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Chapter 162n
🕑 Added 2025-09-17 21:31:02 +0000 UTCChapter 162n
2-in-1-chapter
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“Ranzan, what do you think of letting Uchiha Itachi take responsibility for Kimimaro?”
Rēn asked with a smile.
Uchiha Ranzan was silent for two seconds. He could not understand why Rēn was smiling. Letting Uchiha Itachi supervise Kimimaro… it seemed there was no real problem. After all, Itachi was only a few years older than Kimimaro, and if both of them were to join the Police Force they would be newcomers. Arranging them together might actually be ideal.
Two prodigies—let them see who could keep the other in check.
“There’s no problem.”
Rēn let the smile fade from his face.
Itachi and Kimimaro—an interesting pairing, was it not?
One was a cold-blooded son who could cut down his clan and even his own parents, the other a boy who offered his unwavering loyalty to Orochimaru in exchange for salvation.
Rēn was genuinely curious to see what sparks would fly when those two collided.
As the saying went, speak of someone and they arrive.
Just as Rēn and Ranzan were speaking of Itachi—
Knock knock!
A knock came at the door.
“Clan Head, Ranzan-senpai, I found Itachi.”
Uchiha Izumi stepped into the room, her eyes flicking between the two senior figures as she gave her report in a quiet voice. At her side was Uchiha Itachi, expressionless. The eldest son of the previous clan head bowed respectfully to both Rēn and Ranzan, greeted them, and then fell silent.
“Izumi, is it? Well done.”
Rēn regarded the young girl with mild surprise.
So it had been her sent to find him. Clearly Ranzan’s ability to delegate tasks could be trusted.
“It wasn’t hard, not at all. I knew where Itachi would go, so I found him right away.” Izumi’s face flushed, and she waved her hands quickly as she explained.
There was no need to misunderstand—her eyes were filled only with admiration. Rēn had long since grown used to such looks. Ever since he had crushed Shimura Danzō and Sarutobi Hiruzen, his prestige within the clan had only grown higher with each passing day. Among the younger generation especially, nine out of ten gazes that fell upon him carried a fervor little different from religious devotion.
Looking at the nervous girl, Rēn smiled and said nothing more. Instead, he turned his attention to Itachi.
“Itachi, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? The last time we spoke was at the academy entrance ceremony. How has Sasuke been doing at the academy lately?”
“Sasuke is doing very well. No matter the test or the exam, he is always at the top.” Speaking of the younger brother he cherished above all else, Itachi’s voice carried deep pride, even though his own accomplishments at that same age had been even more extraordinary. But that was the way of an older brother who doted excessively—there was no helping it.
“So in that case, I suppose I should fulfill my promise. I said that if Sasuke performed well, I would give him a chakra weapon. Ranzan, make sure one is prepared for me—a short sword should be fine. Bring it to me when it’s ready.”
“I understand.”
Ranzan gave his assent.
For an ordinary shinobi, a chakra weapon might be prohibitively expensive, usually only within reach of veteran Jōnin or those from wealthy families. But for the Police Force and the Uchiha clan, a single chakra weapon was of little consequence.
“Itachi, enough small talk. Let’s speak plainly. I want you to join the Police Force. Your talent and ability are first-class. With the proper cultivation, in two or three years you will become another pillar of the clan. What do you say?”
Rēn, after a few words of pleasantry, went directly to the point.
“Clan Head, my father said he hopes I can temper myself at the front lines.” Itachi replied.
“The front lines? That works perfectly. I won’t be staying in the village long this time. Once I settle the affairs here, I’ll be heading north. You can come with me then.” Rēn slapped the table. “Since there’s no problem, Ranzan, I leave him to you.”
He gave Itachi no chance to refuse.
The young man, already old beyond his years, pressed his lips together. He did not voice a rejection, though conflict churned in his heart. He had once believed wholeheartedly in the Will of Fire Hiruzen had taught him, and he had agonized over the tension between clan and village.
But now the Third Hokage was gone, and by some miracle, the strife between clan and village, while still existing, had significantly eased.
All of it left him in great confusion. He no longer knew what was right or wrong. The imprint of the Third’s teaching made him resist Rēn inwardly, yet he could not deny that Rēn’s actions had not pushed either the clan or the village to ruin.
And so, caught between these feelings, Uchiha Itachi chose silent acceptance of Rēn’s arrangement.
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Time passed like an arrow, and in the blink of an eye three days had gone by since Rēn returned to Konoha. During that period, new reports arrived from the northern front in the Land of Hot Water. Uchiha Shisui, Aburame Shikuro, and Might Guy had arrived in time to rescue Hyūga Hiashi and Aburame Shibi, and they had repelled the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki.
