"I see. I uand the situation now."

  In the Hokage's office, Minato looked at the "dusty and travel-worn" Masashi and Pakura standing beside him.

  He felt like he ime to process everything.

  The death of Fuguki didn't surprise him; based on various signs, he had suspected that the Kiri ninja was likely already dead. Assigning Masashi to iigate had been both a precaution and a test to observe the Uchiha's methods.

  A person's adhereo the Will of Fire could often be dised from their approach to tasks.

  This missioirely uo external factors outside Konoha, served as a perfect litmus test for Masashi's loyalty to the vilge. The results would show whether he prioritized Konoha's is or pursued his own agenda.

  Now, the oute of the mission had pletely exceeded all of his expectations.

  It wasn't that Masashi had performed poorly. Rather, he had dooo well. Perhaps too well for fort.

  One shog revetion after another bombarded Minato.

  "This… I did not anticipate…" Rubbing his forehead, he felt a headache ing on. "The person g to be Madara turns out to be Obito, and he maniputed the Fourth Mizukage…"

  How could it be Obito?

  Was it really as the Sed Hokage had warhat the Uchiha was destio fall into darkness from repeated losses?

  No, there must be more to this. The Sed's warnings were based on observation, not destiny.

  In his heart, Obito had truly ied the Will of Fire. He had even once hoped the boy might one day bee Hokage.

  Suddenly, Minato raised his head and looked seriously at Masashi.

  "You said you only firmed it this time. When did you first suspect?"

  "I was certain it wasn't Madara sihe Mangekyō Sharingan patterns didn't match," Masashi replied sincerely, maintaining eye tact. "But this time, I tracked his movements in Kiri and firmed that it was indeed Obito."

  "How did you firm it?"

  "I tricked him by saying his grandmother had made me some strawberry daifuku."

  "…"

  Minato was sure now. It really was Obito.

  As Obito's teacher, he knew how much the boy cherished his grandmother. But his grandmother had been dead for years.

  Talking about strawberry daifuku? It would have been strange if he hadn't exploded.

  He hadn't realized before just how cheeky Masashi could be.

  "And… Kakashi's eye…" Minato hesitated, fog on this detail. "Could it also be a Mangekyō Sharingan?"

  "That's something you might o firm with Kakashi yourself," Masashi replied.

  "Isn't the Uchiha sidering reg it?"

  "Would you approve of that?" Masashi tered. Seeing Minato's silence, he smiled faintly. "Hokage-sama, every Uchiha who awakens the Sharingan has experiehe pain of losing a panion. Obito's decision is ohat the respects." And ohat serves our purposes better than reg it would.

  "And you, Masashi?"

  "Hokage-sama, I've lost han anyone else."

  Minato gazed ily at him for a long moment. In the young man's eyes, he saw it—regret ameions familiar to many shinobi.

  He chose to trust him. He had to.

  Masashi's power was too important to Konht now. The vilge had already lost White Fang. Orochimaru was imprisosunade had left, and no one dared stop her. Only Jiraiya, remaieadfast.

  Despite Konoha's reputation as a vilge teeming with talent, true elites capable of holding their own on a battlefield were not signifitly more numerous than in other vilges.

  In the previous geion, Hiruzen had been the loandout, overwhelming his oppos in every domain during a time when the likes of Hashirama and Madara were no longer present.

  During his prime, Hiruzen had been the sole person of such caliber.

  In Minato's geion, the vilge had reached its peak in top-tier bat power with White Fang, the Sannin, and Minato himself. This had been Hiruzen's greatest political achievement.

  Minato and Jiraiya shared a simir bat philosophy: gather intel, fight, collect more intel during the battle, devise strategies, and fight again.

  If things went south, sta Sage Mode and go another round.

  The new geion had now begun.

  While many assumed Shisui would be the new face of the Uchiha, Masashi's sudden rise had stunned everyone.

  With mastery over three nature transformations, profi taijutsu, genjutsu, and Sage Mode, and even time-spainjutsu, he had no apparent weaknesses.

  His vast chakra reserves rivaled those of a tailed beast, enabling prolonged bat. The night of the ails i, he had gooe-to-toe with the ails outside the vilge by himself.

  On a personal level, Minato sidered Masashi a friend. But as the Fourth Hokage, he had to set aside personal feelings.

  Managing the baween the vilge and the s was a challenge every Hokage faced.

  "Thank you for your uanding, Masashi." Minato exhaled in relief.

