With those words, Uchiha Kei led the Uchiha onward, the procession continuing toward its destination and leaving Minato Namikaze behind.
Minato was clearly dissatisfied with that answer.
He was about to pursue Kei and continue the argument when the Hokage’s ANBU, like policemen who always arrived after everything was over, finally showed up.
Left with no choice, Minato abandoned the confrontation.
At the same time, he realized something.
He and Kei would never walk the same path.
He had once believed that, because the Uchiha considered themselves one of Konoha’s founding clans, they would cherish everything within the village.
Now he understood how wrong he had been.
They didn’t merely fail to cherish Konoha...
They didn’t even seem to value human life.
Perhaps the Third Hokage had been right after all.
The Uchiha could not be trusted.
Although there were kind-hearted people among them—such as Obito Uchiha—the ones who held power treated lives as though they were worthless.
Kei never imagined that this moment, as they walked farther and farther apart, marked the point where the Uchiha and Konoha’s future Hokage would forever go their separate ways.
He simply...
Didn’t like Minato.
It wasn’t because of anything Minato had done today.
It was prejudice etched into his very bones.
Memories from another life made it impossible for him to truly get along with any Hokage.
In every bureaucracy, there were usually three kinds of newcomers.
Those born into bureaucratic families, who naturally fit in.
Those from scholarly households, aloof and principled.
And those from ordinary families, cautious and forever watching their step.
If they stayed within the system long enough, all three could eventually rise.
Yet even if they belonged to the same political faction...
They were never truly alike.
They could never genuinely understand one another.
At least...
That was true among men.
Ordinary men who climbed the ranks usually did so by marrying into influential families.
That was simply how the world worked.
The environment in which people grew up shaped how they viewed everything.
To truly understand one another would mean denying the very experiences that had defined their lives.
That was almost impossible.
Sometimes...
Two people could both be good people.
And still never get along.
Because from the moment they were born...
They had belonged to different worlds.
Their backgrounds ensured they interpreted everything differently.
Trying to convince the other side became meaningless.
Kei had once believed that although he’d been born into the Uchiha Clan...
At heart, he was still an ordinary person.
Surely he and Minato would share common ground.
Now he understood.
He had been wrong.
Minato, whose life had unfolded so smoothly, could never understand someone like him.
As the group traveled farther from Konoha, the scenery gradually grew wilder.
Overgrown weeds covered the ground.
Twisted branches stretched across the forest.
Few people ever ventured this far.
The seemingly lush woodland had become a paradise for wild beasts.
A gigantic wild boar charged toward them like a landslide, not even bothering to warn the intruders they had entered its territory.
A few moments later...
It became that night’s dinner.
Kei kept both hands tucked into the sleeves of his kimono and quietly shook his head.
"The farther I walk..."
"...the narrower my road becomes."
Yet ever since arriving in Konoha...
Kei seemed determined to offend someone new every other day.
One day it was this person.
The next day someone else.
Among everyone of importance in Konoha...
There was hardly anyone left who wasn’t his enemy.
People were emotional creatures.
Without friendship...
Without love...
Without family...
Surrounded only by loyalty that had been granted rather than freely given...
Did a life like that really have any meaning?
Even counting both of his lifetimes together...
Kei still wasn’t someone who had lived very long.
For the first time...
He questioned himself.
Is this really the life I wanted?
Yet the farther they moved away from Konoha...
The lighter everyone’s mood became.
The marching column gradually transformed into something more like a leisurely outing.
Oboro happily ran about waving a paper pinwheel like an excited little girl.
Shugen, who had cared for her ever since their previous life, instinctively chased after her to make sure she didn’t wander too far.
Kagerō, Oboro’s closest friend—and someone secretly in love with Gennosuke—watched Shugen fuss over Oboro as though caring for a child.
She could only pout in jealousy.
Grandmother Gen gently rested a wrinkled hand upon the stomach of a woman from the Kōga Group.
The woman had married into the Iga Group.
She was pregnant.
To everyone in Iga...
That was wonderful news.
Standing guard around the perimeter, Tenzen glanced toward Uchiha Danjō, his face filled with smug satisfaction.
Among those who had married between the Iga and Kōga Groups...
Five members of Iga already had children on the way.
Kōga only had three.
This time...
Iga had won.
Everyone was deeply satisfied with their new lives.
Their lord had never treated them as disposable tools.
Compared to the shoguns they had once served...
He was incomparably better.
True...
Their lord often joked,
"If it’s an enemy you can beat, you go first."
"If it’s one you can’t beat..."
"I’ll be the first to run."
Yet despite all his joking...
Kei had never deliberately thrown them into battles they couldn’t survive.
Even when opportunities promised enormous rewards, he preferred manipulating the situation from the sidelines and sharing in the benefits rather than risking their lives unnecessarily.
Uchiha Jūbei, nicknamed "Mole Cricket" because of his mastery of astrology and divination, was another example.
In his previous life, he had been a limbless cripple who always insisted on escaping danger first while grabbing every possible advantage.
Now...
Still lacking all four limbs...
He crawled across the ground like a snake, the iron scales attached beneath his body scraping against the earth as he cleared the path ahead for Kei.
The man who constantly mocked himself...
Who always claimed he was unreliable...
Was, in reality, deeply respected by everyone around him.
A newly graduated Genin from the Forty-Nine Iga Academy, still carrying the innocence of childhood, had already witnessed the brutal wars waged by the shogunate.
She knew firsthand how cruel the old world had been.
Which made the peace they now enjoyed all the more precious.
Even a wildflower blooming beside the road filled her with delight.
Without the slightest ulterior motive, the little girl picked the flower.
She simply wanted to offer it...
To the great Lord Kei.
Only seven or eight years old, she was among the youngest of Kei’s summoned Genin.
Standing before the twelve- or thirteen-year-old Kei, she had to tilt her head upward as she shyly held out the flower with a radiant smile.
Looking down at that innocent smile...
Kei suddenly felt at peace.
"...Ah."
"Damn this sense of responsibility."
"Perhaps..."
"The reason men exist..."
"...is to fight for the people who rely on them."
He crouched down, allowing the little girl to tuck the flower behind his ear.
Already carrying the air of a carefree rogue...
With the wildflower in place, he looked even more like a wandering playboy.
He smiled.
"What fake feelings?"
"They’re real people."
"They have emotions."
"They have warmth."
"They trust me."
"They’ve entrusted me with absolute authority."
"So I bear absolute responsibility."
"I have to lead them toward a better life."
"That’s reality."
"No one can enjoy power..."
"...and still expect to live the carefree life of an ordinary person."
"You chose this road yourself, Kei."
"So walk it to the very end."
"Everything else..."
"Friendship."
"Love."
"Family."
"They all come second."
"If necessary..."
"I’ll cast them aside."
"To hell with friendship."
"To hell with love."
"To hell with family."
"I only want the people beside me..."
"...to live."
That...
...is my Ninja Way.
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