“Huh?!”
Kakashi was baffled by his father's answer.
While he did agree that a group of people wearing the same uniform looked impressive, they were still just a bunch of kids. Why would adults be so intimidated by them?
Indeed, a group of children wasn't enough to inspire such fear. The true source of awe was the presence behind these kids: the Konohagakure Police Force and the Konohagakure's most prominent clan, the Uchiha.
As the top clan in Konohagakure, with a thousand years of nobility, the Uchiha were a formidable force for most civilian ninjas and ordinary people. They were a powerful entity that couldn't be provoked or offended.
And the Konohagakure Police Force, responsible for maintaining Konohagakure's peace and order, combating criminals, and always active on the front lines, was a force that nearly everyone living in Konohagakure had to interact with.
As a resident of Konohagakure, the police officers could examine, discipline, punish, and even arrest and detain you.
It's safe to say that for the vast majority of people in the village, both ninjas and civilians, the police force was the most powerful entity in Konohagakure, besides the Hokage.
In fact, compared to the Hokage, who resided far away, like a distant star in the sky, the police force, which was visible everywhere in their lives, was even more feared by the villagers.
So much so that upon seeing the kunai-fan emblem, representing the police force, or the flame-fan emblem, representing the Uchiha, most people would instinctively choose to avoid them to avoid trouble.
Even if some weren't afraid, they would follow the crowd to prevent themselves from being singled out for being different.
However, it wasn't convenient for Hatake Sakumo to explain all of this to Kakashi in detail.
Seeing Kakashi still dissatisfied, Hatake Sakumo ruffled his hair and said with a smile, "You'll understand later. Now, let's go to school first. See which class you're in and who your classmates are?"
Recalling the number of people in the Uchiha group, he added to Kakashi, "There's a high chance some of those people will be your future classmates."
"That doesn't matter at all."
Kakashi rolled his eyes but stopped arguing, heading towards the school.
On the other side, unlike Kakashi, who was just confused by seeing people giving way to the Uchiha group, a boy who was forced to give way was quite unhappy.
"Brother, why do we have to give way to those arrogant little brats?"
A short-haired boy complained to the man pulling him aside, his face filled with anger.
Next to them stood a middle-aged man and a little girl.
"I don't want to give way either, but everyone else has stepped aside. If we don't, we'll stand out too much."
The boy's brother explained, "Do you want to attract everyone's attention?"
"What's wrong with that? We haven't done anything bad!" The boy couldn't understand his brother's words at all.
"Really? Then what if tomorrow, the entire Konohagakure spreads rumors that the Hokage's son and the Uchiha had a confrontation at the school gate and got into a conflict?"
After saying this, the boy's brother earnestly instructed him, "Remember, Asma, we are the Hokage's sons. Our words and actions must be cautious, understand?"
It turned out that these two were the sons of the current Third Hokage, Sarutobi Asma and Sarutobi Konohamaru.
Sarutobi Asma, born on October 18th, in the 36th year of Konohagakure, was only five years old at the time. He didn't yet possess the maturity and calmness of his future self, and instead, he was a bit rebellious, not particularly happy with his brother's teachings.
He turned his head away with a "tsk" sound, sulking by himself.
"Sigh..."
Sarutobi Konohamaru could only sigh helplessly. His younger brother was truly a handful.
Sarutobi Konohamaru, the eldest son of the Third Hokage and the future head of the Sarutobi clan, was born in the 20th year of Konohagakure. He was only 21 years old now, but he was already a squad leader in the Hokage's direct force, the ANBU, a true top-tier second-generation shinobi.
However, despite being a second-generation shinobi, Sarutobi Konohamaru, who was raised from a young age to be the family successor, was extremely talented and had a mature and steady personality.
He understood that as the Hokage's son, his every word and action had to be cautious, so as to not cause any trouble for his father, the Hokage, and the family.
Especially, he had to avoid acting in a high-profile manner like the Uchiha, in front of the public.
Moreover, the Uchiha's style of isolating themselves from the villagers was exactly what the Konohagakure's higher-ups wanted. As a member of the higher-ups, Sarutobi Konohamaru would never stop them, or even get himself involved.
However, thinking back to the sight of most people giving way to the Uchiha group, Sarutobi Konohamaru felt a bit worried: "Is it really good for the villagers to be so fearful of the Uchiha?"
Even if the fear far outweighed the respect!
………………
PS: Added an image of the Uchiha flame-fan emblem high-collared long robe.