Every time he said Konoha was better, they looked satisfied.
In simple terms, it was a sense of cultural identity.
The Land of Lightning is no good—but the Land of Fire is!
Our Konoha is just too great!
"Heh, you've got good awareness."
Uchiha Tekka patted Raizen's shoulder.
How could a backwater like the Land of Lightning compare to the Land of Fire? To Konoha?
And the Uchiha were Konoha's number-one clan!
"The Chūnin Exams are a few months away. Interested in participating?"
Uchiha Setsuna nodded, clearly pleased with Raizen's response.
"I do have that intention. I want to contribute to the Uchiha as soon as possible."
Raizen's reply satisfied Setsuna. He looked at Raizen and began considering bringing him into his faction.
Fugaku's dovish faction, mingling with the village's vermin—how could they properly lead the Uchiha?
"I have high hopes for you, junior."
Uchiha Setsuna extended an aged hand from his sleeve and handed Raizen a scroll.
Raizen took the scroll and saw it was about the "Shuriken Manipulation Technique."
Though called "shuriken," it was often used for kunai as well.
A highly durable, elastic special rubber cord or steel wire was attached to the kunai. After throwing it at the target, it could be pulled back.
Mastering this also allowed thrown shuriken to curve in flight.
"Senior Yakumi is skilled in shuriken techniques. If you don't understand, you can ask him."
"Senior Yakumi? Got it."
Raizen nodded.
Uchiha Yakumi was the one who had brought him from the Land of Lightning to Konoha.
"Go on. It's not good for young people to spend too much time with an old man half-buried in the ground."
Uchiha Setsuna waved his hand.
Raizen bowed respectfully and left, accompanied by Uchiha Tekka.
"Elder Setsuna really values you."
Uchiha Tekka said with envy.
When he first met Elder Setsuna, he hadn't received anything at all.
"Really?"
Raizen gave a faint smile.
Honestly, only a pure hawk faction or dove faction could save the Uchiha.
Fugaku, the nominal dove leader, ended up plotting an armed coup.
When the time came for the coup, he reverted to being a dove again.
This back-and-forth was one of the reasons for the Uchiha's downfall.
But for now, before gaining enough strength, it was better to act as a dove.
Being too radical within the Uchiha would inevitably attract the attention of Konoha's higher-ups.
The ANBU had always been monitoring the Uchiha.
The most ironic part was that Itachi, after joining the ANBU, had one daily duty: watching surveillance monitors with his colleagues.
Those monitors covered almost the entire Uchiha compound—24-hour nonstop surveillance.
The whole compound had been infiltrated, and aside from Itachi, no Uchiha knew.
Itachi never revealed a word to the clan; he simply followed Konoha's orders.
Officially, the decision was made by the higher-ups after the Nine-Tails attack.
Whether Danzō had already been secretly monitoring the Uchiha before that was unknown.
Raizen didn't want to gamble.
He needed more time to grow stronger.
Each passing day, he became slightly better than the day before—until he could control his own fate.
After chatting briefly with Tekka, Raizen reached a fork in the road and they parted ways.
"I wonder if this will yield any entries."
Raizen prepared a few simple dishes, ate, and resumed training.
He still needed to buy the special rubber cord and steel wire for the "Shuriken Manipulation Technique," so for now he made do with ordinary rope.
Swoosh!
The sound of kunai slicing through the air echoed in the courtyard until late into the night.
…
In a sushi shop tucked away on a lower street level in Konoha.
"Uchiha Raizen really graduated?"
Samoto put down the report handed to him by his subordinate and rubbed his chin in thought.
The day after Raizen's graduation, their excellent sleeper agents had gathered the information.
But it was so unbelievable that Samoto sent several more people to confirm.
Yet every report matched the first: Uchiha Raizen had graduated!
Yasukawa Yukiya saw Samoto's furrowed brows and said,
"This might not be a bad thing for Kumogakure. It only proves his value."
"You're right."
Samoto exhaled deeply.
The more of a genius Uchiha Raizen was, the greater the potential of their planted seed.
If both of his eyes later awakened the Sharingan, he would pass the kekkei genkai test perfectly.
Some mixed-blood failures inherited incomplete kekkei genkai.
The result was that they were inferior to pure-blood wielders.
The key issue was that Raizen's early graduation had completely disrupted their plans.
They had intended to take things slowly.
Before the Third Shinobi World War truly began, they still had time.
But in the blink of an eye, Uchiha Raizen had graduated.
"Any word from the village?"
Samoto asked.
Their sleeper agents were far from Kumogakure, making communication slow and delayed
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