I, Konoha's Sage of Life-Chapter 168: Riding Them Down — Fugaku Goes on a Rampage

When it came to the Uchiha, aside from the Third Hokage and the Uchiha themselves, everyone else was just watching the show.

There was no helping it.

Even if Kyoichi wanted to step in, he couldn't exactly lend Shisui a hand directly. After all, Konoha had an established system for handling clan affairs — otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to involve the clans in the Research Institute project in the first place.

As things stood now...

The village might have a large civilian population, but the cornerstone of its military strength still lay with the clans.

Konoha had to rely on them.

If Kyoichi were to meddle in Uchiha internal matters, it would inevitably provoke other clans —

like the Hyūga, another major family.

If not for that, the Uchiha massacre wouldn't have fallen to Itachi in the first place.

And at this moment, the Uchiha...

"Clan Head, why did you hand over the Police Force without consulting us? What about the honor of the Uchiha? What about the sacrifices made by our ancestors?"

Several elders were furious.

They were incensed.

On one hand, the Police Force had been taken from them — it would no longer be the Uchiha's exclusive domain. On the other hand...

They had been the last to know.

It wasn't until Konoha publicly announced the reorganization and clans like the Aburame and Inuzuka began selecting candidates that they realized what had happened.

As clan elders, they felt completely sidelined.

The Fugaku household was filled with angry voices.

Fugaku glanced upstairs.

One-year-old Itachi, still too young to understand, was quietly watching from above, but was soon taken away by Mikoto.

"I had originally intended to announce this tomorrow, but since everyone's so impatient, let's talk about it today..." Fugaku smiled.

But—

The smile wasn't gentle.

It was cold. Mocking.

"The so-called Uchiha honor you speak of... wasn't it a gift from Tobirama Senju?"

"You! What are you implying, Fugaku? Just because you're Clan Head doesn't mean you can ignore us!"

One elder's expression darkened.

"Fine, I'll put it more politely," Fugaku continued calmly.

"You lived through the chaos of the previous generation. Back then, I was still a child, ignorant of the world."

He spoke without raising his voice, but every word struck hard.

"The 'sacrificed ancestors' you talk about — do you mean the radicals who fought against the village? The ones who left the village? Or perhaps... yourselves, who surrendered time and time again?"

"Fugaku, you— you're too arrogant!"

The elders all sprang to their feet.

Polite?

Hell, this was practically stomping on their faces!

And yet...

A flicker of panic surfaced in their hearts.

Had Fugaku already thrown himself fully behind Konoha? Had he arranged for people to surround the estate?

Anxious, they grew restless.

"See? I haven't even deployed anyone, and already you're scared out of your minds.

Cowards like you dreaming of taking back power? Laughable."

"When Madara left, you chose not to follow."

"When the radicals clashed with Tobirama Senju, you chose not to help."

"And now, after trading dignity for survival, you have the gall to wave around your so-called 'honor'?

This is not the Uchiha I believe in."

Fugaku's voice grew louder, filled with righteous anger.

Perhaps he hadn't always been decisive before.

But now that he had taken this step, there was no turning back.

Double-dealers were the worst kind of people.

Like...

These men standing before him!

"So then — the Police Force is being reorganized. Does anyone object?"

"Fugaku, you... you should have at least discussed it with us instead of acting unilaterally!"

One elder mustered the courage to speak.

However—

In the blink of an eye, Fugaku appeared beside him.

His Sharingan spun to life, three tomoe swirling.

Boom!

One blow —

The elder was kicked clean through the door, flying out into the courtyard.

Outside, Yahiro stood at the forefront, with Yakumi and the others close behind.

All members of the Police Force!

"Captain..."

"Hazuo-dono is unwell. His mind's a little muddled — can't even stand without falling over.

Take him home and let him rest."

"Yes, sir!"

The police officers carried the elder away without hesitation.

Fugaku turned back to face the others.

The remaining elders were deathly silent.

In their eyes, Fugaku had always been wavering, hesitant — someone they could sway with a little effort.

But this time...

It was different.

Fugaku was serious now.

"All of you—back then you chose to run away. You might as well just keep running. What, now that you're old, you think your 'vast experience' will let you defeat the Hokage's faction? Give it a rest. You're not young anymore. Time to retire. Don't make me get rough."

Fugaku spoke coldly, then waved his hand, dismissing them like they were nothing.

From a distance, Shisui and Inahori watched silently.

They saw the elder being dragged out, then turning back toward his home without a word.

The outcome was decided.

Though it hadn't gone as perfectly as hoped, it was still better than nothing changing at all.

However...

Deep down, Shisui's evaluation of Fugaku dropped another notch.

Compared to sensei, the clan head still had a long way to go—

With behavior like this, he dared to criticize sensei?

---

The next day, during class.

Kyoichi arrived as usual. Asuma and the others didn't notice that today it was Kyoichi himself, not a clone—but just the same, not a single one of them was late. Not even Obito, who was notorious for always being behind.

The Guard Division and the Uchiha couldn't influence him—but Kyoichi could. His classes were one of Obito's rare chances to be guided by someone other than Minato.

Of course...

Obito wasn't exactly thriving in class. While the others spent most of their time training, Obito was constantly stuck catching up on theory he'd missed before—

One written exam per day.

