The Uchiha Clan * Izuna

Wakako rode on Cheshire Cat, and the two headed towards the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Izuna had originally intended to take care of her, since the journey from the Training Grounds to the Uchiha Clan Compound was not short, and it would be safer for a pampered noblewoman like her to travel at a slower pace.

As soon as he started moving, Wakako spurred the Cheshire Cat off.

The cat's start was comparable to a race car; its four paws barely touched the ground, and it was so fast that he almost couldn't react.

He quickly sped up to catch up, thinking to himself, "No wonder the children were so distraught just now. At this speed, I'm really worried that Madam might fall off."

They soon arrived at the gate of the Uchiha Clan's residence.

Just as Izuna was about to step forward to lead the way, he suddenly noticed that a group of servants had been waiting nearby for quite some time.

They were servants from the Daimyo's Residence, all dressed in dark blue robes with white ribbons tied at the cuffs, standing neatly in formation.

They had clearly received advance notice and were already waiting here.

Upon seeing Wakako, the leading female official immediately stepped forward, and two maids helped her down from the cat's back, one on each side.

What happened next happened very quickly.

The ladies-in-waiting surrounded Wakako, their movements as swift and efficient as a well-trained squad.

Someone tidied her wind-blown hair, applied hair oil to a comb, and smoothed it down in a few strokes.

Someone squatted down and gently patted away the mud stains on the hem of her kimono with a damp cloth, then used a dry cloth to absorb the water.

Someone took out a brand new Uchigi from her luggage and helped her change out of the outer garment whose cuffs were already stained.

The collar was folded back up, the belt was tightened again, and finally a silver hairpin was pinned to the side of her hair bun.

The whole process took less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, and it was so efficient that it was like a magical girl transforming. Daimyo lively woman who was just riding on the cat's back transformed in the blink of an eye back into the dignified, noble, and composed Principal Wife.

Izuna couldn't help but exclaim sincerely, "Wow!"

Wakako casually raised her hand and swept it to her side, pulling her sleeves behind her. Then she raised both hands to her abdomen, nodded to Izuna, and said, "Let's go."

Izuna instructed the clansmen who came to greet him to inform the Elders to come to the Reception Room for a meeting.

The messenger had barely left when he saw Long hurrying over from around the corner of the wall.

Ron was fast, arriving in a few leaps—and then, caught off guard, was hissed by the Cheshire Cat.

The Ninja Cat arched its back, its ears pressed into an airplane shape, and a low growl emanated from its throat, grinding from Ryu's toes all the way to the top of his head.

Long froze on the spot, then retreated ten steps away at an even faster pace than when he arrived.

Wakako raised her hand to say, "Oh, Long, so you're here," he had already disappeared before she could even lift her hand.

She and Izuna both typed a question mark.

"Cheshire, why are you breathing on Mr. Takashi?" Izuna looked down at the giant Ninja Cat. "He's Lady Wakako's bodyguard now. How can he perform his duties if you don't let him get close?"

"I'm sorry, Lord Izuna." The Cheshire Cat slowly straightened his ears from their airplane-like shape, and his tail tip swayed slightly. "It was just a reflex. Let him come here; I won't be rude to him again."

Longmo came over, dawdling along.

He walked extremely slowly, as if each step was on thin ice.

After finally managing to stand beside Wakako, he shrank himself into the smallest possible ball, hunched his shoulders, and stared straight ahead, determined not to make any eye contact with the Cheshire Cat.

The Cheshire Cat sat at Wakako's feet, its tail neatly wrapped around its paws, its posture dignified and its expression calm, but the disdain in its half-closed golden eyes was more obvious than rolling its eyes.

Izuna's curiosity was piqued. "Cheshire, you seem to dislike Mr. Takashi. Why?"

"It's nothing, just some minor issues," said the Cheshire Cat.

"But aren't you the Contract beast of the Uchiha Clan?" Izuna pressed.

He remembered that the Contract scroll of the Ninja Cat Clan had been kept in the Ninja Cat Kennel in the Uchiha Clan Compound. They had cooperated with the Uchiha Ninjas for more than ten generations, so they shouldn't have reacted this way to the Uchiha Clan.

Ryu's voice drifted from behind Wakako, muffled. "Lord Izuna, please don't ask anymore."

Izuna blinked. There was clearly some strange secret at play.

It's just a small thing, but I really want to know.

Wakako seemed equally curious. The two exchanged a glance, saw each other's curiosity, and smiled knowingly, immediately agreeing.

I plan to figure this out later.

