Chapter 636

Under Mu Yue's push, the Uchiha ninjas who were first selected for the police force were organized into teams.

Uchiha jonin generally served as squad leaders in various teams, while Uchiha chunin mostly served as members.

However, there was a small incident in the middle: Obito, who was not a member of the police force, also wanted to participate and become a squad leader for other teams, claiming the reason was to train his abilities to become Hokage.

But Mu Yue thought Obito mostly wanted to have a taste of being a squad leader, after all, he had been suppressed by Kakashi for so long.

Mu Yue did not refuse and assigned Obito a three-man squad that currently had no leader.

"Finally it's my turn to be squad leader. This time I'll definitely achieve results, let that Kakashi know my power, and also let Rin know my progress." Obito was very excited on the way to the training ground.

Although it was just a small jonin squad leader, with only the right to command his three subordinates, for Obito it was a big step in life, and also a firm step on his path to becoming Hokage.

Now his three subordinates were still chunin; maybe the ones who would become Hokage candidates were jonin, and that would be three jonin votes.

"Obito-senpai, long time no see." Kotetsu Hagane saw a somewhat familiar back and immediately chased after him, greeting him warmly.

Among the seniors at the ninja academy, besides his elder brother Ebizo, the ones Kotetsu admired most were Obito and Might Guy.

The year he entered the ninja academy was exactly the year Obito went from being the bottom-ranked to a genius ninja.

Moreover, Obito became more and more astonishing after leaving the academy. He became a jonin at only ten years old, and later achieved the good result of second place in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament.

"Kotetsu, long time no see." Obito greeted with a smile.

"Obito-senpai, are you going to train at the nearby training ground today?" Kotetsu trotted over to Obito and asked.

"Sort of." Obito nodded.

Before they could chat too much, a voice soon caught their attention.

"Kotetsu, Obito-senpai?" Izumo Kamizuki asked uncertainly.

"Good morning, Izumo, it's Obito-senpai. He's going to train here today." Kotetsu turned back to explain.

Izumo Kamizuki showed an expression of understanding and greeted Obito warmly.

"Obito-senpai, during Mu Yue-sensei's succession ceremony, were you watching from atop the Hokage Building? I didn't seem to see you down below." Izumo asked curiously.

"Yeah, I was up there, but the spot wasn't good—I was in the last row." Obito replied.

Both Izumo Kamizuki and Kotetsu showed looks of envy; they were stuck on the ground.

"As expected of Obito-senpai, even Yoshio-sensei couldn't watch from the Hokage Building." Kotetsu sighed.

Yoshio Ishizaka was their jonin instructor.

"Yeah." Izumo Kamizuki nodded enviously.

"But speaking of Yoshio-sensei, I wonder when his injury will heal. I hope he recovers soon."

Talking about their instructor, Izumo sighed.

Yoshio Ishizaka didn't have Mu Yue's powerful strength, nor did he have Mu Yue's extraordinary teaching ability, but he was really good to them. If it weren't for Yoshio Ishizaka risking his life to protect them last mission, one of them might have died.

"What's the talk about, sighing so early in the morning?"

Anko saw a very familiar back, heard the sigh, quickly ran over and patted Izumo on the shoulder.

"Obito-senpai, good morning."

Only when she got closer did Anko recognize Obito, grinning and greeting him.

Obito responded with a smile.

"What else could it be? It's about Yoshio-sensei." Kotetsu said.

"If we don't go out on a mission today, let's all go visit Yoshio-sensei together after training this afternoon."

Izumo Kamizuki and Anko both nodded.

After all, Yoshio Ishizaka got so seriously injured because he was protecting them.

"Generally speaking, an acting squad leader on the first day would first get familiar with the team's situation, not go directly out on a mission." Izumo analyzed.

After all, ninjas on missions don't fight alone; the combat power of a well-coordinated team and an uncoordinated team is completely different.

"Forget about 'generally' or 'specially,' he's just a temporary acting squad leader. If he cooperates, then we'll keep everything as is until Yoshio-sensei returns. Otherwise, we'll show him what we're made of." Anko said boldly.

