Rasa opened his eyes.
The scene around him felt slightly unfamiliar.
This was the Uchiha clan compound, but compared to his last visit, it was completely different.
Towering walls seemed to cage the area like a prison.
And it was much, much smaller than before.
Only a single short street remained.
Lined with simple houses on both sides, the only remnant of grandeur was the large estate at the end of the road. Previously belonging to Sangaku Uchiha, its owner was now presumably Fugaku Uchiha.
"Is this all that's left of the Konoha Uchiha?"
The sky gradually brightened.
Teyaki Uchiha opened the doors to his senbei shop, looked up and down the empty street, and sighed.
Beside him, Uruchi Uchiha noticed her husband's worry and patted him on the back.
"As long as we're alive, that's what matters."
Teyaki withdrew his gaze and forced a smile.
"Alive is good, yes. But there aren't many customers left to buy our senbei."
The shop had previously relied on the Uchiha clan for business.
Now, the Uchiha population in Konoha had dwindled to a few dozen people.
And many of them weren't exactly in the mood for crackers.
Rasa walked toward the senbei shop.
"Good morning, Uncle Teyaki."
"Good morning, Gen."
Rasa took a senbei and said, "Uncle Teyaki, you could actually open a shop on the village's main commercial street. With your skills, you'd definitely attract plenty of customers."
Teyaki shook his head.
"Forget it. Leaving aside whether anyone would rent a shop to me, even if I opened one there, no normal customer would come."
"The villagers already had a big problem with us Uchiha before."
"After this civil war, their opinion of us is even worse."
"I don't even dare to go out now. The moment I step outside, I get hostile glares, people whisper insults behind my back, and some even throw stones, garbage, and rotten eggs..."
Teyaki grew angrier as he spoke.
Clearly, this was something he had personally experienced.
Otherwise, given Teyaki's personality, he wouldn't be saying such things.
Perhaps the pressure had been too much lately, because Teyaki rambled on for a long time.
He basically recounted the entire situation between the Uchiha and Konoha.
Rasa listened while processing the information internally.
After the internal conflict, Fugaku Uchiha had immediately cut ties with the rebel faction to prove his loyalty. At the same time, he donated the majority of the clan's wealth to the village.
The official reason was to compensate the villagers harmed by the Uchiha rebels.
But in reality, Fugaku hadn't just handed over the rebels' assets.
He had handed over a massive chunk of the entire clan's communal wealth.
Meaning, the assets previously controlled by Fugaku's family and the elders were now gone.
Given away.
It could be said that the remaining few dozen Uchiha had become impoverished overnight.
Their previous benefits? Gone.
All that remained were a few worthless items.
To survive, they would have to start from scratch.
But given Konoha's current hostility toward the Uchiha, hard work didn't guarantee a reward.
They might just be targeted even harder.
Fugaku's family might be the only ones still relatively comfortable.
Suddenly, Teyaki's voice trailed off.
Rasa looked back and saw a somewhat familiar figure approaching.
Yakumi Uchiha.
A member of the Konoha Military Police Force.
"Uncle Teyaki, give me two pounds of senbei."
"Coming right up!"
Yakumi then turned to Rasa.
"Good morning, Gen."
"Good morning, Senior Yakumi. But why are you buying so much senbei? Two pounds... you can't possibly finish that, can you?"
Yakumi walked closer to Rasa and lowered his voice.
"Clan Head Fugaku asked me to do this. He wants to support Uncle Teyaki's business. Life is going to be hard for the entire clan for the foreseeable future, so Lord Fugaku intends to help everyone out."
Rasa put on a look of realization and asked:
"I see. Where are you heading next, Senior Yakumi?"
Yakumi sighed.
"Where else can I go? We Uchiha have no jobs and no missions. It's inconvenient to even leave the compound. We can only wander around inside. I'm planning to go to the training grounds."
"For a ninja, training to improve strength is always useful. Gen, want to join me?"
"Shisui will be there too."
Rasa hesitated for a moment, then agreed.
"Alright."
Before long, Teyaki came out carrying two pounds of senbei.
Yakumi took the package and headed toward the training grounds.
Rasa followed close behind.
No missions. The Police Force had been taken back by the village. Not a single Uchiha was on the battlefield. This was the reality for the Uchiha now—essentially confined to their own compound.
Calling them prisoners wasn't far off; they just lacked the official title.
Outside the Uchiha compound, a large number of ninja were stationed, monitoring everything happening inside.
"Senior Yakumi, who is in the Police Force now?"
"It's been taken over by the Sarutobi and Shimura clans. They've also recruited some civilian ninja."
Yakumi continued, "The Sarutobi and Shimura clans suffered the most casualties last time, so the majority of the Uchiha's compensation went to those two families."
"Including the land that was carved out of our compound."
Before they even entered the training grounds, they could hear the sounds of ninja sparring inside.
The two pushed open the gate and walked in.
A gaze turned toward the entrance.
"Senior Yakumi. Senior Gen."
Shisui Uchiha was already drenched in sweat. He must have arrived incredibly early.
Rasa studied Shisui Uchiha with a covetous eye.
Though young, he carried himself with remarkable poise. At such a tender age, he had already been tempered by years on the battlefield, achieved impressive results, and made a name for himself.
"This is talent."
"Why doesn't my Sand Village have talent like this?"
"Konoha truly has an overflow of genius."
"It's a good thing they don't cherish it."
"Otherwise, life for the other villages would be even harder—especially for the Sand."
"The stronger Konoha is, the worse off the Sand becomes."
"I wonder if there's a way to trick Shisui Uchiha into defecting to the Sand."
Rasa trained for a while, then walked over to Shisui, who was resting on a bench at the edge of the field.
He sat down next to him.
"Senior Gen."
Rasa nodded slightly.
"Shisui, you are the genius of our Uchiha clan. You've seen the current state of the family. I want to hear your thoughts. What do you think the future holds for the Uchiha?"
Shisui Uchiha fell into a long silence.