Just then, members of the Uchiha Clan hurried in from the direction of the Reception Room and bowed respectfully. "Lord Izuna, Lady Wakako, the Elders are already waiting in the Reception Room."

They went to the Reception Room.

The Uchiha Clan's Reception Room is laid out in a traditional Japanese style. A traditional Chinese ink painting of pine trees and eagles hangs in the alcove, and a faint scent of sandalwood burns in the incense burner.

The Elders were already seated, with the Elder Uchiha Shigō, sitting in the very center.

The Third Elder Emiko, and the Fifth Elder Naoaki, sat upright in their respective positions.

Last time, when Hinata was asked why he boldly proposed to marry Hinata Rei after awakening his Sharingan, Hinata was asked.

Most of the clansmen were still immersed in Hinata's peculiar way of opening his eyes and Izuna's subsequent remarks about "love".

So the matter was left unresolved for the time being.

Later, at Hinata's request, Izuna tentatively mentioned their matter to the Third Elder.

Emiko personally expressed her support.

Both the Uchiha and Hyuga possess Dōjutsu. Just as they have previously intermarried with Blood Clans possessing the Ketsuryūgan, children born from such marriages generally have a high chance of awakening their own ocular jutsu.

The Ketsuryūgan has a low awakening threshold; it can be awakened with more training.

Once awakened, one can use powerful Genjutsu and manipulate blood to turn people into puppets and human bombs for ranged attacks.

Even if the awakened one is not very strong, they can still rely on their bloodline to fight ten against one.

It is the sheer power of bloodline.

However, if the Sharingan doesn't evolve into the Mangekyō Sharingan, it's just a Kekkei Genkai that helps enhance dynamic vision and Genjutsu abilities.

Moreover, the threshold for awakening is too high, often requiring a life-or-death struggle to awaken.

If the awakened individual's body cannot keep up, they may be killed by the enemy even the moment after awakening, without any time to grow.

However, after mating with the Chinoike Clan, the child born from such a union has a chance to awaken the Sharingan even in ordinary battles, instead of in life-or-death combat.

The problem is that, perhaps because the Uchiha Clan bloodline is too domineering, most of the awakened ones Sharingan, and those children eventually return to the Uchiha Clan instead of the Chinoike family.

The Chinoike Clan gains no benefit from this.

Therefore, some Chinoike Clan are unwilling to unite with them, which is one of the reasons why in recent generations, the Chinoike Clan has begun to distance itself from the Uchiha and instead become closer to the Daimyo of the Land of Lightning.

Currently, the only Dōjutsu clans still active in the Land of Land of Fire and affiliated with Konoha are the Uchiha and Hyuga.

The way they use their eyes and what they can do are vastly different.

If they could get together, Emiko was really curious whether the child's eyes would turn into Byakugan or Sharingan.

But other people had different attitudes.

The Caged Bird Seal problem, the risk of Kekkei Genkai leaking out, and the trust deficit between the two races—each of these could be enough to cause this marriage to fail before it even begins.

Especially the Elder, who was an absolute hardliner who, like Naoki and Naoaki in the past, was a staunch supporter of the Uchiha.

He would do everything in his power to nip anything that was detrimental to the Uchiha Clan in the bud.

But at this moment, the Elder looked at Daimyo dignified and elegant Principal Wife sitting in the guest seat, and then glanced at Izuna who followed Wakako in. He instantly understood the significance of today's meeting and the determination of the two to win.

Even though Konoha's status has greatly improved, in the end, they are still subordinate to the Land of Fire and to the political group led by Yuan Yusheng.

Ninjas were still just warriors who only knew how to do things for money, and nobles who knew how to give orders were still their superiors.

Within Konoha, those who understand how to plan and build are either still learning or would never abandon their clan's interests to unconditionally help other clans.

Their political literacy was practically nonexistent; aside from the Nara Clan who were somewhat intelligent, only Tobirama and Izuna truly understood a thing or two.

Looking at the original distribution of the Tailed Beasts, which kind soul would hand weapons to a potential enemy?

Oh, so it's Hashirama, that big idiot.

Hashirama was incredibly stupid, let alone that. But the fact that Tobirama agreed to the proposal and even set up a "purchase" channel shows that it wasn't just Hashirama who was foolish; it meant that they simply didn't realize how important force truly was.

Under these circumstances, even if they came to power, they would be unable to shoulder the burden of operating the entire national system of the Land of Fire.

