Ever since a few months ago, when Sora had cooked a meal for himself once, Misa had stopped coming home to cook for him whenever the hospital was too busy.
"That's right!"
Misa smiled, walked over, and rubbed Sora's head.
"The fighting has eased a lot recently. Major clashes between the great ninja villages have decreased, so there are fewer wounded. Naturally, the hospital has become much less busy."
"Oh? I see. That's a good thing."
Sora nodded in understanding.
It seemed the Second Great Ninja War was basically over.
Over the next few years, the major villages would enter a phase of small-scale frictions and covert conflict, each accumulating strength and supplies while waiting for the right opportunity. Then, a new great ninja war would inevitably break out.
There was no helping it. In the end, the Second Great Ninja War had never truly been settled.
It could be said that none of the major ninja villages were satisfied with the current outcome—
Except Konoha.
With the Third Hokage, a lover of peace, in power, Konoha had always hoped to coexist peacefully with the other great villages.
Unfortunately, the others had no such intention.
They all coveted the rich resources of Konoha and the Land of Fire.
Without the First and Second Hokage, Konoha had clearly weakened in the eyes of the other villages. It was a fat piece of meat they could covet, and each of them wanted to tear off a bite.
Moreover, the conflicts among the other villages themselves had not been resolved either.
Once they had accumulated enough strength and resources, the Third Great Ninja War would be unavoidable.
"Yes."
Uchiha Misa also smiled and nodded.
"With less war, there'll be fewer casualties."
Having seen so much death at the ninja hospital, she truly longed for peace in the world.
"Alright, enough of that. Mommy's going to make lunch for you now! You two can continue your date! Hehe!"
With that, Uchiha Misa quickly headed inside.
Sora and Mikoto could only exchange helpless looks.
Soon, it was lunchtime.
"Sora! Mikoto! Food's ready!"
"Coming!"
"Oh? Looks like we got back just in time. Right in time for lunch!"
Just as they were about to eat, Uchiha Masayuki returned home with Uchiha Hao. Seeing the rich and appetizing dishes on the table, both of them couldn't help but grin.
Uchiha Misa shot her husband an annoyed glance.
"I knew you two would be back, so I specially made enough for you. Otherwise… hmph."
"I'm digging in!"
Soon, the meal began, and everyone chatted while eating about what they had seen that day.
"Sora! That method you suggested worked really well. Recently, the Police Force has been implementing it, and our reputation among the villagers has improved quite a bit! Everyone's pretty happy about it."
During the meal, Uchiha Masayuki brought up the matter of the Police Force.
A few months ago, Masayuki had spoken of the villagers' hostility toward the Police Force and asked his clever son Sora for advice.
After all, Sora was so smart that he felt there was no problem Sora couldn't solve.
And that had indeed been the case.
Sora had given his solution. The main point was for the Uchiha members of the Police Force to let go of their unnecessary outward arrogance and find ways to mingle with the villagers.
Instead of walking around all day with sour expressions, acting as if they were above everyone else.
Of course, the advice sounded simple—
But for the Uchiha clan, carrying it out was extremely difficult.
After all, it is easier to move mountains than change one's nature.
The Uchiha's pride was engraved into their bones.
Even Uchiha Masayuki had only begun seeing results after spending several months exerting great effort, using both his strength and his authority as vice captain of the Police Force.
If they wanted to fully reverse the Police Force's bad reputation and influence, they still had a long way to go.
"As long as it works, that's enough."
Sora nodded in understanding, then continued:
"But in the short term, it'll be very difficult to completely reverse the villagers' ingrained impressions and hostility toward the Uchiha."
"Not to mention that the work of the Police Force itself is a huge trap. Whether you do it well or badly, it's a thankless job either way."
"And people like Danzo and the other higher-ups of Konoha probably won't be happy to see the Uchiha clan's reputation among the villagers improve."
Hearing that, everyone present frowned.
"Why?"
Uchiha Hao couldn't help blurting it out.
"Not counting the others, I feel like the Third Hokage is actually pretty decent, right? A few times when our squad took missions assigned by the Third Hokage, I thought he treated me quite kindly."
Hearing this, Sora looked at his brother speechlessly and sighed.
"Brother, you really should eat more pig brains and properly nourish yours."
"Can you stop being fooled by superficial performances?"
"You're making yourself look stupid, and that affects how outsiders judge our family's intelligence too."
Uchiha Hao: "…"
"So after all that circling around, you're still just calling me stupid, right?"
Uchiha Hao looked at his rotten little brother with total helplessness.
If he weren't afraid of getting beaten up by their parents together, and if he didn't still need Sora's guidance in cultivation, he really wanted to give this brat a good beating and establish some elder brotherly authority.
Let Sora learn what it meant to respect his big brother.
"Wasn't I?"
Sora shrugged without the slightest attempt to hide it.
"The Third Hokage inherited the Hokage position from the Second Hokage during a crisis and managed to firmly secure it despite opposition from many major ninja clans. Yet you think he's some kind and gentle good person? Your innocence is truly touching."
Uchiha Hao: "…"
Alright, thinking about it that way, he had to admit he had been naive.
The Third Hokage might not be a purely bad person, but he definitely wasn't some warm and kindly good man either.
Mm. Danzo, on the other hand, was a purely bad person.
He was simply selfish and rotten to the core.
At that moment, Uchiha Masayuki frowned deeply and looked at Sora.
"You mean Danzo, the Third Hokage, and the others might secretly interfere and sabotage this? They won't allow us to improve our reputation among the villagers? Then what do we do?"
"Nothing."
Sora spread his hands.
"Unless all those higher-ups like Danzo are replaced—or killed—and unless the Uchiha clan shakes off the burden of the Police Force, there's no way to solve the problem at its root."
The Uchiha's terrible reputation within Konoha had never been solely the Uchiha clan's own fault.
Back in the Warring States era, the Uchiha's relationships with the other ninja clans had never been this bad.
Within Konoha now, they had almost no friends and no allies.
Back then, the Uchiha had possessed a large number of subordinate ninja clans and even allies.
"You child!"
At the side, Uchiha Misa couldn't help lightly tapping Sora on the head with her chopsticks as she scolded:
"How can you say such things so casually? If someone overheard that, our family—and even the Uchiha—would be in serious trouble!"
"Yes, yes, yes!"
Sora immediately raised his hands in surrender.
"But this is our home. There's a sealing barrier, and spiritual perception has already confirmed everything's fine, hasn't it?"
As early as a year ago, once Sora understood that that shameless old man, the Third Hokage, liked using the Telescope Technique to peep at the village, he had already asked his parents to set up a barrier at home to block outside surveillance.
Combined with the powerful spiritual power their family had cultivated through the Spirit-Refining Method, they were basically completely secure.