Konoha, a commercial district.
A modest two-story building—that was the home of Teuchi and his daughter, Ayame.
Though they ran a small eatery, as ordinary civilians their life was still somewhat tight.
Carrying a big pile of gifts, Uchiha Kai arrived with Itachi in tow.
"Uncle Teuchi, Ayame!"
"Sorry to trouble you today. I'm even making you close your shop for this."
Kai greeted them with a smile.
Itachi followed behind him, bowing politely when he saw the father and daughter.
One had to admit—though the Uchiha were infamous for arrogance, Itachi, as expected from a great clan heir, had impeccable manners.
Teuchi chuckled, shaking his head at Kai's words.
"No trouble at all. But what's with all these gifts?"
"Go wash up—everything's almost ready, we can start eating right away."
Then he turned to Itachi.
"You're Itachi-kun, right? You're very welcome here too. Wash your hands, we'll be eating soon."
Kai shrugged.
Having been here many times, he felt at ease.
He went out to the small courtyard to wash his hands, and naturally, Itachi followed.
By the time they came back, Teuchi had already set the dishes on the table. He raised his cup when they entered.
"Kai-kun, congratulations on becoming a shinobi."
"Thank you, Uncle."
As the two clinked cups, Ayame also raised hers.
"Don't forget me!"
"Of course," Kai grinned. "Thank you too, Ayame. You've worked hard today."
Looking at her still wearing her apron, he knew she must've been busy preparing for this celebration.
Ayame pouted with mock pride, then sighed helplessly.
"Honestly… why does there have to be war?"
"I actually invited Big Brother Minato and his three students too. But unfortunately…"
"I asked around, and it seems they've already been sent on another mission."
Itachi's brows twitched.
The word war immediately caught his attention.
But since Ayame was just a civilian, he kept quiet.
Kai, however, narrowed his eyes.
Minato's team just returned and they're already being rushed out again? The front lines must really be in dire straits.
But then he shrugged it off.
Not my business anyway.
"By the way, Kai-kun," Ayame suddenly asked, "you're a shinobi too, right? How come everyone else is at the front lines, but you can relax here in the village?"
Kai's lips twitched.
Still, he answered with a smile:
"Because I'm strong enough, I've already been made an Uchiha elder."
"According to both the village and the clan's rules, elders are automatically exempt from active duty and don't have to respond to summons."
There was no need to hide that.
Hearing this, Teuchi and Ayame stared in shock.
"You… an elder?" Ayame blurted.
Teuchi didn't question it—he just sighed with a complicated expression.
"An elder of the Uchiha, huh…"
Kai shrugged again.
"Not just that. I also hold the title of Police Force Captain."
At this, Teuchi and Ayame were even more surprised.
Yes—because to them, even the captain of the Police Force counted as part of the village leadership.
"That's… that's great!"
"I've disliked the Police Force for a long time. Now that you're in charge, you must set things right."
"That bunch of Uchiha are way too arrogant."
Ayame spoke angrily.
Clearly, as an ordinary villager, she had no fondness for the Uchiha.
But Teuchi's tone turned stern.
"Ayame, don't talk nonsense. Kai and Itachi are Uchiha too—how can you lump them all together?"
Ayame froze, embarrassed.
Realizing her slip, she quickly apologized.
"Sorry! Kai-kun, Itachi-kun, I didn't mean you two."
"You're both really nice—and Obito too isn't bad. But most Uchiha really are unpleasant!"
"I don't know how strong you are now, Kai-kun, but since you're captain, you can't just take it easy. You've got to straighten them out!"
Kai was left speechless, a black line forming on his forehead.
He truly didn't know how to respond to that request.
After all, honestly speaking, he only held the title in name. He had no intention of actually doing the job.
Why work hard, when you could just… lie flat?
And as for the Uchiha's bad reputation—changing that was almost impossible.
At least, not until the Third Hokage stepped down, and Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo were taken out of the picture.
But…
He couldn't say that out loud. Teuchi and Ayame were civilians—he wouldn't drag them into such matters.
At the same time, ignoring the question would be rude.
After a moment's thought, Kai spoke gently.
"Ayame, let me ask you something."
"You say the Uchiha are unpleasant. But can you think of a specific example of what they've actually done wrong?"
"Anything at all. If it's a real problem, I'll deal with it immediately."
He spoke with a serious face.
If she really had a concrete complaint, he had the authority to address it.
But unfortunately—
Ayame fell silent.
She tried to think as hard as she could… but no matter what, she couldn't come up with anything.
In that instant, she realized something was off.
That's right.
She'd always thought of the Uchiha as unpleasant. Whenever she saw the Police Force, she felt an instinctive fear.
But when she thought about it carefully—there wasn't a single actual example she could point to.
What's going on?
Ayame's face showed her confusion.
Even Teuchi was the same.
He racked his brain, trying to come up with something.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't.
The Uchiha were just… disliked. Yet when it came to concrete wrongdoing, there was nothing.
Father and daughter sat in silence.
In truth, not just them—even young Itachi was thinking deeply.
He couldn't figure it out either, but his sharp instincts told him—there was something very wrong here.
He turned to Kai, unable to hold back his question.
"Master, what's going on?"
Itachi's face showed pure confusion.
He truly couldn't understand—so naturally, he looked to Kai for an answer.
Kai's expression remained calm.
After a long pause, he finally spoke quietly.
"The Uchiha…"
"You can call them proud, arrogant, foolish, stubborn—even say they're conceited."
"Honestly, I don't like them either. Just a bunch of self-important idiots."
"But at the same time—"
"The Uchiha have their pride. They might look down on civilians, but they'd never bully them."
"To them, preying on the weak is a disgrace."
"For example—just the other day on the Hidden Blood Mist Village front, the Uchiha lost seven Jounin, over fifty Chunin, and nearly three hundred genin."
"If it were any other clan, the village would've already held a grand memorial."
"But for the Uchiha?"
"Konoha acted as if nothing happened—as if it were blind. I bet most people don't even know."
"And yet, among the civilians, the Uchiha's reputation only grew worse."
"Tell me—does that make any sense?"
"…"
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