Secretly contacting the Nine-Tails? That was clearly just an excuse.
Jie Uchiha had wondered why Hiruzen Sarutobi was being so agreeable today. Now, it was obvious. The Third Hokage was deliberately posturing, making it look as though he had made significant concessions regarding the Nine-Tails incident. It was a ploy to appear disadvantaged in the upcoming negotiations, making it difficult for Fugaku Uchiha to refuse his requests.
However, Fugaku hadn't maintained his position as clan head for this long by being naive. His discernment was sharp, and Hiruzen's little tricks couldn't deceive him.
Fugaku gave Hiruzen a meaningful look. Instead of exposing the charade, he replied calmly, "Protecting the village is the Military Police Force's duty. You can rest easy, Lord Hokage."
His tone was purely bureaucratic—neither a promise nor a refusal, simply deflecting everything onto his professional duty.
Hiruzen seemed to have anticipated this. Completely unfazed, he made a bit of casual small talk before taking his leave from the Uchiha compound.
As for the Kumogakure delegation, Jie couldn't care less. Their target was the Hyuga clan; it had nothing to do with the Uchiha. The relationship between the two clans certainly wasn't good enough to warrant sharing intelligence. Besides, the worst-case scenario was just the death of Hizashi Hyuga. For the Uchiha clan, that might actually be a good thing.
Therefore, Jie had no intention of warning Fugaku. After casually mentioning Naruto a few times, he returned to his room.
The night passed quietly. In the blink of an eye, it was the next morning.
His Mangekyo Sharingan was already awakened, and his chakra control training goals were met. Because of this, Jie wanted to continue taking on Anbu missions. He intended to reap the system's rewards while using real combat to unearth the full potential of his Mangekyo Sharingan and his Intermediate Sage Body.
However, when he arrived at Anbu headquarters, he discovered that almost all recent missions were tied to the Kumogakure delegation. If it wasn't gathering intelligence, it was covert surveillance. Standard operations like hunting missing-ninja had been temporarily suspended.
Reading through the mission details, Jie felt a wave of helpless frustration. For assignments like these, he might as well just join a Military Police patrol. At least then he could walk the streets openly while working.
Since there were no suitable assignments, Jie simply headed home.
Little Sasuke had been sulking over his older brother's departure, but his face lit up when he saw Jie's swift return. He jumped up and down in excitement, grabbing Jie's hand and dragging him off to play in the village.
....
Two days quickly passed.
Early that morning, Jie was leading Sasuke through some basic training in their courtyard when Fugaku appeared before them, fully equipped and wearing a pristine flak jacket.
"Jie, the Kumogakure delegation arrives today," Fugaku warned. "Unless absolutely necessary, you and Sasuke should stay home. Do not go out."
Leaving those instructions behind, Fugaku exited the compound and hurried toward the Military Police headquarters.
The arrival of a foreign delegation was a massive event. To prevent any diplomatic incidents between the two nations, the burden on Fugaku's shoulders was incredibly heavy.
Jie, however, didn't take it too seriously. The Kumogakure delegation was solely focused on the Hyuga. Besides, considering Kumogakure's current strength, would they really dare to provoke the Uchiha?
After the Third Great Ninja War, every hidden village had suffered catastrophic losses and lacked the strength for another conflict. The Uchiha, on the other hand, had been kept out of the worst of the fighting due to the Konoha elders' paranoia. As a result, their strength was remarkably well-preserved. After the war ended, they had been stationed near the village center, and their development had been stellar. The clan's current power was far greater than in the past.
In terms of high-end combat power, claiming the Uchiha clan could rival an entire hidden village was definitely not an empty boast.
But Jie hadn't planned on going out today anyway. Sasuke was nearly four years old now. It was time for him to start basic training to lay a solid foundation for his future shinobi career.
After all, looking at the grand scheme of things, Sasuke's raw talent lagged far behind Itachi's. If Itachi hadn't carried such crippling pressure, if Sasuke hadn't been handed so many cheat abilities, and if Itachi hadn't ultimately thrown their final fight, there was no way Sasuke could have ever been his match.
So, to prevent Sasuke from feeling inferior due to the talent gap between him and his two older brothers, Jie could only make sure the clumsy bird started flying early.
Sasuke didn't utter a single complaint. Whatever Jie told him to do, he did it. Seeing his relentless effort made Mikoto Uchiha's heart ache slightly. However, as a mother, she also wanted Sasuke to have a bright future. So, despite her sympathy, she merely watched in silence as Sasuke trained diligently.
The day flew by. By the time Fugaku returned home, it was already late at night. It couldn't be helped; with a large influx of outsiders in the village, the Captain of the Military Police Force had an overwhelming amount of work to manage.
Early the next morning, Fugaku left the house again for the station.
Jie didn't mind. He intended to resume Sasuke's training, but not long after they started, the sound of Mikoto laughing and chatting with a young girl drifted from the house.
"Izumi? What brings you here?" Jie asked with a smile as he approached. "Don't you have classes at the Academy?"
"The Kumogakure delegation is here, so classes have been suspended," Izumi Uchiha replied cheerfully. "So... I was wondering if our busy guy has any time to accompany me for a stroll through the village?"
"Since Lady Izumi is inviting me, it would be terribly rude of me to decline," Jie chuckled.
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