Seeing the child in front of him, Uchiha Sanjiro smiled, showing his goodwill to the little boy.
Normally, Uchiha don't smile outside the clan, but since the boy was an Uchiha, Sanjiro believed he might be an exception.
Besides showing his goodwill to the child, Sanjiro analyzed the little genius, wondering how the Uchiha clan had lost a genius like him until now.
Based on what his limited chakra detection abilities could tell, Uchiha Natsuo had far more chakra than average and would be eligible for the Uchiha clan to train him with the best resources and in secret.
Although loyal to the village, all clans had their secrets, and combat power was one of them.
But now that the boy had entered the academy, it was not possible to simply take him out and not be the center of village gossip.
A genius capable of holding his own in a Taijutsu fight against Nawaki Senju was a surprise, but that the Uchiha clan has ignored him until now? It would be a disgrace to the clan, and they'd rather everyone think the Uchiha clan sent him to the academy on purpose to bring glory to the clan.
When a student graduates from the academy and becomes a Genin, they fall under the jurisdiction of the village and the Hokage, having to follow orders if the Hokage commands it.
But since they were the Uchiha clan, they could take Natsuo from the ranks of the regular ninja and bring him into the Uchiha police force. That way, the clan's geniuses wouldn't fall into the Hokage's hands.
The Hokage had control over all the regular ninjas in the village, and the shinobi clans had their own ninjas.
And while clans don't want to send their youngsters to the academy only to then work for the Hokage, they can't spend resources on all their young ninjas.
Although each clan's business is profitable, they cannot simply spend all their resources and it is in their best interest for the less skilled ninjas to enter the academy.
Even if those children graduated, the Hokage still had to talk to them in important situations.
Like a war.
Those clan ninjas could take missions from their own clans, but they could also take missions at the Hokage Tower in normal times.
This would be very different in times of war. At that time, the Hokage had to negotiate with the clans to dispatch a large number of ninjas from that clan.
The Hokage could do nothing more, since the clan's ninjas were stronger than the civilian ninjas, so the clans had to receive benefits in order to have more ninjas in the war.
Whether it's through tax reductions in times of peace, or a portion of the resources that enemy nations pay when the war is over.
But that's not something that directly concerns Sanjiro, as the clan elders are now discussing Natsuo's appearance.
Turning back to the boy in front of him, Sanjiro recalled that the elders of the Dove faction within the clan were arguing that Natsuo proved the clan's training methods were incorrect and needed to be changed.
Choosing who to train based solely on early talent was unfair to the others, and Natsuo proved them right.
In contrast, the hawk faction argues that the boy is just a rare case and that the clan's training methods have proven to be correct all these years.
Within the Uchiha clan, two factions have formed that are fighting over how to lead the clan.
The Dove faction that follows peace and the Hawk faction that pursues strength.
Several years ago, the Hawk faction led the clan, but since the elder Setsuna Uchiha rebelled against the Second Hokage and was defeated, the Hawk faction suffered a major blow and the Dove faction began to lead the clan.
Of course, the Hawk faction had many of its members leading the clan's industries, so in recent years it has been trying to get its hands on those industries before the Hawk faction recovers.
After so many years, the Hawk faction has recovered somewhat and is competing with the Dove faction for clan industries as it seeks to regain leadership.
Meanwhile, the dove faction seeks to seize all power while arguing that it wants to change the clan's ways and get closer to the village.
The question of the training methods for the clan's young geniuses has been around for many years, but as it has proven effective, it has not changed since then and remained under the purview of many elders of the Hawk faction.
Since many elders agreed with the clan's genius training method and their descendants participated in this training, the dove faction never mentioned it again.
But only now is the dove faction seeking to change that, with Natsuo as an example.
If the Dove faction can gain control over the training of the clan's geniuses, it can have a significant impact on these children's development. In this way, they can guide their thinking.
Uchiha Sanjiro was a follower of Eichiro Uchiha, the current leader of the clan, so he agreed with him and viewed Natsuo favorably.
"Hello Natsuo, I'm Uchiha Sanjiro," Sanjiro introduced himself, and Natsuo returned the greeting by bowing slightly.
"Natsuo, Lord Sanjiro has come to take you to the patriarch."
"Be a good boy and behave yourself," the matron told Natsuo.
The matron knew that Natsuo had proven to be a genius, so the clan would surely train him from now on.
He would only miss Natsuo, since surely some elder of the clan would adopt him.
"Yes ma'am," Natsuo replied and left with Sanjiro, under the envious glances of his little friends.
They had all trained with the goal of attracting the clan's attention, so they felt a little lost.
.
.
.
Along the way, Sanjiro talked to Natsuo, asking him basic questions about himself, and Natsuo answered.
Sanjiro also spoke about himself and how the patriarch had helped him many years ago and that he could also help Natsuo in the same way.
Throughout the journey he talked about how incredible the clan was and the progress they have made over the years.
After a long time, the duo arrived at the Naka shrine.
The Naka Shrine is where the Uchiha clan worships their ancestors. But it is also where the Uchiha clan meets in secret when they need to discuss important matters.
Since the Uchiha clan has not yet been expelled to the outside of the village, the Naka shrine is still located within the village.
Upon entering the sanctuary and heading to the seventh tatami on the right, Sanjiro led Natsuo to a secret door.
Natsuo couldn't see Sanjiro's hand seals because he couldn't keep up with his speed, but he did realize that he had activated the Sharingan.
Without giving Natsuo time to ask anything, Sanjiro went ahead and Natsuo had to follow him.
Looking back, the door closed and the duo walked down a corridor to a large room where nearly 80 members of the Uchiha clan were gathered.
All of them with the abilities of a Jonin and the strength of the Uchiha clan.
Just by looking at the number of Jonin here, one could see the strength of the Uchiha clan and the reason why they are feared abroad.
The bad thing about this is that the village's leadership doesn't trust them and plans to take down the Uchiha clan in the future.
No clan in the village can match the Uchiha clan, and although most of them do not have the official Jonin rank, it is because the village will not give that rank easily.
Opening the Sharingan with 3 tomoe is enough for an Uchiha to have the strength of a Jonin, but a Jonin has voting power on important issues within the village such as the election of the next Hokage, so the village will not give the Jonin rank easily in times of peace.
And of course, the village has more restrictions when they give the Jonin rank to an Uchiha.
"Sanjiro, thank you for bringing young Natsuo."
When the duo entered the room, they were noticed by everyone, and Natsuo felt their eyes on him. It was even more eerie when there were dozens of Sharingan looking at you at the same time.
With so many eyes on him, Natsuo didn't have to act like a child since he felt pressured by so many stares.
The one who spoke a moment ago was Eichiro Uchiha, the leader of the Uchiha clan.
Eiichiro stood in front of everyone else, with the clan elders on either side of him.