Gin left, swearing as he went.
Other than Danzō, who was stifling a laugh, no one else looked pleased.
After all, if someone gets cursed out, it's rare for them to still be in a good mood.
Only Danzō had remained silent, so Gin's tirade hadn't included him.
No one had expected Gin to dare speak to them like that.
Usually, any ninja they met would be completely respectful.
As for making Gin hand over his jutsu research, they ended up not being able to say anything.
Judging from Gin's attitude, if they brought it up, he would definitely curse them out even worse.
"This is outrageous, absolutely outrageous! Does he even consider himself a Konoha ninja?" Homura fumed.
No Konoha ninja behaved like this.
As for Tsunade—well, she was different, wasn't she?
Koharu's face was grim, remaining silent.
But in her heart, she was already thinking of ways to deal with Gin.
Hiruzen closed his eyes, trying to calm himself.
"Fugaku."
A figure appeared in the office.
Fugaku, wearing his Anbu uniform, had been hiding here from the beginning. Gin hadn't noticed him at all.
Sarutobi then spoke helplessly, "Can your clan get Gin to upload some jutsu to strengthen the village?"
They were really out of options.
Gin had no intention of cooperating.
Fugaku looked troubled. "It seems it might not work within the Uchiha clan either."
Hokage and Root had no difference in front of Gin.
They would all get cursed out as soon as they approached.
"I see."
Sarutobi rubbed his temples. Perhaps this was the only piece of good news amidst all the bad.
It seemed that Gin wasn't on great terms with the Uchiha clan either.
"Geniuses naturally have their own pride."
Danzō spoke coldly.
As if he had no intention of pressuring Gin himself.
The others looked grim. Although Gin's estrangement from the Uchiha clan was good news, it also made it harder for them to get him to cooperate.
They couldn't push him to the point of defecting.
Gin didn't seem particularly loyal to the village.
But capturing him would be another issue.
The Basic Inner Technique that Gin had developed had too great an impact.
If it weren't for the Second Hokage's policy, they wouldn't be in such a passive position.
All jutsus had to have the creator's name attached.
Ridiculous.
Maybe they could ask Sakumo.
"Hokage-sama." Fugaku hesitated for a moment and said, "I could try to get Gin to hand over the jutsu."
This made Sarutobi look at Fugaku with some depth.
The Uchiha clan respected the strong.
Perhaps Fugaku really could succeed.
"Then give it a try."
Even if Fugaku failed, it would only push Gin further away from the Uchiha clan.
That way, Sarutobi wouldn't have to worry about the Uchiha clan growing too powerful.
Fugaku didn't understand the underlying motivations. He simply wanted to share Hokage-sama's burdens.
The reason Hiruzen was so admired wasn't purely because of his persuasion skills; he had made many contributions to the village.
He just couldn't compare to the Second Hokage, which led some people to harbor resentment.
But in truth, his dedication to the village wasn't any less than the Second Hokage's.
It's just that his stance toward the Uchiha was an indelible stain.
Yet even so, many within the Uchiha clan admired Sarutobi.
"Understood, Hokage-sama."
Fugaku's figure disappeared, leaving only a wisp of smoke.
After leaving the Hokage's office, Gin returned to his usual training spot.
He saw Kushina and Minato sparring in taijutsu.
Without using her monstrous strength technique, Kushina was being suppressed by Minato.
Gin rubbed his chin.
Now that he thought about it...
"Why is it that when sparring with me, the monstrous strength technique is always in use?"
Was Kushina holding a grudge against him!?
When they saw Gin appear.
The two quickly stopped.
"What did Hokage-sama say?" Minato asked out of concern.
"Just a bunch of old folks wanting to be scolded, nothing important," Gin said with a sneer.
"..."
Minato and Kushina fell into silence.
Most people wouldn't dare talk about the Hokage that way.
As expected...
Gin was strong in every sense.
"Gin, no matter what, he is still Hokage-sama," Minato scratched his head.
"Take away the title of Hokage, and he's just an old geezer," Gin said disdainfully.
The position of Hokage held no sacred significance to him—it was just a village headman.
Were the daimyo wary of the title of village headman?
No, they were wary of the power within the village.
When clans formed villages during the Warring States period, did the daimyo and nobility truly acknowledge it?
No, they had no choice but to support it, because Senju Hashirama was too terrifying.
And Madara—he was ruthless enough to talk about eliminating the daimyo.
The power of the shinobi village had never diminished, while the daimyo's power had not increased.
Minato and Kushina felt bewildered.
It was as if Gin had stripped away the grandeur of their dreams.
The group fell into silence.
"Alright, there's no need to dwell on all this."
Gin didn't care what the Hokage's higher-ups thought—if they couldn't handle him, he'd just stop dealing with them.
They all threw themselves back into training once again.
Nowadays, no Konoha ninja could afford to be idle; everyone was training desperately.
Striving to survive once they were thrown into war.
They trained until late into the night.
Only then did Gin head home.
Recently, his progress had slowed down again.
The factor limiting his strength was his physical age.
Because his body had not yet matured, his strength had hit a bottleneck.
Once he reached adulthood and had enough chakra, he would naturally become one of the strongest ninjas of the current era.
Then he could just flip the table and stop playing.
Currently, due to physical limitations, he couldn't increase his power or speed further. Forcing an increase would only cause future developmental issues.
He couldn't remain this short as an adult—that would be hard to justify.
Most importantly, increasing chakra required not just training but also a significant quantity of chakra.
As Gin was pondering his future growth direction.
A sudden movement made him look up.
He saw a figure crouching on a utility pole.
With the bright moon in the background, and the scarlet Sharingan...
If it wasn't for that face he hated, he would have thought he'd traveled to the Uchiha massacre night again.
"Fugaku."
"Gin."
Fugaku looked down at Gin.
"You shouldn't be so disrespectful to the Hokage."
Gin looked at the Anbu uniform on Fugaku.
"What? When did you become Sarutobi's dog? Came to me because your master got scolded and now you're unhappy?"
There were always some people whose very existence was an eyesore.
Just like how Gin and Fugaku couldn't stand each other.
"Looks like you really do need a lesson."
"To teach you what respect is."
The tomoe in Fugaku's Sharingan began spinning quickly.
(End of Chapter)