Chapter 216: Balancing Power

After some time, Shisui also came out of the office.

"Now, do we have to go home, or do you have something else to do?" Kaida asked, as Shisui may have gotten a mission from Fugaku.

"Nah, let's go home," Shisui said.

Kaida nodded, and they both went back while Fugaku was now sitting in his office with a frown on his forehead.

'There is no such thing as peace; even clans inside a village are wary of each other's strength. The whole peace thing is just superficial and on the surface only. Now I have to reduce the strength of my own clan just so that others will not feel threatened by our power.

What kind of freedom is this? Alas! There is nothing I can do. The only good thing is that Shisui agreed to my plan,' Fugaku thought. He then wrote a letter to the Hokage requesting an urgent meeting.

Kaida and Shisui went back to their home and began practicing kenjutsu once again, as there was no mission for Shisui, and Kaida had a day of rest.

"What did you guys talk about?" Kaida asked while throwing a horizontal slash with his sword toward Shisui.

"Nothing much… Actually, it is not like he asked me to keep it secret from you, so be it. He asked me to think of this arrangement as only a temporary setting and to help the Uchiha when necessary," Shisui said.

"I don't think he even had to tell you that, as you would have done it anyway," Kaida said, blocking a sword strike from Shisui that was targeting his neck.

"I don't mean simple help. He wants me to act as a spy for the clan and tell them about the village's plans if they decide to make any move against the clan," Shisui said, following his previous attack with another one, this time focusing on Kaida's leg since Kaida deflected his sword downward.

"But is there any need for a spy anymore? The person who used to hate the Uchiha is already dead, right?" Kaida asked, jumping while deflecting Shisui's strike once again.

"I also asked him the same question, and his reply was 'just to be on the safe side,'" Shisui said, blocking Kaida's attack aiming to slash his abdomen.

"Well, we all know that Uchiha and Senju were at war for so long, and since our leader fought with the First Hokage, Konoha does have some reason to be suspicious of us Uchiha," Kaida said.

"I agreed with his demand, but from what I know, the Third Hokage doesn't discriminate against us, and the rest of the elders, though they have power, don't have the guts to go against the Uchiha in daylight. So there is not much need to have a spy.

But since there is no need, and I only have to report if the village plans anything against the Uchiha, there is not much loss in agreeing to Uncle's request. Also, there is no way I am going to break all of my connections with the clan just because some people are afraid of the increasing strength of their own allies," Shisui said.

"Well, if you put it that way, then there is nothing more to say," Kaida said, and their spar continued.

The reason they were talking while fighting was also for training. Many times, your enemy tries to distract you during the fight, so one should have the ability to keep focus even when the enemy is trying to distract. Well, this was according to Shisui. For Kaida, this was simply dumb.

If your enemy says something useful, then great; otherwise, just focus on killing him without talking at all. As the strongest jutsu of this world is simply 'Talk-no-jutsu.'

After the spar, Kaida said,

"Brother, let's visit our new family member."

Shisui was about to say yes when he stopped.

"No, Kaida, let's wait for some time before talking to that boy. Even though your reasoning about how our house is best for Naruto is good, it is still not confirmed that he would be allowed to live with us. Let's not give that boy unnecessary hope," Shisui said.

"I was not talking about telling him about moving with us, just some normal talk, just seeing how he is doing and all," Kaida said.

"That we can do," Shisui said with a smile.

Then they both used body flicker jutsu to go toward the area where Naruto lived. It was a very rusty area with many old buildings that could be demolished by a single punch from someone like Guy. The building was the one where some immigrants would live for some time when they had no money. When Kaida saw that, he thought,

'This is the place arranged by the Hokage for a Hokage's son who gave his life for the village? Maybe Hiruzen is a shrewd man trying to act as a good leader. Hell, even I, as an orphan, had better living conditions than this place.'

"I don't know why he is living here and why the Third Hokage arranged it as such, but I think he should have his reasons for this," Shisui said, looking at the judging expression of Kaida.

"Can you guess a single reason for that? I mean, it may have been Danzo who was behind everyone hating this poor boy, but this place was arranged by the Third Hokage. And how much does it cost to arrange something better than this? Does he have to be this stingy?" Kaida said.

"Kaida, there are people hearing you here," Shisui said with a smile.

"That is my point, brother. There are Anbu ninja standing guard here. A single one of them has a salary enough to rent the best room in the main district for a year. And if the village is spending this much, why not give this boy a little better living condition?" Kaida said, frustration apparent in his voice.

"It was Danzo's idea so that others would not guess that this boy was someone important for the village," an Anbu ninja said, appearing near Shisui and Kaida all of a sudden.

But both Shisui and Kaida knew about him from the start, so none of them were startled.

'All this and a simple chunin-level spy knew about Naruto's identity of being a jinchuriki. Why wouldn't he? For God's sake, everyone in Konoha used to call that boy a monster. It was not that hard for anyone to guess his identity,' Kaida thought but didn't say anything.

"May I know why you guys are here?" the Anbu ninja asked. Since he had worked with Shisui on some missions, he didn't show any rude behavior and just asked the standard question.

"Nothing special, we just wanted to talk with him, but seeing him living like this, let's just postpone it for some more time," Kaida said with a sigh.

Shisui just nodded his head. He knew seeing him would not actually do any good, and the only reason Kaida and he came here was to actually see Naruto's living condition. The talking was just an excuse. But one thing was sure, the little guilt of torturing Danzo with such brutality was now gone.

Kaida and Shisui then went back to their house, while Hiruzen got a report about their visit.

'What were they doing here?' Hiruzen thought after reading the initial line, but as he read ahead, he could only sigh.

'The more things come to light, the more I regret trusting Danzo so much. He was planning on breaking Naruto emotionally and then becoming the only light in his life to get his utmost loyalty. For some reason,

I don't even feel that surprised anymore. He could have done worse if I had not given Naruto Anbu protection 24/7. God knows what he would have done if I had agreed to his request of giving Root the role of protecting Naruto. Anyhow, it looks like I have failed even the last promise I made to Minato,' Hiruzen thought while closing the report.

Then he looked toward Fugaku's request for a meeting.

'This request and the sudden visit of Shisui and Kaida to Naruto's residence, along with Kakashi's sudden friendship with Shisui, are definitely not coincidences.'

Hiruzen called his secretary.

"Yes, Lord Third?"