Taking Sides (Please Vote! Please Invest!)

"And what else?"

Fugaku Uchiha stared at Sōken. "Besides the Nine-Tails' Rampage, what other repeated errors in judgment are you referring to?"

He did not answer whether the decision made on the night of the Nine-Tails' Rampage had been right or wrong, instead deftly evading the question with one of his own.

"Changing the subject? Fine, then..." Sōken gently shook his head and continued, "The second error in judgment was during the Clan Land Relocation. Lord Clan Head, disregarding the objections of the clan, you agreed to the village's relocation plan, completely exiling us to the village's remote outskirts and physically excluding us from the village's social circle."

Hearing this, Fugaku Uchiha shook his head.

"Sōken, our clan had no choice in the matter of the Clan Land Relocation. Under the pretext of rebuilding the areas destroyed by the Nine-Tails, the higher-ups redrew the territorial plans for Konoha's major clans. I understood that this was the village suppressing us, but we had no alternative. Either we stood against the village to the bitter end and ultimately tore all pretense apart in a full-scale war, or we obeyed the order and relocated our clan land. Given our clan's strength at the time... there was simply no chance of us winning a battle against the village."

"So you chose to endure humiliation and bide your time for future retaliation?"

Sōken pressed.

"That is correct. The conflict between the village and the clan has existed for a long time. It requires careful, long-term consideration..."

"Then have you come up with any solution?"

"Well..."

Fugaku Uchiha's expression stiffened.

Wasn't that obvious? If he had truly come up with some good solution, how could the Uchiha have ended up like this today?

"It seems that after all this time, Lord Clan Head, you have not come up with anything at all... Forget it, let's change the question. Lord Clan Head, I assume you know that quite a few clan members have recently been planning a coup—to overthrow the Third Hokage's rule and place Konoha's power in Uchiha hands... What is your view on this?"

Sōken did not dwell any longer on the matter of the Clan Land Relocation.

Ultimately, the Clan Land Relocation was merely a consequence of the Nine-Tails' Rampage. He had brought it up separately only to make the clan members recall that unpleasant memory: their clan head, for the sake of the village's greater good, had forcibly made them accept the relocation.

"To put it more plainly, Lord Clan Head, do you support the coup, or oppose it?"

The question could not have been more direct.

Every clan member turned their eyes toward Fugaku Uchiha.

Although not every Jonin was currently involved in planning the coup, nearly all the clan's Jonin had at least heard about it. Those in favor, those against it, those still wavering... no matter which faction they belonged to, all of them focused their attention on the clan head at this moment.

For something as significant as a coup, the clan head would ultimately have to state his position.

"Sōken, have you finished listing the errors in judgment you mentioned? Were there only those two?" Fugaku Uchiha once again evaded the dangerous question, trying to shift the subject by questioning Sōken instead.

"The question I just asked was the third one."

Sōken replied.

Fugaku Uchiha's face twitched. He nearly laughed in anger. What the hell—was Sōken so certain he would make the wrong choice?

"Lord Clan Head, please answer! Do you support the coup, or oppose it?"

Sōken pressed him step by step.

Fugaku Uchiha stared at Sōken for several seconds, then shifted his gaze and swept it across the clan members in the secret chamber. He found that anticipation gleamed in the eyes of more than half of them, and information gathered by the secret squad under his command surfaced unbidden in his mind. Two-thirds of the clan members leaned toward a coup...

"Of course I support it!!!"

After pondering for a moment, Fugaku Uchiha spoke with absolute certainty and made his decision.

The next second, undisguised disappointment appeared in Shisui's eyes as he stood behind the elders.

But—

"Heh! That was quite a bold decision this time."

Elder Homaru offered a word of praise.

Most of the Jonin in the secret chamber also showed delighted expressions.

It was clear enough just how inclined the clan members were toward a coup.

However—

"If I were the clan head, I would resolutely oppose a coup." Sōken declared proudly, loud enough for everyone to hear. He turned to face the crowd, utterly ignoring the astonished looks of the clan members. "All right, everyone, choose your side! Those who support removing Clan Head Fugaku and having me succeed him as clan head, stand to my right. Those who oppose removing Clan Head Fugaku, go to my left."

