Whether the Uchiha clan's "madness" was passed from father to son and not to daughters— Hikaru couldn't say.
But he could say one thing with confidence:
If Uchiha Saya really wanted to enter the Medical Department… it was going to be extremely difficult.
The Medical Department sat firmly inside Hiruzen Sarutobi's core power sphere, and its importance was hard to overstate.
Back then, Hiruzen had been one of the main people who resisted building a formal medical-nin system in the first place.
But he'd always been brutally practical.
Once the department—under Tsunade's guidance—proved its value beyond doubt, boosting morale and saving huge numbers of lives, Hiruzen moved fast:
He pulled the Medical Department tightly under his control, pushed funding through finance channels, and elevated medical-nin from an overlooked craft into one of the most influential branches in Konoha.
In barely a decade or two, it went from a neglected "little workshop" to one of the village's biggest and most powerful institutions.
No shinobi truly laughed at death.
With medical support at their backs, more people were willing to fight—and Hiruzen's support base surged with it.
Other villages followed suit, scrambling to build their own versions.
Which meant the logic was simple:
A department like that created political loyalty.
And Hiruzen would never allow anyone he didn't trust to "touch" it—much less "pollute" it.
The Uchiha were not people he trusted.
So how could Saya possibly get in?
Of course, Hikaru wasn't going to tell her any of that.
A quiet girl with her own plan was a good thing. He had no reason to crush it.
After a short warm-up, Hikaru started training.
Nothing flashy—mostly fundamentals.
Even with a cheat that gave him extraordinary control over his power, he never stopped drilling basics.
Having strength, and even mastering it, didn't mean he was using it at maximum efficiency.
His real focus—year after year—was always the same:
How to kill an enemy cleanly without burning through chakra.
The "aftereffects" from his childhood mistake still weren't solvable for him.
So he compensated by refining everything else.
On the side, Saya watched quietly.
It was her first time seeing Hikaru train.
Back in the academy, she'd been in the "strong student" tier.
Hikaru had been a little below her—still capable, but not outstanding.
Then he vanished from her life.
What she knew after that came from classmates and rumor.
Now, seeing him again, she could tell he'd become much stronger…
…but he was only doing basic drills.
Saya frowned slightly.
"Is it because he doesn't have enough jutsu resources?"
In her memory, Hikaru was a civilian-born shinobi.
That would explain it.
And before she realized it, she was already considering whether she should help him—quietly, in a way that could lift him out of that limitation.
Meanwhile, inside the Hokage's office—
Kakashi knelt on one knee, while Minato Namikaze carefully read a scroll in his hands.
This one was a full mission record: the identification of the attackers, the sequence of events, and the capture of Yashamaru.
To be honest, Minato hadn't expected the mission to yield something this big.
He understood the cruel reality: even if they proved it was Sunagakure, Konoha still couldn't just "start something."
Konoha was too weak.
Any major military response risked bleeding the village further.
At best, there could be discreet retaliation later.
Being Hokage meant thinking in layers—politics, economy, morale, internal stability.
And he was dealing with all of it for the first time.
It was harder than he'd imagined.
But the capture of Yashamaru was a strong card.
If handled well, Konoha could extract real value.
Still…
Hiruzen's side of the equation gave Minato a headache.
The Third Hokage wanted peace so badly that even small clashes felt unacceptable to him.
Minato could understand that.
But he couldn't fully agree—because even if it protected Konoha strategically, it also wounded morale.
"I'll need to think carefully," Minato told himself. "How do I get the Third Hokage's support without breaking the village?"
His administrative life wasn't going smoothly.
He wore the title of Hokage—but discovered that many levers still didn't truly move under his hand.
He forced himself to stay patient.
He shouldn't let his mind go to dangerous places.
After all, his appointment had been pushed through by Hiruzen himself.
Finally, Minato looked up and smiled.
"Well done, Kakashi. Your coordination with Hikaru was excellent. Congratulations—you completed an outstanding mission."
Then he lowered his gaze again.
Because Kakashi had submitted not one scroll…
…but two.
After last time, Kakashi had decided that written reports were the safest way to pass information to his teacher.
Minato understood the intent.
He didn't show it on his face, but the ANBU presence still lingering in the office made him sigh inwardly.
He pushed the distraction away and opened the second scroll.
And as he read—
Minato's expression changed again.
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