Shinya’s quiet snort of laughter wasn’t particularly loud.
But Fugaku heard it clearly.
A trace of displeasure appeared on the clan head’s perpetually expressionless face.
He knew Shinya had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.
He also knew Shinya had defeated Kakashi.
But that didn’t mean the boy could act so dismissively during a clan meeting.
Of course, Fugaku could understand Shinya’s current mindset to some extent.
After all, the thoughts of an Uchiha were sometimes remarkably easy to predict.
He was young.
He had just awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.
A little arrogance was inevitable.
“Shinya Uchiha.”
Fugaku’s voice rang through the shrine.
“Do you have something you’d like to say?”
As expected of the clan head, a single sentence was enough to silence the entire Naka Shrine.
Hundreds of crimson eyes turned toward Shinya in unison.
Shinya glanced at Fugaku.
Then, without the slightest hesitation, he stood up and faced the crowd of agitated Uchiha.
He raised his voice.
“I was just laughing because every single week, all of you come here for these clan meetings and argue for half the night…”
“And after all that noise, none of you actually do anything.”
“Day after day.
Night after night.”
“You argue as though holding enough meetings will somehow make Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzō Shimura, and the rest of Konoha’s leadership who discriminate against us drop dead from listening.”
Silence.
Absolute silence.
The entire Naka Shrine became so quiet that it felt almost lifeless.
Everyone stared at Shinya in disbelief.
Even Fugaku froze.
He had only intended to put the young man on the spot and teach him a little respect.
Instead, Shinya had stood up in front of the entire clan and immediately said something outrageous.
The Nine-Tails incident hadn’t happened yet.
The Uchiha clan had not yet been forcibly relocated to the outskirts of the village.
So while most members of the clan already held grievances against Konoha’s leadership, they had nowhere near reached the point of seriously considering a coup.
It would only be after the Night of the Nine-Tails that Konoha’s hostility toward the Uchiha reached an unprecedented level.
After the humiliation of having their clan district moved to the edge of the village—and after the Uchiha themselves were gradually pushed to the margins of Konoha—voices calling for resistance would begin appearing throughout the clan.
And those voices would only grow louder.
But openly talking about taking action against Konoha’s leadership?
Implying that Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzō Shimura deserved to die?
This was the first time anyone had dared say such things openly.
And those treasonous words had come from Shinya, a newly promoted jōnin?
What exactly was he trying to do?!
Even some of the clan’s hardliners suddenly wondered whether Shinya Uchiha might be a little too extreme.
Fugaku’s brows immediately furrowed.
He shot a dissatisfied glance toward Yashiro, who had unconsciously straightened his posture beside him.
The clan gaining another three-tomoe Sharingan was certainly good news.
But if that person turned out to be the sort of dangerously radical Uchiha who brought disgrace upon the entire clan…
Then that strength might become a liability instead.
Yashiro himself had no idea what to say.
Never in his wildest imagination had he expected Shinya to say something like this during a clan meeting, especially while so many Uchiha were already worked up.
Was he trying to throw a torch directly into a powder keg?
And here Yashiro had thought Shinya was a clever young man who knew when to advance and when to retreat.
Apparently, the boy was a hardliner to his bones!
Shisui also began looking at Shinya with concern.
He had thought Shinya would become an outstanding junior clansman.
Instead, he was beginning to look frighteningly uncontrollable.
Hopefully nothing disastrous would happen next.
Unfortunately for them—
Shinya wasn’t finished.
Not even close.
He stepped directly onto his chair and looked down over his clansmen.
Then he shouted,
“My fellow clansmen!”
“The Uchiha were one of the two great clans that founded Konoha!”
“And yet today, we’ve somehow reached the point where the entire village treats us like enemies!”
“Is that the Uchiha clan’s fault?”
“No!”
“It is Konoha’s fault!”
“It isn’t just the village leadership!”
“Other shinobi clans look at us with hostility.
Even ordinary civilians secretly resent us!”
“Our sacrifices and contributions during the Third Shinobi World War were deliberately buried by the higher-ups!”
“Even the compensation owed to the families of our dead keeps getting delayed!”
“Are we really supposed to tolerate this?”
“They’ve all forgotten something!”
“Even the symbol on Konoha’s forehead protectors resembles the Sharingan of our Uchiha clan!”
The emotions in Shinya’s speech rose gradually.
First, he laid out the Uchiha clan’s present situation.
Then he reminded them of their former glory.
After that came the emotional push.
The world treated them unfairly.
It wasn’t their fault.
It was the world’s fault.
Shinya’s strategy was simple—
Never let the audience internalize the blame.
And when he mentioned that even the symbol carved onto Konoha’s forehead protectors resembled the Sharingan, the atmosphere inside the shrine ignited completely.
Some of the older shinobi even felt tears welling in their eyes.
So there were still young people who remembered such things.
Even Fugaku and Shisui were momentarily overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of Shinya’s speech.
Neither of them stepped forward quickly enough to stop him from continuing to stir up the clan’s emotions.
There was, of course, a reason Shinya had suddenly decided to do this.
The system had just issued another mission.
[Host participation in Uchiha clan meeting detected.]
[Main Mission I Issued: Prestige Within the Clan.]
[Mission Requirement: Obtain sufficient status and prestige within the Uchiha clan.]
[Mission reward will be determined by the Host’s level of prestige within the Uchiha clan at the time of settlement.]
It was an open-ended mission.
In fact, Shinya could settle it right now if he wanted.
A jōnin with the three-tomoe Sharingan was already rare even among the Uchiha.
And because the Uchiha clan had always cared far more about strength than seniority, Shinya’s position after defeating Kakashi was already just below the clan head and elders.
But if he settled the mission now, the reward would undoubtedly be mediocre.
Therefore, Shinya intended to wait until his prestige reached the highest possible level before completing it.
Only then could he maximize the reward.
His very first mission had already given him a divine weapon like Musou Isshin.
Naturally, Shinya had extremely high expectations for whatever the system might reward next.
And the easiest way to build prestige?
Gain the recognition of the clan.
And everyone knew that one of the fastest and most effective ways to win people over was through a speech.
So Shinya’s verbal offensive inside the Uchiha clan meeting continued.
As he spoke, even his own emotions seemed to rise with the crowd.
It was as though he truly were the protagonist everyone had been waiting for.
“The reason all of this has happened is because Konoha’s leadership is prejudiced against the Uchiha clan!”
“We can’t keep wasting every clan meeting arguing among ourselves!”
“We need to act!”
“There’s no point sitting around envying everyone else!”
“And if we want to change any of this…”
Shinya spread both arms wide, almost as though embracing the sky itself.
At that exact moment, perhaps because of his excitement, his Sharingan activated.
Three tomoe appeared within each crimson eye and began spinning rapidly.
At this point, Shinya was almost starting to believe his own speech.
His voice grew louder.
More passionate.
More inspiring.
Even his heartbeat quickened as excitement spread through his entire body.
Most of the clansmen had already risen from their seats.
They stared at Shinya expectantly.
Everyone wanted to know who this great leader was—
the person capable of leading the Uchiha and changing the clan’s current situation.
Shinya raised his voice one final time.
“And the great leader the Uchiha clan needs—”
“Has already appeared!”