Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

Talkative.

To put it simply, Uchiha Kiyohime is a bit of a chatterbox.

However, it was precisely because of Uchiha Kiriha's personality that he was assigned this job.

"Sir, are you really sure you want to join the police department? You need to think this through carefully. Once you pass the test and are accepted, you'll be punished if you try to back out." Uchiha Kiriha asked again, afraid that this young man might regret it later and cause trouble.

Kabuto smiled helplessly and nodded again, saying, "I'm sure."

"Um... just a moment!" Uchiha Kiriha hurriedly pulled a registration form from the pile of papers on the table and handed it to Yakushi Kabuto. "Please leave your name, age, and address here. Just fill it out according to the instructions on the form. There are examples at the top for reference, but don't give false information. If you're caught, you'll be fined a lot of money. If you don't understand anything, just ask me... By the way, did you bring your application form?"

Kabuto, watching Uchiha Kiriha chatter on and on, silently took the form, glanced at it for a few seconds, then quickly wrote down his information. He then took out the application form from his bag, pointed to the work experience section, and asked, "I brought it, but I have a question. My previous work involved some confidential information that cannot be disclosed. I don't know how to fill this out."

Although he's no longer a spy.

However, past experiences remain a closely guarded secret.

"confidential?"

Uchiha Kiriha paused for a second, took the application form, looked at it for a few seconds, and then handed it back to Kabuto. "Wait, let me take a look."

Then she took out a thin, roughly thirty-page "Provisional Handbook for Police Recruitment (First Edition)," quickly flipped through it, found the answers recorded inside, and replied methodically, "Mr. Pharmacist, if you're not comfortable disclosing your past work experience, just write 'confidential.' But you also need to be mentally prepared. Ordinary people may not be qualified to access those secrets, but those confidentiality measures are useless in front of the clan leader. Just like I told you before, don't try to get away with it. If the clan leader finds out that your identity is problematic, you'll bear all the consequences."

"I see."

Kabuto smiled, picked up his pen, and filled in the blank "Confidential" field in the work experience section of the application form. He then handed the form back to Uchiha Kiriha and asked:

Is that all?

Uchiha Kiriha carefully checked the application form, then rolled it up and stuffed it into the cylinder on the back of the gray cat squatting on the table, saying, "There are no problems. Please go inside for the assessment. Once you pass the assessment, you will be a member of the police department."

Kabuto thanked him and followed Uchiha Kiriha's instructions to go deeper into the house.

Since this was the first time recruiting people from outside the Uchiha clan, there was no past experience to refer to, and everything had to be done by trial and error. Therefore, they did not dare to expand too much. They rented a property belonging to the Kurama clan in the most prosperous area of ​​the village, which was in the middle of the line from the main gate of Konoha to the Hokage Building, and temporarily used it as the only recruitment point.

It's not that the Uchiha clan didn't have the money to set up businesses here. As a major producer of explosive tags, the Uchiha clan wasn't short of money. It's just that the Uchiha clan, who were previously isolated in a corner of the village, simply couldn't set up any businesses in the village center. Now, these prime locations in the village center, worth a fortune, are impossible to buy even if they wanted to.

Outside this temporary recruitment point, it seemed no different from usual, but upon closer inspection, one would find many people loitering around, walking from one side to the other, turning a corner and then slowly walking back with the crowd, their eyes always fixed on the long table outside the recruitment point and Uchiha Kiriha sitting behind it.

When Kabuto stepped forward, he immediately attracted a lot of attention. They watched as he spoke for a while, submitted an application form, and then strode into the house without any hesitation... The atmosphere on the street changed noticeably.

"Does anyone recognize him? Who is he?"

Someone asked.

"I don't know, I've never seen it."

"I don't know him either."

Konoha Village has a population of hundreds of thousands, and tens of thousands of ninjas. It's perfectly normal for them not to know each other. Even when they get together, they don't know each other. Instead, they exchange a few words, like "I know you," "You know him," and "He has connections with a fourth person."

"I've seen him. Last week, I accompanied my girlfriend to an orphanage to deliver food to the orphans there. I saw that guy there. He seemed to be an orphanage helper. I remember his name was Yakushi Kabuto?" As more people gathered, someone finally recognized Yakushi Kabuto.

Soon, someone else spoke up and confirmed Kabuto's identity. After everyone had spoken, they had basically figured out what Kabuto was known about.

Although it's still unknown whether Kabuto Yakushi was a plant hired by the Uchiha clan.

But in general, this is a real person, not a fake identity created using transformation magic. Someone really was the first to try something new, and everyone's eyes lit up as they looked forward to the final outcome for Kabuto Yakushi. As long as the outcome for this first person wasn't bad, then they naturally didn't have anything to worry about.

Now, let's return to the story of Kabuto Yakushi.

After entering the house, he followed Uchiha Kiriha's instructions to go to the courtyard behind the house to participate in the assessment. As for the content of the assessment, he would only know when he arrived... No, wait!

"It's already started!"

Kabuto Yakushi stopped and looked down at the corridor in front of him.

Twenty seconds had passed since he stepped through the door. This wasn't a castle; in half a minute, he should have already crossed this short corridor and reached the back courtyard. But he was still in the corridor, unable to even see the exit.

It's an illusion!

He made a decision in an instant.

To be honest, he wasn't satisfied with his reaction speed. Sure enough, returning to the village and his mother's side had significantly reduced his alertness and responsiveness. A comfortable life can easily erode one's will... Fortunately, this was just an assessment, not a real battlefield.

I just don't know how my reaction speed will be rated.

"Illusion, dispel!"

Yakushi Kabuto stood still, his hands forming a mudra.

His ninjutsu and genjutsu all came from 'Root', and their quality was quite good, not the kind of common stuff. As he used the means to dispel the genjutsu, the illusion in front of him was instantly broken, and he was still standing in the corridor, but the direction he was facing was a wall. If nothing unexpected happened, he had just been spinning around in place.

"Is this some kind of trick, or a trick of the fox's mind?"

Kabuto Yakushi analyzed how he had been infected, "It should be the latter, right?"

The so-called "fox's mind trick" is an illusion that makes people feel like they are walking into a maze. The person who falls into the trick will wander around unconsciously, just like being bewitched by a fox.

"However, when used in this kind of situation... the difficulty of the assessment is not very high."

Fox Mind Magic is an illusion technique that is highly dependent on the environment. When used in places with high similarity to forests and deserts, it can confuse the enemy for a long time, causing the enemy to run around in place and thus depleting the enemy's stamina. It can be used on multiple targets within a certain range at the same time.

However, using this technique in an indoor environment makes it easy for others to see through it. The house is only so big, how could the corridor be so long that it's impossible to walk through it? It can be said that over time, most people will be able to figure it out.

Then,

Is this a test of reaction speed and the ability to break illusions?

Kabuto Yakushi pondered the purpose of the assessment while passing through the corridor and arriving at the backyard, which had been transformed into a training ground. He didn't know what it originally looked like, but now it was a training ground with many wooden stakes standing there.

"The second test is shurikenjutsu."

The speaker was a young man dressed in the uniform of the police department. He had a serious expression and did not have the frivolity that one would expect from a young man. He had four swords hanging across his waist, two on each side. He was Uchiha Inahisa, a genius of the Uchiha clan, who was proficient in the Four-Sword Style and had formidable strength.

This time, he and his younger brother, Uchiha Tekka, were selected as examiners to oversee the assessment of shurikenjutsu and taijutsu.

"See those white lines? Stand behind them and throw shuriken in sequence, from near to far, three at a time," Uchiha Inahisa said coldly. Compared to Uchiha Kiyohisa's talkativeness, this was quite different, but this kind of Uchiha was more in line with the public's perception of the Uchiha clan.

To be honest, Kabuto Yakushi's understanding of the Uchiha clan was all hearsay. He was a wanderer when he was young and was taken in by Nono Yakushi. His happy days didn't last long before he joined Root because of Danzo. After completing his training at Root, he was sent to various countries to carry out espionage activities. He didn't really know much about Konoha, nor did he know much about the Uchiha clan.

He didn't show any emotional fluctuation because of Uchiha Inahisa's cold attitude. He simply silently accepted the ninja tool bag that Uchiha Tekka handed him. It was quite heavy. According to his understanding, if it was full of shuriken, it probably contained about fifteen shuriken.

Five white lines, fifteen shurikens, three at a time—it was all calculated!

There are a total of ten wooden stakes on the training ground, and each stake has five white lines in front of it, which means that a maximum of ten people can be tested at the same time.

The pharmacist walked over and stood in front of the white line.

"Shall we start now? Do we need to gather ten people together?"

"No need, let's just start. Waiting is pointless. If you can set a good example, we can probably gather ten people to take the test at the same time." Uchiha Inahime did not scold Kabuto for talking too much. Instead, he answered his question, making Kabuto realize that this person might not be as cold and unapproachable as he seemed.

Moreover, he is quite quick-witted and can at least understand the current situation.

"I shouldn't disappoint you."

The pharmacist was full of confidence.

As a former spy who walked a tightrope, he had faced many extremely dangerous situations and fought hand-to-hand with enemies countless times. He was quite confident in his abilities, and he could clearly see that the police department's recruitment this time was mainly for chunin and genin. After all, judging from these two tests, it was clear that the jonin test would not be so simple.

"Then let's begin, Mr. Yakushi Kabuto."

Uchiha Inahisa said with a straight face, holding in his hand was none other than Kabuto Yakushi's application form.

Was it delivered by that gray cat? During the time he was trapped by the illusion, Kabuto Yakushi thought to himself, then took out three shuriken from his ninja tool bag and casually threw them at the wooden stake in front of him. His movements were quite casual, even giving people a sense of nonchalance.

but,

The three shuriken were precisely driven into the center of the circle drawn on the wooden stake.

Uchiha Inahime's eyes were bloodshot. Under the gaze of his Sharingan, Kabuto Yakushi's every move could not escape his observation. After just one round, he already knew that Kabuto Yakushi was very skilled. Judging from his fighting style, he should be from the Anbu.

Furthermore, the word "confidential" in the work experience section of the application form practically confirms it's a done deal.

but,

What identity the pharmacist had in the past was irrelevant to him. He only needed to do what he was supposed to do, and the clan leader and elders would take care of the rest.

"...I forgot to ask, are they thrown three times separately, or all at once?" Kabuto Yakushi asked, turning his head.

"Whatever, I only care about the final results."

Uchiha Inahisa held not only Kabuto Yakushi's application form, but also a rather thick document. He used a pen to record Kabuto's grades on it, while Uchiha Tetsuka took the shuriken off the wooden stake so that Kabuto could throw it in the second round.

The assessment continues.

The five white lines are getting further and further apart.

However, Kabuto Yakushi's performance remained consistently excellent. His shuriken seemed to be attracted by a magnet, always landing precisely in the center of the ring. From beginning to end, he never missed a single throw. This superb and skillful shuriken throwing technique made Uchiha Tetsuka's heart itch with envy.

If it weren't for the inappropriate occasion, or if my older brother weren't here,

He probably couldn't resist rushing up to Yakushi Kabuto and begging him to demonstrate his skills.

[Chapter 243. So she's a newbie!]

After deciding to recruit ninjas from outside the clan to solve the problem of insufficient manpower in the police department, new problems arose one after another. One of them was how to select usable talents from so many people. Although the recruitment notice was posted, the recruitment point was deserted.

But this did not shake the confidence of the police department's top brass. No one was worried about not being able to recruit people. Not all of Konoha's ninjas were like Jiraiya, a playboy. Even Jiraiya, to be honest, might not have continued to wander around if it weren't for the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.

For most ordinary ninjas

A job that doesn't require leaving the village and traveling all over the country is highly sought after.

The village's six departments and agencies are divided into two parts: the medical department and the interrogation department only recruit people with relevant professional skills, while the administration department and the education department are not just one person per position, and the nature of the work is more like clerical work, which most ninjas who are used to fighting and killing really can't do.

Not only is the threshold for joining the Anbu high, but you might also be sent out of the village to carry out missions at any time. Even if you stay in the village, you'll be living a life of hiding and being secretive every day. Of course, the most important thing is that the threshold is too high. Most junior and junior ninjas don't even know where the door to the Anbu is.

After this comparison...

You'll find that the police department is actually the most ideal workplace. The nature of the work is not as clerical as the administrative department or the education department, nor is it as difficult to get in or out as the ANBU, nor does it have the strong professional nature of the medical department or the interrogation department. Basically, any qualified Chunin, or even some capable Genin, can get into the police department.

However, in the past, the police department was the exclusive domain of the Uchiha clan, and no one dared to dream of being able to enter the police department.

But now good things have fallen from the sky.

Countless people in the village were tempted. The number of letters sent out from the village surged by 30% the day after the recruitment notice was issued. They were all addressed to fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters who were on missions elsewhere. No one wanted to miss such an opportunity.

It's just that the Uchiha clan had such a bad reputation in the past, otherwise the recruitment threshold would have been worn down long ago.

so,

The police department's top brass weren't worried about not being able to recruit anyone. Even though no one had come to the recruitment point almost two days after it opened, they didn't change the established assessment criteria at all. These criteria were set by Uchiha Arashiyama and the police department's strategists based on Sogen's "better to have none than to have bad ones" philosophy.

The assessment consists of three rounds.