Kurenai Yuhi

The Third announced that he would return to office as the reigning Hokage.

This surprised quite a few ninja clans.

But the influence he had retained from his previous tenure kept most of them from reacting with resentment.

Uchiha Hui did not know what Uchiha Fugaku would do next. Based on their earlier conversation, once the Third's return was confirmed, the Uchiha Clan would have to find a way forward, such as securing a Hokage candidacy to strengthen its political standing in the village.

But as for how exactly they would go about that...

Uchiha Fugaku had not gone into detail.

Uchiha Hui had offered a few suggestions, though, such as protecting the Third during an "assassination attempt" to earn his trust.

And so it went.

One morning.

Another full week had passed since the memorial ceremony.

Uchiha Hui still kept to his routine, heading to the clan's training grounds after getting up each day to find sparring partners and rapidly improve his strength.

Perhaps it was because of his impressive performances over the past month.

At this point, few chunin were still willing to fight him, forcing him to lower his demands every time. For example, he would agree not to use ninjutsu or not to attack with taijutsu...

"Another day of great rewards."

Uchiha Hui defeated five chunin in succession and pocketed the rewards they dropped, a smile spreading across his face.

"There he goes again! That training maniac is flashing that creepy smile after beating up another bunch of ninja!"

A chunin nearby could not help complaining.

Uchiha Hui's strength had left a deep impression on them, and the smile he wore after every victory had consequently taken on extra meaning, with everyone interpreting it differently.

"Why does this guy seem to be improving so fast?"

Someone voiced his confusion.

A month earlier.

They had not thought Uchiha Hui was strong enough to overwhelm most of their chunin.

Back then, they had merely felt he was no longer the "disgrace of the Uchiha chunin" he had been at the start.

"If you pushed yourself this hard to find sparring partners every day, maybe you'd get stronger every day like Hui does!"

Someone murmured behind him.

Naturally, plenty of people had noticed how unusual Uchiha Hui was.

They realized that his willpower was truly remarkable. Faced with such intense fighting every day, someone else might have given up long ago.

After all, even ninja could not fully recover their physical and mental energy by the next day after training and fighting.

And so.

Many of them could not help respecting Uchiha Hui's persistence.

Of course, the strong deserved respect.

"Looks like there's no one else today. I'll head back, then."

Unlike the others chatting among themselves, Uchiha Hui remained composed throughout. Once he confirmed that no one else wanted to fight him, he decided to end the day's training, go home, and open his boxes to grow stronger.

Before heading home, however, Uchiha Hui planned to do some shopping.

These days.

Although he had not been taking missions and seemingly had no income, sparring earned him a few thousand ryo in pure profit every day. He was hardly short of money, and at least he could eat all the meat he wanted.

Walking along the street.

Uchiha Hui saw that Konoha was gradually regaining its prosperity and vitality.

After buying plenty of beef, pork, fruits and vegetables, he turned around to head home.

At this stage.

He had barely interacted with ninja outside the Uchiha Clan.

It was not because he lacked opportunities.

He simply did not want to.

As he walked.

Uchiha Hui soon turned down a narrow path.

There was no point asking why he always preferred side paths. It was simply because fewer people meant fewer unexpected incidents.

However.

Just as he was passing through a wooded grove.

Uchiha Hui's ears suddenly twitched. He faintly heard a sound.

"Brat, stop trying to resist. No one's coming to save you here. Behave yourself, and we promise we won't hurt you. Once we get the information we want, we'll let you go!"

A sinister male voice rang out.

"In your dreams!"

A clear female voice answered.

"Then don't blame us for getting rough!"

Uchiha Hui heard the exchange clearly. Then he sensed the disturbance of a fight less than a hundred meters away.

He looked up.

Deep in the grove, he could vaguely make out two grown men attacking a petite female figure.

"Has Konoha really come to this?!"

Uchiha Hui could not help being surprised.

If it had been a month earlier, in the days just after the Nine-Tails' Rampage, he could have understood the village being in utter chaos.

After all, it had just suffered a battle.

The village had been too overwhelmed to look after itself, and spies had swarmed in like sharks scenting blood, brazenly stealing intelligence.

But by now, order had largely been restored in Konoha.

Were people really still attacking Konoha ninja inside the village at a time like this?

She should be fine, right? Anbu or some other ninja will show up soon.

