Chapter 18: Part 2, Section 1
Faced with Sasuke and Naruto's request, Uchiha Itachi once again activated his three-tomoe Sharingan, drawing another surprised gasp from Naruto.
"Hey hey, Shunhi Uncle, is Shuyu really your son?"
Naruto turned his head and jokingly asked Shunhi behind him.
"Of course he is! That's not even a question. He's such a genius—obviously inherited from me, got it?"
Neither Naruto nor Sasuke took Shunhi's explanation seriously. After all, Shunhi's own talents were… pretty average. The greatest accomplishment in his life was awakening a single-tomoe Sharingan.
As for Shuyu's talent, Naruto and Sasuke both leaned toward it being inherited from his mother.
Looks-wise he took after Shunhi; the talent clearly came from his mother.
"Shunhi, who is Shuyu's mother?"
Sasuke asked. A woman capable of passing on such powerful talent couldn't possibly be someone obscure. But when he thought of powerful kunoichi, only a few names came to mind.
"…Just an ordinary person…"
Seeing Shunhi's mood drop, Sasuke tactfully fell silent, sensing there must have been quite a story between Shunhi and Shuyu's mother.
In truth, even Shunhi didn't know how to explain. But seeing Sasuke not pressing further, he let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Alright, alright, let's eat."
Naruto interjected just in time to break the awkward silence.
The table was packed with people.
Sasuke, Sakura, Sarada; Naruto, Hinata, Boruto, Himawari; Shunhi and Shuyu.
"Seventh, what does it feel like to be Hokage?"
At the dinner table, Sarada turned to Naruto and asked.
"Being Hokage… It's exhausting. Really busy, and the pressure's intense."
"But when I see the village improving, when I see smiles on the villagers' faces, I feel like it's all worth it."
Naruto thought for a moment before replying.
"I see… Then Seventh, what does it take to become Hokage? Do you have to be as strong as you?"
Ever since the Shin Uchiha incident, Sarada had firmly decided on her dream—to become Hokage like Naruto, to become the leader of Hidden Leaf Village.
"Strength is secondary. The most important thing is earning everyone's approval. Only someone who has the people's recognition can become Hokage."
"Hm? Sarada, why are you suddenly asking about the Hokage?"
"Don't tell me… your dream is to become Hokage?"
Naruto was filled with emotion. Back in his day, if you asked ten kids at the Ninja Academy, all ten would say their dream was to become Hokage. But nowadays, kids had all kinds of dreams.
Like becoming an idol, a celebrity, getting rich… very few still wanted to be Hokage. Naruto couldn't help but feel like being Hokage had somehow become an unpopular career choice.
So seeing Sarada set her sights on becoming Hokage made Naruto genuinely happy.
"Yeah."
Sarada replied a bit shyly—after all, the only woman who had ever actually become Hokage was the Fifth, Tsunade.
"That's great, Sarada. I believe you'll definitely become Hokage."
"I'll be waiting for you to inherit the Hokage title from me. Then I can finally take it easy and spend more time with my family."
Naruto gave a gleaming thumbs-up with a glowing smile.
"If it's that dumb old man, Sarada will definitely surpass him and step right over him to become Hokage."
"And I'll help Sarada too."
Boruto chimed in at this moment.
Since Naruto often neglected his family because of work, Boruto had always held resentment toward him.
But now, hearing that someone else might take over the Hokage role and free Naruto up to spend time with his family, Boruto was even more determined to help Sarada become Hokage.
"Eh? Boruto, wasn't your dream to become Hokage?"
Naruto was visibly surprised. In his mind, Boruto had always wanted to become Hokage too.
"Not even close, you dumb old man. Being Hokage was never my dream."
"You don't even know your own son's dream? Just how little attention do you pay to your family?"
"My real dream is to be someone like Uncle Sasuke."
Naruto's expression fell instantly at Boruto's reply.
Even the Hokage's own son didn't want to be Hokage. Just how unappealing had the Hokage job become?
"Someone like me?"
Sasuke looked at Boruto curiously.
"Yeah. Someone who protects the village by leaving it behind, facing danger alone out in the world."
"Uncle Sasuke's contributions to the village far surpass those of my dumb old man."
"Plus, Uncle Sasuke is way cooler than you."
Boruto nodded firmly.
"Hey now, I can't let that slide."
"Why would you think a guy like him is cooler than me?"
Naruto said to Boruto.
"Your first reaction wasn't even to argue about your contributions to the village. That proves you're not fit to be Hokage! Just hand the position over to Sarada already, you dumb old man!"
As Naruto and Boruto's comical father-son bickering continued, the atmosphere around the dinner table grew cheerful and lively.
...
"Uncle Shunhi, I hope you and Shuyu can return to the Uchiha."
As dinner was wrapping up, Sakura suddenly turned to Shunhi and spoke.
Shunhi had no desire to rejoin the Uchiha.
No people, no money—just the hollow title of one of Konoha's great clans.
But joining the Uchiha did have its perks. For instance, the location where the child Shin Uchiha was hidden—brought back by Naruto.
Others might not know, but Naruto and Sasuke certainly did. And Naruto would never keep something like that from Sasuke.
Without joining the Uchiha, and without help from special system tools, there was no way he could ever find the hidden location of child Shin.
Even joining the Uchiha didn't guarantee he'd learn where Shin was hidden—just increased the odds.
"I can't possibly rejoin the Uchiha. I'm getting old. But Shuyu is still young—he can join."
Shunhi turned to look at Uchiha Itachi as he spoke.
Itachi, the man who annihilated the Uchiha Clan, didn't believe he could ever return to the clan or be accepted by them again. Emotionally, that was a barrier he simply couldn't cross.
But if it was just about protecting the Uchiha, he'd gladly step forward. Still, he didn't express much—because right now, he was nothing more than a puppet controlled by Shunhi.
Through the [Clone Tool Management Log], Shunhi naturally knew what Itachi was thinking.
"Uncle Shunhi, actually, you…"
Naruto started to say something, but Shunhi cut him off.
"No need to say it, Naruto. There's no one left in the Uchiha that I'm attached to. Let the young Shuyu return, and form new bonds with the Uchiha Clan."
Dinner ended. Hinata stayed behind at Sakura's new home to help clean up. Boruto carried the sleepy Himawari on the way home, and Naruto and Sasuke walked toward the Hokage Tower.
"Don't overthink it. Right now, your identity is Uchiha Shuyu, not Uchiha Itachi. It's fine even if you join the Uchiha Clan."
"Besides, joining the Uchiha comes with another mission: to locate the hidden child, Shin Uchiha, that Naruto concealed."
"There's no rush for this one. Wait until you've earned Naruto and Sasuke's trust. For now, your task is to kidnap the heir of the Kaminarimon Company."
"But be careful not to expose your identity as Shuyu. If you do, I'll be dragged into this too."
Walking back to the shop, Shunhi said this to the man walking beside him—Uchiha Itachi.
"Mm."
Itachi gave a small nod.
"Alright then. I'll leave the S.H.I.E.L.D. mission to you… Comrade Flaming Cloud Evil God."