Uchiha Yashiro fell silent. His heart seemed to have sunk into an iceberg, freezing through and through. He could no longer even feel the pain in his body.
It was a very strange feeling.
Before Seisui had questioned him so bluntly today, Uchiha Yashiro had never realized just how obvious the disparity in strength between the two sides was—so obvious that it was almost laughable...
The current Uchiha Clan still had quite a few Three Tomoe users, but due to the Second Hokage's Military Police Force policies, most clan members lacked real combat experience in their daily training. Their actual combat strength was questionable.
In the Uchiha Clan's thousand-year history, this seemed to be the only era without even a single pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
To put it bluntly, it was rather embarrassing... No matter how powerful a Three Tomoe user's Dojutsu was, it was still only Three Tomoe...
Even Seisui, standing before Uchiha Yashiro.
Uchiha Yashiro recalled every Three Tomoe user he knew: Tekka, Inabi, Setsuna, Fugaku...
Could those Uchiha, all stronger than him, truly take Seisui down with ease?
And if they could not even defeat Seisui, what did the Uchiha Clan's Hawk Faction have to clash head-on with Konoha? A bellyful of hot blood?
Tears slowly streamed down Uchiha Yashiro's face. He did not know whether he was crying for himself or for the Uchiha Clan.
Seisui, who had still been somewhat angry, could not help but laugh at this genuinely absurd sight. "Uchiha Yashiro, you're already this old. Why are you still crying...?"
"The Uchiha Clan is finished. I... I have failed my grandfather. I have failed my ancestors..."
Uchiha Yashiro's tears seemed to burst through a dam. The gloom from being brutally beaten by Seisui today mixed with the deep-rooted worry in his heart for the clan, and he cried his heart out, aggrieved like a thirty-year-old child.
"Stupid." Seisui slowly shook his head. "Even Hiruzen Sarutobi could not defeat all the people I named put together, could he? You still do not understand the basic principles behind how Konoha operates..."
"If you want to change the Uchiha Clan's standing, it is simple. Either possess power like Madara Uchiha's, sweeping aside every monster and demon with absolute might and standing atop the Shinobi World."
"Or follow Konoha's rules of the game and become one of them."
Uchiha Yashiro lay sprawled on the ground, as though he had simply given up, and said quietly, "How could I not understand? I understand... If you want to become Hokage, you have to become part of their master-disciple lineage. That is Konoha's unspoken rule, laid bare for all to see."
"Even someone as renowned as Hatake Sakumo—anyone with eyes could see that he could not become Hokage. That is Konoha. So what can our Uchiha Clan do?"
"Forget Hokage. Even a position as Hokage Assistant or advisor would do. Does our Uchiha Clan not deserve a seat among Konoha's upper ranks? We were at the core of founding the village!"
By the end, Uchiha Yashiro had voiced what was truly in his heart, as well as the feelings shared by most of the Uchiha Clan.
It was not that they did not know the Uchiha were essentially unable to become Hokage. But did they not even deserve a high-ranking position? The problem was that the requirements for becoming an advisor were actually much the same as becoming Hokage. You had to belong to the Hokage's master-disciple system...
That was the so-called core circle of power. Clearly, the Uchiha Clan was not part of that system.
That sense of despair had caused many Uchiha clan members to lose hope. They gradually chose to ignore the disparity in strength and used the supposedly hardline Hawk Faction to conceal the panic in their hearts.
Uchiha Yashiro was a typical example of that.
Seisui looked down at the tearful Uchiha Yashiro and shook his head. "You see things so clearly, so how could you do something so foolish...?"
"It is precisely because I see things clearly that I had no choice but to do this." Uchiha Yashiro answered through tears, his voice breaking into sobs.
"You still have not seen clearly enough. The reason you are in despair is because the Uchiha Clan has no one who has entered the Hokage's master-disciple system. Before I appeared, there would have been some truth to what you said..."
"But now that I have appeared, do you think I will not get that opportunity?"
Uchiha Yashiro's sobbing stopped dramatically. "Huh...?"
An Uchiha who carried the Will of Fire as his banner, publicly criticized the Sharingan, treated civilian shinobi kindly, and had received the Third Hokage's attention while still at the Ninja Academy...
Most importantly, Seisui was Kagami Uchiha's descendant—his direct grandson!
If one insisted on putting it that way, Seisui had been born into the Hokage's master-disciple lineage. It was the most reliable blood connection possible.
Uchiha Yashiro stared blankly at Seisui. Seisui's past actions flashed through his mind like an electric current, and every single gesture now seemed to contain profound meaning.
He could no longer see through Seisui at all, just as he could not distinguish whether the Seisui in his illusion had been Uchiha Izuna or Tobirama Senju...
"I do not want to abandon the Uchiha Clan, but you cannot drag me down, Yashiro." Seisui crouched beside him and slowly said:
"Whether in talent, combat strength, background, or intellect, only I can save the Uchiha."
"I have told you so much because I do not want the clan to lose a Three Tomoe user. You are not trash like Setsuna Uchiha, who has bound his personal desires to the clan's future. You still have value worth saving."
"But now I am telling you, my heart has gone cold. I am tired." Seisui let out a heavy sigh, his eyes filled with sorrow.
Uchiha Yashiro immediately panicked. Ignoring the tearing pain from his injuries, he crawled up and knelt halfway, looking urgently at Seisui. "No, no... Lord Seisui, Seisui, you cannot..."
"This is the clan's problem—no, no, this is my problem! It is that bastard Setsuna Uchiha's problem! You cannot lose heart in the clan. I am begging you, you cannot lose heart in the clan!"
Looking at Seisui's exhausted expression, overwhelming guilt and regret devoured Uchiha Yashiro's heart. He desperately wanted to do something...
He had a premonition that if Seisui truly lost heart in the Uchiha Clan, he would become a notorious sinner in the clan's history!
Just then, Uchiha Yashiro saw Muramasa's blade. Gritting his teeth, hardening his heart, he shouted, "Qingshui-kun, let me apologize to you with my life! I only ask that you forgive the Uchiha Clan!"
As he tried to thrust his chest into Muramasa's edge, Seisui kicked him to the ground and said flatly, "I do not need clan members to apologize to me with their lives..."
"If you think what I said is right, turn over."
Uchiha Yashiro froze. Why turn over? Yet he swiftly turned around anyway, lying obediently facedown on the ground, not daring to move.
A green glow flickered across his back. As Seisui treated his wounds with the Mystical Palm Technique, he muttered helplessly, "I still went soft after all, Yashiro..."
Feeling the warmth spreading through his back, Uchiha Yashiro dug his fingers into the ground. His tears mixed with the blood on his face, and an expression of regret exploded across his features.
At this moment, he felt that he was the biggest bastard in the entire Uchiha Clan!
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