From a bird's-eye view, the Hokage Rock was the easternmost point of Konoha.

  Geographically, the rock was carved into a cliffside of high terrain, part of which legally beloo the territory of Konoha.

  Si was their owory, it was only natural for Konoha to utilize it. Besides carving rge faces along the cliff, they had also created pathways and built shelters here.

  The Police Fenerally didn't patrol he Hokage Office, whicluded pces like the Ninja Academy and the Konoha Hospital, as it was unnecessary. However, the high ground was an exception; theoretically, it otential oint in the vilge's defense system.

  Apanied by Itachi, Masashi climbed the outdoor stairs set along Hokage Rock, asding to the high ground.

  "Masashi, how often do you patrol up here?"

  "Often enough. The high ground requires stant vigince."

  This was Itachi's first time on the high ground, and he felt a bit excited, having never been here before, uhe other kids in the vilge.

  From up here, overlooking Konoha felt different. This was the true highest point of the vilge's territory, an unobstructed view.

  The high ground was vast and ft. To satisfy Itachi's desire to admire the vilge's sery, Masashi guided him along the boundary.

  They entered other Konoha shinobi on their way. Amusingly, sihe area was so ft with a great view, many shinobi liked to e here with their families during off-hours for piics or a bit of leisure. Or other things at night...

  "Identification, please." An ANBU appeared before them.

  "Police Force, Se 3, Uchiha Masashi. Apanied by Uchiha Itachi."

  They also entered more masked ANBU agents patrolling the area. After mutually firming identities, they were allowed to proceed.

  Though ANBU agents seemed mysterious with their masks, infiltrators actually like to disguise themselves as ANBU, sih a mask and cloak, who could tell who was really uhere?

  The ANBU agents were well aware of this and have a process for coordinating with the Police Force to prevent such slip-ups.

  After going through the identity verification process for the fifth time, Masashi noticed his temporary student curiously watg him.

  "What's up?"

  "Are those really ANBU shinobi?"

  "Yeah."

  "Won't stopping them affect their mission?" Itachi looked back several times, though the agents had already vanished. "Maybe they're on an important mission."

  "They're public officials, so of course, they're going to follutions," Masashi replied. "When you bee a shinobi, you'll do the same. As a public official, you work by the rules. If someoarts pining without a direct order from the Hokage, you just arrest them. They're either spies or abusing their authority."

  "Isn't that a bit tid?" Itachi, seemingly imagining all sorts of sarios, asked. "ANBU handle special tasks for the vilge, and they're all strong shinobi. If we had a dispute with them over an urgent mission, it could straiionship between the d the Hokage."

  Masashi didn't reply, just looked at Itachi.

  "What do you think the Police Force's primary duty is?" he asked carefully.

  "To protect the vilge and uphold honor?" Itachi's response came quickly.

  "That's where you're wrong. We're public servants first, members sed."

  As both the leader and head of the Police Force, Fugaku's approach to edug his son was rather difficult to uand. Age wasn't an excuse in the shinobi world - those with the potential to bee shinobi developed wisdom early.

  Their maturity advanced far faster than people from Earth.

  But Itachi didn't seem to uand that the Uchiha d the Police Force were two distiies. Nor did he grasp how Konoha's anizational structure funed.

  This kid, who liked to think from the vilge's perspective, iy, knew little about the vilge. On the trary, he was deeply bound by his family's own ideology.

  The responsibility for this rested on Fugaku; as his father, he was the first person atable.

  Masashi thought he might have figured out why this future dutiful son would turn out so peculiar.

  "I know what to teach you," he said, reag out to ruffle Itachi's hair. "You're not ready to learn ninjutsu just yet. Instead, observe and listen carefully."

  "Officer, where should we dispose of—" A civilian approached them, holding a small bag.

  "The designated area is he eastern er. Please remember to separate burems," Masashi responded smoothly.

  Itachi obediently nodded, notig a subtle shift in Masashi's attitude toward him.

  Before, Masashi had been polite yet distant, which he was used to. But just now, Masashi's demeanor reminded him somewhat of Shisui.

  As a sensitive child, he found this kindness slightly overwhelming.

  He didn't want to be disliked, nor did he want to let down anyone's kindness due to his own inappropriate words or as.

