Only after Fugaku finished explaining the situation did their mother bring dinner to the table, worry etched across her face.
Clearly, she already knew that the clan meeting over the relocation had not gone smoothly.
What troubled her most was her husband’s decision to place such an enormous burden on their six-year-old son.
She could not tell whether it was right or wrong.
After dinner, under Mikoto’s anxious gaze, Fugaku led Qiyu and Itachi toward the site of the clan meeting.
All three remained silent.
The meeting hall stood some distance from the Uchiha clan’s current grounds, atop a hill near the Naka River.
By the time Qiyu arrived with Fugaku, a large crowd of clansmen had already gathered beneath the plaque above the entrance.
As Fugaku approached with Qiyu and Itachi, the crowd parted to form a path.
Everyone stared at him in confusion, unable to understand why he had brought two young children to a clan meeting.
However, since Fugaku offered no explanation, no one asked.
At the entrance, Fugaku turned to Itachi.
“Itachi, remain here and receive the clansmen as they enter the meeting hall.”
“Yes, Father.”
Itachi clenched his small fists, a trace of frustration flickering across his face.
He knew he was not as outstanding as his elder brother, but he still wanted to stand at his brother’s side.
Fugaku patted him on the shoulder.
“Do not be impatient, Itachi.
You are also a son I am proud of.”
“Yes, Father.
I understand.”
Itachi nodded.
Before entering the hall, Qiyu shot the dejected Itachi an encouraging look, then hurried after Fugaku.
He had not come merely to attend the meeting tonight.
A vast field of leeks was waiting to be harvested.
When Fugaku entered the hall, the clansmen filed in behind him, taking their seats according to their strength and rank as shinobi.
Fugaku sat upon the elevated seat at the front.
Closest to him, seated opposite one another, were Uchiha Yashiro, who had served two successive clan heads, and Uchiha Retsuka, the current leader of the hardline faction.
Behind them sat several elderly clan elders.
The remaining clansmen were arranged in rows according to their strength.
Yashiro glanced at Qiyu, who stood before Fugaku, with visible surprise.
He did not understand why the clan head had brought his eldest son, but with the meeting about to begin, he refrained from asking.
Soon, the last of the clansmen arrived.
The doors closed.
The clan meeting officially began.
“Clan Head, after discussing the matter with the elders this afternoon, we have decided that we still cannot agree to the relocation.”
As expected, Elder Retsuka, seated at the head of the hardline faction, was the first to speak.
The old man looked like a cat with its fur standing on end, his rough features twisted with anger.
“The village may claim that it will bear every expense involved in constructing the new clan grounds, but how can the banks of the Naka River compare to the center of Konoha?”
“Leaving everything else aside, even buying vegetables would require half an hour of travel.
How are we supposed to explain that to the rest of the clan?”
“The Uchiha have lived on these ancestral grounds for generations.
The village cannot simply declare that the land must be redeveloped and expect us to leave!”
“That’s right!
We absolutely refuse!”
The clansmen below immediately voiced their agreement.
Fugaku sighed inwardly and turned his gaze toward the elders who usually represented the moderate faction.
Yet at that moment, even Uchiha Yashiro—his trusted subordinate and one of the strongest supporters of his rise to clan head—chose to remain silent.
They advocated peaceful coexistence with the village, but that did not mean they were selfless enough to sacrifice the clan’s interests for Konoha.
Fugaku closed his eyes helplessly.
A moment later, he opened them again and looked over the restless crowd.
“Enough!”
“This is a clan meeting, not a marketplace.
Do you believe the loudest voice is automatically the correct one?”
The commotion gradually died down.
The clansmen fell silent and turned toward Fugaku, waiting for his decision.
Fugaku swept his gaze across the hall before finally settling it on Qiyu, who remained completely at ease.
“Qiyu, what is your view?”
Qiyu froze.
What was his view?
He viewed it with his eyes, of course.
Still, remembering why his father had brought him here, Qiyu straightened and prepared to speak.
Before he could open his mouth, however, Elder Retsuka could no longer restrain himself.
“Clan Head, have you forgotten the rules of the clan meeting?”
“How can a child who has not even become a genin be permitted to speak here?”
Qiyu’s expression darkened, but he did not rush to argue.
Instead, he waited for his father to explain.
Fugaku’s three-tomoe Sharingan appeared as he turned toward Uchiha Retsuka.
“Elder, I am well aware of the clan’s rules.”
“Qiyu, my eldest son, already possesses strength approaching that of a jōnin.”
Fugaku was not exaggerating.
His conclusion came from their previous spar.
Although Fugaku had not fought at full strength, an Intermediate jōnin would have struggled to withstand the assault of those five swords.
However, because Qiyu had consumed a great deal of stamina during the exchange, Fugaku conservatively described him as merely approaching jōnin level.
An uproar swept through the hall.
The Uchiha clansmen immediately began whispering among themselves.
“Hahaha!”
Elder Retsuka suddenly burst into laughter.
“Clan Head, are you joking?”
“He is nothing more than a child who has not even awakened a single tomoe in his Sharingan, yet you claim he possesses strength approaching that of a jōnin?”
“Have you become so desperate for a genius son that you have lost your mind?”
“You old fool.”
Before Fugaku could become angry, Qiyu calmly looked at the rough-faced elder.
“Is the extent of your ability measured only by those eyes?”
“Without the Sharingan, are you not even capable of reaching jōnin level?”
“What did you say?”
Retsuka’s face twisted with fury.
“You ignorant brat!
Do not assume that being the clan head’s son makes you the Uchiha’s next leader.”
“You have no respect for your elders.
Today, I will discipline you in your father’s place!”
The moment he finished speaking, Retsuka rapidly formed several hand seals.
“Fire Release: Fire Dragon Technique!”
A massive dragon of flame erupted into the meeting hall, its blazing body coiling through the chamber.
With its jaws spread wide and claws extended, it lunged straight at Qiyu.
The old man had clearly shown no restraint.
When Fugaku had risen to become clan head, Retsuka had opposed him with all his might.
Naturally, he had no intention of preserving Fugaku’s dignity now.
Qiyu sneered.
“A petty trick like this, and you dare flaunt it before me?”
He slapped one hand against the table.
Under the tense gazes of the surrounding clansmen, he raised his small, delicate palm.
Just as the fire dragon was about to collide with his hand, a cluster of orange-red flames suddenly ignited above his palm.
Qiyu beckoned lightly.
The charging fire dragon stopped in an instant.
Its snout hovered less than a centimeter from his palm, as though Qiyu had seized the blazing creature out of thin air with his bare hand.
The breathtaking sight made the Uchiha clansmen suck in sharp breaths.
“How is that possible?”
“That is a scorching Fire Dragon Technique!
How could anyone stop it with a body of flesh and blood?”
Disbelief flashed through the eyes of everyone present.
They could not begin to comprehend what they were seeing.
At the same time, notifications rang incessantly inside Qiyu’s mind.
Malice Points +1,000.
+10.
+100.
+1,000.
Gratitude Points +10.
+100.
+1,000…
Qiyu felt an indescribable rush of satisfaction.
“Old man, mind your words next time.”
“As for your attack…”
Qiyu raised his small hand and gently stroked the fire dragon’s head.
Then his lips curled with disdain.
“It’s quite ugly.”
“It has neither the shape of a dragon nor the form of a snake.”
“Go back and study for a few more years before bringing something this embarrassing before me again.”
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