Chapter 10: Then Make Him Even More Radical!
"Yashiro-senpai said that compared to this small amount of benefit, sacrificing the Uchiha's power, status, and prestige is simply not worth it."
"Is Yashiro-senpai a radical, or a conservative?"
"A radical."
Uchiha Shisui continued,
"Yashiro-senpai's reasoning was that under the current circumstances, the Uchiha's position is already extremely poor. The Police Force represents almost the last remaining symbol of the Uchiha's authority and influence."
"If even that is lost, then Konoha will truly have no place left for the Uchiha to stand."
Shiraishi's brows twitched slightly.
This argument wasn't necessarily wrong.
But it depended entirely on the broader context.
If the village leadership's stance was one of stability and restraint, then Uchiha Yashiro's thinking made sense.
However, if the village leadership did not intend to maintain stability, then the Police Force, to the Uchiha, was nothing more than slow-acting poison—drinking poison to quench thirst.
"Shisui, how did you refute him?" Shiraishi asked.
"I said that the current state of the Police Force does more harm than good to the Uchiha. If this continues, our reputation will only worsen, and our conflicts with the villagers will grow more intense."
"But Yashiro-senpai said—"
"He said there was no need to care about the opinions of ordinary villagers, because this is a world of ninja?"
"Exactly."
Shisui nodded.
"But I don't think the opinions of ordinary villagers are unimportant. One or two people may not matter much, but once their numbers grow large enough, they can still cause serious consequences."
"Yet I couldn't persuade Yashiro-senpai. We each held our own views and believed ourselves to be right."
Shisui let out a sigh.
Shiraishi's perspective aligned perfectly with Shisui's.
The opinions of one or two villagers truly didn't matter—but when enough of them accumulated, a qualitative change would occur.
The relatives, neighbors, and friends of ninjas could all be ordinary villagers.
These relationships were absolutely capable of influencing things.
Even within the Uchiha clan, there were quite a few civilians.
Moreover, matters involving food, clothing, housing, and transportation throughout the village were all largely handled by ordinary people.
Environment subtly reshapes people's thinking.
Thus, even if an ordinary ninja—or a ninja from another clan—had never clashed with the Uchiha, or perhaps never even interacted with them, the environment alone would naturally foster hostility.
Cultural infiltration and public opinion guidance were extremely important forces.
Intangible, difficult to see or grasp—yet undeniably real.
Why was it that some people were born in the Land of Wind, never left their small towns their entire lives, yet harbored extreme hatred toward people from the Land of Water, whom they had never even met?
And why did others, born in the Land of Grass and similarly never leaving their hometowns, feel warmth and closeness toward the Land of Fire, as if it were their true homeland?
If Uchiha Madara were still alive, the Uchiha indeed wouldn't need to care about any of this.
But now, the Uchiha's strength could not be considered overwhelming.
"Maybe we can change our way of thinking," Shiraishi said.
"What do you mean?"
"Yashiro-senpai is a radical, right?"
"Yes."
"Then what exactly is his way of thinking?"
"Proactively confront the village leadership, seize every resource that can be seized, strengthen the Uchiha's power, refuse to retreat even a single step, maintain a strong external stance, and quietly accumulate strength."
"But this approach," Shiraishi said calmly, "won't actually allow much strength to accumulate."
"In my view, Yashiro-senpai is radical—but not radical enough. Under his management, the Police Force can at best preserve the status quo. It has no room to advance."
"And as this kind of confrontation continues, conflicts between the Uchiha and the village leadership will only intensify. Sooner or later, it will inevitably escalate into violent civil war."
"Didn't you investigate earlier, Shisui? Some radical members are already planning to overthrow the current village leadership through civil war and seize control of Konoha."
"If civil war is truly the goal, then the Uchiha need far more power than they currently possess."
"What they have now is not enough."
"The Police Force occupies a large number of Uchiha ninja. Because of their duties, these ninjas cannot devote most of their time and energy to improving their strength."
