Chapter 81: Mission Center
Watching Might Guy doing handstand laps around the Hidden Leaf Village yet again, Uchiha Kei couldn't help but feel a surge of envy for the man's boundless energy and monstrous physical strength.
Uchiha Kei had never worn any sort of weights on his body. His main reason was simple: he didn't want to handicap himself on the battlefield. Even after returning home, he still hadn't gotten into the habit.
But Guy was another story entirely. Kei wasn't sure what Guy was like during wartime, but he could clearly sense that Guy was currently carrying a considerable amount of weight on him.
Kei didn't know the exact amount, but just imagining Rock Lee was enough to make him break out in a cold sweat—especially since Guy was running laps around the entire village while doing a handstand!
"That guy's a total maniac," Kei muttered under his breath. "No wonder he was able to go toe-to-toe with Madara. Honestly, thinking back, getting kicked by him when I was a kid doesn't seem so unfair anymore."
Rubbing his face—which had long forgotten the pain of that old memory—Kei couldn't help but recall how Guy had once flattened him with a single kick.
Shaking his head quickly, Kei continued toward the mission hall.
The older generation of tough veterans in Konoha was still fairly large, and Kei recognized most of them.
It couldn't be helped—they were all from the same class, after all. It would've been harder not to know each other. Back when Kei was still a weakling, he'd seriously considered clinging to their coattails more than once.
But fate had other plans. Somehow, inexplicably, Uchiha Kei had risen to become a hero.
Something no one, least of all himself, would have ever predicted.
Kei thoughtfully stroked his chin.
Their graduating class had produced quite a few notable names: Obito Uchiha, Kakashi Hatake, Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi, Might Guy, and Shizune, among others.
A year or two younger were Iruka Umino, Ibiki Morino, Anko Mitarashi, and others.
In Kei's memories of Konoha's future, the middle-to-upper echelons of the village's strength would basically be composed of people from these few graduating classes.
"Our batch really spread out across all levels," Kei mused silently. "Looks like I need to strengthen my connections with them, whether my plans succeed or fail.
If things go south and I have to flee, these people will probably be the ones sent to hunt me down. If we're on good terms, maybe they'll go a little easier on me."
With these chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind, Uchiha Kei arrived at the mission hall.
The place was bustling.
He even recognized a few familiar faces among the crowd, many of whom had clearly just come back from the battlefield.
Although the Land of Fire's daimyo supported Konoha, a village that relied entirely on outside funds without developing its own economy would never truly thrive.
Thus, Konoha extracted a percentage of profits from both ninja missions and the village's industries through taxation.
In truth, it wasn't just Konoha—every hidden village operated similarly.
Internal industries could only generate so much; it was the endless stream of missions that truly brought wealth to the ninjas and their villages.
Kei had often wondered if, when the great nations' shinobi villages went to war, it wasn't just about land and resources, but also a way to flex their strength and secure larger shares of the mission market.
Kei casually picked a spot to sit, pretending to wait for teammates to take on a mission.
In reality, he was focused on eavesdropping on nearby conversations.
But much to his frustration, even after sitting there for quite a while, no one dared to talk about anything related to the Uchiha Clan.
Instead, a steady stream of ninjas came up to greet him politely.
Kei forced himself to respond to their small talk and turned down several mission invitations.
Only then did it finally hit him:
"I'm a complete idiot."
After cursing silently at himself, Uchiha Kei simply walked up to the mission board, gave it a quick glance, and then left the hall pretending to look disappointed.
Wearing the full attire of the Uchiha clan, with the bold Uchiha crest shining brightly on his back, how could anyone possibly dare to openly discuss Uchiha-related topics in front of him?
The Uchiha clan still commanded considerable prestige in Konoha.
Even though their reputation—especially that of the Konoha Military Police Force—was less than stellar, no one was foolish enough to gossip about them with an Uchiha member standing right there.
Feeling helpless, Kei realized he had seriously miscalculated.
He remembered that back in the day, people would badmouth the Uchiha even right to his face.
But things were different now.
Kei had returned to the village as a hero.
Even if some ninjas harbored resentment deep down, they weren't about to take it out on someone like Uchiha Kei.
These people knew better.
They understood the difference between personal prejudice and objective reality.
But that made Kei's mission even more difficult.
"Looks like I'll have to head to the Police Force instead," Kei sighed, then turned and made his way toward the outskirts of the village.
At present, the Uchiha clan's district was still relatively close to the center of Konoha.
However, the Police Force headquarters and the village prison were already situated much farther out.
It wouldn't be until after the Nine-Tails' attack that, during Konoha's reconstruction, the Uchiha clan would be forcibly relocated to the very edges of the village—a move that would severely inflame tensions within the clan.
That would give rise to the more radical hardliners, while the so-called "dove faction" would steadily lose influence, ultimately leading to an inevitable and tragic end.
As Kei walked along, he suddenly spotted a few familiar figures ahead.
Interestingly, he had ties to everyone present.
On one side was a squad from the Uchiha Police Force.
Leading them was none other than Uchiha Hiroki—a man Kei had always found particularly irritating.
Opposing them were two non-Uchiha individuals:
One was a young boy, no older than fourteen or fifteen, already tied up by the police squad.
The other was someone with whom Kei's relationship was a bit more complicated: Fukuhiko Kohei.
Fukuhiko Kohei was Kei's current supervising Jonin.
Although Kei hadn't seen much of him lately, he still remembered Kohei fairly well.
A loyal shinobi, devoted to the Hokage, with an easygoing personality and solid strength to match.
Kei and Kohei had completed several missions together in the past.
Kohei had provided him with plenty of assistance.
Still, Kei couldn't say he liked him very much—not because of personal issues, but because Kohei's loyalty to the Third Hokage- Sarutobi Hiruzen, which didn't sit well with Kei's current position.
Frowning slightly, Kei approached them and greeted, "Kohei-sensei, it's been a while."
"Kei?" Fukuhiko Kohei, who had been arguing with Uchiha Hiroki, froze for a moment upon hearing Kei's voice.
"It has been a while."
"What's going on here?" Kei asked casually, shaking his head slightly before turning his sharp gaze toward Uchiha Hiroki.
"Uchiha Kei, this has nothing to do with you," Hiroki snapped coldly.
"You're not a member of the Police Force. I advise you to—"
Before Hiroki could finish, his eyes widened in shock, his expression twisting grotesquely.
Because Kei didn't bother letting him finish.
Without hesitation, Kei lashed out with a brutal kick right into Hiroki's gut.
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