They were all top chunin, and with their seamless cooperation, an ordinary jonin might not necessarily get the better of the three of them.

"Yeah, let him know the might of our Muyue Squad's Trident." Kotetsu clenched his fist and nodded.

"We don't necessarily have to be aggressive." Izumo had a different idea.

Kotetsu became interested and asked, "Izumo, what clever plan do you have this time?"

"If we go the hard way and it gets back to Teacher Muyue, it won't look good. If he doesn't get along with us, we can be sarcastic to him every day, pay lip service to his orders, and make him back off."

"That makes sense. Leave it to you, Izumo." Kotetsu thought it was good.

The current Hokage was Muyue. If the jonin serving as acting captain went to Muyue and complained about them, it would affect their image as outstanding students in Muyue's eyes.

"How would you be sarcastic? How would you pay lip service?" Obito asked curiously.

"Isn't it simple? On the first day, we pretend to probe into his past, then verify the info he gives us by looking up people while digging up more, and use that info to find ways to mock him." Izumo said enthusiastically.

"If he brags about being top of his class at the Ninja Academy, but investigation shows his grades were average or poor, we first pretend not to know and praise him, then let him accidentally find out we knew all along, making him realize our disdain for such results, and then..."

"And then we can do this and that..."

Kotetsu and Anko quickly joined the discussion.

The three became more excited as they spoke, as if they could already see an arrogant jonin having his spirit crushed by their brilliant schemes.

Obito showed a hint of surprise. These younger ninjas were so young yet so full of mischief—they were ideal talents to use against Kakashi.

As they chatted, they approached a small ornamental building.

"We're here. Goodbye, Obito-senpai." Izumo and Kotetsu smiled and said goodbye to Obito.

The information from the village told them to gather here.

"Obito-senpai, let's meet often when you have time. I'll make you treat me to dango." Anko also chuckled and said goodbye to Obito.

However, to their confusion, Obito also stopped and looked at them with a broad smile.

"Obito-senpai, what are you doing?"

Izumo looked puzzled.

"I've arrived at my place too." Obito said with a chuckle.

The smiles on Izumo and Kotetsu's faces slowly faded.

"Obito-senpai, are you going to train here? Great! If the assigned jonin is strong, you can help us out." Anko said with a grin.

Obito's smile grew even more pronounced. Instead of answering Anko, he continued:

"Let me reintroduce myself. I am Uchiha Obito, the acting captain of Team 6."

Anko's eyes widened and her mouth fell open slightly, her smile gone.

"Heh, Kotetsu, Anko Mitarashi, I knew all along that you two had ill intentions." Izumo suddenly sneered.

"Regardless of who the captain is, a captain is still a captain. Obeying orders from superiors is a ninja's duty. Earlier, I deliberately raised the topic of targeting the captain, and sure enough, you two came up with all those malicious schemes. People's hearts really aren't what they used to be."

Izumo was quick to react, but Kotetsu was no slower, immediately retorting:

"I think you're the one with ulterior motives. I saw through your plan long ago, so I deliberately asked if you had any ideas. I never expected you, Izumo, and Anko to be so despicable—scheming to go against the captain before he even revealed himself."

Anko:...

How, in just a moment, had she become a great villain with evil thoughts, disloyal and unfilial?

Obito couldn't suppress his smile. When he had seen the team members' files, he thought it would be interesting, but he never expected it to be even more so in reality.

"I was merely incarnating darkness to lure out the real darkness." Izumo firmly denied it.

"It's clearly the darkness hidden within the light that was lured out!" Kotetsu insisted stubbornly.

Anko did not join in the big debate. With a pained expression, she took out a dango, held it with both hands, and offered it to Obito.

"Captain Obito, I'll treat you to dango. Just beat them up, don't hit me." Anko said earnestly.

They weren't afraid of ordinary jonin, but Obito was no ordinary jonin.

