Another Gathering

That evening, on the day of the gathering.

Nara Yoshino stormed out of Ryoko's room, left the clan grounds, and headed to Yamanaka Inoichi's home.

Knock! Knock! Yamanaka Kaoru opened the door and looked in surprise at Yoshino, whose face was flushed red as she stood outside.

"What happened?"

"Let's talk inside."

With that, she pulled Haiichi's wife into the living room, dropped heavily onto the sofa, and looked at Yamanaka Kaoru with a wronged expression as she complained tearfully.

"Kaoru, do I look like a shrew?"

"Don't be angry!"

Yamanaka Kaoru sat down beside her and gently patted her chest, soothing her breathing as she comforted her.

"When did the Clan Head's Wife of the Nara Clan become a shrew?

Who's spreading rumors about you? I'll deal with them."

Huff!

Nara Yoshino let out a heavy breath, then turned to look toward her clan grounds. Her voice trembled with anger as she said,

"When my younger brother died, I made it clear that my sister-in-law could remarry. But she told me then that she didn't want a divorce and wanted to keep watching over that home.

Seeing how insistent she was, I agreed.

But afterward, I also told her that if she wanted to remarry, all she had to do was tell me.

If she wanted to remarry, I supported it. After all, life becomes difficult without a man in the house.

But... she's still carrying the title of widow, openly bringing another man into the house, and even on the bed my younger brother once slept in..."

Watching Yoshino tremble with rage, Yamanaka Kaoru raised her brows. She instantly knew who Yoshino was talking about.

The three Ino-Shika-Cho clans knew the other two clans inside and out.

Yoshino's younger brother had died early in the Third Shinobi World War. His wife seemed to be named Nara Ryoko, right?

And Nara Ryoko seemed to be the cousin of the Nara Clan Head.

Seeing the room fall silent, Nara Yoshino took several deep breaths and forcibly suppressed the fire in her heart before continuing.

"I'm not an unreasonable person. If she wants to remarry, then remarry.

But what makes me the angriest is that this afternoon, I hinted at it for ages, yet she refused to admit anything. Her face was full of grievance, as if I were forcing her to remarry.

Using my dead brother's name while looking for another man... is she after some kind of special thrill?"

Oh... Hearing that, Yamanaka Kaoru finally understood the whole story.

No wonder Nara Yoshino was so angry.

Yeah, if she wanted to remarry, she only needed to tell the Clan Head. They would definitely agree, and might even give her a wedding gift. Why sneak around like this?

Yamanaka Kaoru quickly took her best friend's side. Looking at Yoshino's heaving chest, she said softly,

"Yoshino, what do you want to do?"

"I'll get proof of her being with that man. If he isn't from the Nara Clan, I'll convert the inheritance my younger brother left within the clan into an equivalent amount, give it to her, and buy her a house outside the clan.

If he is from the Nara Clan, then she can move into his home. My younger brother's old house will be passed directly to my nephew."

As she spoke, Nara Yoshino rubbed her swollen red eyes, then turned toward her best friend with a somewhat aggrieved tone.

"Kaoru, you have to help me!"

"I'll help you.

And don't be so angry. You're pregnant right now.

Tomorrow, I'll take you to the hospital for a checkup and see how little Shikamaru is developing."

"Ah, I really want a daughter. Once Ino is born, let's trade children to raise."

"That's not a bad idea."

The next morning.

Asuka left the Hokage Building with a yawn, having finished a whole night of discussions.

The moment he stepped into the clan grounds and smelled the aroma of food drifting through the air, his tense expression immediately relaxed. Then, as if all the energy had drained from him, his straight back instantly slumped.

That whole night of discussion had been worse than going home to sleep. Nothing had been decided. Those Cloud Ninja really were annoying, constantly sending small squads to harass the border.

Sending a large force could easily reignite the war that had only just died down.

Sending a small force could drive the Cloud Ninja back, but they would soon return.

Sending the Uchiha Clan was out, because Danzo adamantly refused.

Sending Danzo was also out, because he adamantly refused.

The Fourth Hokage wanted to go, but the Third Hokage feared a battle between Kage and refused.

Orochimaru could go, but Danzo had immediately made up an excuse to refuse.

Calling Tsunade back to fight, Tsunade refused.

Calling Jiraiya back to fight, Jiraiya refused.

Deploying the nuclear weapon, the Nine-Tails, was refused by the Third and Fourth Hokage.

Kakashi said he wanted to go, and everyone at the meeting refused.

Thinking back to last night's meeting of Konoha jonin, Asuka felt exhausted. The Hokage's position really was difficult. When would those old geezers in the council finally go to the Pure Land?