Uchiha Hui paused, thinking in silence.

He did not particularly enjoy getting dragged into trouble.

After all, the Uchiha were already one of the biggest sources of trouble at present.

With that thought.

Uchiha Hui continued toward the clan compound.

This place was not particularly isolated.

The sounds of battle would soon alert nearby ninja, and the female ninja being attacked would be rescued.

Of course, that depended on the unknown Konoha kunoichi holding out until help arrived...

After taking two steps.

Uchiha Hui stopped anyway.

"I guess I'm not heartless after all. I still can't stay indifferent to the people around me."

He set the bags in his arms aside.

Uchiha Hui took a deep breath and raced toward the battle.

His mastery of the Body Flicker Technique made his speed virtually unmatched among chunin. He had never even used it at full power during his usual sparring matches.

Whoosh!

Uchiha Hui appeared on a tree branch.

Below him.

Two middle-aged men in ordinary clothing were working together to attack a young girl with curly black hair.

The girl looked only fifteen or sixteen, her face still carrying traces of childhood.

But she did not seem weak.

However.

She had two opponents. One was roughly at chunin level, while the other was even stronger.

Slash!

One enemy cut Kurenai Yuhi's shoulder. Blood spurted out, and pain crossed her face.

But a moment later.

Before she could continue resisting, a kick struck her in the chest.

In an instant.

She flew backward and slammed into a tree, feeling as though her entire body would fall apart. The kunai slipped from her grip and fell to the ground.

"Shinku Yuhi's daughter, all right. Her genjutsu really is something. If there weren't two of us, we might not have taken her down!"

One enemy spat and slowly approached Kurenai Yuhi.

"Get moving. Once we take her back, we need to get enough intelligence out of her as quickly as possible. Otherwise, Konoha's people will definitely notice something's wrong, and we might not get away either."

The enemy who had just kicked Kurenai Yuhi away gave the order coldly.

As he spoke.

His brows rose, and his hand flicked.

A moment later, just as Kurenai Yuhi began to move, a shuriken pierced her palm, pinning her left hand firmly to the tree root beneath her.

Kurenai Yuhi let out a muffled groan, pain contorting her pretty face.

As the enemy approached.

The fear in her eyes grew.

No one could have imagined that she would be attacked inside the village.

Her father had recently died during the Nine-Tails' Rampage. Kurenai Yuhi had already been in a terrible state of mind, and now this had happened.

"I won't let you get what you want!"

Kurenai Yuhi glared hatefully at the two enemies. Then, under their astonished gazes, she ripped her hand free from the ground. With her wound tearing open and blood spraying, she slashed the shuriken toward her own throat.

She more or less understood why these two spies had targeted her.

It was simply because of her father.

As the commander of Konoha's genin and chunin, Shinku Yuhi had possessed a vast amount of intelligence.

And so.

The spies were trying to use Kurenai Yuhi to access information they otherwise had almost no chance of obtaining, thereby achieving their goal.

But she, Kurenai Yuhi, was no pushover!

Even if she died.

She would not disgrace her father.

Clang!

Kurenai Yuhi had truly steeled herself, but a moment later, the shuriken was knocked from her hand.

She opened her eyes in surprise.

She thought the enemies had reacted in time to stop her from killing herself.

Instead.

She saw a figure leaning against a branch in a tree diagonally opposite her, his black eyes gazing coldly at her and the two spies below.

"Kid, suicide isn't the way to solve your problems."

Uchiha Hui glanced at the stunned Kurenai Yuhi, then turned his gaze toward the two spies watching him warily. "And you two, attacking a little girl? You really don't have a shred of dignity as ninja!"

"Y-you... who are you?!"

Kurenai Yuhi had not expected someone to come to her rescue. Joy flashed across her face, but she quickly shouted to Uchiha Hui, "They're both chunin! Hurry and alert the Anbu!"

She noticed that Uchiha Hui was not wearing a jonin vest.

Besides, she recognized all the well-known jonin in the village.

And so.

Once she realized that Uchiha Hui might only be a chunin, Kurenai Yuhi hurried to warn him.

"Aoki, he's Uchiha Hui!"

Unlike Kurenai Yuhi, after sizing him up, one of the two enemies quickly spoke to his companion.

"A chunin?"

The ninja called Aoki asked quietly.

"Yes, and he's not very strong."