All crafted by Kyoichi, with the teachers at the Academy.

The only thing different from the day before was that today, Shizune had also come.

"Today, same as usual: those who specialize in Water Release will start training Hiding in Mist Technique and Water Prison; those who specialize in Fire Release will work on Dragon Fire Technique and ninja tool control; and those with Earth Release will practice Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm and Earth Dragon Bullet... If you're stuck, ask my shadow clone."

Among this batch, Lightning Release users were the fewest.

As for genjutsu—

There wasn't much to say. High-level genjutsu wasn't something ordinary people could use, and the weaker ones weren't all that useful either. For now, there was no need to focus on it.

After all...

Even someone like Kurenai Yuhi had been persuaded by Kyoichi to change her specialization. Let alone these kids, whose energy and talent were even more limited.

After giving out instructions, Kyoichi called out a few names.

Asuma, Genma Shiranui, Raitō Ayatsugi, Shizune, and Rin.

The others watched enviously, but that was all.

Even Shisui wasn't selected, which made it clear that Kyoichi's criteria wasn't based on "being a personal student," but something else entirely.

The five of them followed Kyoichi out, all the way to the Forest of Death.

"Today's lesson will be a little different. Raitō, if I remember right, you know a bit about poisons?"

Kyoichi turned to Ayatsugi Raitō.

Raitō nodded.

"I know a little as well. Raitō, Rin, Shizune—you three will gather materials yourselves. Later, I'll instruct you on basic poisoning and detoxification techniques."

"Yes!"

The three immediately got to work, searching the forest for poisonous plants and materials.

Medical-nin didn't have many combat options—poison was one of the few crucial techniques. Rin's skills in toxicology weren't particularly advanced, but with the possibility of running into Sunagakure shinobi, she absolutely needed to know the basics.

After that, Kyoichi turned to Asuma and Genma.

"You two both rely heavily on ninja tools for your attacks. It's more convenient to teach you together... Asuma, how's your mastery of Flying Swallow coming along?"

"I'm pretty proficient now. I've used it on the battlefield before... but if the enemy has defensive jutsu or is faster than me, it's still a risk."

Asuma answered without hesitation.

"Good. Your recent training is showing results. When we first met, you'd skip training without a second thought."

"Sensei, I was wrong."

Asuma blushed deeply.

He hadn't skipped that often... but it just so happened that the day Kyoichi returned, he had decided to ditch.

The regret!

"All right. You finished making your weapon, right?"

"Yeah..."

Asuma took out his trench knives.

"Starting today, you'll be training in my Wind Release Sword Art. Here's the scroll—start practicing the basics, and if you get stuck, I'll step in."

"Yes!"

Asuma immediately went off to practice.

Now it was Genma's turn.

Kyoichi had been observing Genma's performance these past few days, and he already had a solid grasp of the boy's capabilities.

Among the genin, Genma was near the top—but not at the top.

Still...

In this generation, truly promising talents were rare. Genma was definitely one of them.

"Your situation is a little different from the others. That's why I brought you out separately. Your senbon and shuriken throwing are very precise, and your ninjutsu complements those skills. If you were stronger, I would have recommended you to learn Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique."

But right now...

He wasn't there yet.

Shuriken Shadow Clone was an A-rank, jonin-level technique—far beyond Genma's current ability.

"Genma, aside from improving your close combat skills, you should also diversify your ways of using ninja tools. For example..."

Kyoichi turned, flipping his cloak aside, and a series of shuriken shot out.

Each shuriken flew precisely past Genma, embedding into the trees behind him.

Genma thought it was over.

But the next second, several kunai shot out from Kyoichi's sleeve—splitting into even more in midair.

Genma stared, dumbfounded.

You can do that?!

"I'm no expert in ninja tools either—what I just showed you is about as far as my knowledge goes. But the core idea is that surprise is everything. Assassination techniques are crucial, but hiding your weapons properly is just as important. Understand?" free𝑤ebnovel.com

"Yes! I understand!"

Genma's eyes lit up.

If Kyoichi had talked about elemental ninjutsu, Genma might have struggled. His passion had always been with ninja tools; he had never really focused on elemental techniques.

Training like this...

Wasn't a burden—it was a dream come true.

"If you get good enough, you can even hide tools on your legs and feet."

"In Sunagakure, they've done a great job combining ninja tools with puppet techniques. Once our research institute develops chakra threads, you should consider learning them."

Kyoichi added.

"Yes! Thank you, Kyoichi-sama!"

Genma could barely hide his excitement.

Puppet techniques...

Of course he had envied them before—but Konoha didn't have that kind of tradition. It had always been something out of reach.

If it really could be developed—

His ceiling would rise sharply.

"Start practicing."

Kyoichi nodded and pulled out several scrolls.

They were ones he had found in Tsunade's archives, relating to poison techniques—because when it came to toxicology, Kyoichi really only "knew a little."

He'd have to cram some learning himself.

Still...

Even if he wasn't an expert, just one morning's review was enough to guide Raitō, Rin, and Shizune.

After all...

Mastering toxicology would take years of dedication. And right now, they didn't have the time. Reports said the Amegakure and Sunagakure ninja squads would arrive by tomorrow.

Deep training?

They simply didn't have enough time for that.

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