The Will of Fire Needs a PK Too

"Shut up!" Fugaku immediately roared at Retsuo. "Is there any room here for you to speak? Hm?"

And yet, what Retsuo saw was an encouraging look.

Heh, and you still had the nerve to encourage him? Negotiating terms was supposed to be the clan head's job, wasn't it? Retsuo despised Fugaku for it, though if the man were not cowardly to such an outrageous degree, he probably would not have been able to keep the clan head's seat.

Seeing both the Third Hokage and Utatane Koharu glaring at him, Retsuo asked with Conan-like innocence, "Esteemed Clan Head, if we sold off our ancestral property, roughly how much money could we get?"

Uchiha Kanzan beat everyone to it with an angry roar. "Our Uchiha Clan would never sell our ancestral property!"

"I mean if. Hypothetically, if we sold our former clan grounds?"

Fugaku pondered for a moment. "I will not discuss anything below 150 million ryo. That does not include Naka Shrine. Naka Shrine is not for sale."

Heh, he answered so quickly. It seemed Esteemed Clan Head had not never considered something like this before. But why was it so little? It could only buy the heads of four Asumas.

"Then how much would it cost to purchase that new area, which is twice as large?"

"Uh..." Fugaku could not answer for the moment. He turned to look around and found that everyone seemed to understand—at least Sarutobi Hiruzen did, because his face had turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

Retsuo drove the knife in deeper. "About 35 million?"

"How could it possibly be that expensive!" many clan elders cried in unison.

Someone deliberately muttered "quietly," "They want money for a damned place like that?"

"Naka Shrine cannot move with us, and the Konoha Military Police Force's troubles are about far more than having to travel a little farther for duty."

"How did we not think of that? Thanks to Retsuo."

"Come to think of it, when the Second Hokage reassigned our clan grounds, we already suffered a huge loss."

"Exactly. Our original clan grounds were right in the center of the village."

"Well, the village was built by our Uchiha Clan. Sigh, if we calculated depreciation based on the original clan grounds..."

Fugaku said nothing, but even his nasolabial folds were smiling.

Sarutobi Hiruzen clenched his fists tightly. This Uchiha Retsuo! He should never have been invited! As expected, he still favored the Uchiha Clan!

Retsuo met Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze expressionlessly. Unexpectedly, Shisui, who was standing behind Hiruzen, suddenly said, "How can something so important be measured in money? Uncles, Esteemed Clan Head, when the village has been destroyed, are we really going to haggle over a few ryo? Is the Uchiha Clan's breadth of mind really so petty and calculating?"

Fugaku immediately revealed a stunned expression. Though Uchiha Shisui still looked childish, who would have thought his impassioned speech would ring so forcefully? At once, Fugaku's pride as a member of the number one clan in the ninja world was stirred.

Well said! Sarutobi Hiruzen could not have been more satisfied! Look at this—both were nine years old, yet how sensible was Uchiha Shisui? What a strong sense of the bigger picture! No wonder he was someone Hiruzen valued! What a pity. No matter what, the Uchiha could not be allowed to become Hokage...

Soon, with Shisui's final word settling the matter, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Utatane Koharu departed in satisfaction, while the Uchiha began celebrating Shisui's return from the Eastern Front.

Retsuo had not intended to join the festivities, but Shisui suddenly appeared before him and said, "Want to talk?"

"Sure."

Before awakening the wisdom of his past life, Retsuo had not actually been familiar with Shisui. They were born in the same year, though Retsuo was slightly older.

But Shisui was also the kind of genius who graduated early from the Ninja Academy's first year. When he graduated, Retsuo had still been competing with Tenma for the title of worst student that year.

There was a visible gulf between them. They both had the surname Uchiha, but their education had been completely different.

Standing before Shisui now, Retsuo found him oddly adorable.

Nine-year-old Shisui had not grown into himself yet and looked vastly different from the graceful, handsome figure he would become. His Sharingan had awakened One Tomoe, but his large eyes were round and lively, his eye sockets were unusually deep, and his cheeks were flat. When he smiled, he rather resembled a frog that had turned into a spirit.

In a small grove, Shisui leapt onto a weathered rock, crouched down, and said, "I heard before that the Fourth Hokage praised your Will of Fire as being extremely strong, no less than his own. But why did you make things difficult for the village today? Don't you know that what the village lacks most right now is money?"

