“You asked whether you have what it takes to cause trouble for me.”
Shiranui Rei let out a cold laugh.
“So why don’t we find out whether you actually have what it takes?”
The sharp edge of youth was like a freshly unsheathed sword.
But his words only further enraged the Uchiha standing before him.
Shiranui Rei paid no attention to their furious gazes, however.
His eyes remained fixed solely on Uchiha Fugaku.
The Konoha Military Police Force could only move against him if he had actually violated some regulation.
If they dared arrest him without any grounds…
Too bad.
His teacher was Jiraiya, and his master’s teacher was the Third Hokage!
As he had said before, if someone could simply use unreasonable authority to crush him in Konoha, then wouldn’t all his years of hard work have been for nothing?
“Why not?”
Uchiha Fugaku accepted the challenge without hesitation.
For shinobi, rank was paramount.
Age came second.
A jonin fighting a genin would be considered bullying.
But if a jonin in his twenties fought another jonin in his teens, no one would accuse the older shinobi of abusing his strength.
“Wait, Deputy Captain Fugaku!”
Uchiha Mikoto, who had somehow already activated her Three-Tomoe Sharingan, suddenly stood up and stepped in front of Shiranui Rei.
Her Sharingan possessed power that was in no way inferior to Fugaku’s.
And at this moment, it contained a sharpness that Fugaku and the others had never seen in Mikoto before.
The usually gentle girl showed no sign of backing down.
She spoke every word clearly.
“Ryosuke and the others were the ones who came over and harassed Rei-kun and me first. I can’t just stand by and watch you cause trouble for Rei-kun!”
Fugaku frowned upon hearing this.
“Harassed you… Those bastards, Ryosuke and the others. I’ll handle this according to the clan rules.”
“But the matter between this boy and me has nothing to do with you, Mikoto.”
“No.”
Mikoto’s voice turned cold.
“If Deputy Captain Fugaku abuses his authority based on personal likes and dislikes, acts unjustly for private reasons, and damages the reputation of the Konoha Military Police Force, I’ll report it to my father.”
“You…”
Uchiha Fugaku’s expression became ugly.
His fists remained clenched for several seconds before finally loosening.
On one hand, he was currently serving as deputy captain of the Konoha Military Police Force precisely to gain experience and build his credentials in preparation for taking on greater authority in the future.
His father, the clan head, had already planned out his future.
From deputy captain, to captain, and eventually succeeding his father as clan head.
That was the path Fugaku’s father had laid out for him.
Mikoto’s father, meanwhile, was one of the Uchiha clan’s powerful elders.
If that elder developed a poor opinion of him, Fugaku’s advancement within the Military Police Force would certainly become more difficult.
On the other hand, he genuinely couldn’t understand why Uchiha Mikoto was defending an outsider like this.
To say he wasn’t jealous would be a lie.
Uchiha Mikoto’s beauty and strength were both qualities he admired.
Her family background was also something he needed if he was eventually going to take control of the Uchiha clan.
Yet over the past few years, his father had repeatedly approached Mikoto’s father to propose a marriage alliance.
There had never been any follow-up.
Now, perhaps he had finally discovered the reason.
Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense, a loud laugh suddenly came from the distance.
“Hahaha! Rei, I even went to your house looking for you. I never expected to find you here having barbecue with your girlfriend!”
A tall man with white hair had appeared in the strange atmosphere of the barbecue restaurant without anyone noticing.
He looked at Shiranui Rei with an amused expression as he strode toward the center of the confrontation.
Both sides froze when they saw him.
The tense atmosphere instantly eased.
“Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin…”
Uchiha Fugaku narrowed his eyes.
So that’s it.
This boy is Jiraiya’s student?
Fugaku thought to himself.
As jonin from the same village, it was impossible that they had never encountered each other on the battlefield or during missions.
But that was all it had ever been—seeing each other in passing.
As the son of the Uchiha clan head, Fugaku had usually operated alongside his fellow clan members on the battlefield.
Now that he had become deputy captain of the Military Police Force, he no longer went on missions.
Without any real interaction, naturally, he knew little about Shiranui Rei.
But the name Jiraiya was already famous throughout Konoha and even the entire shinobi world.
During the Second Shinobi World War, Jiraiya and his two teammates had been able to contend with Hanzo, the “Demigod,” through the strength of the three of them together.
After so many years, even if Jiraiya had not reached the Kage level, he probably wasn’t far from it.
Moreover, he was a student of the Third Hokage.
There was even a possibility that he could become the Fourth Hokage in the future.
Whether in terms of strength or status, he was someone Fugaku couldn’t afford to provoke.
With that thought, Uchiha Fugaku’s aggressive aura from earlier faded.
He began considering retreat.
“Jiraiya-sensei.”
Shiranui Rei first greeted his teacher.
Then he couldn’t help laughing helplessly at what Jiraiya had said.
“Mikoto-san isn’t my girlfriend. If you put it like that, people are going to misunderstand.”
He could also tell that Jiraiya had deliberately come here to defuse the situation for him.
Warmth spread through his heart.
Although Jiraiya could be rather unreliable at times, he had spared no effort when teaching him and Minato.
Even during the years when he had spent a long period of time in the Land of Rain for certain reasons, he had frequently guided their training and answered their questions through letters.
Without Jiraiya’s protection, Shiranui Rei might have already become nothing more than a pile of bones on the battlefield of the Second Shinobi World War.
“Jiraiya-sama.”
Uchiha Mikoto had clearly been shaken by Jiraiya’s earlier words.
Her Sharingan closed, returning her eyes to their normal dark color.
A deep blush covered her face.
Not far away, Fugaku knew that today’s matter had come to an end, so there was no reason for him to remain.
His gaze lingered on Shiranui Rei for a moment.
Then he gave Mikoto another complicated look.
“Jiraiya-senpai, we’ll be leaving.”
After giving him a neutral greeting, Uchiha Fugaku turned coldly and led his people away.
“You really are something, kid. I finally catch you taking a rare break, and you end up getting into a confrontation with those guys.”
Jiraiya patted Shiranui Rei on the shoulder and teased him.
At the same time, he couldn’t help feeling emotional.
The two little brats who had once become his students had grown considerably over the past few years.
Unfortunately, neither of his students, Shiranui Rei and Minato Namikaze, had personalities anything like his own carefree style.
The former was practically a training fanatic.
Sometimes, the sheer recklessness with which he fought on the battlefield was enough to frighten even his teacher.
Back during the Second Shinobi World War, Rei had once fought desperately against a shinobi who wielded Magnet Release and had nearly died at the man’s hands.
And that Magnet Release user was now…
As for the latter, Minato Namikaze was sunny and gentle by nature.
He didn’t share many hobbies with Jiraiya, let alone any interest in joining him for some carefree entertainment.
“Strange. The old man and I clearly have plenty to talk about when it comes to this sort of thing. Could it be that my teaching methods are the problem?”
Jiraiya stroked his chin, deep in thought.
Suddenly, as though he had remembered something, he slapped his thigh.
“Right! Tomorrow at noon, you and Minato are having lunch with me. There are a few things I need to tell you both.”