  So far, only Shisui was able to match his rhythm. When Masashi told him not to speak, Itachi actually felt relieved.

  From then on, he early followed Masashi's instrus, staying silent and .

  Perhaps it was his imagination, but as he suppressed his urge to ask questions and simply watched Masashi at work, Itachi felt he might have been making a fuss over nothing.

  The ANBU who were stopped didn't show any signs of impatience. On the trary, they cooperated smoothly with Masashi, dressed in his Police Foriform.

  As Masashi had told him, everything was done by the rules, smoothly and without flict. The enforcers spoke calmly, waiting for responses, and those being advised showed no signs of offense.

  Itachi started thinking that the family's public safety regutions weren't so bad after all.

  Then, a sharp wail cut through the air. Two boys, no older than four, were rolling in the dirt, tears streaming down their faces as they fought over a toy shuriken.

  "Hey now," Masashi crouched down beside them. "What's the problem here?"

  "He... he took it first!" One boy hiccupped between sobs.

  "But I found it!" The other protested, clutg the wooden toy.

  Masashi reached into his vest pocket. "How about this?" Twht dies appeared in his palm. "One for each of you, if you promise to share the shuriken instead."

  The boy with the toy shurikeated, then held it out to his former oppo. "We take turns?"

  Itachi watched the se unfold, noting how Masashi's simple solution had transformed hostility into cooperation. Father would have just told them to stop being childish.

  A shadow fell across the ground. Another Police Force member appeared, adjusting his headband. "Masashi, I'm here for the shift ge."

  Itachi blinked, gng at the sun's position. Had that much time really passed?

  He wasn't unfamiliar with the Police Force; as the leader's son, he had sometimes apanied Fugaku to the office, and no one had objected.

  He had walked the streets of Konoha with others, and was familiar with how the guards enforced the w. Fugaku had even taken him to observe the Police Force apprehending spies from other vilges.

  But he'd always been an onlooker, never involved, and today's experience felt different.

  When Masashi finished handing over the patrol to the shinobi, he turo Itachi, gesturing for him to follow.

  Itachi quickly fell in step, closely following behind.

  When Masashi finally stopped, they stood above the cliff, right at the top of the First Hokage's fa Hokage Rock.

  Standing on the edge of the cliff, Itachi gazed out at the view. Konoha, surrounded by lush green forests beh the blue sky and white clouds, looked entirely different from how he usually saw it.

  From this height, the vilge appeared peaceful, with rows of buildings sprawling out across the nd. In the distahe farmnds stretched like a work, and a winding river sparkled in the sunlight as it ran through the green fields.

  Masashi looked at him. This little kid finally showed an age-appropriate... goofy smile. He's still a child after all.

  "Isn't the view great from here?" he asked with a smile.

  taodded.

  "From a higher vantage point, you see things more clearly," Masashi said. "But if you only look far away and fet what's right underfoot, you'll end up shattered to pieces."

  Itachi instinctively looked down at the sheer cliff below. He wao ask a question but remembered that Masashi had told him to observe and listen more.

  He closed his mouth instead.

  Masashi took note of this. Good. He's learning to think before speaking.

  "Do you know the significe of where you're standing now, Itachi?"

  "Higher than the First Hokage?" Itachi attempted an answer.

  Obviously, that couldn't be right.

  Seeing Itachi's expet gaze, Masashi didn't keep him guessing.

  "This is the in point of Konoha. It was here, as children, that Hashirama and Madara shared their ideals with each other. This is where two children once dreamed of peace."

  This was history unknown to Itachi.

  "What kind of ideals?"

  "Hashirama hoped to create a vilge of his own, where children wouldn't have to kill each other. Madara's wish was to protect his younger brother in such a vilge."

  "They dreamed of a world where brothers wouldn't have to bury brothers. Where children could grow old enough to have children of their own."

  Itachi was stunned, his hands unsciously g as he processed this information. He had an instinctive feeling that this was true.

  "But these very ideals were what led to their eventual split," Masashi tinued.

  "Why?" Itachi couldn't help but ask. "Weren't their wishes the same?"

  "Because what they each wao protect was different," Masashi sighed, his eyes sing the horizon. "Hashirama wanted war to end forever sedies like what happeo his brother wouldn't happen again."

