When the final bell rang, the setting sun had already dyed the classroom red.
Shizuka-sensei smiled at the class. "Alright, that's all for today. Everyone, go back and get some good rest. See you tomorrow."
The students stood up one after another, making the classroom lively. Some were packing their bags, others were calling out to their companions, and a few huddled together discussing something.
Senba packed his things and left the class with Minato following closely behind.
There were still a few scattered students in the hallway, walking toward the school gate in groups of twos and threes.
Senba intended to ignore them, but a black-haired boy suddenly blocked his path.
Shimura Hito. The same guy who mocked his dream of becoming the Hokage during the self-introductions.
"Yo, isn't this the genius of the Uchiha clan?" Hito smirked.
Several students nearby stopped and looked over.
Senba didn't say anything, just quietly looked at him.
Seeing that Senba didn't respond, Hito's smirk deepened. He took a few steps forward and looked him up and down condescendingly.
"Did I say something wrong? Uchiha also wants to be Hokage?"
He paused and raised his voice so everyone could hear.
"Uchiha Madara defected and attacked Konoha; that's something written in the textbooks! And then there's Uchiha Setsuna, who tried to rebel a few years ago and was thrown in prison! You Uchiha clan are basically a reserve force of traitors!"
His voice echoed in the hallway, causing the students to exchange looks; some lowered their heads, while others quietly backed away a few steps.
"It's impossible for you to be the Hokage?" Hito sneered. "Stop dreaming..."
His words came to an abrupt halt when Senba vanished from his sight for a second.
Before Hito could react, a fist slammed hard into his face, sending him crashing into the wall before falling to the ground.
Hito clutched his face, letting out a painful groan.
"Cough... cough cough..."
As he tried to get up, a foot stepped onto his back.
Senba stood beside him and kicked him down several times, without giving him a chance to get up.
"Ugh... Ah! Stop it...!"
Hito rolled on the ground, trying to evade, but Senba's foot followed him and accurately struck him.
The hallway fell dead silent. The students watching were dumbfounded by the brutal scene, completely unable to react.
Just then, a soft voice spoke up.
"Sen... Senba-kun..."
Minato stood nearby with an anxious look on his face.
"Please stop; if this continues..."
Before he could finish, Senba delivered another kick, then looked up at Minato. There was no emotion in those pitch-black eyes, as if he had just been doing something perfectly ordinary.
Minato's words got stuck in his throat.
Just as he tried to interfere, an angry roar came from the hallway end.
"What are you doing?"
Nawaki looked at Hito curled into a ball on the ground, then glared at Senba.
"Uchiha Senba!" Nawaki shouted. "Why are you beating up a comrade from the village?"
His voice echoed in the hallway, attracting even more attention.
Senba withdrew his foot from Hito and looked up at Nawaki with a smile.
"Comrade?" Senba tilted his head. "So... the Uchiha aren't considered comrades of the village?"
Nawaki was taken aback.
"You should have heard what he just said," Senba questioned. "Uchiha are all reserved traitors and don't deserve to be Hokage at all."
He looked straight at Nawaki.
"Those words were insulting the Uchiha, yet you didn't step forward. You only appeared after I took action to question why I was beating up a 'comrade of the Village'."
Senba's smile deepened slightly.
"Others can insult the Uchiha as they please, but the Uchiha cannot strike back. Once they strike back, it's considered beating up a comrade. Is that how it is?"
Nawaki's expression changed. He tried to justify, but he found himself unable to speak.
Senba's words were clearly a trap, and he mustn't fall for it.
"I..."
"Nevermind. You can help this loser up." Senba cut him off and walked away.
He had no interest in arguing with kids.
Beating Hito was just to scare the others into not messing with him.
***
The sun dipped low in the west, painting the streets of Konoha in a warm orange-red.
Senba walked home at a leisurely pace. The shops along the streets were lighting up one after another; several vendors who had just closed their stalls were packing their goods, and the laughter of children could be heard from afar.
He turned a street corner, and a somewhat solemn building appeared before him, with greyish-white stone walls, a square porch, and a wooden sign standing at the entrance.
Konoha Military Police Force!
Senba's footsteps paused. He looked at the wooden sign and then at the people entering and leaving the gate; almost all of them had black hair and black eyes, with the Fan clan crest embroidered on their sleeves.
The Konoha Military Police Force, though many preferred to call it the Uchiha Police Force.
Senba withdrew his gaze and continued forward. As he passed the entrance, he saw a familiar figure.
A twelve-year-old youth with a handsome face and a composure in his eyes that seemed slightly beyond his years. He stood under the porch, talking to an older clansman.
Uchiha Fugaku, a special jonin, a squad leader of the Konoha Military Police Force, and the next clan chief of the Uchiha Clan.
Senba did not stop, merely passing by in the distance. Fugaku seemed to sense something and looked up in this direction, but Senba had already turned the corner and disappeared from his sight.
...
Walking along the streets of the clan compound, Senba's thoughts drifted away as he thought of his parents.
Uchiha Senba's uncle was named Uchiha Kagami, a powerful ninja who had mysteriously sacrificed himself shortly after the end of the first Ninja World War.
He was also a student of the Second Hokage and one of the few in the Uchiha clan who truly understood the "will of fire."
Senba's parents were both jonin of the Uchiha clan who died in the line of duty while on a mission.
Senba remembered those past events. At that time, he was not yet two years old. His parents had taken a border reconnaissance mission, going deep into the border area between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind.
That was another buffer zone between the Land of Fire and the Hidden Sand Village, besides the Land of Rain, where small-scale conflicts occurred year-round.
Their luck was poor; they encountered a young jonin from the Hidden Sand Village. That man was later known as the Third Kazekage, but at that time, he was not yet the Kazekage.
At that time, the Hidden Sand Village was still ruled by the Second Kazekage, Shamon. That man was just one of many Jonin, but his strength already surpassed that of an ordinary Jonin.
Iron Sand.
That person's bloodline limit was the Magnet Release, which could freely control iron sand. The sky full of black sand was like dark clouds pressing down, turning the surrounding hundred meters into a death domain.
Senba's parents resisted with all their might, but they eventually fell under the iron sand. They didn't even have a chance to retreat because that man was too fast—so fast they didn't even have time to escape.
When the news reached Konoha, the Uchiha clan was shaken. The Uchiha Clan Chief at the time, Uchiha Shinto, personally went to the border to reclaim their remains, along with their eyes.
Those two pairs of three-tomoe Sharingan were buried with the remains in the Uchiha cemetery, rather than the Konoha public cemetery.
Senba withdrew his thoughts and continued walking. Because his parents died in the line of duty, his usual treatment was quite good.
At least the house left by his parents belonged to him, unlike the son of a certain hero Hokage.
The Third Hokage issued pension money, one million Ryo per person, totaling two million Ryo. The Uchiha Clan also issued pension money, two million Ryo per person, totaling four million Ryo.
Six million Ryo—for a six-year-old child, this was a huge sum of money.
In addition, Konoha would issue ten thousand Ryo in living expenses every month, and the Uchiha would issue twenty thousand Ryo in living expenses.
Thirty thousand Ryo a month was enough for him to live very well.