Following behind Tamaki Nara, who wore a cat-faced mask, the two of them walked down the wooden stairs to the first-floor hall.
Three middle-aged men and a middle-aged woman stood in the hall, forming a semicircle around an old man as they looked this way!
"Lord Hokage, Uka Senju is here!" Tamaki Nara said as she walked over to the middle-aged man wearing a ceremonial robe!
Hiruzen Sarutobi replied with a smile, "Good. Thanks for your hard work, Tamaki. You can go."
"Yes!"
"Come over here. Don't just stand there!" Seeing the white-haired boy looking a little dazed, the Second Elder smiled and beckoned him over.
Uka Senju came to his senses and stepped forward to bow to the old man. "Second Elder, I didn't expect you to come get me!"
When he heard someone was coming to get him, he'd thought of many people along the way, but it hadn't occurred to him that the Second Elder would come.
If his aunt came, given Anbu's attitude earlier, there would definitely be a conflict!
If someone from the clan leader's faction came, he'd probably suffer a little!
But there was no denying that, if he wanted to avoid both a conflict and a punishment, the Second Elder seemed like the best person to come.
"Kid, don't go blowing things up whenever you feel like it from now on!" The Second Elder pulled Uka Senju to his side and patted his head. "Luckily, the people you blew up this time belonged to your Uncle Sarutobi. If you'd hit someone else, you'd have been locked up for a few days!"
"Second Elder, this time..."
"Enough. Go say hello to your uncles and aunties!"
At that, Uka Senju swallowed his words and bowed to the four people beside them in greeting!
"Greetings, Lord Hokage!"
"Greetings..."
After accepting Uka Senju's greeting, Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled and handed him the tea leaves he was holding.
Then he said to the Second Elder, "I saw you liked them just now. The daimyo sent these over earlier. I've packed them all up for you. Once you've finished them, send Uka to pick up more from me!"
"Good, good, good. Little Monkey, Little Danzo, I'll take Uka back now!" The Second Elder motioned for Uka to take the package, then smiled at the group of four.
Taking the package and helping the old man along, Uka Senju couldn't help pulling a face at the way he addressed them!
He held back a laugh and marveled silently. It had to be the Second Elder-he really didn't care what anyone thought.
Call you Sarutobi when he felt like showing you respect, and Little Monkey when he didn't. And you wouldn't dare say a word!
"Certainly. Take care, and make sure you support Grandpa Second, Uka. Be careful!" Hiruzen Sarutobi, dressed in his ceremonial robe, smiled as he and his three close friends escorted the two of them out of the building!
Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi say that, Uka Senju silently gave the Third a thumbs-up.
No wonder he'd been Hokage for decades. He really knew how to lower himself!
Far from the Hokage Building
Uka Senju felt that the Second Elder seemed a little low on energy, and couldn't help feeling guilty.
His own troubles had made the elderly Second Elder run around.
He hurriedly took care to support him, and headed toward the clan compound!
On the way, they passed through Konoha's main street!
By then, the sun was already sinking in the west. People who'd been busy all day were heading home. Along both sides of the road, shops had opened their storefronts, and those without shops had strung up rows of lightbulbs along the street. The peddlers pushing carts gathered beneath the streetlights.
They loudly called out to customers, hoping to sell more goods while the crowds were out,
and with people coming and going and bargaining, Konoha looked especially prosperous!
Looking at the scene around him, Uka Senju couldn't help giving Hiruzen Sarutobi another thumbs-up.
The man really knew what he was doing!
In six years, Konoha had become far more prosperous than before.
The merchants traveling to and from the village, the various new shops along the roadside-all of it showed Hiruzen Sarutobi's ability to govern.
He had continued the Ninja Academy policy of Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had increased investment once more, opening the Ninja Academy to all of Konoha's civilians!
Once word of this spread, large numbers of civilians and merchants from across the Land of Fire moved to Konoha.
In six years, Konoha had grown from a small village of twenty to thirty thousand people into a town with nearly a hundred thousand!
Those civilians came here not only because Konoha was the safest place in the Land of Fire.
They also came because Konoha offered a way for their children to break through the old social order and become people of status!
In the world as it was, all kinds of power, status, and wealth were passed down through bloodlines.
Like father, like son; the children of rats would learn to dig holes.
Merchants stayed merchants for generations and couldn't become nobles.
Civilians stayed civilians their whole lives, able only to scrape a living from the land!
But in Konoha, as long as you could get into the Ninja Academy, you could break through your old class and become a ninja who wielded power.
After all, a ninja's status was on par with a noble's!
After crossing the bustling, lively streets, the two of them arrived in the Senju Clan Compound.
Suddenly, the Second Elder's steps faltered!
Not knowing why the Second Elder had stopped, Uka Senju asked in confusion, "Uncle Kofu, are you tired? Should we take a break?"
"Good boy, I'm fine. I'm not tired!" The Second Elder suppressed his emotions, smiled at Uka, and asked, "Did you crush the Shared Life Insect?"
"I did!"
"Oh. Why did you use it?"
When the Second Elder asked about that, Uka Senju furrowed his brow. After hesitating for a moment, he said quietly, "Uncle Kofu, Anbu asked me what happened at the time, but I stayed by the river all day and didn't see anyone come."