According to rumors circulating within Konoha, Obito was already a jonin at the level of a ninja world powerhouse like Huangtu Yecang.

This address of "Captain" made Obito feel extremely comfortable, as if a surge of spiritual energy rushed from his feet to the top of his head, leaving his whole body refreshed.

He had originally wanted to accept the first gift since becoming captain, but seeing Azuki's reluctant expression, he ended up returning the dumpling to her.

Obito felt that if he accepted it, Azuki might even be thinking about it tonight while trying to sleep. It was just a dumpling; no need to make a big deal.

"Thank you, Captain Obito!"

With the dumpling back in her hands, Azuki instantly beamed with joy. This was the one she had deliberately saved from this morning, intending to eat it to replenish energy when she got tired from training.

"Ahh!"

After a moment's thought, Azuki quickly gobbled down the dumpling in big bites; only the dumpling in her stomach was truly hers.

"Captain Obito, don't listen to slander! Just now, it was this Azuki who was the most arrogant."

"Yeah, setting aside the facts, Azuki is definitely the one who deserves a beating the most."

Seeing Azuki take a different approach, Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu tacitly turned their guns on her.

Slap! Slap! Slap!!

Obito held his index and middle fingers together, his figure flickering as he quickly tapped each of the three on the head.

"Stop arguing, everyone gets one." After knocking, Obito stood there smiling at them.

He had originally intended to purposely put on a serious expression to establish authority.

But no matter how Obito searched his memories, he couldn't find the expression he wanted on Muzuki's face; it seemed Muzuki was always so gentle.

After discovering this, Obito simply stopped pretending.

"So knocking people on the head feels this good. No wonder Teacher Muzuki always knocked on us."

Obito rubbed his thumb against his middle and index fingers, feeling secretly pleased, thinking he had come to the right place.

Having fun and getting to experience being Teacher Muzuki? Even if he had to pay, he'd come.

"You all know each other, no need for introductions. Let's start formal training now. Even though I'm your senior, as captain, I won't go easy on you." Obito reminded them.

Now, Obito had experienced all kinds of wars, large and small. He understood that the profession of a ninja was not wonderful—even somewhat cruel.

If training was easy, then future missions would be dangerous.

Hagane Kotetsu and the other two stopped fooling around and nodded seriously.

"Let's start with the bell-snatching training. As long as any one of you snatches the bells, it counts as success." Obito said as he took out two bells.

Obito had snatched bells twice: once from Muzuki and once from Minato Namikaze.

He thought this was a training exercise well-suited for getting to know each other; it absolutely wasn't because he wanted to experience that feeling Muzuki had.

"Snatching bells? Are there any rewards if we snatch them?" Azuki asked, her eyes lighting up.

When she was interning under Muzuki, she had also snatched bells; the reward was a high-level ninjutsu or taijutsu.

"Rewards? If you want rewards, there must be punishments. If you don't catch them, you'll have to do a test paper." Obito thought for a moment and replied.

Azuki:???

Azuki looked at Obito as if facing a great enemy. Had this person just said something extremely terrifying?

She had already graduated and become a chunin, yet test papers were still chasing her? No way!

"I think rewards aren't necessary. Training is something every ninja should do." Azuki said with a serious face.

"Alright, then let's set the reward as no reward, and the punishment as doing a test paper." Obito couldn't help but laugh.

Azuki was stunned. You could play it like that?

Seeing Azuki's expression, Obito felt he was looking at the version of himself who had just finished problem-solving training and faced a mountain of questions. Maybe this was tradition.

As Muzuki's strongest disciple, he had the duty to pass down Teacher Muzuki's secret teaching methods.

"If you can snatch them within today, I can give you a ninjutsu or taijutsu. For Fire Release, I'll teach it myself; for other ninjutsu and taijutsu, I can find someone to teach you." Obito added.

After all, they were Teacher Muzuki's students. How could he really not give them rewards?

The morale of Azuki and the others was instantly ignited. Some wanted to obtain ninjutsu, some just didn't want to do test papers.