The power of the Daimyo still shines brightly, showing no signs of fading. Perhaps in the future they can completely disregard the Daimyo and become the true rulers of the Land of Fire, but certainly not now.

What Izuna needs to rely on now is this power that has not yet faded, in order to advance the process of Konoha's evolution.

Izuna sat down to the left of Wakako, his gaze sweeping over all the Elders present.

Then she spoke, "Elders, Lady Wakako has come to visit us today with some joyous news she wishes to discuss."

The Elder nodded slightly and continued, "Please speak, Madam."

Wakako sat upright in the guest seat, her back as straight as bamboo. She looked up at the Uchiha elders present and said, "I have come today to discuss the engagement between Hyuga Rei and Uchiha Hinata."

The Elder straightened up slightly, his gaze Earth Flow between Wakako and Izuna.

He did not respond immediately, but remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"Your Madam's kindness is deeply appreciated; on Hinata, I express my gratitude." His tone was neither hurried nor slow. "However, this marriage is probably not something that can be settled with just a few words."

Wakako calmly looked at the Elder, waiting for him to finish speaking.

The Elder continued, carefully choosing his words: "Hinata is the son of the Uchiha. He recently awakened his Sharingan, and the clan has high expectations for him."

"I've heard of the young lady from the Hyuga Clan; she's a good child. But your presence here, Madam, means you already know why we disagree: the Hyuga Clan has Caged Bird Seal."

"Those who Branch Family have no say in their own lives. If there are any conflicts between the two families in the future, and the child is controlled by the Main Family, what will happen to Hinata? What will happen to the Uchiha?"

He paused, then turned his gaze to Izuna, his tone now carrying a deeper meaning, "Izuna, you've been to the Hyuga Clan. You should know better than I do what their Main Family's attitude is towards the Branch Family."

Izuna nodded, without denying it.

"It's not that I disagree," the Elder said, turning back to Wakako, "But someone has to bear the risks. The Uchiha can't gamble with the future of a child who has just awakened their Sharingan."

The Third Elder Emiko, raised her hand, and everyone's eyes turned to her.

She looked up at the Elder, "Shigō, what you said makes sense. However, there's one thing I'd like to point out."

The Elder tilted his head slightly, signaling her to continue.

"At the time, we asked Hinata opened his eyes. Hinata's answer was that he wanted to protect someone."

Emiko spoke calmly, "That child Sharingan because he wanted to protect others. We, as his elders, shouldn't easily dismiss this sentiment."

As members of the Uchiha Clan, they knew better than anyone what awakening the Sharingan meant.

Generally, they regard it as an honor.

They never mention the pain it brought, because the entity that caused the pain has, in most cases, ceased to exist. They have no other way to vent their emotions except to regard it as an honor.

Therefore, everyone's mental state is very unhealthy. They are either arrogant or crazy. Unless they are old people who have reached their age and have a broad mind, none of them do not value strength.

It's only because this is all they can still hold onto. If they can't even rely on this power, then they really are just a bunch of pathetic people who have lost something important.

But the situation is different for Hinata.

He opened his eyes, but the reason he opened his eyes, the person who made him open his eyes, is still there.

This is a very rare occurrence, and almost everyone is happy about it.

They saw in Hinata the path to a happy ending, and if they could, they would want it to happen even more than the people involved, just to make up for the heart-wrenching regrets they had left behind.

Emiko paused, then bowed slightly. "Therefore, Madam, I, and indeed the entire Uchiha Clan, welcome your proposal. However, a foolproof plan is still needed to determine its implementation."

The Elder nodded and echoed, "That's right. We all appreciate your kindness, Madam. But it's not enough for the Uchiha agree. The Hyuga Clan is the real hurdle. If Madam can persuade the Hyuga Main Family, I won't stand in your way."

Wakako and Izuna looked at each other in bewilderment.

They hadn't expected it to go so smoothly.

"Isn't this just how the Uchiha Clan is known for their love?" Izuna thought to himself. "It seems everyone's been suffering for a long time..."

So now the only one we need to work on is the Hyuga Clan.

Izuna and Wakako exchanged a glance and then both stood up.

Izuna bowed slightly to the Elders present. "In that case, we won't bother you any longer. My Lady Wakako and I still need to make a trip to the Hyuga Clan."

Just as the two were about to leave, Ryu called out to Izuna.

"Please wait a moment, Lord Izuna."

Izuna paused and turned around.

Takashi walked around behind Wakako and knelt down in the center of the Reception Room.

He bowed slightly to all the Elders present.

"Elders, I have something to report." He straightened up. "Lord Izuna."