After Kurenai's visit, other names of note in Konoha began arriving one after another.
Following the Cloud's provocation and the village's internal reshuffle, Konoha entered a rare stretch of peaceful development.
Many shinobi and clans used this window to grow stronger and raise the next generation.
The Namikaze estate, once a storm's eye with a constant flow of visitors, returned to the warmth and quiet of a family home.
Shinju's days settled into a steady rhythm.
Mornings were for training.
In the rear practice grounds, Minato had set four layers of kekkai (barrier) seals—enough to withstand the aftershocks of a Kage-level battle.
There, Minato still insisted on personally coaching Shinju in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and more.
In truth, Shinju learned any technique as easily as eating or drinking.
His strength kept climbing at an unbelievable pace—leaps and bounds by the day.
Afternoons belonged to family.
Shinju helped Kushina preserve ingredients with fūinjutsu and pitched in with housework.
He had never enjoyed such warm days with family in his previous life, and he treasured them.
He also played ninja games in the courtyard with the inexhaustible Naruto.
Naruto would always play the Fourth Hokage, shouting "Rasengan!" as he charged.
Shinju would trip him with a simple Konoha-ryū Taijutsu (Leaf Style Body Arts) sweep, then watch him roll around on the ground.
Every time, Kushina and Minato would share a knowing smile from the side.
The company of family filled the holes left in Shinju's prior life. The cold, adult heart he'd carried slowly warmed.
He savored the calm.
But he knew the undercurrent beneath it had never stopped flowing.
Late at night, Shinju would sit alone in his room and open the Valhalla System.
On the main interface was an inconspicuous function: Info-Stream Monitor.
It was a simplified god's-eye view built into the system. It couldn't peer into hearts or catch every voice.
But it could flag abnormal gatherings of high-intensity chakra within a target area and capture nearby conversations the system tagged as "keywords."
Shinju set the target to Konoha's southeast.
The Uchiha district.
On the screen, the map over the Uchiha grounds lit up.
At Naka Shrine, a crimson point blinked rapidly.
Shinju zoomed in.
Text began scrolling across the interface—the conversation stream from that place.
[Location: Naka Shrine—underground chamber]
[Participants: Uchiha Hachidai, Uchiha Inabi, Uchiha Tekka, and ten other core members of the Uchiha hawks]
[Selected Dialogue]:
Uchiha Hachidai: "Clan Head Fugaku is too soft! Just because Namikaze Minato killed Danzo, he thinks the Namikaze will treat us Uchiha kindly?"
Uchiha Inabi: "Exactly! That congratulatory gift was an embarrassment! Since when does the Uchiha grovel to anyone?"
Uchiha Tekka: "The rise of the Namikaze isn't an opportunity for us—it's an even greater threat! If a family stands above the Hokage, then we Uchiha will never see our day in the sun!"
Uchiha Hachidai: "Power! Only power matters! We have the Sharingan—we are Konoha's strongest clan! The Hokage's seat should be ours by right!"
…
Line after line of ambition, resentment, and incitement flowed past Shinju's eyes.
His face didn't change.
Foolish—but real.
Danzo's death had eased the external pressure on the Uchiha, yes. But like removing a pressure valve from a boiler, the steam inside only swelled faster.
These hawks had been repressed too long; their thirst for power had bent their minds out of shape.
Would history still refuse to change? In that other timeline the Uchiha perished on the Night of Extermination; Itachi shouldered infamy and hatred so his brother could live. Sasuke darkened from that day. In this line, Shisui—"Shunshin (Body Flicker) Shisui"—had already been killed by Danzo, a regret carved in stone.
Shinju thought: If the Uchiha keep failing to read the room like before, he wouldn't mind giving the clan a lesson they'd never forget. Fugaku, for all his quiet, had already awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, hiding it away—he had strength. That, too, had to be weighed.
He switched the monitor to Fugaku's home.
Fugaku sat alone in the dark, brow knotted.
At the clan meeting that day, the hawks had drowned him out. He had tried to convey the Namikaze's goodwill—only for his own to brand it "weakness" and "compromise."
As clan head, he was nearly past the point of holding back the clan's mad undercurrent.
Shinju's gaze slid across the map.
He caught a chakra light moving apart from both the hawks and Fugaku.
Itachi.
He hadn't joined the hawks' secret gathering, nor had he stayed home.
Alone, he had gone to the memorial stone beside Naka Shrine.
Shinju focused the monitor on him.
No dialogue was captured—Itachi stood in silence.
But the system registered an intense mental wave bleeding from his heart and translated it into keywords.
[Keywords: dearest friend… Shisui… your choice… my choice… peace… clan… what should I do…]
Shinju's eyes flickered.
He knew this prodigy, burdened beyond measure, had reached the crossroads of fate.
And the straw poised to break him was the greatest regret in his heart.
His dearest friend, Shisui's death.
Shinju closed the monitor.
Leaning back, he tapped the table with a finger.
Beneath the calm lake, a volcano swelled.
Fugaku's goodwill could not be relied upon. He lacked the strength to suppress the dissent within—useless before, useless now. If a leader cannot steady his own house, one inept general will exhaust the whole army.
Shinju couldn't help but mourn the Uchiha.
The hawks' ambition had to be cut out—it was a threat to peace in itself.
And Itachi's confusion was the key to it all.
The Cloud had only been a small appetizer.
This greatest powder keg inside Konoha—he would handle it himself.
He opened the Valhalla System again.
His gaze settled on the third heroic card slot, now unlocked and pulsing with crimson light.
[No. 3 Shunshin Shisui—Uchiha Shisui]
"Looks like the quiet days are over."
Shinju spoke softly.
In his eyes flashed a ferocity far beyond his years.
"It's time to show the Uchiha—and the whole village—another 'miracle.'"
Mangekyō or not, they would still bow their heads. This proud clan needed a lesson.
(End of Chapter)
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