"So if we hand over the Police Force's work to ordinary ninjas—or even ordinary villagers—those Uchiha can be freed up for intensive training."
Shisui frowned slightly.
"But wouldn't that cause even more Uchiha to develop thoughts of civil war? If that happens, things could spiral out of control."
"Shisui," Shiraishi countered,
"do you really think that if we do nothing, the number of such Uchiha won't increase?"
Shisui fell silent for a moment.
"…They will increase."
"Exactly," Shiraishi said.
"Since they will increase regardless, why not do this? At the very least, it prevents the Uchiha's reputation within the village from continuing to deteriorate. That's one additional benefit."
Shiraishi paused briefly, then continued.
"Besides, civil war only counts as civil war once it actually breaks out. As long as the village leadership doesn't know about it, then it doesn't exist."
"A civil war that hasn't happened yet isn't a civil war."
"And if Yashiro-senpai wants to accumulate strength, he will definitely hide it and avoid exposing it to the outside world."
"To the village leadership, this will appear as if the Uchiha have retreated."
"The village will then enter a period of stability."
"And by the time Yashiro-senpai believes his strength has accumulated sufficiently, you, Shisui, should already possess very strong influence within the clan."
"As long as you want to stop the civil war, you'll be able to suppress them."
"In that case, our objective will have been achieved."
Shisui organized his thoughts.
"So first, we pretend to be radicals as well, and persuade Yashiro-senpai to take an even more radical path."
"But in reality, we're deceiving him."
"Our true goal is only to reform the Police Force according to our vision—improving the Uchiha's reputation and easing conflicts between the clan and the villagers."
"Yashiro-senpai and the others will secretly conduct special training for the withdrawn Uchiha."
"When they return, the authority and status within the clan will already be in my hands."
"If I don't want civil war, they won't be able to start one."
Shiraishi nodded.
"That's right."
There was only one slight difference—
In Shiraishi's view, whether civil war was real or fake could be decided later, depending on future circumstances.
"It sounds feasible. I'll try it this way next."
"Oh right—Shiraishi, how are things progressing on Itachi's side?"
"There's progress."
Shisui's eyes lit up slightly.
"What did you find?"
"In my previous conversations with Itachi, he expressed dissatisfaction toward certain Uchiha clan members—mainly the radicals."
"He hopes for a heavy blow against the Uchiha, something that would force them to clearly recognize their own situation."
Shisui nodded.
"He told me something similar, but I found it unacceptable. Killing several elite Uchiha ninja just to make some people calm down—I can't accept that."
Shiraishi continued,
"After that, I asked Itachi whether he had discussed this with Fugaku-senpai. His answer was no."
"But the key wasn't the word no—it was the expression on Itachi's face at that moment."
"I could tell that Itachi harbors dissatisfaction toward his father."
"That dissatisfaction stems from Fugaku's failure, as clan head, to properly handle the Uchiha's situation."
"Shisui, I think you may be underestimating Itachi."
"He isn't the type who places father-son affection above the entire Uchiha clan."
"Itachi's capacity is far greater than that."
In truth, father-son affection meant very little to Uchiha Itachi.
So Shiraishi wasn't lying—he was simply guiding Shisui's perception in a particular direction.
At this stage, Shisui and Itachi still had a good relationship.
"Once I finish dealing with the Police Force matters," Shisui said,
"I'll leave Itachi to you for further observation. Our plan absolutely cannot tolerate any accidents. As for Itachi… I still can't fully trust him."
"No trouble at all," Shiraishi replied.
"I'm also a member of the Uchiha."
Shiraishi gestured toward the entrance.
"Speaking of which, the one who's truly working the hardest here is you, Shisui."
Hirako Shinji stepped forward carrying two bowls of porridge.
"Have some porridge as a late-night meal. Alice just made it."
Shisui sniffed instinctively.
"Smells amazing."
He looked at Shiraishi and said sincerely,
"Honestly, Shiraishi, I'm becoming more and more grateful that the Uchiha have you—and that we became such close friends."