The other man spoke again.

"Then we'll take them both! What an unexpected bonus!"

Aoki looked delighted. A moment later, he left his position and swiftly attacked Uchiha Hui up in the tree.

His strength was roughly at the level of an elite chunin.

And so.

He decided to finish the fight quickly.

But contrary to his expectations.

Just as his kunai was about to strike Uchiha Hui.

The latter suddenly vanished in a blur.

When he reappeared, he was already standing beside Kurenai Yuhi below, leaving Aoki's attack to hit nothing but air.

"So fast!"

For an instant, Aoki was stunned.

Didn't he say this guy wasn't very strong?

When the other enemy, who had remained where he was, saw Uchiha Hui appear beside Kurenai Yuhi, he quickly leaped away and joined his teammate, Aoki.

The two exchanged a glance.

Both seemed somewhat surprised by Uchiha Hui's strength.

"You..."

Kurenai Yuhi hadn't expected the ninja who had come to her rescue to be quite this strong.

And from what the enemy had just said,

she had learned Uchiha Hui's identity.

The Uchiha Clan?

Still, she had little impression of Uchiha Hui. Of all the Uchiha, she was probably only familiar with their clan leader and a few squad captains serving in the Konoha Military Police Force.

Uchiha Hui didn't look at Kurenai Yuhi.

He didn't know her.

He only thought she looked vaguely familiar. Perhaps she was some minor character who had appeared at some point in the story.

So,

he focused more of his attention on the two enemies facing him.

--

Name: Aoki

Identity: Intelligence Elite Chunin of Kirigakure, Land of Water

Reputation: 8,779 points

Relationship: Hostile

--

Name: Toyama Kazuha

Identity: Intelligence Chunin of Kirigakure, Land of Water

Reputation: 7,667 points

Relationship: Hostile

--

Two more Kirigakure spies?!

Uchiha Hui was somewhat surprised.

Last month, he had been attacked by a spy who had also come from Kirigakure. He hadn't expected to encounter two more today.

Had Kirigakure really sent this many spies into Konoha?!

"Kid, Sato Kai somehow failed to catch you last time, but you won't be so lucky this time!"

Aoki grinned.

He didn't think much of Uchiha Hui dodging his attack just now.

For one thing, he hadn't used his full strength. For another, judging by the intelligence they had gathered, Uchiha Hui couldn't possibly be that strong. The two of them could easily handle him!

As for why Sato Kai had failed last time,

he must simply have been unlucky.

He must have run into someone from the Anbu or the Konoha Military Police Force.

"Tch!"

After briefly gauging the enemy's strength, Uchiha Hui felt completely confident.

So,

his face showed nothing but disdain at the provocation.

I might not be able to beat those other bastards, but you think I can't beat two fucking small fry like you?

"You little bastard! I'll show you what cruelty means!"

Anger spread across Aoki's face at being belittled.

But a second later,

his expression suddenly froze.

Uchiha Hui, who had been standing in place a moment ago, had somehow appeared behind his companion. Before the man could even react, a kunai slashed across his throat.

At that moment,

Toyama Kazuha clutched his throat and turned to look at Uchiha Hui standing behind him, his eyes filled with shock and confusion.

Before he fell,

he looked toward the spot where Uchiha Hui had just been standing.

Only Kurenai Yuhi remained there, standing shakily with an equally bewildered expression, still holding the kunai she had just drawn.

"How... how is that possible?!"

Shock flashed in Aoki's eyes. The next second, he lunged straight at Uchiha Hui, his expression twisting out of control.

Clang!

Uchiha Hui blocked his attack.

Then he flipped backward.

Immediately afterward,

before the enemy could move from his spot,

he unleashed the Great Fireball Technique, which he had already mastered.

Boom!

The thunderous blast instantly echoed through the woods.

It startled a flock of birds in the distance.

It also drew the attention of the nearby ninja.

Uchiha Hui looked at the enemy, who had already stopped breathing amid the flames, then shifted his gaze to the female ninja.

"The village's ninja will be here soon. Wait here."

With that,

before Kurenai Yuhi could speak, he scooped up the rewards dropped by the two spies he had killed, activated the Body Flicker Technique, and sped toward the clan compound.

He had no interest in staying there for the Anbu's investigation and interrogation.

Come to the Uchiha Clan Compound if you've got the guts.