"Lord Asuka!"

At that moment, a chunin suddenly blocked Asuka's path and said in a deep voice,

"The clan meeting has been moved forward. It starts in one hour."

"Got it."

Asuka waved listlessly, then changed direction and headed toward Naka Shrine.

This clan meeting would be just like the jonin gathering. They would not settle a damn thing. A bunch of people would gather in a room just to socialize.

By the time he arrived at Naka Shrine, quite a few Uchiha Clan Elders had already gathered there.

"Good morning, Elders!"

After greeting them, Asuka bit his finger, summoned dozens of Family Buckets, and handed them out. As everyone ate, they discussed what had happened the previous night.

"This Old One already ate this morning."

Elder Ryoichi patted his stomach, lowered his head to look at the two Family Buckets on the table, and frowned.

"Eat one. Two would be bad for your stomach."

"Heh." A cold laugh suddenly came from beside him. The one-eyed Elder looked at Ryoichi with contempt and sneered.

"Lord Madara once said:

The more you wish to protect something, the more likely you are to lose it. No matter who it is—friends, brothers, even my own descendants...

Those words still apply today.

Ryoichi, the more you want to protect your stomach, the more likely you are to lose it.

You need to overcome it."

Burp— After letting out a long, satisfied burp, the one-eyed Elder faced Asuka while slanting his good eye toward Ryoichi, then slowly said,

"Bring three more buckets!"

???

Ryoichi stared at that lunatic with a face full of question marks. Was there something wrong with him? It was already bad enough to eat such greasy food first thing in the morning, but he wanted to eat four buckets at once.

Old bastard, weren't you afraid you'd keel over at sixty?

Seeing the surrounding clan members all looking at him, Ryoichi stood up and jumped twice in place before saying disdainfully,

"Three buckets? Are you feeding a cat? Four buckets."

Clap! Clap! When Uchiha Fugaku finally arrived, he heard applause and praise coming from the meeting hall. Then, a rich smell of fried chicken drifted through the air and into his nostrils.

Eating again???

The image of those old men gnawing on fried chicken flashed through Uchiha Fugaku's mind, and his steps stalled.

If they kept eating like this, he might be facing a room full of fat men at future clan meetings.

Burp—

"The Clan Head is here."

"Good morning, Clan Head."

"Clan Head, come have some."

After declining their kindness, Uchiha Fugaku walked straight to the platform. He looked solemnly at the people below and said,

"Elder Danzo has rejected our request to participate in the war. The coming clashes with the Cloud Ninja will likely have nothing to do with us."

Burp—

A long burp rang out. Ryoichi forced down the nausea, stood up, and jumped twice in place before speaking.

"As long as the Uchiha do not produce a Hokage, we will never change the situation of being suppressed.

The First Hokage was indeed stronger than Lord Madara.

The Second Hokage was indeed stronger than any other Uchiha.

The Third Hokage was also enough to surpass the strongest person in our clan.

The Fourth Hokage is a genius rarely seen in the world. There is no one in the clan who can rival him.

Are you still hoping the Fifth Hokage will be an idiot, a moron, or a fool?"

After seeing everyone around him fall silent, Elder Ryoichi stroked his large belly and looked down at them with a domineering gaze as he continued.

"We must cultivate a powerhouse, someone strong enough to surpass everyone else in Konoha.

And after observing the clan, This Old One sees that Uchiha Shisui has the potential to become such a powerhouse. What's more, he is Mirror's descendant, so his chances of becoming Hokage are very high."

Hmm... Asuka looked around. Seeing everyone nodding in agreement, he slapped the table, rose to his feet, and objected.

"I object.

I suggest the clan directly select a girl, then have the Clan Head spend money to buy a disciple slot from Tsunade.

That woman has gone crazy from being short on money lately. As long as the price is high enough, she'll definitely sell a disciple slot.

The name of Tsunade's disciple is worth more than a pair of Mangekyo.

The Second Hokage has been dead for many years. Mirror's descendant surely carries less weight in the upper ranks than a disciple of one of the Legendary Sannin."

"How much would that cost?"

"Yeah, I heard that spendthrift Tsunade loses millions in a single day."

"Does the Clan Head have to sell his house??"

With their minds opened up, everyone began discussing the two methods.

They had always been cultivating geniuses within the clan. It was just that those geniuses had always been thoroughly suppressed by the Hokage faction's peers.

As a result, they had not paid much attention to cultivating talent lately.

Using the geniuses of one clan to fight the geniuses of an entire village.

Honestly... that was quite difficult!!