The intelligence especially emphasized Shisui’s feat of driving back a fully transformed tailed beast singlehandedly, as well as Guy opening the Sixth Gate of the Eight Gates. The detailed descriptions allowed the elders of Konoha to clearly and directly grasp the extraordinary power the two of them had displayed.
This eased the worries of those anxious about the northern campaign. Such strength might not yet be enough to crush the full might of the Kumogakure forces, but it was sufficient to hold back their offensive with far more confidence than before. Once Uchiha Rēn marched north, they would likely be able to push the Cloud shinobi back into the Land of Lightning.
“Shouldn’t we intervene? That person is clearly peeping.”
On the rooftop terrace, two new recruits of the Police Force patrolled to this spot and discovered what looked like a suspicious offender.
“The Police Force’s authority has its limits.”
“Is that old man some kind of important figure?”
“It’s true, Kimimaro. I heard from the clan head that you were saved by Orochimaru, and that’s why you’ve always wanted to return to his side?” Uchiha Itachi turned his head to look at Kaguya Kimimaro, who was shorter than him by a head. The two of them, both new to the Police Force, were wearing its official uniform that day.
To call it an official Police Force uniform was generous. In reality, it was only a lightly modified version of the standard Konoha shinobi uniform, with the addition of the Police Force insignia: the fire-fan emblem of the Uchiha embedded in the center of a four-pointed shuriken. It symbolized the inseparable bond between the Uchiha clan and the Police Force.
Fortunately, the Uchiha had never lacked for young prodigies eligible to join the Police Force early, so there were uniforms in reserve that fit Itachi and Kimimaro without needing to be tailored.
“I will return to Lord Orochimaru’s side sooner or later.”
Kimimaro declared this with absolute conviction.
He said it openly, without any concern that it might bring punishment. He was clever; in his time among them he had already realized that he had value. Until that value was exhausted, so long as he did not go too far, no one would truly punish him.
After discovering this truth, his behavior had only grown bolder—so long as he did not provoke Uchiha Rēn.
“Is that so?”
Hearing this, Uchiha Itachi showed little concern. His assignment was to keep watch over Kimimaro, not to play babysitter. So long as Kimimaro did not commit crimes like assault, a few words of respect for a missing-nin in the village were not a real problem.
He wasn’t Itachi’s younger brother, so he hardly intended to waste energy teaching him.
“That man and Orochimaru, along with another, are known as the Sannin.” Itachi spoke obliquely, introducing the identity of the white-haired old man crouched on the back of a toad, peering ahead with a monocular telescope.
“Sannin?”
Kimimaro’s eyes widened in shock.
He glanced down at the figure—white-haired, garishly dressed, squatting on a toad with one eye pressed to a telescope, grinning with an indecent expression. It was hard to believe that this man was of the same caliber as Lord Orochimaru.
“So we can’t touch that old man?” Even after learning the man was a figure equal in status to Orochimaru, Kimimaro still found it hard to muster any respect.
“It’s fine to give him a reminder,” Itachi said quietly.
They had no true authority over him. Even the clan head himself could not do much. Besides, peeping was hardly a serious crime.
But just then, something unexpected occurred.
“Pervert!”
A girl’s scream pierced the air.
A group of truants passing by the bathhouse had spotted the man crouched on the toad, peeping inside. Outraged, the girl immediately commanded the one person by her side—her only lackey—to join her.
“Naruto, let’s go. We’ll teach this shameless old lecher a lesson.”
“Eh? We’re going to fight him?”
“Of course! We Uchiha are tasked with protecting the village’s peace. A degenerate like this, breaking the rules, must be… must be… how do you say it again?”
“Brought to justice?”
“Yes, exactly, brought to justice. We’ll make sure he learns his lesson and never dares to try this again.”
The two children traded words lightly, as if they were not taking the peeper seriously at all, but in truth they had already flanked him from left and right. The so-called sage crouched on the toad’s back looked troubled as he glanced at the two brats preparing to close in.
His ears twitched slightly, catching the sound of footsteps quickly approaching from inside the bathhouse.
His heart leapt in alarm.
Time to run!
Slapping his hand on the toad beneath him, the creature—clearly no ordinary specimen—sprang high into the air, carrying its rider over the heads of the two children in a single bound. In an instant they were gone, disappearing into the trees of the nearby park.
It was clear this was not his first offense. Each time before “gathering material,” he always scouted the area in advance and mapped out an escape route.
