Two years later
Akashi had grown a lot taller than before. Even though he was seven, he looked like a ten-year-old kid
Sitting at the dining table it was devouring all the food on the table with gusto
"What are you looking at this time, grandpa?" He asked the old man, who was reading the report in his hand while heating at the same time.
Seeing that the old man was ignoring him, a smile appeared on his face
Switch switch
In an instant, activating and deactivated is sharingan using their ability to copy and memorize the content of the report on the table.
A normal ninja wouldn't even have noticed the change, but Tetsuma Uchiha was no ordinary ninja
"Don't read confidential reports without permission?" Old man Tetsuma said with a sigh
"You should bring confidential documents in a place where everyone can see them in the first place."
"You always tell me not to bring my books on the dining table while you don't even listen to your own advice," Akashi said before returning to his plate of food
Akashi mentally reviewed what you saw in those documents and quickly understood what it was about
"Looks like the world is going badly," he said between bites
"Indeed," he's grandfather nodded
Putting away the papers
Akashi," he called
Akashi lifted his gaze, his food-filled mouth froze as he saw the serious look on his grandfather's face.
'Is he about to say something important?' he wondered. Every time the old man looked at him like that, it was because he was either proud or he was about to say something important.
And of course, the old man next words did not disappoint
"We will soon go to the battlefield!"
Cough cough cough cough
The words were so shocking that Akashi nearly spit out his food
"I nearly spit out my food?"
"It would be a first."
"Wait a minute. You said we are going to War. When does it come from?" Akashi asked, a little distressed
His heart couldn't help but beat faster at the idea of going to war.
Are you scared?" his grandfather asked him, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth
"A little," Akashi responded honestly. He was a man from the modern world after all, and even though he read a lot of his grandfather's papers, reading and going were not the same
"But I'm honestly most surprised."
"You have been trying to keep the war away from me for a while now, so why do you suddenly want us to go there?" he asked, sharing this confusion about his grandfather's decision
And it was true that, since the war started, the old man Tetsuma had tried his best to keep Akashi far away from it.
All the news that he got because she had to steal it from him
That repeated spying attempt even helped Akashi train his Sharingan
Old man Tetsuma looked absentmindedly at the table for a few seconds before looking back at Akashi
"You're a smart kid, Akashi, and a little bit too mature for your age, so I will be more honest with you."
"As you must have seen in today's report," he said pointing at the stacks of papers "The situation in the front is getting more... complicated."
"The village is sending reinforcements, and the Uchiha clan will send people too. As a founding clan of Konoha, this is part of our duty," he explained
"I honestly thought that the higher-ups would continue stopping your deployment. I thought that they didn't want any of you on the battlefield to awaken the sharingan, maybe they're trying to cut down your population," Akashi gave a grin and a chilling idea without batting an eye
"You are too paranoiac; they aren't doing anything like that for now. But maybe you are right too, after all, war is dangerous for everyone. If they want to do something then the battlefield is the right place." He nodded before continuing
"But it doesn't change the fact that Konoha is in trouble, they may not even have to use any underhanded tactics to get rid of dangerous elements to their regime. The enemy will do it for them."
Akashi looked at his grandfather with a questioning expression
"You look remarkably nonchalant for someone who's talking about us being assassinated. You said that you were going to be honest, but that this... is a little strange,"
Silence filled the room as Tetsuma looked at he's too perceptive child,
"Sometimes I wonder if you really are just a child!"
At that sentence, Akashi just gave a smile, after all, he could not really tell his grandfather
'In fact, I am mentally 22 years old.'
"I no longer believe that the clan is a safe place, since you told me what you saw in your dream. I tried to change things in my quality as Elder of the neutral function."
"I tried to advise, to educate, to change the mentality of the clansmen, to mend the relations between the doves and the hawks. But this is useless, I believe now that there are spies on both sides muddying the water. There were, and there still are a few spies in my own."
