Maruboshi and Takuma fought a few more times before his master was ready to share his thoughts.

"You're too aggressive," he began. "I understand you want to be in control, but your tendencies are reckless. I had several opportunities during our spars to grievously injure you. Decrease that inclination to push and push to overwhelm the opponent."

Takuma shook his head. "I don't think I can do that—my aggression makes me effective. I understand that I'm putting myself at risk, but it's just the way I fight. I can't be afraid to trade damage or I'll lose."

He had brought himself up in the Ring, which was part of the reason behind his style. The way he fought as Scars was the only way that ever brought him any success and it was difficult to ditch those habits.

"You don't have to fight that way," Maruboshi countered, utterly unconvinced. "You have the tools; you just need to learn how to use them properly. Work with me, and we can adjust how you fight while maintaining an aggressive combat style without reckless decisions that could lead to your death."

Takuma sighed because he had tried to fight more conservatively before but had failed. That said, he had asked Maruboshi to train him, so he was going to follow his directions.

"Moving on, I'm impressed with how you use your weapons, Takuma. The combination of ninjutsu and the variation of the chakra augmentation was excellent. I'll wholeheartedly suggest that you increase the use of genjutsu in combat. Lean into it, even; people tend to use only one delivery method, but Uchiha Mikoto has trained you to target all five senses."

Now that he was back home, he could invest, explore, and research ways to expand his genjutsu repertoire and seamlessly add it to his combat style. He wanted to take it slow because adjusting his combat style was one thing, but adding a new major element to it needed to be done with care, as he could end up being weaker than before if he made the wrong decisions.

"By the end of the week, I promise you'll see promise in the changes I suggest," said Maruboshi confidently.

"Okay."

"But we'll need help."

"What do you need?" asked Takuma, thinking Maruboshi was going to ask for equipment.

"You'll need different sparring partners."

———

.

The Uchiha compound was a section of the village reserved for the Uchiha Clan. It was relatively new, only created a little under a decade ago after the Nine-Tails' incident, which resulted in countless deaths, including that of the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato.

For those in the know, the history of the compound was clear.

The Uchiha clan was relocated to the compound along the village's outskirts on the pretext that it was a necessary step in the Hidden Leaf's reconstruction. In truth, many in the village were convinced that the Nine-Tails' attack was the first manifestation of the Uchiha's long-simmering dissatisfaction, and they needed to put the entire clan together to monitor them and prevent any additional attacks.

However, in doing so, they had given the Uchiha clan near complete control over the compound. Nothing changed in the compound without the clan's permission, and any attempts to alter it were thoroughly rebuffed. Their compound was a fortified area that belonged to them and only them.

A year ago, Takuma frequented the place five times a week for his genjutsu lessons. His return to the compound brought up various complex feelings. From the day he had found himself in the world, he had believed that Uchiha were the walking dead and would perish just like he had read. He had even staked his career progression in the Police Force on the clan's extermination.

Takuma rang the bell on a beautiful traditional home and waited at the gate.

But that changed on the day he left the village for the Steam-Frost war.

The door opened, and a beautiful middle-aged woman with long black hair, bangs on either side of her face to roughly frame her cheeks stepped out. She dressed like a housewife, yet the woman was behind everything he knew about genjutsu.

"Look at you," she smiled with warm, dark eyes, "haven't you grown a lot."

Uchiha Mikoto was the reason he sent a letter that changed the course of the future and possibly damaged his biggest advantage. He didn't want the woman before him to die, so he took a step that had kept him awake at night for a week and still visited him from time to time. However, as he gazed at her, Takuma felt the letter was worth it.

"It's been too long," said Takuma.

"It has been. Come in so we can catch up," Mikoto smiled.

They settled in the same room where they conducted the genjutsu lessons, and Mikoto served tea and snacks as always. The genjutsu lessons were a time of peace during his stressful days at the Narcotics Taskforce when he was struggling to keep his position as the leader and he hadn't found a replacement for it while he was in the Land of Hot Water.

Just being back in the room relaxed him.

"I might be leaving the Police Force," Takuma said after the discussion about the war ended. "My contract ends in less than a month, and then I'll look for new opportunities." He couldn't tell anybody about his ANBU offer except Maruboshi.

"Might?" she asked.

Takuma shrugged. "I'll stay if they meet my stipulations. I don't think they'll do it, though."

"I hope you're not asking me to pull some strings," Mikoto smiled.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"No, I don't want to put you in an awkward situation," he said. Despite being a Uchiha, Mikoto had never worked in the Police Force and had no direct influence over it. If she, as an outsider, wanted to make something happen, it would need to happen through someone else, and thus owing them a favour.

Mikoto gazed at him in silence for a moment before a knowing smile flourished across her face. "You already have an offer from someone else, don't you?"

"Not yet," said Takuma, which was true because ANBU had only expressed their interest.

"You should use it as leverage to get what you want in the Police Force."

"I would do that if I still wanted to work there."

"You don't?"

"Should I? After they stole my work."

"If you go somewhere else, you'll be building everything from the ground up. In the Police Force, you know how things work, you have contacts, people know your work, your accomplishments will mean so much more, and you have a positive reputation that you can rely on." Her smile turned regretful despite the positive words. "In my opinion, continuing with the Police Force makes more sense when you already have a solid foundation despite it all."

Takuma recognised that Mikoto was a Uchiha and that she would like him to stay in the Police Force. He didn't mind her attempt to convince him. Her words weren't anything new; he had considered the same benefits after his meeting with Setsuna. If he went somewhere else, he would need to establish himself in the eyes of his peers and higher-ups, but in the Police Force, everyone was already aware of who he was.

"I don't have two sides to compare yet, so there's no use thinking about it," Takuma sighed and changed the topic. "How's your family doing? If I remember correctly, Sasuke's in his fifth year?"

