Chapter 26: Discussion

"It's not that I'm troubled, it's just that I don't know what the situation is like on the battlefield right now, and I have no idea when I'm supposed to head out there, so I'm feeling a bit uneasy."

"After all, I'm very afraid of death. Going to the battlefield without knowing anything is an easy way to become a martyr."

Uchiha Feiyu blinked his eyes and spoke without the slightest bit of reserve. The Third Hokage's eyelids twitched, and Kakashi, standing beside him, gasped.

This guy is too blunt, isn't he? Asking about military secrets so directly? And he put it so plainly!

"Matters regarding the war are Konoha's secrets... You are still Chunin and Genin, so I cannot tell you for the time being."

"Of course, if you are willing to take an examination, I believe you could easily become Special Jonin. How about it? Would you like to try?"

"Forget it. At my age, if I become a Special Jonin, wouldn't I just be a target on the battlefield? It's better to stay a Genin; the enemy ninja villages won't pay much attention to me, and at most, I'll only run into some Chunin opponents."

Before Kakashi could speak, Uchiha Feiyu rejected becoming a Special Jonin immediately. If it were a direct promotion to Jonin, Uchiha Feiyu might have actually considered it, but a Special Jonin? Forget it.

The total number of Jonin in Konoha does not exceed one hundred. Even the Hokage must be elected through a vote by the Jonin. Precisely because of this, every Jonin in Konoha holds a certain amount of power; as long as they have the ambition, they can easily build their own little faction within Konoha.

However, although a Special Jonin is also called a Jonin, they lack the most important right to vote for the Hokage. In the end, they are just high-level hired muscle.

It can be said that the most important purpose of the Special Jonin rank is to settle some lone-wolf ninjas who have reached Jonin-level strength, acting as a shield to block them from entering the upper echelons. Uchiha Feiyu certainly doesn't want to be a high-level hired hand.

Especially since Uchiha Feiyu is in the same squad as Asuma, he basically won't encounter any dangerous missions. But if he became a Special Jonin, the Third Hokage would definitely transfer him out and work him to death.

The Third Hokage's temple throbbed. Although he had already learned of Uchiha Feiyu's personality from his own son, seeing him in person made him realize just how incompatible this guy's fear of death was with that of an ordinary ninja.

"Feiyu, you must know that for a ninja, blind avoidance is no way to truly grow. Only by constantly meeting challenges and becoming the strongest ninja can one truly find peace..."

"Lord Hokage, if one becomes the strongest ninja, can they be safe?"

Uchiha Feiyu interrupted the Third Hokage, looking at him with a strange expression.

"Of course. The stronger a ninja is, the safer they naturally are. If your strength is sufficient, ordinary ninjas will flee at the mere sight of you."

"But among the successive Shadows of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, it seems not a single one died of old age, right?"

Third Hokage: "Σ(っ°Д°;)っ!!"

Facing Uchiha Feiyu's gaze, the Third Hokage was ultimately forced to retreat in defeat. After this encounter, he had no heart left to say anything more to Uchiha Feiyu or Kakashi Hatake. After offering a few perfunctory words of concern, he left.

"Feiyu, you've got a lot of nerve! You even dared to tease Lord Hokage!"

Seeing the Third Hokage leave, Kakashi Hatake finally let out a sigh of relief and said to Uchiha Feiyu with some surprise.

"Teasing is just teasing. It's much better than being sent to the battlefield in a daze! You have to realize that the Ninja World War is just beginning. Anyone who goes to the battlefield at this time is truly nothing but cannon fodder."

Uchiha Feiyu shrugged and spoke with complete indifference.

Just kidding—if he let himself be fooled by the Third Hokage's sweet talk today, he'd probably be heading straight to the battlefield tomorrow! When life and death are at stake, who cares if you're the Hokage?

"But this should only be able to delay things for a little while. Since we've become ninjas, we'll have to go to the battlefield eventually."

"Delaying for a while is better than nothing. The intensity of the Ninja World War is mostly concentrated in the first and last few months. Therefore, in a few months, the intensity of the battlefield should drop significantly. It won't be too late to go then."

"Aren't you afraid that Lord Hokage will be angry? As the Hokage, it would be very easy for him to deal with you!"

To Kakashi's question, Uchiha Feiyu just gave a cold laugh:

"Heh... let him do as he pleases! If he really dares to issue me some suicidal mission like assassinating an enemy Admiral, then I'll just defect!"

After obtaining the soul of Hatake Sakumo, Uchiha Feiyu had already prepared himself to pack up and leave if things went south.

After all, with his current strength, even if he became a rogue ninja, his safety coefficient would be much higher than being directly dragged into the Ninja World War.

Generally speaking, because Elite Jonin-level rogue ninjas are so powerful, as long as they don't cause too much harm, the major ninja villages rarely take the initiative to hunt them down. The rogue ninjas who are truly living on the edge are basically just ordinary Jonin or Chunin.

Well, as long as a Genin prepares a fake death and doesn't possess any key secrets, the village doesn't have enough manpower to track them down. So, actually, as long as you are prepared, defecting isn't all that dangerous.

It is precisely because of this that Uchiha Feiyu could act so unconcerned when facing the Third Hokage. At worst, he'd just run away. He really didn't believe Konoha would be so fixated on a marginal figure like him during the Third Ninja World War.

Kakashi was left dumbfounded by Uchiha Feiyu's words, his mouth hanging open:

"Feiyu, defecting is not a joke!"

"That's true. Then when I leave Konoha, I'll leave a resignation letter. I'll just write: 'The world is so big, I want to go take a look!'"

"This... I've never heard of a ninja being able to resign..."

"Heh!"

A cold sneer appeared on Uchiha Feiyu's face as he spoke faintly:

"Yeah, not only can ninjas not resign, they can't even retire. Unless you become disabled one day, you have to work until you die!"

"Not only that, even students who graduate from the Ninja Academy are at most twelve or thirteen. As far as I know, even ordinary people have to be over fourteen to start working!"

"Starting to work and kill people at thirteen or fourteen—if you're lucky, after fifty or sixty years of killing, maybe the village higher-ups will see how miserable you are and let you retire while dragging around a body full of wounds and illnesses..."

"Tell me, Kakashi, do you really think this profession of being a ninja is reasonable at all?!"

Kakashi opened his mouth, his thoughts churning, but he couldn't say a word.

Before Uchiha Feiyu spoke, Kakashi hadn't felt anything about the profession of being a ninja. After all, every ninja village operated this way, and he had never seen other ninjas complain.

But after hearing Uchiha Feiyu's words, Kakashi finally realized that this profession, where one hangs their head on their belt, was truly both cruel and harsh, practically squeezing every drop of blood and youth out of every ninja.

"The way you put it, I'm starting to feel a bit lost. Ninjas... are they really that miserable?"

"Heh, many ninjas have brainwashed themselves into becoming tools. You tell me if that's miserable or not?!"

(End of chapter)