I, a cultivator, ended up in the Naruto world.

The top-floor office of the Hokage Building.

The report about the complete annihilation of the Mist Ninja forces outside the village was now on Hiruzen Sarutobi's desk.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu sat in the chair opposite him, while Shimura Danzo stood alone by the window, gazing at the Hokage Rock in the distance.

The mission report submitted by the interrogation team and Orochimaru's squad was passed around among the group, and everyone remained expressionless.

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at the three men, his brow furrowed slightly, and lit his pipe again.

"Kagami is an old friend of ours," Mitokado Homura said, breaking the silence. "He has been carrying out missions as a regular Jonin for many years, and only started serving as an instructor Jonin last year. The current team members are Uchiha Mikoto, Kurama Murakumo, and Yosho."

He briefly recounted the current situation of Uchiha Kagami, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the other high-ranking officials.

Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his head and smoked, Danzo Shimura was still staring at the Hokage Rock, and Koharu Utatane... was that old woman asleep?

Left with no other option, Mitokado Homura continued, "Ahem... This was the first mission for new member Yang Xiang after joining the team. It was originally planned to be an infiltration mission to the Land of Water, but it has failed and he has returned due to an encounter with enemy ninjas. Their report states this."

Koharu, who was resting with her eyes closed, seemed to hear a key word, and her eyelids twitched slightly:

"The fact that they failed at such a simple task means that Uchiha Kagami should be held responsible. Furthermore, their killing of a large number of Kirigakure ninja outside the village has already severely damaged diplomatic relations between the two countries."

Mitokado Homura glared at her: "Poor influence? The Mist Ninja have already reached the village gates, are we going to keep them alive for the New Year?"

"This matter should have been decided by the village's leadership first, not acted upon unilaterally. Why resort to force when it could have been resolved peacefully?"

Upon hearing Koharu Utatane's words, Homura Mito simply pursed his lips and began to feign amnesia.

Ah yes, yes, you're right.

"Well said," Danzo replied coldly from the window without turning around, "Why don't you go to Kirigakure and negotiate with those guys yourself?"

Koharu finally opened her eyes a crack.

"Whether or not to negotiate, and who to send to negotiate, naturally depends on the Hokage's decision."

Her gaze shifted to Hiruzen, who was smoking.

She's not stupid; she's only able to hold onto this position because of her superb boxing skills. Letting her take the field? That's impossible.

Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped his pipe lightly twice on the edge of the table.

"Block information and strengthen border security."

As the Hokage, his first consideration was the risk of war.

If the Fog Concealment takes any further action, we must not allow the enemy forces to advance unimpeded like they have this time.

"Kagami is an excellent companion in the village, and we should trust our companions."

Mitokado Enoki and Utatane Koharu had no objections.

In meetings, the two of them only needed to make sure they had lines, and each found their comfortable niche: one was responsible for narration, and the other for arguing, with the final decision made by the Hokage.

"Hiruzen, I request that Yang Xiang be transferred to the Anbu." Danzo suddenly spoke.

Neither the Uchiha nor the Senju clans are good people.

He was absolutely convinced that nothing good could come of these two companies coming together.

After reading the mission report, he had no interest in the content itself, only seeing a hypocrite putting on an act, just like that guy back then when he suggested that someone was needed to cover the rear.

Hypocritical and disgusting.

Uchiha Kagami, why don't you just die?

If you truly possessed such strength, why didn't you personally cover their retreat back then?!

If it weren't for your ill-timed suggestion, I would be the Hokage now!

On this point, Danzo and Orochimaru had the same idea.

His first thought was that Uchiha Kagami wanted to compete for the position of Fourth Hokage, otherwise there would be no way to explain this sudden exposure of his strength.

Based on the principle of "I will destroy whatever the enemy wants to do," he immediately set his sights on Yang Xiang, who had been placed in the team.

Want to win over the Thousand Hands lineage? No way!

"I already said, don't touch that child. Danzo." Hiruzen refused without even thinking.

Tao Hua is one of the most influential people in the Senju lineage. Given Danzo's style, if he were to harm her grandson, she would dare to turn against the entire clan and village.

"You'll regret this, Hiruzen!"

...

"Lord Hiruzen is the Hokage. Don't worry, he will make a fair judgment," Uchiha Kagami reassured his teammates with a smile.

The team is waiting for confirmation in the mission lobby.

Due to the complicated circumstances of this trip, we need to wait for the final decision from the village's higher-ups.

As Danzo walked past them with a gloomy expression, apart from Yang Xiang who remained indifferent, Congyun and Mikoto couldn't help but feel uneasy.

Danzo's gaze was hardly friendly.

Cong Yun looked towards the stairwell with a worried expression.

Based on Orochimaru's attitude and his actions after returning to the village, he vaguely sensed that he might have gotten into trouble this time.

I hope the higher-ups won't pursue this matter...

"As expected, we shouldn't have killed all the Mist Ninja. If we had left one alive..."

Before she could finish speaking, she was interrupted by Uchiha Mikoto.

She stood with her hands on her hips, her tone firm:

"No need to say more! Yang Xiang did the right thing!"

"When you encounter the enemy, you should be decisive and efficient. Why waste time talking to them? You can get intelligence from corpses too! I think Yang Xiang did the right thing!"

The little girl clenched her fist and stood next to Yang Xiang.

Yang Xiang nodded approvingly.

Cong Yun: (T⌓T)

A female ninja descended the stairs, interrupting their conversation.

"This is the task confirmation. Thank you all for your hard work."

Uchiha Kagami smiled as he took the scroll, then turned and patted Murakumo on the shoulder:

"Now you don't need to worry, right, Murakumo? You should trust the Hokage. Come on, let's have some barbecue!"

The group left, cheering and jumping for joy.

Despite having fully anticipated Yang Xiang's appetite, Uchiha Kagami still felt a pang of regret when paying the bill.

Fortunately, Congyun and Mikoto didn't have big appetites, which relieved him a little.

"Congyun, come with me, I've arranged special training for you." Uchiha Kagami pulled Congyun back, then turned to look at Yang Xiang.

"Yang Xiang, could you please take Mikoto home? Consider it a thank you for grilling meat for you today."

Yang Xiang nodded; the two families were on the same route anyway.

Uchiha Kagami, pulling the bewildered Congyun along, vanished in a flash.

Mikoto Uchiha clasped her hands together and walked to Yang Xiang's side, saying softly, "Yang Xiang-kun, please."

"What's the big deal? Let's go." Yang Xiang waved his hand and stepped forward.

At first, Mikoto took small, shy steps, but eventually realized she couldn't keep up and had to jog to catch up.

When Fugaku returned to his clan's territory with his patrol, he spotted the two figures in the distance.

"Yo, Mikoto, you're back from the mission?"

Only when she heard the shouts did Mikoto notice the guards.

"Yang Xiangjun, this is a member of my clan. I'm almost home. Thank you for your hard work today."

Yang Xiang nodded, watched Meiqin walk towards her people, and then turned and walked back.

The Senju clan's territory is closer to the village than the Uchiha clan's.

As Fugaku watched Mikoto gaze at the departing boy's back, a strange, inexplicable feeling swept through his heart.

Normally... don't they all call me Fugaku-nii-san?

How did we become members of the clan today?