The days passed like that, with nothing major happening in between.
With Uchiha Takyū's disappearance, the matter of his betrayal of the clan gradually fizzled out. The Uchiha higher-ups also suspected that Shimura Danzō might have secretly disposed of him, but without evidence, they could not accuse a village adviser. Besides, the Uchiha were far weaker than before, and it was no time to stir up more trouble.
The Military Police Force also began making frequent mistakes, neither particularly large nor small. Uchiha Tianchang took the opportunity to approach the Third Hokage himself, requesting that the Anbu help safeguard the village on the grounds that the Military Police Force was severely short of strength in its upper ranks.
That reasoning left the Third Hokage unable to refuse, and he was happy to let the Anbu interfere in the Military Police Force's affairs. It misled him into thinking that the Uchiha were now desperately weak and had bowed to him. But the Third Hokage was no fool. He still wanted to test the Uchiha Clan to confirm whether they had truly come over to his side.
But setting those matters aside, the day of Ye Feng's early graduation assessment had arrived.
This assessment posed no difficulty for Ye Feng, so he did not give it much thought, though some of his friends were very sad.
Since the assessment was still being held at the Ninja Academy, the academy had given its students the day off. The Big Eaters Five and Hyuga Kong came to Ye Feng's house early, urging him to hurry to school for the assessment. For once, even Obito Uchiha arrived early, grabbing a free breakfast while he was there, turning what should have been a leisurely stretch of time into a busy rush.
By the time Ye Feng's