The entire hall fell into deathly silence.
Then Uchiha Yashiro and the other members of the hawkish faction genuinely began considering the possibility of storming the Hokage Building.
Their eyes grew brighter and brighter, while the killing intent within them grew heavier.
The scarlet tomoe revealed by their excitement filled the entire hall with a cold, murderous atmosphere.
Uchiha Fugaku, whose expression remained composed, had actually suffered a complete mental shutdown.
Uchiha Shisui, meanwhile, nervously clenched the corner of his clothes with all five fingers.
There were still more than ten years before the night of the Uchiha massacre.
The Uchiha of this era, who had not yet experienced the Nine-Tails’ rampage and the subsequent rejection of their clan by the entire village, had never once considered rebelling against Konoha as a whole.
A trace of worry flashed through Uchiha Mikoto’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.
Even the old clan head was considering the possibility.
But he soon dismissed the thought and shouted in a deep voice.
His voice was not loud, yet it was like cold water poured into a pan of boiling oil.
“Right now, the Four Great Nations are watching Konoha like tigers waiting to pounce. Even if we succeed after committing such an unrighteous act, what would we do afterward?”
He slowly rose to his feet, his gaze sweeping over every feverish or hesitant face before finally settling on Uchiha Ren.
“When the nest is overturned, how can any eggs beneath it remain intact?”
His voice carried tremendous weight, suppressing the restless killing intent filling the air.
Everyone’s gaze instinctively turned toward Uchiha Ren.
The corners of his lips curved upward.
“In other words, as long as the safety of the clan can be guaranteed, Clan Head, you agree with our proposal to storm the Hokage Building?”
Before the old clan head, whose expression had suddenly changed, could open his mouth to refute him, Uchiha Ren already knew that the other man would never agree at present.
He immediately changed direction.
“Don’t worry. I won’t do something unless I have absolute certainty of success.”
He swept his gaze across the hall, taking in every face, whether excited or uneasy.
If the clan tore itself apart during wartime, and they failed to achieve the effect of a lightning-fast assault, then regardless of whether they were right or wrong, the entire Konoha would become the Uchiha’s enemy.
The clan would undoubtedly suffer a devastating blow.
The most important thing right now was to preserve the clan’s strength, accumulate their own foundations, and wait patiently for the right opportunity.
As long as they successfully survived the Third Shinobi World War, which would severely weaken Konoha—
Once the time was right, they would have plenty of choices.
They could confront Konoha head-on.
They could feign compliance while secretly establishing a new Uchiha base outside the Land of Fire.
Or, during the reign of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, they could tear away the fig leaf covering the so-called “Darkness of the Shinobi World,” Shimura Danzō, suppress Sarutobi Hiruzen’s faction with all their strength, and uproot the tumors obstructing the Uchiha’s integration into Konoha.
All of these were viable choices.
The old clan head’s expression relaxed somewhat.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed his own foolish son looking at him with an expression that seemed to say, “So this is the kind of person you are.”
His anger immediately flared.
‘Fugaku still hasn’t learned to look at things from the perspective of someone in a position of authority. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
He has courage in abundance, but lacks strategic thinking.
He needs time to mature.’
This kind of personality flaw was extremely common throughout the Uchiha clan.
Impulsive.
Hot-tempered.
Proud.
These were practically innate flaws shared by every Uchiha, ingrained deep within their bones.
And once they awakened the Sharingan, things became even more troublesome.
As for the Mangekyō Sharingan, it could almost be taken as proof that an Uchiha had moved beyond ordinary thought and gone to an extreme.
Take Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Itachi, for example.
Those lunatics had completely reconstructed their own worldviews.
Just like the saying:
“My heart and my actions are as clear as a mirror. Everything I do is justice.”
Whether killing their teacher and his wife, or slaughtering their own parents and clansmen—
Within their distorted worldview, all of these things were “sacrifices and costs” that had to be paid for the sake of what was “right and just.”
When dealing with such bastards, one had to strike hard.
Sometimes, an even more extreme approach was necessary to completely shatter their twisted worldview and rebuild their personalities.
The simplest method was to kill them.
As for merely preaching to them?
Even a one-tomoe Uchiha might not listen.
Unless your strength and status far surpassed his.
Uchiha Ren was able to keep the hawkish Uchiha under control through both rewards and punishments.
Then, relying on the advantages of his status, he naturally earned their loyalty.
‘Unfortunately, Ren won’t give Fugaku much time to grow…’
‘Forget it.
I’ll speak to Ren privately and ask him to look after Fugaku in the future.
They’re both members of the same clan, after all.’
The succession of changes during the clan meeting, especially the dove faction’s shift in position, made the old clan head somewhat resigned to his fate.
But he still did not believe Uchiha Fugaku was incapable.
Perhaps after going through a war, he would completely transform himself.
“Ren.”
The old clan head’s deep voice rang out.
He raised his eyes toward the sharp-edged young man, his tone sincere.
“The Third Shinobi World War…”
“The Uchiha cannot avoid it.”
Konoha’s leadership had already turned to the very Uchiha they had been desperately guarding against, terrified that the clan would grow even stronger if given too much room.
That alone showed how tremendous the pressure on Konoha had become.
Every night, that so-called “Strongest Hokage” probably couldn’t even sleep peacefully.
“I understand that naturally.”
Uchiha Ren calmly sat back down in his original position.
He folded his arms and analyzed the situation coolly.
“As I said earlier, we have the previous incident as a warning. The clan’s strongest shinobi have not left Konoha.”
“They also wouldn’t dare send too many powerful shinobi to the front lines, because they have to prevent us from making trouble.”
“The current Konoha leadership must be hesitating at every turn.”
His gaze was sharp, his voice steady.
“But the other villages are pressing them step by step. They won’t have the luxury of taking their time.”
“That gives us room to negotiate with Konoha’s leadership.”
Uchiha Ren looked at the old clan head and spoke seriously.
“We must fight for tangible benefits.”
“For example, independent command authority over the Kirigakure front.”
“We must maximize our clansmen’s autonomy and absolutely cannot allow a single order to turn us into disposable cannon fodder.”
He paused slightly, a trace of coldness flashing through his eyes.
“Or, to put it more darkly, who can guarantee that Konoha’s leadership won’t use Kirigakure to slaughter us?”
Just like the Sand Village’s hero, Yagura Karatachi—known as the “First Hokage’s Most Beautiful Back”—no, Chinoike?
The Scorch Release user Pakura, who had been designated by the higher-ups of Sunagakure as a bargaining chip in reconciliation with Kirigakure, was sacrificed and ultimately killed through an ambush by Kirigakure shinobi.
Uchiha Ren did not dare overestimate the limits of Konoha’s leadership.
His voice grew solemn.
“What’s more, what if ‘Root,’ controlled by Shimura Danzō, secretly moves against us?”
“Quite a few of our three-tomoe Uchiha jōnin have disappeared without explanation in the Land of Fire while carrying out seemingly non-lethal A-rank missions.”
“We still haven’t uncovered the reason!”
After hearing this, most of the Uchiha fell into silent contemplation.
The truth only became clearer through debate.
Anyone capable of becoming a jōnin was hardly a truly dull-witted person.
Even a seemingly rough shinobi like Might Guy possessed a keen “beast-like instinct.”
As all-around shinobi, three-tomoe Uchiha naturally possessed considerable analytical ability in addition to their outstanding combat intelligence.