."

Hiruzen Sarutobi paused thoughtfully. "Since everything's settled, I'll take my leave and go draft the directive right away."

"Sorry for the trouble, Third!"

"Take care."

"No need to see me out!"

He stepped out of the police headquarters.

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked around and noticed nothing amiss. He was about to leave the compound when a bedraggled police squad returned.

Their expressions were furious, their clothes disheveled and scorched in several places.

As it happened, Hiruzen Sarutobi knew their leader.

"Uchiha Ryuka?"

"Third!"

Uchiha Ryuka was startled to see Hiruzen Sarutobi coming out of police headquarters, and his eyes darted away.

With his hands clasped behind his back, the little old man smiled. "Were you out on a mission?"

"Ah... yes."

Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled. "Well, I hear you've followed Shinji since childhood. A genius of the Uchiha Clan, proficient in taijutsu and swordsmanship, a Jonin with three tomoe, whose odachi strikes terror into his enemies. If even a squad led by you suffered a setback, your target must be something special!"

Uchiha Ryuka gave an awkward smile. "You flatter me, Third. It's nothing like that. I can't stay and chat. I need to report on the mission!"

With that.

He left Hiruzen Sarutobi standing there and led his squad into police headquarters, fleeing like a rat whose tail had been stepped on.

Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his head, his gaze unreadable, and slowly walked away with his hands behind his back, looking like an old man at a village entrance.

At a second-floor window of police headquarters.

Shinji and Shisui stood side by side.

"Can you still not tell me your plan? What exactly are you trying to accomplish with all of this?"

Shisui couldn't make sense of it, no matter how hard he tried.

Since becoming Clan Head, everything Shinji had done openly had been for the future of the village and the clan...

But.

The things he did in secret never made any sense to Shisui.

What was the point of having Uchiha Itachi "defect"?

Shinji gazed at the peaceful Konohagakure in the distance. "It's nothing much. Everything I do is simply to make the clan more prosperous. If, in the process, I can make the place where our clan lives more hospitable, why wouldn't I?"

Shisui couldn't understand.

"Making Itachi a missing-nin can improve things for the clan and the village?"

"See? You've hit another blind spot in your understanding. Stop wasting brain cells. Just wait and see!"

Shinji smiled as he looked into the distance.

With the "cage" that confined you gone, what changes will the Yatagarasu bring to this dark world as it spreads its wings and soars?

I'm looking forward to finding out, too!

Itachi!