Please Call Me Uchiha Kogoro

Retsuo fell silent, but his heart was far from calm. One instance of hostility could be called a coincidence, but twice? That was serious. This was no ordinary malice, and it was basically locked onto this dango shop. He had to find the person behind it.

But after looking around, he found nothing. Everyone seemed perfectly natural.

Izumo Kamizuki said mysteriously, "Have you heard? Lord Third Hokage is going to take up the position of Hokage again."

Kotetsu Hagane looked embarrassed, because Prince Asuma was sitting nearby. Following Kotetsu Hagane's gaze, Izumo Kamizuki quickly shrank back. "Lord Third Hokage has it rough too. He's already so old."

Asuma did not care. "As long as we devote our lives to the village, that's enough."

At that moment, Retsuo suddenly cut in. "I thought there'd be some new atmosphere when the generations changed."

The air suddenly went quiet, but Retsuo ruled out Asuma. It was not him.

Kakashi and Umino Iruka were the first to be ruled out.

And with Might Guy's brain capacity, it was absolutely impossible. It was not that he could not feel hostility toward Retsuo, but Might Guy could never be such a scheming old fox.

There was no reason for the two bit players, Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu Hagane, to harbor ill will, nor were they worth suspecting.

Tenma and Shinji had never once been suspected by Retsuo.

With Asuma crossed out, four people remained.

Mizuki and Anko were both highly suspicious. Anko went without saying. As for Mizuki, he was the sort who joined the Nationalist Party in 1949. That showed his brain was not working too well.

Kurenai Yuhi let out an auntie-like laugh. "Then shall we celebrate Third Hokage becoming Hokage again?"

Immediately afterward, everyone raised their skewers and cheered at once, and Retsuo felt that prickling sensation again.

Damn it! This village was impossible to live in! Why would Third Hokage taking office again make someone release hostility toward him? It was not like he had pushed Third Hokage into the position. The old man wanted it himself.

Just then, Mizuki picked his teeth and said to Retsuo, "Heir to the Will of Fire, Third Hokage becoming Hokage again has a lot to do with you. And now you're talking about changing atmospheres? Have you lost your mind?"

The title "Heir to the Will of Fire" had recently been heavily promoted by Uchiha Fugaku. This clan head was not entirely useless. Because of one sentence from the Fourth Hokage, he had keenly seized an opportunity to build momentum for the main family. Unfortunately, Fugaku was still timid enough to make people cry. He had not pursued the matter of Root attacking Retsuo without reason at all.

In Fugaku's words, he was "waiting for a better opportunity."

Retsuo had thrown himself into training and paid little attention to Fugaku's promotion campaign.

Although history had already begun to change, Retsuo understood everyone's temperaments. Of course he knew that this level of promotion would not only be useless, but might even backfire.

And now Mizuki was mocking him for it.

Mizuki and Iruka had not yet graduated from the Ninja Academy. They were this year's graduating class.

Thinking of this, Retsuo suddenly burst into wild laughter. "Hahaha—hahaha—"

Shinji immediately covered her face. Retsuo had been having one or two episodes every day lately. Was this perhaps a trait of the Uchiha Clan?

Mizuki angrily slammed the table. "Hey, you! What are you laughing at?"

Uchiha Retsuo sneered. "Senior Mizuki, I heard you plan to stay at the academy and become a teacher? I don't think your Will of Fire is up to standard. Teaching might be a little beyond you."

"You're talking nonsense!" Mizuki suddenly panicked inside. His usual performance at school had been excellent. He had written papers such as On the Inheritance of the Will of Fire, and the village higher-ups thought highly of him. But deep down, he really did not have much Will of Fire.

Panic gave way to fury. Mizuki bulged his large eyes and roared, "Just you wait! Once I stay at the academy, I'll teach you how to become a qualified ninja!"

"Sorry, but I'll be applying to graduate early."

As Retsuo spoke, he frowned, because two different prickling responses had appeared on the Yin Release Barrier at the same time.

One was the same as before, gentle and continuous. The other was new, extremely intense, with a high frequency of pain that vanished quickly.

What was going on?