Finally, with Obito deliberately holding back, Anko and the others managed to grab the bells just before sunset.

Given Obito's level of strength, if he hadn't held back significantly, it wouldn't have been possible for Anko and her team—or even three jōnin—to snatch the bells.

Watching the delighted faces of Anko and her two teammates, Obito felt a unique sense of accomplishment well up in his heart.

"I've got to lead a team of graduating genin sometime," Obito thought to himself.

Perhaps he too could become someone else's Muyue Sage.

…

The other Uchiha, for various reasons, weren't as smooth as Obito, but they didn't encounter major problems either.

Although Uchiha Inabi was a chūnin, he had recently awakened his Sharingan, so his actual combat ability wasn't much worse than that of a jōnin.

This wasn't anything unusual in Konoha—jōnin were already scarce, and some jōnin had important duties that prevented them from leading teams, so many squad captains were only veteran chūnin.

When he first joined the team as captain, Uchiha Inabi could clearly sense a faint distance from his three teammates, as if they had some issue with him.

Most Uchiha weren't good at socializing, but that didn't mean they couldn't perceive others' emotions—on the contrary, the Uchiha were unexpectedly sensitive to all kinds of emotions.

In the past, Uchiha Inabi would have done nothing.

They were just a few clanless people weaker than him—why should he waste effort investigating the reasons and trying to close the gap? Wouldn't it be better to spend that time training? Let the narrow-minded, jealous outsiders misunderstand if they wanted.

But this time, Uchiha Inabi didn't remain indifferent. He followed the steps that Shisui and Obito had taught in their lectures.

During training, Uchiha Inabi coldly pushed his teammates with high demands, and after it ended, he would treat them to a meal and ask if they were injured, telling them to rest more.

Because Uchiha Inabi knew that it was very hard to complete missions alone—he didn't need his teammates to like him much, but he couldn't let them hate him.

Doing fewer missions and earning less money didn't matter, but he was a ninja acknowledged by Lord Fourth Hokage. If his team was as mediocre as an ordinary one, wouldn't he be betraying Lord Fourth Hokage's regard for him?

When he returned to the Uchiha clan, other captains would have completed so many S-rank and A-rank missions, receiving praise from clients, while he would be as ordinary as a common team—that would bring shame to the clan.

This went on for a few days, and then Uchiha Inabi took them on a regular B-rank mission.

But this mission turned out to be unexpected—the client had misrepresented the mission details, putting them at a disadvantage.

Fortunately, Uchiha Inabi was not an ordinary chūnin. Relying on his solid strength, he managed to complete the mission, and then unceremoniously gave the client a thorough dressing-down.

After this mission, the teammates' attitude completely changed.

What Uchiha Inabi sensed was no longer a faint distance, but warmth and guilt.

When the mission ended and they returned to Konoha, the three teammates treated him to drinks and grilled meat, dragging the training-obsessed Uchiha Inabi along.

During their chat, Uchiha Inabi finally learned why his teammates had initially distanced themselves from him.

He knew there were some rumors about the Uchiha outside, but he hadn't expected them to be so outrageous.

"I can't vouch for others, but I can responsibly say that in the years I've worked in the Police Force, I have never abused my authority to frame anyone or seek personal gain!" Uchiha Inabi said seriously.

"Captain Inabi, we definitely believe in your integrity," his teammates reassured him.

"It's mainly because the Police Force was completely under the Uchiha's control before, so everyone thought things like that were normal."

"But now I think there are many problems with the rumors. Most of the Uchiha clan's ninja are probably normal—otherwise how could there be an upright young ninja like Captain Inabi?" said one of the teammates.

As time went on, the ninja who teamed up with members of the Uchiha Police Force found that these Uchiha weren't as awful as the rumors claimed.

It wasn't enough to immediately reverse the Uchiha's reputation in Konoha, but it was beginning to move in a positive direction.

PS: This chapter is 5k words. There will be another chapter next, but the time is not yet set.

Day 3 of the explosive update—begging for monthly tickets.