Uchiha Worked Way Too Hard!

The next few days were rather awkward for the Uchiha Clan. They had no choice but to accept the village's suggestion and officially move to a new area.

What made it awkward was that this relocation was the "consensus" of every ninja clan in the village, large or small, rather than a deliberate attempt by the village leadership to target them.

If it had only been the village leadership making things difficult for them, they would have gotten used to it long ago. It would actually have been nothing much.

The few clear-headed Uchiha had already begun to feel wary of this situation. Why did all the other Ninja Clans have this attitude?

"Anyway, it's not because we have bad relationships with everyone. Though our relationships really are terrible..."

Retsuo wandered down the street while complaining to Kumata.

Today, it was Kumata and Uchiha Sen's turn to protect him. If Retsuo hadn't heard it with his own ears, he never would have believed that Kumata, with his thick eyebrows and honest-looking eyes, actually called himself part of the "Rational Faction" and referred to the other side as the "Hardline Faction." It seemed that the clan had indeed delved deeply into its own position and its relationship with Konoha, to the point of dividing itself into factions.

At that moment, the Rational Faction was furious. "These Ninja Clans really don't know what's good for them! Do they know how much effort our Uchiha Clan has made to ease our relationships with them?"

"Us, the clan, easing relationships, making an effort?" Retsuo looked utterly bewildered as he strung those keywords together. None of them were problematic on their own, but together, they sounded a little strange.

"Of course! Otherwise, why would you and your brother have gone to the Ninja Academy?" Uchiha Kumata smiled proudly. "Retsuo, you're still young. There are some things you wouldn't notice even if they happened to you personally."

"What do you mean?"

"We're a Ninja Clan. The children of a Ninja Clan don't have to attend the Ninja Academy. The clan is fully capable of training them itself, so only a small portion are sent to the academy."

Retsuo did know that. It wasn't just the Uchiha; all the Ninja Clans were like this.

"So, who gets sent to the Ninja Academy?" Kumata's eyes narrowed slyly. "According to the village's unspoken rules, the children with the most potential in the clan have to be sent to the academy. To take the other Ninja Clans' feelings into consideration and keep them from being frightened by our Uchiha Clan's geniuses, we chose to send you and Obito to the academy. We went to all that trouble, and our good intentions were wasted on these ungrateful wretches!"

I'm going to puke! So we were sent there to lower the Uchiha's average level? The Uchiha really worked way too hard!

Uchiha Sen suddenly understood. He slapped his thigh and said, "Exactly! For the sake of the other Ninja Clans' feelings, the main family was even willing to disgrace itself. That's far too great a sacrifice!"

Hey, hey, the ones making the truly enormous sacrifice were Obito and me!

"Brother Kumata, you're a squad captain in the Konoha Military Police Force too. What use is this force, anyway? We might as well have the entire Uchiha Clan go on strike."

Uchiha Kumata shook his head vigorously. "How could that be? Konoha Village has twenty thousand ninja, not to mention the countless civilians. Without our force maintaining order, wouldn't everything descend into chaos?"

"Heh, didn't Danzo say it himself? The ANBU can handle it. Then let them handle everything. Wouldn't it be better to use the time we save to train?"

Retsuo wondered if there were already twenty thousand ninja now. He hadn't paid attention to that. Still, it made sense. The Third Shinobi World War had only recently ended, and it was an era when large numbers of cannon fodder were being forcibly promoted to Genin. Konoha's war potential had been completely drained.

The number would probably fall after some time.

As for how it would fall... There was a joke in Konoha that the male-to-female ratio in every ninja squad was always two to one, implying that Konoha's ninja population had the same composition. So how would these marriageable-age ninja handle marriage in the future?

After all, even an eleven-to-ten ratio was enough to cause large-scale social imbalance.

The answer was that the ninja population wasn't actually two to one, because the casualty rate among male ninja was absurdly high—high enough to even out the ratio...

Uchiha Sen could be heard cursing furiously. "What the hell can he handle?! He's like tying a rope to a hen's backside—just complete bullshit! If you ask me, the entire Konoha can only rely on our Uchiha Clan for this job. What other clan can produce more than a hundred ninja, including forty Jōnin?"

The problem was that this exact number was why every Ninja Clan in Konoha, large or small, rejected the Uchiha...

Other clans had pyramid-shaped ninja structures: few Chūnin, even fewer Jōnin. To rise through the ranks, one needed not only arduous training but also life-or-death battles to hone one's combat skills.

And most importantly, talent...

But the Uchiha were different. They only needed to awaken their eyes, then train those eyes step by step. Basically, anyone could develop them to the Three Tomoe and enter the ranks of the Jōnin. The only difference was how quickly they got there.

The Uchiha had been a thousand-year-old great clan, with a mature and efficient training system for the Sharingan. Talent was only an issue when it came to awakening the eyes. After that, there were practically no bottlenecks; survival in battle was the only limitation.

It was only slightly more difficult than lying around and becoming a Jōnin.

That was why the Uchiha's ninja structure was barrel-shaped. Which layer was thicker depended on the birth and death rates. At certain times, they even had more Jōnin than Genin.

The Hyuga Clan also possessed a Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai, but the Byakugan and Gentle Fist could only let them coast to Chūnin. After that came advanced Taijutsu techniques such as Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, Sixty-Four Palms, One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms, and Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. None of them were easy to master.

Of course, they were still far easier than those of the other Ninja Clans.

In the past, the Senju and Uzumaki had both been clans capable of matching the Uchiha, because they had achieved similar results through different means and possessed similarly barrel-shaped structures. Relying on the naturally enormous Chakra reserves granted by their Sage's Body, those two great clans had likewise been overflowing with Jōnin.

Unfortunately, both clans were now gone, leaving the Uchiha as the only one standing out.

Which Ninja Clan wouldn't be jealous of an Uchiha Clan like this? Konoha Village had twenty thousand ninja. More than ten thousand of them were Genin, only a few thousand were Chūnin, and there were merely several hundred Jōnin.

This was the foundation that gave the Uchiha the nerve to stage a coup. Those several hundred Jōnin weren't all in the ANBU.

They didn't know that Konoha Village's strongest ninja were the Genin...

Just then, Retsuo suddenly showed surprise and amusement. An old man wearing a head covering stepped out from around the corner opposite them, dressed like a nomad.

When the old man saw someone grinning strangely at him, he became somewhat alarmed and quickly turned away to leave.

Retsuo suddenly stopped. Although the old man had revealed only half his face, the distinctive sagging flesh on his cheeks gave him away. He was none other than Gen, the Explosive Tag Transport Captain.

Konoha was in the midst of a massive construction boom, which happened to make it convenient for Gen to infiltrate the village. Lowering himself to work as a master of mechanisms, he had been posing in Konoha as a migrant carpenter.

Retsuo had originally planned to remain "unobtrusive," but judging by the direction in which Gen was hurrying away, it seemed he was heading toward Hokage Rock.

"Uh... Cover for me." After saying that, Retsuo led the way into a corner by the street. Uchiha Sen and Kumata followed, confused. They saw Retsuo form a hand seal, and with a bang, he transformed into smoke and dispersed.

Kumata was stunned, then utterly mortified! How could he not know what had happened? The person who had been chatting with them for so long had actually been a Shadow Clone!

"This kid!" Uchiha Sen threw a punch, then immediately turned and rushed out. There were members of Root watching them from outside. So that was what the cover had been for.

Thanks for the generous rewards from Fanfeichang, Scottzh, Love This Book, Kele Xiaofengyue, Ben Faren, croso, and Guwang Jinlai 2.