As the saying went, plans never kept pace with change. Life's journey was always full of unpredictable surprises, but Sōken didn't mind them. A future he could see through at a glance was so dull it drained him of any motivation to act. An unknown, unpredictable, chaotic future was far more worth anticipating and looking forward to!
No matter what anyone else thought, Sōken liked a life full of exciting fun!
It made him feel truly alive.
"I underestimated you, Lord Clan Head. Your move takes care of three problems at once—brilliant..."
Sōken strode along the flagstone path. Above him, cherry trees bloomed in profusion, and the breeze carried a captivating, delicate fragrance. Yet in his heart, a fire was burning, stoking his fighting spirit. His crimson eyes gleamed brightly.
After leaving the Clan Head's mansion, Sōken didn't head straight home. Instead, he followed the flagstone path, taking a winding route along the shortest path he had mapped out in his mind. Uchiha Arashiyama, Uchiha Chihaya, Uchiha Akitaro, Uchiha Futaba, Uchiha Jun, Uchiha Hokuto... One staunch supporter after another joined his ranks.
In the end,
even Shisui joined the group.
"Sōken, are we doing this now...? Isn't it a little too soon?" Shisui sounded uneasy. Making up his mind didn't mean he could completely cast aside his misgivings. He was simply born to worry.
"We're out of time."
Sōken gently shook his head. "If we wait until tomorrow, we might all be sent off to rot on the border. We'll be eating sand or seafood."
"I hate seafood."
Uchiha Chihaya, a rather serious girl with a wistful air about her, frowned. As Sōken's childhood friend, she had fought alongside him on the Eastern Front. Back when they had been cutting down Mist Ninja in droves, they had also eaten all sorts of seafood until they were sick of it.
The main problem was that the cooks were terrible.
They prepared it any old way, cooked it any old way, and everyone just made do. Before long, they had all naturally come to hate seafood. Sōken was no exception.
"So, to avoid eating seafood, we have to succeed in the coup tonight! Otherwise, we either go eat seafood like good little boys and girls or grab our knives and fight those old bastards." Sōken rallied them.
"Then I choose to take out that old bastard Danzo."
Uchiha Hokuto, the group's young hothead, gripped the hilt of his katana, a thrilled smile spreading across his face. The kid had no idea what fear was. Like a fighting rooster, he was always ready to pick a fight with someone.
"What kind of talk is that? Sōken's definitely becoming Clan Head tonight. Once that happens, we'll have plenty of ways to deal with that old bastard Danzo."
Uchiha Arashiyama smacked the young hothead on the back of the head in exasperation, putting the brawler in his place.
Along the flagstone path beneath the cherry trees,
a group of young people swaggered by, their noisy chatter drawing the attention of many clan members at home. When they realized that every one of the youngsters was a Jonin, some of the more perceptive clan members immediately sensed that something was about to happen. They boldly speculated that the young people might be planning to rally the Clan Head's support for a coup.
Sōken had no time for the clan members' conspiracy theories. After gathering his team, he led them straight home. His parents were at the studio, and his younger sister was at the Ninja Academy, so only the elderly Uchiha Genji was at home, sitting beneath the old cherry tree and admiring the blossoms.
"Grandfather."
Sōken walked up to him.
"Are you ready to begin?"
Uchiha Genji acted as if he hadn't noticed the group behind his grandson. Calmly, he poured wine from a bottle into a clear ceramic cup. The deep-red liquid swirled inside it.
"Yes. Lord Clan Head gave me a difficult choice. If I can't get what I want tonight, I'll have to take a position in the Border Defense Force tomorrow. Given what I know about the village leadership, if I dare leave the village, they probably won't let me reach the border alive."
Sōken spoke with complete seriousness.
"Not a bad move. Looks like we old fools weren't entirely blind when we supported Fugaku's succession as Clan Head."
"No. The more capable Lord Clan Head is, the greater the damage he'll do to the clan if he decides to abandon it." Sōken's attitude remained as resolute as ever. The fact that those two cold-blooded monsters, Itachi Uchiha and Obito Uchiha, had managed to wipe out the entire Uchiha Clan was directly tied to Fugaku Uchiha, their Clan Head, giving up the fight.
The clan had so many Jonin, including battle-hardened experts who could go toe-to-toe with Hatake Kakashi a few years from now. Yet, without the Clan Head stepping forward to coordinate everyone, the panicked clan members had fought separately and been picked off one by one. Konoha's foremost clan had been wiped out without the attackers paying much of a price.
"Sōken, why do you keep thinking Fugaku will abandon the clan?"
"Just a hunch!"
Sōken answered frankly.
Even if some things might not happen now, that didn't mean he could put aside all his reservations and get along amicably with Fugaku Uchiha and his son, Itachi Uchiha.
To put it plainly, he didn't like the two of them.
Uchiha Genji held his ceramic cup and stared at Sōken for seven or eight seconds. Then he looked away, tipped back his head, and drained the wine. He set the empty cup on the Green Stone Slab beside him and asked, "What exactly do you plan to do?"
"Grandfather, please go to Elder Ryuji and Elder Homaru and use your authority as an elder to call a clan gathering at Naka Shrine."
"Not enough."
Uchiha Genji shook his head and held up three fingers on his right hand.
"Just the three of us won't be enough. If the other three don't support us, and the Clan Head opposes us too... the request for an emergency gathering won't pass. We need at least four people. We have to find one more, so nothing goes wrong."
As he spoke, he looked at Shisui, who stood a short distance behind Sōken.
The Uchiha Clan currently had six elders who assisted the Clan Head with clan affairs. Uchiha Genji was Sōken's grandfather, so he naturally supported Sōken. Elder Ryuji was also a friend of Uchiha Genji's, and his granddaughter was Uchiha Chihaya, that rather wistful young woman and Sōken's childhood friend.
Then there was Elder Homaru, who had declared his support for Sōken last night. That made three.
"Shisui, I need you to help me convince Elder Jun to support me."
Sōken turned around, looked Shisui straight in the eye, and made his request.
Although Shisui didn't have many close friends in the clan, he did have an elder backing him: Uchiha Jun, the well-known Uchiha Kagami's first cousin. Unlike his short-lived cousin, the old man was still alive and was an elder of the clan.
"I... I understand."
Shisui hesitated for a second, then agreed.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Shisui."
Sōken didn't waste much time going back and forth with Shisui. Calling a gathering at Naka Shrine was only the beginning. He still needed support from more clan members. A major matter like replacing the Clan Head obviously couldn't be decided by a few elders on a whim. The Uchiha Clan had an ancient tradition of holding gatherings and still took its members' opinions seriously.
Of course,
every clan member who could attend the gathering was a ninja. The non-ninja clan members wouldn't get involved in this mess.
To gain the upper hand at the gathering, Sōken needed to win over as many clan members as possible before it began.
Fortunately,
his small team could help him reach plenty of supporters.
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