A Meeting Without Results

His gaze swept across the crowd in the meeting hall, Uchiha Shūichi's expression calm, with a faint hint of disdain showing through.

No matter how loudly these Uchiha were clamoring now, the truth was that after Uchiha Shisui's death, the Uchiha Clan was in a state of panic, more afraid that the Konoha higher-ups would come to settle accounts with them, and utterly incapable of actually confronting those higher-ups head-on.

Uchiha Shūichi had long since seen through it—all this talk from the Uchiha wasn't so much hatred for Konoha as it was venting their own fear and unease!

At least in the short term, because of Uchiha Shisui's death, the Uchiha Clan had no guts to lock horns with Konoha. In the original timeline, it wasn't until two years after Shisui's death that these Uchiha started stirring again.

The Uchiha Clan's eventual annihilation by Konoha had real reasons behind it. In fact, even without Uchiha Itachi, relying solely on these Uchiha, the so-called coup would never have succeeded.

The Konoha higher-ups were certainly rotten and decayed, but the Uchiha Clan wasn't much better. Without external allies, with internal disunity, and with their coup plans already an open secret, it would have been a true miracle if these Uchiha had actually pulled it off.

Seeing the other Uchiha fall silent, Uchiha Fugaku, seated in the main position, let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief, then spoke seriously:

"Now is not the time to fall out with Konoha. For the time being, let's postpone the clan's plans."

"The clan head is right. No matter how Konoha killed Shisui, now isn't the moment to break with them."

"That's correct. What's most important now is to gather intelligence on Konoha. Itachi, you're the only Uchiha left in the Anbu—you can investigate how Shisui really died."

Hearing this, Uchiha Itachi nodded earnestly. By now, Itachi had already become estranged from the clan, but when it came to investigating the death of his dear friend Uchiha Shisui, he was completely serious.

A short while later, the Uchiha Clan meeting adjourned. As for the outcome of this meeting—there was none. The so-called coup neither began nor was officially called off; it was simply postponed again.

To be honest, Uchiha Shūichi found the Uchiha Clan's coup attempt somewhat laughable. These people talked about rebellion, but Konoha had already planted surveillance cameras inside the Uchiha Clan's own compound, and they still hadn't even reached a conclusion themselves!

If this weren't a supernatural world, and if the Uchiha weren't arguably the strongest bloodline in the entire ninja world—the most formidable fighters in all of Konoha—they would have been crushed flat long ago with political skills like theirs.

When it came to saying the Uchiha were the strongest fighters, no one in Konoha dared to argue loudly. Just in the shrine earlier, there were over twenty Uchiha with Three Tomoe Sharingan, all of them at the Jonin level or above.

And Uchiha with Three Tomoe Sharingan were no slouches even among Jonin. Not all of them were Elite Jonin, but they certainly wouldn't be weaker than veteran Jonin.

In fact, the entire village of Konoha only had a little over a hundred Jonin in total. Even counting Special Jonin, that number at most tripled.

The so-called Special Jonin were ninja who had reached or even surpassed Jonin level in a specific ability, but still had some overall deficiencies—that was the official definition of a Special Jonin.

But in reality, Special Jonin nowadays weren't just that. There was another interpretation—ninja whose strength had already reached Jonin level, but for various reasons, Konoha didn't want to grant them the rank of Jonin.

Jonin rank came with the right to vote for the Hokage. Every Hokage's appointment required the trust vote of at least half the Jonin, so every Jonin could be considered a small faction within Konoha.

Take the Uchiha Clan—just those with Three Tomoe numbered over twenty. Add in those who hadn't awakened Three Tomoe but were still at Jonin level, and the total came to around thirty-plus Jonin-level ninja.

If all of them became full Jonin, the Uchiha Clan alone would hold about a third of the Jonin votes in Konoha—something the higher-ups could never tolerate.

That was why the Special Jonin rank was so necessary. It seemed similar to Jonin, but lacked the most critical privileges. And even if someone's strength truly reached Jonin level, the higher-ups had an excuse to suppress them—after all, Special Jonin were still technically Jonin.

The entire Uchiha Clan had over thirty ninja with Jonin-level strength, but only thirteen or fourteen were actual Jonin—and that was only because the Uchiha were so strong that some simply couldn't be fobbed off with the Special Jonin title.

After the meeting ended, Uchiha Shūichi had just left when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He frowned, but outwardly acted as if nothing had happened and walked away.

A short while later, Uchiha Shūichi arrived again at the cliff where Uchiha Shisui had taken his own life, and saw a young man standing there.

On his wooden face, two tear-trough lines ran downward, giving the youth a rather melancholic look. Without needing to be told, this was Uchiha Itachi.

Seeing Uchiha Shūichi appear, a faint smile finally crossed Uchiha Itachi's face. He spoke in a low voice:

"Shūichi, you've finally come!"

"Do you know what really happened to Shisui?"

Uchiha Itachi knew Uchiha Shisui's personality well. If Shisui had truly wanted to commit suicide, or was fatally wounded, the first person he would have gone to was definitely Uchiha Shūichi, and the second was Itachi himself.

The reason Shisui would seek out Shūichi first was that Shūichi was already eighteen, naturally more trustworthy than a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old like Itachi.

Hearing Itachi's question, Uchiha Shūichi, who had been prepared for this, shook his head:

"I don't know either... I only know that a while ago, Shisui seemed to have come up with some way to stop the conflict between the clan and Konoha. Then he went to report to the Third Hokage."

"As for what happened after that... I have no idea."

Uchiha Shūichi certainly wasn't going to tell Itachi the truth, nor would he reveal that he had ever met with Uchiha Shisui.

Uchiha Itachi was a staunch loyalist to the Konoha higher-ups. Whatever Shūichi discussed with him could potentially be reported back to them.

And if those higher-ups learned that Uchiha Shisui had once met with Uchiha Shūichi, they would likely deduce that Shūichi possessed the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyo.