Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"Ouch! That hurts! Who hit me?"

Having been suddenly struck by a hand chop, Uchiha Fujika immediately became furious.

She opened her eyes wide with a fierce look, ready to settle scores with the attacker... But why was Hotaru still in the same spot? Yakumo was the same; the location she was in was only a few steps away from where she had seen when she closed her eyes. Could it be that she was ambushed by a shadow clone?

next second,

The steady voice behind her shattered all her assumptions.

"Wisteria, why aren't you walking properly? What kind of acrobatics are you doing here? Are you planning to go to the zoo and perform acrobatics with the monkeys?"

"Hey? Brother? What are you doing here?"

Uchiha Fujika covered her head, forgetting her headache and the matter of retaliation, and turned around to look at Uchiha Mugen in surprise.

"Master."

When Zongxian broke the silence, the two girls quickly approached and greeted each other in unison.

"What? You mean I can't be here?"

Zongxian nodded to his disciples, indicating that they didn't need to be so polite, while continuing to lecture his younger sister.

"Shouldn't you be at the Hokage Building right now?"

"Can't I come out on business?"

"I didn't say no... But going out at this time, and with you, the Hokage's assistant, personally going out? Has something big happened?" Uchiha Fujika's eyes lit up, clearly enjoying the spectacle. The eleven-year-old girl was no longer the little girl who was enthusiastic about ninja games.

Even in these peaceful times,

In wartime, children as young as five or six would be on the battlefield, let alone eleven. Sogen himself went to war at seven. To give an even more extreme example, Kakashi Hatake went straight to the battlefield after graduating from the Ninja Academy at five and became a Chunin at six…

Uchiha Fujika no longer plays ninja games; she longs to graduate from the ninja academy and become a real ninja.

"Go away, this has nothing to do with you."

Zongxian then gave his sister another free chop to the neck, looked up at the sky, and said, "If you keep dawdling like this, you'll be late, and if you have to repeat a year because you don't have enough credits to make up for it... I won't put in a good word for you."

"Hmph... Fine, don't talk then, why are you hitting my head again? Yakumo, Hotaru, let's go."

The girl muttered to herself, holding her head in her hands, while simultaneously calling to her friends to leave together.

It's obvious that the threat of repeating a grade is very effective. If she repeats a grade, she won't be able to graduate with Yakumo and Hotaru next year... After all, her academic performance is really not good. She is very smart and always got full marks in the exams the previous two years.

However, in the past two years, his interest in academic subjects seems to have plummeted, and he has devoted all his energy to training in ninjutsu and taijutsu. He only manages to pass with low scores every time thanks to his fairly intelligent brain and Yakumo's help. Hotaru is the same; they are both academic failures.

Every exam,

The two of them got through the challenge by clinging to Yakumo's coattails!

"Master, we're leaving."

Yakumo and Hotaru waved to Sogen.

"Go!"

Zongxian watched the girls' figures disappear into the spring breeze on the street before turning around, leaping up, and quickly heading towards the Akimichi clan's territory. The reason he was here today was simple: the Fifth Hokage, Akimichi Torifu, was ill again and unable to attend the Hokage Building meeting.

So he decided to visit the Hokage, and on the way he saw Fujika and the others.

Speaking of,

Akimichi Torifu's illness has been recurring, sometimes better, sometimes worse, and it has dragged on until now without a complete cure. Four years ago, the Anbu finally found Tsunade, who was on the run from debt, after spending a great deal of effort, but Tsunade had no intention of returning to Konoha.

The secret service dared not use coercive methods.

There was nothing they could do.

Nara Shikaku personally went to find her and offered to help Tsunade pay off her gambling debts in exchange for Tsunade treating Akimichi Tokifu. Unfortunately, Tsunade was still human; she was not an omnipotent god. Akimichi Tokifu's condition was half illness and half old age.

A complete cure is impossible.

Even so, Tsunade lived up to her reputation as the number one medical ninja in the ninja world. With her efforts, she managed to control Akimichi Torifu's illness and maintained it for more than four years. Even though he relapsed many times during this period, he was able to control it with the medicine he had prepared according to the prescriptions left by Tsunade.

Arriving at the Akimichi clan's ancestral lands,

When the Akimichi clan members guarding the main gate saw Sogen, they hurriedly sent someone to report the news. They didn't dare to stop the Hokage's assistant, so they could only accompany him inside. Anyway, this wasn't the first time. In the past few years, Akimichi Tokifu had often been bedridden with illness, and Sogen had to keep coming to visit him.

Honestly,

He could walk around the Akimichi clan's territory with his eyes closed without any problem. Before Munen had gone far, he saw Akimichi Choza rushing over. "Hokage Assistant, I'm so sorry to have troubled you to come all this way again."

"Stop talking nonsense, Lord Ding, how is the Hokage?"

It's not like it's my first time here.

Zongxian was too lazy to waste time with Akimichi Choza's pointless chatter, so he went straight to the point.

"not too good."

The forced smile on Akimichi Choza's face vanished, replaced by a grave expression that clearly indicated the situation was indeed dire. "The old man has already taken the medicine we prepared according to Lady Tsunade's prescription. In the past, the medicine always had an immediate effect, but this time..."

He paused.

Looking around, there was no one else besides the two of them.

He then lowered his voice and said, "Uncle... he can't see." To clarify, Akimichi Choza is not Akimichi Torifu's son, but his nephew. Akimichi Torifu never married or had children; he and Danzo were both celibate.

However, for a large family like Akimichi...

There's not much difference between a nephew and a son.

It is common practice to pass on a family business to a nephew when there is no son or the children are not capable.

Upon hearing what Akimichi Choza said, Sogen's expression changed drastically. He had actually gone blind! This was truly... No wonder the person who sent him the message was vague, and no wonder Akimichi Choza looked so pale. Such a situation would be devastating news for anyone, considering that 80% of the information a person receives from the outside world is obtained through the sensory organ of sight.

Not to mention the immense pain and suffering that normal people endure after losing their sight,

More importantly, a person who is blind cannot continue to serve as Hokage. If he cannot be cured... things might change drastically.

"Where are the medical ninjas?" Zongxian asked in a deep voice, suppressing his racing heartbeat. "Have they arrived?"

"The consultation is still ongoing; the pharmacist and dean arrived only five minutes earlier than you."

"That's good. If it's Nonou... although he can't compare to Tsunade-senpai, his medical ninjutsu is probably second to none in Konoha."

"Upon discovering that something was amiss, we immediately sent someone to invite the Dean of Pharmacy over."

Akimichi Choza looked somber, his brows furrowed with an unyielding sorrow.

Five years,

This was enough for Konoha to undergo many changes. For example, the pharmacist Nonou, who found it difficult to sustain her ever-expanding orphanage without a stable source of funding, after careful consideration and with the advice of her adopted son, the pharmacist Kabuto, established a new hospital.

Pharmacist Hospital.

A hospital named after the pharmacist Nono.

Of course, Yakushi Nonou didn't have that much money for large-scale construction. It was Sogen who lent Yakushi Nonou a large sum of money in the name of the Uchiha clan, without interest. In exchange, the Uchiha clan selected more than twenty children who didn't like fighting to learn medical ninjutsu from Yakushi Nonou.

Even the Uchiha,

Not all of them are belligerent individuals like Uchiha Chihaya.

There are always people who want to become ninjas, but they are not used to killing. In the past, such clansmen either gave up becoming ninjas or died in battle early on... But now, there is a new way out.

If you don't like fighting on the battlefield,

Then stay behind to treat the sick and save lives. Anyway, the Uchiha clan members are all very talented. Putting aside everything else, even without opening their eyes, the Uchiha clan members are born with more chakra than half of the common ninjas. The so-called lack of chakra is only relative to the Senju and Uzumaki clans.

Furthermore, if one could awaken the eye, even if it were just a single tomoe,

It also allows the Uchiha clan members to gain keen observation skills and more refined chakra control, which are very important talents for medical ninjas.

Led by Akimichi Choza, Sogen arrived at a bedroom. The six-square-meter bedroom was not crowded. Most of the people who had come after hearing the news were kept outside the room, and only a few were able to enter.

Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Yakushi Nonou who is examining Akimichi Torifu, and Uchiha Izumi who is Yakushi Nonou's assistant.

"Uncle, the Hokage's assistant has come to see you."

Akimichi Choza knelt on the tatami mat, leaned down, and whispered in Akimichi Torifu's ear, whose eyes were tightly closed.

"Is that Zongxian-kun?"

Lying on the tatami mat, Akimichi Torifu turned his head and opened his eyes as if surveying his surroundings, but those eyes lacked any sparkle. At that moment, Muneaki was certain: the Fifth Hokage was truly gone.

“It’s me, I’m right to your left.” Zongxian also knelt down on the tatami.

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you by my disheveled appearance."

Akimichi sighed.

The 71-year-old man had white hair and a frail appearance; his hoarse voice revealed a helpless pain and despair.

"How could I laugh? People are born, grow old, get sick and die, flowers bloom and wither, the moon waxes and wanes. These are the natural order of things. Even I will have my day sooner or later. How could I laugh? Besides, Dean Yakushi is here. If all else fails, we can send someone to find Senior Tsunade."

"Shikaku and I will take care of things in the village. Hokage, you don't need to worry too much. Just focus on recovering."

"Ha ha!"

Akimichi Torifu suddenly laughed and said, "Sōgen-kun, there's no need for you to comfort this old man. This time I'm afraid I'm... well, never mind, I won't say anything more, lest Chōza and Shikaku start arguing again. Let's leave it at that for now! I'll trouble you to handle the village affairs for me for now, Sōgen-kun. This old man will take this opportunity to have some peace and quiet."

"One should do one's duty to the best of one's ability."

Zongxian readily agreed.

[Chapter 289. Time and Monster]

Zongxian didn't linger. The Fifth Hokage was already on sick leave, and as the Hokage's assistant who was acting on behalf of the Hokage, he naturally couldn't be absent for long. After saying a few more nice words, he took his leave, accompanied by Yakushi Nonou, who had finished her diagnosis.

"How is it, Dean of Pharmacy?"

"Didn't I already say that? Do I have to repeat it?"

"So, the chances of the Hokage regaining his sight are really slim?"

"The disease has reached the point of no return, and is beyond the reach of medicine."

"I am Yakushi Nonou," she said firmly.

"I understand."

Zongxian nodded.

It seems that Akimichi Torifu really won't last much longer. Yakushi Nonou's medical skills are not as outstanding as Tsunade's, but they are definitely among the best in the ninja world. Her judgment is still trustworthy. In addition, Tsunade herself said four years ago that Akimichi Torifu's illness can only be controlled and not cured.