  That Sharingan had long siransded its physical form; it symbolized Obito's Will of Fire. Allowing Kakashi to retain it meant Masashi aowledged Konoha.

  "This isn't worth discussing, Hokage-sama. I think the more pressing issue is how we eh Kiri," Masashi reminded him.

  "Of course." He stood and paced the office, his headache worsening.

  Since Danzō's death, Hiruzen seemed to have lost his former drive, fog instead on family matters and his grandson, who was the same age as Naruto.

  It felt inappropriate t Hiruzen bato active duties, especially with the two remaining advisors g his petence.

  Minato turo Masashi, seeing an opportunity to gain insights.

  "What do you think? Should Konoha support Kiri?"

  "Konoha and Kiri are friendly but not allies," Masashi said. "Why not adopt a dual approach? Send a formal delegation to iate an alliance while also reag out to individual s in Kiri. Ultimately, oal is to secure stability in the rear."

  "Only the s?"

  "Hokage-sama, Kiri is a -led vilge at its core. They prefer -based iions. Sending representatives from our s would be more effective."

  He wasn't lying. Kiri did operate this way.

  Otherwise, they wouldn't have demanded Pakura's life duriiations—a demand that had little strategic value, as she wasn't some one-person army.

  In trast, Konoha would have prioritized trade or mission allocations.

  Minato remained silent, deep in thought.

  "I admit I don't know much about Kiri's inner ws." He decided to deliberate further before taking a.

  Turning to Pakura, who had been standing silently, he offered an apologetic smile.

  "Five me, Pakura-san. I've been insiderate." Minato aowledged her uatus. "Are you certain about joining Konoha? And joining the Police Force?"

  As a wielder of Scorch Release, she was entitled to such a request. Minato refrained from suggesting she join the ANBU directly in front of Masashi, though he was tempted.

  "Yes," Pakura replied calmly.

  Initially hesitant, she had ged her mind after Masashi spin wild tales, seamlessly crafting an airtight missio from limited truths.

  Such mastery was impressive.

  He had a bright future ahead.

  Vilges selling out their own s were ohing, but seeing a sell out itself?

  That was new.

  ---

  Leaving the Hokage's offid standing on the bustling street, Pakura felt lost as she observed the lively se around her.

  Did this mean she was officially part of Konoha now? Not even the most basic quarantine or scrutiny?

  "What's wrong?" Masashi, walking ahead, turned back to look at her. His eyes studied her stance, reading the tension in her shoulders. "Why are you zoning out like that?"

  "It's just… Konoha… is it always this le with outsiders joining the vilge?"

  "Oh, that's what you're thinking about." Masashi nodded. "Of course not. It's just that you're joining the Police Force."

  In theory, the ANBU is responsible for background checks and ht, and they have jurisdi over every department. But there are always exceptions.

  The Uchiha has no authority outside of the Police Force. Simirly, even the ANBU, which is directly uhe Hokage, has no say over the Police Force.

  With that, how could a proper iigation even begin? No one access the Police Force without their permission.

  In other words, from today onward, Pakura was uhe responsibility of the Uchiha .

  If anythi wrong, it would be their problem to deal with.

  ing from Suna, Pakura quickly uood what Masashi meant. So this is how Konoha maintains its bance of power.

  Instantly, she regretted it a little.

  The retionship between the Uchiha d the Hokage office was this tense?

  But it hadn't seemed that way in the Hokage's office earlier. Everything looked so smooth on the surface...

  She was fused. Clearly, she wasn't yet aced to Konoha's plex political enviro.

  "Don't overthink it. Let's head baeet the leader first," Masashi said, tinuing forward.

  Pakura followed.

  Her Suna forehead protector had already been discarded by Masashi on their way back, but her distinct appearand attire still drew curious gnces from passersby.

  After all, her demeanor clearly marked her as a ninja. While it wasn't strao see fners in Konoha, spotting a fn ninja was unusual.

  When they arrived at the Uchiha 's district, she was immediately struck by its sheer size aiculous yout.

  The Uchiha pound, which almost ied with the Police Force headquarters, was on a scale unseen in Suna. It resembled a small ninja vilge within Konoha.

  She could believe it if someoold her this arate vilge.

  What amazed her wasn't just their wealth but the fact that, in this era, a could maintain such autonomy within a major vilge.

  For such a situation not to devolve into open flict—what kind of unique system did Konoha operate on?

  "Don't let your imagination run wild," Masashi said, easily reading her expression. "The Uchiha pound isn't even the rgest in Konoha."

  "There's something bigger than this?" Pakura was skeptical.