  "In the Warring States period, the average lifespan of both shinobi and civilians was uhirty, mostly because they would target each other's children."

  "By the time Hashirama met Madara, he had lost three younger brothers. So his wish was to protect the only brother he had left. And soon after, Hashirama also had only one brother left."

  "Because... of the Uchiha?" Itachi asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

  "Of course. The Senju and the Uchiha were sworn enemies, hunting each other's children whenever possible. Acc to Hashirama's father, Butsuma, it was a mark of respect to the enemy."

  "Parental love meant raising your child to stand on their own. All of Hashirama and Madara's brothers who died young perished at the hands of the other . The cycle of revenge cimed children on both sides. Each death justified the ."

  "How do you know all this, Masashi-nii?"

  Masashi-nii now, huh? "I like to read," he replied casually. "Besides, it was Madara, not Hashirama, who first suggested that peace could only be achieved if both sides uood each other."

  "It was Madara who made that wish, and his friendship with Hashirama gave him hope it might be possible. But you know how it ended."

  Itachi gnced downward again.

  There was no statue of Madara here, where it all began.

  "So don't assume that just because you have a good ideal, it will definitely be achieved," Masashi said, looking at Itachi ily. "When you're vinced your path is the only right ohat's often a sign you're headed for failure."

  "Why are you telling me all this, Masashi-nii?".

  "As I said, what you need mht now isn't ninjutsu," Masashi pced a hand on Itachi's shoulder, "but an uanding of history—of the Uchiha, the Senju, and Konoha itself."

  Before he finished speaking, Itachi felt a sudden dizziness, as if everything around him had lost color. The world seemed to shift and blur.

  When he regained his senses, he found himself standing atop the stoatue of the First Hokage. The vilge spread out below them like a living map.

  "Look at this vilge," Masashi gestured to the streets below. Konoha is, first and foremost, a military base, built to serve the needs of its shinobi forces. Given this military focus, how many shinobi serve there?"

  Before Itachi could answer, Masashi formed a hand seal.

  A single point of light appeared above a building, then another, and another. More lights began appearing rapidly, spreading across the vilge like stars emerging at dusk. Soon, the sky above Konoha was filled with thousands of glowing points.

  "Each light represents a shinobi of in her," he said quietly. The lights tinued appearing until they numbered iens of thousands.

  "The vast majority of them don't hold official positions in the vilge. pared to this number, both the ANBU and the Police Force are insignifit."

  He lowered his hand, letting the lights fade. "Every department in Konoha, even the Hokage himself, exists to serve this military group."

  "But... the ANBU is a special unit that carries out missions for the vilge without dealing with regur shinobi," Itachi protested slightly.

  "Itachi, in an anization, ment be more important than the anization itself," Masashi said. "Departme to ehe survival of the anization. Konoha exists to empower the shinobi forces. If the Hokage ot fulfill this purpose, then he'll find himself without allies."

  He pced his hand on Itachi's shoulder once more. Then, a familiar dizziness washed over him.

  When he came to, he was looking at a r waterfall and two t statues.

  Itachi stared, dumbfounded.

  This was the Valley of the End, far from Konoha. The two statues were memorials to Hashirama and Madara. This was where they had fought their st battle.

  "Masashi-nii, you..." Itachi recalled the strange sensations he'd felt earlier, his mind still adjusting to each transition.

  "It's just a support jutsu, don't worry about it," Masashi poio Madara's statue. "If Madara seems like a vilin or a dao you, it means you don't really uand this vilge or your ."

  "But if you think the Uchiha's current status is deserved and that the Hokage's decisions are fair and just, then you're missing some things."

  "If, after refleg, you believe the Uchiha should push the Hokage even further, then, frankly, don't bee a shinobi. I'm worried you'll end up causing trouble for yourself."

  He looked at Itachi, studying the young boy's reas carefully.

  "Did any of this sink in?"

  Itachi looked a bit dazed but shook his head reflexively when Masashi asked, his mind still processing everything he'd learned.

  "That's fine. You ask your father about it ter. And read more."

  "Once you uand the retionship between the , the Police Force, the Hokage, and the vilge, you'll already be a real Konoha shinobi, even before you graduate from the academy."