"I felt that something was off, so I crushed the Shared Life Insect!"
The Second Elder furrowed his brow. The kid clearly wasn't telling the truth.
He felt a little annoyed and a little amused. After thinking it over, he said, "Mm. Remember what you said. You overreacted! It was your first time blowing someone up, so you panicked, right?"
With that, the Second Elder smiled at Uka Senju beside him!
Feeling the Second Elder's gaze, Uka Senju nodded. He understood what the Second Elder meant!
He was teaching him what to say later!
Thinking about how he'd kept things from him, Uka felt a little awkward.
But apart from his aunt, he couldn't trust anyone else.
What his aunt told them was her business, but he only trusted his aunt!
Feeling the atmosphere turn awkward, Uka quickly changed the subject and asked about what he'd been worried about all along. "Uncle Kofu, aren't my aunt and the others at home?"
The Second Elder smiled at Uka. He knew what Uka was worried about, and replied with a hint of teasing, "Not only is your aunt there this time, but everyone in the clan is there. I came to get you halfway through a meeting!"
At that, Uka's face fell a little. Even if there were other circumstances!
It looked like he wouldn't escape punishment for playing with lightning!
Everyone knew his aunt wouldn't go easy on him!
"Don't worry. I'll speak up for you and make sure your aunt doesn't punish you. You did a great job blowing things up this time!"
"Without your explosion, those good-for-nothings would still be lost in their fantasies!" Thinking of the people in the meeting hall, the Second Elder brought his cane down hard on the ground.
Hearing the Second Elder say that, Uka was a little surprised.
It seemed something else had happened within the clan that he didn't know about!
He pushed aside the thoughts running wild in his mind and looked at the Second Elder in confusion!
Realizing he'd let his emotions get the better of him, the Second Elder thought he might as well take the opportunity to teach the kid a thing or two.
A smile returned to his face as he said to Uka, "Those wolf cubs your Uncle Tobirama trained have all gone astray! They only learned the parts they wanted to learn, and the one who learned the most wants to play the pig and hide. The one who sent people this time was probably Shimura Danzō. Hiruzen Sarutobi wouldn't have been in such a hurry!"
"Little Uka, remember this: if you don't have enough strength, you have to learn from Hiruzen Sarutobi and Torifu Akimichi! Either wear a mask and stay alive, or hide at home and play the pig!"
"Don't ever learn from Kagami Uchiha or Shimura Danzō. One's naive and the other's stupid! Tell me, who goes around wearing their heart on their sleeve every day? Exactly!"
Considering the story that came later, the Second Elder's assessment of Tobirama's guard team really had been sharp!
The naive one had been framed to death, while the stupid one had spent his whole life as a doormat!
If you wore your heart on your sleeve, wouldn't everyone know your intentions?
Uka Senju nodded in agreement.
"Unfortunately, I probably won't live to see you grow up!" Looking at the precocious kid beside him, the Second Elder couldn't help thinking of himself back then.
In the blink of an eye, eighty years had passed. It seemed all his companions and comrades had been gone for a long time!
Time really was merciless!
The Second Elder placed his hand atop Uka's head and gently stroked his hair as he said, "You're a clever one. The Senju will have to rely on you all in the future."
"You've been blowing things up for two years. Remember to do it for another year, then gradually stop. If you suddenly quit, it'll be far too obvious!"
Uka Senju had been listening attentively, but the Second Elder's last sentence left him so startled that he didn't know how to react.
The smile on his face stiffened, and panic welled up in him.
He kept replaying everything he'd done over the past few years in his mind!
He didn't know where he'd let the truth slip!
How much did the Second Elder know?
Did anyone else know?
Seeing the old man walk away, Uka pushed down his panic and put a smile back on his face.
He jogged a few steps to catch up with the Second Elder, supported him, and headed with him toward the meeting hall.
Seeing Uka trying to act calm, the Second Elder secretly laughed to himself.
Still young. He couldn't keep his composure.
If you hid everything, then he'd make you panic!
But he was a lot better than the other idiots!
As they neared the conference hall, the Second Elder comforted the silent Uka. "Don't overthink it. Don't let your imagination run wild. You and I both bear the Senju name!"
With smiles plastered on their faces, they saw the Second Elder and Uka Senju out of the building. They waited until the two were far away!
Hiruzen Sarutobi acted as if something wonderful had happened. He warmly greeted the passing ninjas and led the three elder advisors behind him back to his office!
He signaled for the Anbu and the guards to leave, then circulated the Chakra within his body and raised a soundproof barrier around the office!
After smiling for hours, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened. He slammed the table and snapped at Danzo, "Shimura Danzō, you'd better give me an explanation. Why did you provoke that old geezer?!
"Was it so nice to bring up my father getting castrated in front of everyone, and gossip about your mother?"
At Hiruzen Sarutobi's words, Shimura Danzō, who had also been fake-smiling for hours, looked even grimmer!
He hadn't said anything about my mother. He'd been talking about Utatane Koharu. Your father getting his dick flicked was his own fault!
And you and Koharu really did look alike!
You'd looked alike since you were kids!