"So you think my Will of Fire is undeserved?"

"More or less." Shisui stood and looked down at Retsuo. "To be frank, I was very excited before returning to the village. I thought I could find someone who would treat me like a brother, but today has been a little disappointing."

A faint breeze swept through the woods, making the leaves rustle endlessly and adding a touch of irritation to the air.

You're a model of filial piety on a grand scale. If I wanted you not to be disappointed, I'd have to be like Itachi and slaughter my own parents. I can't do that. If anyone's to blame, it's that I'm a standard Qidian protagonist—I don't have parents...

It was difficult to say how much influence Shisui had on Uchiha Itachi's later extermination of the clan, but it certainly was not insignificant.

Still, Shisui was probably sincere. After meeting Itachi, he truly did treat him as a brother because of their ideals, holding nothing back.

In some ways, Retsuo preferred people who spoke like this. He was much more straightforward than Fugaku and worth trying to win over.

"Little Brother Shisui, thinking that way only shows that the Will of Fire is profound, and you have not fully grasped it yet."

Shisui's curved black brows rose. The other party had been personally certified by the Fourth Hokage as an inheritor of the Will of Fire, so he wanted to hear what brilliant theory Retsuo had. But that "little brother" made him uncomfortable. Since going to the Eastern Front, no one had called him that again.

Then Retsuo said, "Let me guess. Is your understanding of the Will of Fire about protecting companions and sacrificing yourself for the village?"

Shisui could only nod.

"Your vision is too narrow. Too narrow."

After letting out a loud sigh, Retsuo continued, "The reason Konohagakure has endured and prospered, making the other nations afraid to slight it, is not individual sacrifice. It is stability! How can the village develop if it is unstable within? The will to preserve long-term peace and stability in the village is the true Will of Fire."

Shisui was dumbfounded. It was not a question he could possibly have considered in his simple life thus far.

"This time, the village leadership appears to have merely relocated our Uchiha Clan, but in truth, they have shattered hard-won stability. It is a grave mistake. Though I am only a Ninja Academy student, I possess the awareness and responsibility to correct Third Lord's mistakes, rather than be a yes-man and watch them continue down the wrong path."

"You actually dare say Third Lord is wrong? Don't you think that's too arrogant?"

Shisui jumped back down to the ground, his little face scrunched up in a deep frown. "A ninja's duty is to complete missions. The village has already made its decision, and even speculating about or discussing it is a huge mistake. You are even worse—you actually dare criticize it! Besides, how old are you? You think you can teach Third Lord how to do things?"

His admiration for the Third Hokage overflowed from every word, and determination shone in his eyes. Still, considering the relationship between his grandfather, Kagami Uchiha, and Sarutobi Hiruzen, it was understandable.

Retsuo could almost see special effects named Will of Fire surging above Shisui's head.

Heh, was this a Will of Fire PK?

Retsuo raised his chin. "You should broaden your horizons. Konohagakure is supported by many ninja clans, large and small, as its basic units. Our Uchiha Clan is the largest of them, its greatest pillar. If this Uchiha pillar is damaged, the village will be humiliated in turn by the ninja villages of other nations in the future. That is an obvious mistake. When that time comes, I hope your Will of Fire can help the village."

"So you do know that the Uchiha are the village's number one clan." Shisui sounded annoyed, with a trace of contempt. "Is demanding money from the village how the number one clan corrects the village's mistakes? Or do you not know how tense things are between the Uchiha Clan and the village right now? Wouldn't it be a very good thing for us to make some contributions to the village at this time? Your so-called Will of Fire is too hollow. I believe more firmly in my Ninja Way. And I do not believe any ninja village could humiliate Konoha, much less humiliate it in turn."

Retsuo was not afraid of being looked down upon, but he felt an obvious barrier between himself and Shisui and immediately lost interest in talking.

With a cold sneer, he jerked his chin. "If anyone thinks they should dedicate everything they have to Konoha, then the village leadership should start first. Third Grandpa, Grandma Koharu, Shimura Danzō—they are the ones with a greater obligation to contribute, not the ones shouting for others to contribute. I believe Third Grandpa has the resolve to contribute and sacrifice for the village, but the others? Do they look like it? On the night the Nine-Tails attacked the village, which of them appeared on the battlefield?"

"You! That's slander—"

"Heh, you lack wisdom."