The "group" Hikaru had been thinking about really was trouble.
If you asked which faction in Konoha produced the most talent, was more emotional than rational, and yet remained disliked by the village at large…
No matter how you looked at it, there was only one answer.
The Uchiha clan—Konoha's Military Police Force.
To be fair, the Uchiha were fertile ground.
Their talent was absurd, almost unreasonable.
But their situation was just as bad.
Hikaru felt that if he got too close to them, he'd drag trouble onto himself as well.
By now, the clan had already split internally.
One side shouted about injustice and leaned toward using force to win recognition.
The other believed violence solved nothing and wanted open negotiations—peaceful talks, honest dialogue.
In Hikaru's eyes, neither path ended well.
A war against Konoha?
Konoha was weakened, sure—but how much power did the Uchiha really have right now?
If his memory wasn't wrong, at this moment the Uchiha might not even have a single Mangekyō Sharingan in hand.
Even if there was one, it would only be Fugaku's.
Yes, more Mangekyo would appear later—but two of those would be twisted and guided off course by "washing" and manipulation.
And Fugaku's personality…
Just look at canon: when the clan was slaughtered, he accepted death quietly, letting Itachi cut him down.
So in terms of true Kage-level power, the Uchiha weren't even worth counting.
And on the mid-to-low tier comparison?
Even if Uchiha members were elite, Konoha's overall shinobi numbers were enormous.
Add to that the way Hiruzen inherited Tobirama's anti-Uchiha strategy—he had already pushed the Uchiha into isolation. Plenty of people in the village hated them.
"This is an unequal war."
"No wonder Fugaku never dared to step forward. If he hadn't been cornered at the end, he would've kept enduring."
Hikaru shook his head.
As for peaceful negotiation…
It wasn't impossible.
But who, exactly, was willing to negotiate with them?
The only person who might've accepted them—who could've actually sat down with them—was the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
And Minato…
Would die in the Nine-Tails Incident.
The one man who represented hope to the Uchiha would vanish.
After that, their future really was pitch black.
"Do I contact the Uchiha?"
Hikaru weighed it quietly.
From the perspective of talent and potential, recruiting them would massively benefit his long-term goal.
But right now, he was only an ANBU squad leader.
And the Senju-Uchiha relationship was what it was.
In less than a year, once the Fourth died, Hikaru would have even less foundation to draw them in.
"…Headache."
"Step by step, I guess."
"If it comes to it, I'll just approach the two who'll enter ANBU in the future."
Among the Uchiha who could enter ANBU, there were two names:
Uchiha Shisui. Uchiha Itachi.
To be honest, Hikaru's feelings toward them were lukewarm at best—mainly because of what they chose to do.
That said, if you only looked at the village-versus-clan perspective, their choices weren't completely insane.
They were shinobi, not policymakers.
If anyone truly failed, it was Fugaku.
"Still… their worldview is warped."
"If they enter ANBU and haven't been fully 'reformed' yet, maybe I can make contact."
"If they're already remade—forget it."
Hikaru made his decision quickly.
If he could harvest the Uchiha "fertile field," he wouldn't let it go.
But his access was limited—and the "Will of Fire" was contagious.
He had no desire to make life harder for himself.
For years, whether at the Academy or in ANBU, Hikaru had always presented himself as someone who perfectly embodied the Will of Fire.
Whenever someone asked about his dream, his answer was always textbook:
Protect the village. Strive to become Hokage.
He never spoke about "protecting a certain someone." In wartime, nobody trusted that "bonds" nonsense.
Wartime had wartime policies. Peace had peace policies.
If war was lost, the cost was unimaginable.
That was why tragedies like Sakumo Hatake's existed.
Of course, it was also possible that Sakumo's prestige had crossed the line of what Sarutobi's system could tolerate.
Sakumo didn't belong to Tobirama's master-disciple network.
And public opinion had turned viciously against him.
Rumor said even the people he saved hated him.
How much of that was pushed behind the scenes was obvious.
Because if Sakumo had truly risen…
He would've been a fatal blow to the Second–Third Hokage's system.
Hikaru wouldn't make that mistake.
He wouldn't hesitate to "finish" the teammates who dragged him down.
They ought to thank him for it.
That was political correctness.
That was how you survived.
"Knock, knock, knock…"
A sudden knock at the door snapped Hikaru back to reality.
He remembered what the elder had said—there was a "gift" waiting for him.
What kind of gift?
He didn't know.
He only knew that when members of their line reached a certain age, they could choose to learn specific techniques.
The Senju had once been rich.
Even if many techniques had been "donated" to Konoha for various reasons, the clan still kept backups.
And some things had never been handed over at all.
For example—senjutsu-related knowledge.
The Senju definitely hadn't given that away.
Konoha likely knew it, too. But Sage Mode was notoriously difficult—Jiraiya alone was proof.
And Konoha also had to watch its "table manners."
If they ate too greedily, it would stir resentment—especially from other clans.
That kind of mess wasn't worth it.
Hikaru opened the door.
A middle-aged man stood outside.
His name was Uesugi Gen—someone Hikaru knew well.
The elder had raised Hikaru, but the fundamentals of shinobi training had largely been taught under Gen's guidance.
"Uncle Gen." Hikaru immediately put on his gentle smile and bowed slightly. "The elder mentioned it. I didn't expect it would be you."
"I live close," Gen said with a smile. "And I haven't seen you in a while."
He patted Hikaru's shoulder, then flashed a mysterious grin.
"You know why I'm here. Take a guess—what did I bring you?"
"More of the Second Hokage's secret techniques?" Hikaru blinked, uncertain.
Back during training, he'd casually mentioned it once.
Tobirama's techniques were the kind of thing shinobi dreamed about.
Before Orochimaru, Tobirama was the shinobi world's greatest inventor—no joke.
Even now, Tobirama's influence ran through the entire ninja world.
Hikaru wanted them.
Even one would be enough.
The Water Release he'd been using wasn't "secret," strictly speaking—it was just high-power Suiton.
Gen shook his head.
"What are you thinking? At your age, you only get to learn one."
He handed over a scroll.
"Here. It's… well."
"Work hard."
"Work hard?" Hikaru frowned, confused.
But the moment he opened the scroll, he understood what Gen meant.
Because written plainly on it were four characters that made his heartbeat stop—
Flying Thunder God Technique.
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