The clan members were still somewhat stunned.

Honestly, most of them had thought Sōken would support the coup. It could not be helped. Sōken was so young, and he bore an overbearing nickname like [Flame Demon]. In their eyes, he should have been among the most radical group!

No one had expected Sōken to oppose a coup.

This was not a joke, was it?

While everyone was still dumbfounded, Shisui was the first to step out from the crowd. He walked from Sōken's left to the opposite side, Sōken's right, becoming the first to show his support for Sōken. He loved the clan, and he loved the village as well. A coup was something Shisui could not accept.

Fugaku Uchiha's declaration had completely snuffed out the last trace of hope in his heart.

"Grandfather, let's go too, quickly!!"

Seeing that Shisui had beaten her to it, Uchiha Chihaya frowned unhappily and tugged Elder Ryuji beside her toward the other side, where she stood together with Shisui.

Genji Uchiha, Sōken's actual grandfather, was instead a step behind. The elderly man was in no hurry. With both hands clasped behind his back, he crossed the battered central area at an unhurried pace, arrived beside Elder Ryuji, and stood shoulder to shoulder with his old friend.

Then, Uchiha Arashiyama, Uchiha Akitaro, Uchiha Futaba, Uchiha Jun, Uchiha Hokuto... Sōken's friends also stepped out of the crowd, instantly bringing the number of people beside Elder Genshi and Elder Ryuji to nine.

Elder Jun, meanwhile, calmly walked over to Shisui's side, no longer as impulsive as he had been when they met beneath the torii gate.

As Kagami Uchiha's cousin and Shisui's mentor, his views were easy enough to imagine. His concern for the clan was genuine, but he truly found something like a Coup difficult to accept.

Even so, only those ten had made their stance known. That was merely a quarter of the more than forty Jonin present.

"Sōken, what exactly are you doing?"

Elder Homaru blew out his beard and glared. He was completely baffled—this brat Sōken actually opposed the Coup?

"Elder Homaru, a Coup is a forbidden move to be used only when our clan has truly reached the end of its rope. Unless there is genuinely no other way, I will never use a method that harms the enemy by a thousand while damaging ourselves by eight hundred. You don't actually think that taking down the Third and Danzo means the Coup has succeeded, do you?"

Sōken swept his gaze across the crowd. "What makes you think clans like the Hyuga, Aburame, and Ino-Shika-Cho would willingly submit to our clan's rule? Once a Coup begins, our enemies will not just be the Third and Danzo. The shinobi clans in the village, along with the enormous number of civilian shinobi, will all become our enemies. Want to know why?"

"The reason is simple. Because we, the ones who initiate the Coup, will be the destroyers of order, while those clans and civilian shinobi are the beneficiaries of the current system. Use your brains for once—do you think they want our Coup to succeed?"

"Don't fucking lose your heads and start shouting about a Coup! Coup my ass! Use your goddamn brains! With divided hearts and insufficient strength, what are you going to use to stage a Coup? Throw yourselves onto someone else's blade? Are you afraid the Third and Danzo don't have enough reason to wipe out our clan?"

Sōken's voice grew louder and louder, until he finally began cursing outright.

That barrage stunned not only the clan members, but even the elders.

"Madara Uchiha is already dead. Without Madara Uchiha, do you still think the Uchiha are that clan which once swept across the Shinobi World, with only the Senju able to match them? Stop fucking fooling yourselves. Even if we really had the ability to crush clans like the Hyuga, Aburame, and Ino-Shika-Cho, what would we use to deal with the Mist Ninja, Stone Ninja, Cloud Ninja, and Sand Ninja?"

"That's enough nonsense. Everyone, continue choosing sides. Oh, and let me make one thing clear in advance: anyone who dares not support me will have their arms and legs personally broken by me and be thrown to the right side. So... think carefully before making your choice."

At the end, Sōken reined in his anger and calmly added one more sentence.

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