"They are feeding us poison every day, and with the stupid personality of most Uchiha, changing things will take time,"
"So are they sending you to die?" Akashi asked, looking at the relaxed expression of the old man, his mind worked at full speed
He was analyzing everything that the old man told him, everything that he had seen in and outside the clan.
The information that he had received from his grandparents growing connection and realized that things were indeed slowly worsening due to someone's interference.
He could now realize that some of the hatred directed toward him was deliberate work.
"The pressure, this is not just because of the change you are trying to implement, right? This is also because of me, me, and of the Uzumaki that you are sheltering right?"
Akashi knew very well the interest that the Hokage and the others had in him and his clan.
Maybe they want to create a small Uzumaki clan in Konoha in case of future trouble with the jinchiruki, or maybe they want to study them or integrate them in organisations like Roots or Ambu.
There are many reasons why they will want to keep them under control in Konoha.
But what's important is that his grandfather, Tetsuma Uchiha had been giving them shelter for all the time they have been here.
'It was bound to cause trouble.'
The old man did not deny anything that Akashi said, that alone was all the confirmation that he needed. Guilt started to creep in when the cold voice of Tetsuma sounded again
"No need to be so tense, or to feel guilty. You seem to think that I'm some kind of helpless guy. I reached that position by stepping on other people's skulls. I knew that something like that could happen even before I started."
"So this is why you helped Grandma create that Network outside the clan and the village gaze?" Akashi said, a little bit relieved by what his grandfather revealed
In the beginning, it was quite conflicted with the idea of keeping things from his grandfather, but he soon realized that he didn't need to feel that because Tetsuma Uchiha quickly realized what they were doing.
Instead of being angry, he quite enthusiastically joined us in our endeavors and, together, using the war, they built a small business Empire, that was slowly spreading all over the Fire Country in the underworld and in the legal world.
With the Uzumaki outside, the few Uchiha that Tetsuma could trust with his life, and Akashi's unconventional ideas from his other life, business was booming.
In times of war where all cars were being redistributed, in times where ninjas, merchants, and nobles could die at any moment, opportunities were everywhere.
They had started by selling explosive tags, then moved to selling other types of seals in the underworld.
Very quickly, they reached the nobles and the Daimyo palace, who wanted these types of weapons in quantity.
That was an incredibly niche market, even the five great ninja villages' knowledge in sealing jutsu was still in its infancy, so once the Uzumaki plunged into that market, they quickly gained a near monopoly.
The speed at which it was the business spread started to scare even them; after all, they were not yet ready to face the other nations, so everything was still made using intermediaries.
Luckily, everyone was still too focused on the war that was going on.
"Is grandma alright with that?" He asked, "Us going to war, I mean?" Even though Mikado rarely came back to Konoha village, Akashi still liked to hear her opinion on things
"We talked about it, she agrees that you shouldn't be staying in the village without one of us here, and she can't or doesn't like to stay here long."
Akashi knew that his grandmother had developed a dislike for Konoha
"Will I be considered a ninja of Konoha if I fight a war for them?"
Even though the decision had already been taken, he still had a few reservations, and those questions were how he made them known
"I really don't want to be just a shinobi of this small village,"
It was Akashi's honest opinion, for him, ironically, a ninja was nothing but a hired muscle, and he didn't want to be just a hired thug. For him, the ones that really ruled this world were the Daimyo, the financiers, and others.
Of course he knew that without real strength you were nothing, this is why he had an incredible lust for the power that chakra gave ninja
"No," Tetsuma shook his head
"Even though you have your name on the registry of the Uchiha, you are still primarily a Uzumaki"
"I am something like a cousin, huh?" he realized
"Something like that, clan politics,"
"This is a good thing for me, I honestly prefer that,"
"Well, I guess we are going to war," Akashi finally said
Looking in the direction of the battlefield, he wondered
"Will killing change who I am as a person?"