But Retsuo immediately realized that the new one should be Mizuki. In fact, after being stimulated by others' malicious thoughts several times, he had learned that everyone's malice had its own frequency. He had already memorized Danzo's frequency, and it was difficult to mistake it.

In other words, Mizuki could be ruled out too. It had not been him just now.

That left only the three girls: Anko, Kurenai Yuhi, and Chie Tsubaki. Of them, Kurenai Yuhi was the least suspicious. By this point, Asuma had practically already won her over.

Chie Tsubaki was not very suspicious either. This bit player had even less presence than Izumo Kamizuki. She remained on the suspect list only because Kogoro Mouri's teacher, Shiota Heihachiro, had a famous saying.

Thinking that far, Retsuo finally felt reassured. Even if he could not dig the person out, he could just guard against all of them!

Women were creatures that affected the speed at which one drew a sword anyway.

Besides, Anko was basically locked in as the suspect.

Shinji seemed to have long expected Retsuo to plan on graduating early, but Tenma was very surprised. "Why?"

"Because I can't wait to contribute to the village! Not just me—you two should start special training too. Try to graduate together with me."

If Tenma and Shinji graduated early, they would not wait to graduate in the same year as Uchiha Itachi and become tools for awakening his eyes.

Tenma and Shinji looked at each other and nodded. Just thinking about how Retsuo had once been weaker than them, yet was now already making such a name for himself, made their hearts stir uncontrollably.

Out of nowhere, Kakashi's mask shifted, and his voice was cool. "Shouldn't the person who needs special training the most be you?"

Retsuo looked embarrassed. The one who needed special training the most really was him. He had a hundred ways to show Danzo up, then show Sarutobi Hiruzen up, and finally show Obito up, but without strength, he could not pull any of them off.

There were only two ways to quickly improve his strength. One was training Genjutsu. The Uchiha Clan had stacked countless buffs in Genjutsu, giving them a huge racial advantage.

The other was training his Bloodline Limit. He could not say it would definitely succeed, but since Minato Namikaze had given him guidance, he had to try.

Just as he was about to ask for help, Kakashi raised a hand as though to stop him. "Hey, hey, don't look at me like that. I have a mission to carry out. I don't have time to guide your training."

Uh...

Retsuo had not expected Kakashi to be so blunt. Though Kakashi had always rejected him over the years, he usually did so more tactfully.

Kakashi was someone who had sent countless graduating teams back to the Ninja Academy for retraining. Before leading Team 7, he had been as hard-hearted as stone. When it came to rejecting people, Retsuo was willing to call him the strongest.

Kakashi continued, "Besides, you're already someone who can defeat a Root Ninja. Even the weakest Root Ninja is an experienced Chūnin. Once ninja reach that level, they generally train alone or spar with people of equal skill."

Might Guy suddenly sprang up excitedly, holding his left arm out straight with his palm flat, his mouth stretched into an exaggerated arc. "Ah, Uchiha Retsuo, how about a youthful spar with Konoha's Blue Beast?"

"No! I'm not that strong. I ambushed him." Retsuo broke out in Waterfall sweat. Sparring with Might Guy might actually kill him.

Kakashi shook his head impassively. "How could someone with a Root Ninja's strength possibly be ambushed by you?"

"Uh... maybe because Root Ninja are all kind of stupid?"

As soon as he said that, the pain suddenly intensified.

It hurt!

Retsuo froze, utterly bewildered.

But his bewilderment lasted only an instant. Though his mind was filled with disbelief, he still casually said to Anko, "I wasn't talking about your teacher."

"You bastard! You don't have even a shred of respect for Lord Orochimaru!" Mitaraishi Anko angrily punched the table, only to see Retsuo's expression suddenly become extremely strange.

Because Anko's prickling response had appeared too, and it was different!

Damn it all! Who else in this room had ties to Root? Retsuo's gaze suddenly shifted toward Kakashi. This was absurd opening the door for absurdity—absurd all the way home! So the person he had ruled out first was the right answer?

Still, once every impossible option was eliminated, the sole remaining one was the answer no matter how absurd it seemed!

At that moment, Kakashi lightly asked, "I'm curious. How exactly did you ambush a Root Ninja?"

Retsuo gave him an intriguing answer. "Big Brother Kakashi, I'll tell you privately."