"Fourth year," Mikoto corrected and continued with a proud, beaming smile. "He's consistently at the top of his class. The teachers in the clan also praise him for being able to fight children older than him. I'm very proud of him."

"He is a bright child," Takuma nodded.

Internally, however, he was drowning in the thought that he might have stunted Sasuke's future growth. One of Sasuke's main character motivations was his undying, intense desire for revenge against Itachi. It had him live life single-mindedly, focused on vengeance.

He didn't want to take responsibility for the dooming of the future, so he chose to focus on the positive. With the Uchiha Clan's tragic fate evaded, the Hidden Leaf village would be in a stronger position. And who knew, maybe having his family and clan part of his life would be enough for Sasuke to reach his full potential.

"What about Itachi?" Takuma shook his head in disbelief. "It's amazing he's a jonin. I don't know if you know her, but there's one Uchiha Izumi in my batch, and she got promoted in the Chunin Exam before the latest—but your son has been a jonin since I was a shinobi, and we're the same age. That's frankly unbelievable sometimes."

"Itachi has always been different. As awful as it may sound, sometimes, I wish he hadn't been so much of a genius. He grew up too quickly," Mikoto sighed with a rueful smile, "but he's been doing well as always; he's busy with work..."

Takuma wondered how much of that was true.

He had thrown Itachi under the bus in his letter, claiming him, along with Shisui, to be traitors to drive the point in. It was only momentarily, but he noticed the complex emotion in Mikoto's eyes before she hid them. It seemed that his letter affected her relationship with her son. He didn't know how much of the letter was disclosed to the clan, but if they truly knew what Itachi and Shisui were doing, they would only be seen as traitors.

Shisui died with his eyes stolen, so he was probably saved from having his image tarnished. As for Itachi, Takuma had no idea how much of the letter Mikoto had disclosed—there were real chances that she and her husband would keep certain parts of the letter a secret to protect their son, who didn't have a great reputation among the clan to begin with.

"So, what are your plans now?" asked Mikoto.

"Chunin Exams. I think I'll get a rank promotion if I perform decently," said Takuma. You didn't need to win in the Chunin Exam for a rank promotion. According to Maruboshi, he had enough accomplishments that he would get a rank promotion as long as he reached the final round of the exams.

"We can resume our lessons, if you wish. I'd like it if we resume them, to be honest," Mikoto offered.

"Yes, please," said Takuma, eager to get back into learning genjutsu with her. "But let's start next month. I'll be leaving the village to visit some friends next week. We can start after that, if you don't mind?"

"I don't mind it at all," she smiled.

Takuma nodded. He picked up his teacup, drained the delicious tea, and was about to ask for another cup when he noticed Mikoto staring at him.

"What is it?"

"I will get my annual promotion slot in four months... Do you want me to promote you, Takuma?"

Mikoto was a jonin and all jonin got to promote one shinobi to the rank of chunin every year. Takuma was surprised because he didn't think a jonin—let alone the lady of the Uchiha clan—would offer such a precious commodity to an outsider.

It wasn't something that could be given to him just because they were close.

"What's the catch?" asked Takuma carefully.

A satisfied smile appeared on Mikoto's face, as though she was testing him. She refilled their cups and made Takuma wait for her reply.

"You stay in the Police Force," she replied as she picked up her teacup.

"Of course," he said—that made sense—but that couldn't be all. "What else?"

She leisurely took a sip of her tea before continuing. "And you become a shinobi affiliated with the Uchiha. Do you know what that means?"

Takuma paused for a moment before nodding.

Masaaki was a shinobi affiliated with the Akimichi Clan. The clan sponsored his growth as a shinobi, and in exchange, he was basically employed under them. They funded his training, provided him with jutsu, set him up with good missions to boost his resume.

Not to mention the reputation of someone affiliated with a prominent clan. In return, any time the clan required his help, he would provide it. It was a give-and-take relationship, but the power dynamic was heavily skewed in the clan's favour. In a hypothetical worst-case scenario, they could ask Masaaki to do something he disagreed with, but he would have to follow their orders because he was burdened by the substantial support they had given him.

Of course, not all relationships were like that, and Masaaki seemed like he was part of the family with the Akimichi clan. The benefit was too big for anyone to discount and getting the backing of any clan could change one's life overnight.

Getting the support of the Uchiha Clan would be life-changing.

Takuma folded his arms. "That's a big commitment."

"And it will come with a lot of benefits," said Mikoto. "It won't end with just a rank promotion. The clan will sponsor your needs, use our connections for your benefit, and pave an easier path for you to progress in your career. You know what? Stay in the Police Force for a few years until the external hiring stabilises and then, if you wish to leave, you can pursue any field you desire—I promise you that."

"Really?" Takuma asked.

She nodded with an ever-growing smile. "Because I'm the one bringing you in, I get to set the rules. I'll guarantee you ample freedom. However, you'll have to support the Uchiha clan when we call upon you."

"I'll need to think about it," said Takuma, truly not knowing what to think of her offer.

The affiliation would be a lifelong commitment, and the only way to get out would be to burn bridges and make enemies with the most prominent clan in the village, ruining his relationship with Mikoto—something he abhorred even thinking about.

"Take your time. I'll keep this to myself until you make a decision," said Mikoto calmly. "But Takuma, please don't think you must accept just because I'm offering or that rejection will offend me. Think about what's best for you and make an informed decision—our relationship remains the same regardless, alright?"

Takuma could only nod in response. Until a few days ago, he thought that he would need to participate in the Chunin Exam to get a rank promotion, but now he had three potential ways he could achieve said promotion.

He should have been happy, but the recent events only left him confused.

But for now, he focused on his company. Takuma took another sip of his tea before raising his cup to Mikoto.