  "Of course. The Hyūga pound is rger than ours."

  "Really? So Konoha's ninja s all live separately…" Pakura could only marvel silently. As expected of Konoha.

  Truly wealthy.

  In the Five Great Shinobi Nations, Suna had the harshest enviro and the weakest finances. No ninja there enjoyed such privileges.

  The buildings resembled sand mounds blending with the desert, their color indistinguishable from the surroundings. Social activities were fined indoors, with streets serving solely for transport and logistics.

  Surface-level shopping streets? Those did.

  Due to its advanced mining industry, the Land of Wind had developed extensive underground spaces. Suna's ey relied on strug intricate underground cities, which also served as effective deterrents for infiltrators.

  Getting caught because o lost was just too embarrassing.

  But humans were creatures of the surfao one enjoyed being fined underground all day—it's too stifling.

  Suddenly, Pakura felt that joining Konoha wasn't such a bad idea.

  After all, in Suna, people braved sandstorms just to spend more time above ground.

  Konoha's enviro was vastly superior to that of Suna.

  No wohe First Kazekage almost got beaten up at the Five Kage Summit when he proposed other nations help fund Suna's purchase of tailed beasts—and even suggested Konoha cede some fertile nd to them.

  She now fully uood the First Kazekage's mi. It wasn't that he was being unreasonable—any Kazekage would feel envious upon seeing Konoha's enviro.

  Unbeknownst to her, Masashi had once again fabricated some details.

  Iy, only the Uchiha and Hyūga s in Konoha had dedicated pounds.

  The Uchiha's was rge due to incorporating Police Ford detention facilities, while the Hyūga's size stemmed from their numerous members and the separate zoning for the Main and Branch families.

  In this regard, the Hokage office showed some generosity, allog a sizable area for their use.

  As they ehe Uchiha district, the members greeted Masashi warmly. "Wele back, Masashi," several called out. He was clearly a promi figure within the family now.

  "Is this our new recruit?" one asked, his Sharingan activating casually.

  "She'll be joining the Police Force," Masashi replied evenly.

  As for Pakura, the Uchiha members activated their dōjutsu for a quick assessment—this was a traditional Uchiha greeting. If they didn't have a prift, they'd simply funt their Sharingan as a gesture.

  Being scrutinized by so many Sharingan made Pakura visibly unfortable. Her shoulders tensed, and she unsciously moved closer to Masashi.

  Finally, she followed him into Fugaku's residence.

  Fugaku now preferred to manage affairs and hold small meetings at home.

  He received Pakura in his study, though the desk was unusually tidy today—no ink and brushes in sight.

  Masashi leased. It seemed his persistent efforts to vince Fugaku that calligraphy wasn't his forte had finally paid off.

  Fugaku olite and weling toakura, dispying a fatherly demeanor. "Wele to the Uchiha ," he said warmly. "We're pleased to have someone of your caliber join us."

  "We've arranged suitable aodation for you. A retly vacated house in the district."

  "It's right o mine, actually," Masashi added casually. "The old Uchiha house—you'll like it there."

  "Once you've settled in and familiarized yourself with the area," Fugaku tinued, "you'll start as a secretary in the Police Force. Just until you uand how we operate here in Konoha."

  "Thank you for yenerosity," Pakura replied, bowing slightly.

  However, the loeant that if she ever had sed thoughts about returning to Suna, the Police Force would surround her in seds.

  As for w as a secretary, it was clearly an excuse to keep her under close observation.

  After their versation, Fugaku's kind demeanor shifted to a serious one as he addressed Masashi sternly.

  "Are you proposing an alliaween our d Kiri's ninja s?"

  "That's right," Masashi replied, leaning back with a g Pakura. "You know how it goes, Fugaku-sama. The s there are more willing to talk when they see we've weled someone like Pakura. Shows we're... hospitable to talented outsiders."

  "You mean they're more willing to talk because she's—"

  "Yes." Masashi's lips curved into a slight smirk. "The Kiri s appreciate that bination. Makes them feel less threatened, more... open to discussion."

  Pakura shot him a sharp look.

  "Politics is politics," Masashi shrugged. "Their bloodline s are gettiless. If we py this right—"

  "And what do these s want?" Fugaku's eyes narrowed.

  "The same thing we do. More autonomy, less interferehe current Mizukage isly... friendly to those with special abilities."

  Pakura, having survived the Hokage's office earlier, now had to endure another intense mental workout.

  At least I'm gettier at readiween the lines, she thought, watg the two men discuss politics.