Konoha Notes

Chapter 187 Giveaway
Uchiha Enjin, this bait, is probably useless now.

Since returning to the village, he has stopped mentioning the need to continue investigating the theft of the Sharingan. Instead, he has settled back into the ANBU squad led by Itachi Uchiha, carrying out his daily guard and patrol duties.

Through Itachi's continuous observation, it seems that Flame Blade is not planning any big move, but rather passively waiting for some kind of instruction, or rather, for someone to contact him.

However, the situation was quite different for the Uchiha clan members he had incited to return. After rejoining the police force, they specifically targeted the recently joined Hyuga and Aburame clan members.

The scope of the harassment is no longer limited to the police force, but has even extended to outside the force, targeting ordinary ninjas who are from two different clans but have not joined the police force.

Various forms of nitpicking and fault-finding have emerged one after another, and a tense atmosphere is quietly spreading.

Tsunade's initial plan was to use the Uchiha Enjin line to find the person behind it all and resolve the problem between the Uchiha clan and the village at its root.

But right now, if we continue to let these radicals run rampant, we probably won't need to look for any masterminds behind the scenes anymore—they themselves are rapidly becoming the most troublesome problem.

Since waiting is no longer effective in luring out the target, there's no need to wait any longer. If we don't close the net now, and emotions within the Uchiha clan are stirred up again, the net will break.

Inside the Uchiha clan's residence, Fugaku was pondering alone how to properly handle the disputes caused by the return of Suga and others.

Shisui, who was supposed to be out carrying out the daimyo's commission, appeared silently in the courtyard.

"Shisui? Why are you back?" Fugaku asked, somewhat surprised.

"It's about the Fierce Fire team."

"I will personally reprimand them about this matter tomorrow," Fugaku said in a deep voice. "But for internal strife of this magnitude, the village actually called you back?"

Before Shisui could answer, Itachi, dressed in ANBU attire but without a mask, slowly walked out from the inner room.

Upon seeing his eldest son appear in this attire, Fugaku's expression instantly turned serious: "What on earth happened?"

Shisui said in a low voice, "The reason they were able to be recalled is because they used illusion magic on the daimyo. This was confirmed by the Third Hokage, who happened to be in the Fire Capital..."

"What?!" Fugaku's seated body stiffened abruptly. Even for the Uchiha clan, using genjutsu to manipulate the will of a daimyo was a serious crime that crossed the line and violated the rules.

Itachi calmly added, "Father, the Fifth Hokage, and the two advisors are already aware of the whole story."

"The Hokage is awaiting a decision from within our clan."

Fugaku Uchiha looked at Itachi: "Can we hand him over to the police force for internal custody?"

Itachi shook his head slightly, giving a clear answer: "The bottom line that the Hokage is willing to leave is that all those involved be handed over to my Anbu squad for detention and supervision."

Fugaku's gaze lingered on Shisui and Itachi before he finally stood up.

"I understand... Let's do as the Hokage wishes."
-
For ordinary people and businesspeople who came to watch the competition, the individual competition stage was equally exciting and full of highlights.

However, for Shuji, the focus of his observation in the second half of the game was more on the spectators themselves and the various commercial activities that emerged around them.

Now that the idea of ​​suggesting it to Tsunade had been conceived, it was natural to consider the spectators themselves and the emerging new commercial activities. The subsequent match procedures were well-arranged by Kumogakure, who already had experience in team competitions. At least that was the case for Konoha. As for Yugakure and Shimogakure, at this point, they existed merely as NPCs.

Shuji's only task was to observe the candidates' performance on the spot and their improvement compared to the team competition. Compared to his lackluster performance when he was grouped with Uzuki Yugao and Gekko Hayate, Iruka's performance in the individual competition was quite commendable. It was indeed a waste for him to be grouped with those two high-speed and high-agility units.

After all, in a competition like the Chunin Exams, which focuses more on assessing an individual's overall abilities, not having any room to perform and having to face enemies far stronger than oneself is not a good thing for the final evaluation results.

Only Shuji, the team leader, who has a lot of influence in this Chunin Exams, would do something that is considered insulting to people.

The final winner was no surprise. The Konoha ninja returned to their base early. They had been in Kumogakure for almost two months. At first, they might have felt some novelty, but after a while, they inevitably felt a little bored.

After all, as participants from outside the village, they don't have much freedom of movement, far less than Xiuji, the team leader, who not only gets to enter Kumogakure but also frequently sends clones out to run around.

"I heard you're interested in exercising?"

Before leaving, Shuji went to the Raikage's office one last time to hand over his final official duties. Just as he was about to take his leave after finishing his business, the Fourth Raikage, A, suddenly spoke up.

"The protein powder from that store is indeed of good quality, but in terms of actual effectiveness and body adaptability, I personally recommend this one more."

As Lei Ying spoke, he picked up a large metal can with a prominent "A" logo on the outside from beside his desk.

"Consider this a way of repaying you for the guidance you gave Darui before. Take it and use it."

“No, actually I…” Xiu Si waved his hand subconsciously, “I only bought it out of curiosity.”

"Don't be so polite!" Raikage's voice boomed. "You can't slack off on training your muscles for even a day! With your seemingly frail body, you can still unleash that level of power. If you don't hone it properly, it would be a complete waste!"

"If you're a real man, you can't let your guard down for even a single day!"

"Don't let Darui catch up so easily, Shuuji!"
-
Uchiha Enjin was still waiting for the masked man's contact. The resistance of his comrades was just as he had seen. The tense atmosphere that had returned to the clan territory seemed to be putting things back on track.

Once "Ban" returns, he will unite the entire clan with absolute power...

"Flame Blade".

Itachi Uchiha's calm voice rang out from outside the door, interrupting Flame Blade's thoughts. He got up and walked towards the door.

The moment the door opened, a pair of Sharingan with three tomoe already activated appeared before him. Uchiha Enjin almost instinctively activated his own Sharingan in an attempt to fight back.

"You have failed to live up to the kindness of your predecessors."

This was the last thing he heard before he fell into a coma.

The same three-tomoe Sharingan... Itachi Uchiha's eye power is actually superior to mine?!

This was the last, incredulous astonishment that rose in his mind before his complete defeat.

(End of this chapter)