"Your thinking, your logic—it's incredibly clear. If you weren't an Uchiha, I'd honestly suspect you were from the Nara clan."
"And on top of that, you have someone like Alice as your cook."
"After an exhausting day, coming here to eat Alice's food makes both my physical and mental fatigue drop by more than half. I feel motivated again."
"Shiraishi… we'll succeed, won't we?"
Shiraishi nodded firmly.
"We definitely will."
If it were only Uchiha Shisui alone, Shiraishi wouldn't have been confident.
Even if Shisui stood fully on the Uchiha's side, the gap between the clan and Konoha's leadership was still enormous.
And internal problems plagued the Uchiha as well.
But this world didn't only have Shisui.
It also had Shiraishi.
And Shiraishi's many ninja cats.
There were only two for now—but there would certainly be more.
Uchiha Sasuke and Uchiha Izumi's favorability levels would soon surpass 90.
When that happened, Shiraishi would gain two more combat-type ninja cats.
In addition, Shiraishi himself would obtain two more reward opportunities.
Night deepened.
Uchiha Shisui departed.
---
Over the next few days, far fewer people came to the ninja tool shop.
Shisui was busy persuading Uchiha Yashiro.
This wasn't something that could be accomplished in a sentence or two.
Before persuading Yashiro, Shisui also needed to communicate with other radical Uchiha—especially those who already harbored thoughts of civil war.
That required a significant amount of time.
Uchiha Izumi went to the Ninja Academy each day.
Only Uchiha Sasuke came by occasionally—twice in total—and didn't stay long.
Even so, Shiraishi managed to raise Sasuke's favorability from 46 to 50 during those short visits.
There were still 40 points to go before reaching 90.
"My lord, we're running low on ingredients."
Alice walked out from the kitchen.
Shiraishi glanced outside.
"Perfect timing. There aren't many customers today, so I'll go out to restock."
"Alice, you won't be coming this time. Just tell me what ingredients you need."
"Alright."
Before long, Alice handed him a list.
Shiraishi took it.
"Shinji, let's go."
"Yes, my lord."
One man and one cat left the ninja tool shop, heading from the Uchiha district toward Konoha's commercial street.
The man looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, with short black hair and dark eyes.
He wasn't wearing ninja attire, but rather a white long robe with blue cloud patterns embroidered along the edges, tied with a brown belt.
It resembled Sakata Gintoki's outfit from Gintama.
At a glance, he looked like a shop owner.
The cat was an orange tabby, golden-furred and slightly lean.
It walked upright, a sword hanging at its waist, laziness radiating from its posture—
Yet it remained alert at all times.
As Shiraishi and Hirako Shinji stepped out, many gazes fell upon them.
Some were directed at Shiraishi, tinged with discomfort after recognizing his Uchiha identity.
Others—especially children—stared curiously at Hirako Shinji.
Most children naturally loved fluffy creatures like cats and dogs.
Not to mention a cat that could walk upright.
Even though people knew about ninja cats and ninja dogs, seeing one in person still sparked curiosity.
A vegetable shop.
A meat shop.
A seasoning shop.
Shiraishi followed the list, purchasing everything and loading it onto a small handcart.
Hirako Shinji pushed the cart from behind.
Then a figure entered Shiraishi's field of vision.
About the same age as Sasuke.
Short blond hair.
He walked out of a shop looking dejected, clutching a money pouch in one hand.
Coins spilled from it.
His other hand was empty.
"…Uzumaki Naruto."
That shop had refused to sell anything to Uzumaki Naruto.
Shiraishi's gaze flickered.
The Uchiha's situation in Konoha was bad—but not to the extent of being refused service outright.
Naruto's situation, at least for now, was even worse than the Uchiha's.
Still, Shiraishi had no intention of approaching him.
No matter how poorly Naruto was treated, as the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, ANBU or Root members were certainly watching him in secret.
If Shiraishi interacted with Naruto, it would bring trouble.
Especially given that Shiraishi was an Uchiha.
Power stones please 🥺🥺