Naka Grand Stage, Come If You Have Work

Uchiha District, Naka Shrine.

As a prestigious clan with a thousand-year heritage and one of the founding ninja clans of Konohagakure, the Uchiha Clan holds a pivotal position within the village.

The Uchiha possess a vast amount of land within Konohagakure and control an independent armed force—the Security Force. They are authorized to arrest criminal villagers and ninja on their own, detaining them within the Guard Division prison.

Such privileges naturally breed dissatisfaction. In the eyes of a large portion of Konoha Ninja, the Uchiha are less of a clan within Konoha and more of an independent small village collaborating with Konohagakure.

Uchiha Ninja also feel immense pride in their clan's privileges.

However, it is precisely because of this glory that the Uchiha are dreaded and suppressed by the high officials. They have never been able to truly integrate into Konoha, relegated to being a semi-marginalized clan within the village.

And after the cataclysmic Nine-Tails' Rampage, the Konoha High Officials' dread of the Uchiha reached new heights.

In order to weaken the Uchiha's influence, the Konoha High Officials cut the Security Force's funding and relocated the Uchiha District to the edge of the village, isolating the Uchiha Clan from the core area.

Facing this thorny situation, ambitious members of the Uchiha rose up one after another, speaking their minds at the clan meeting and discussing how to make the Uchiha great again and seize the position of Hokage that rightfully belongs to them.

Uchiha Youhu is one of them. He sits on the tatami, silently watching the struggle between the hawks and the doves, feeling so relaxed he even wants to drink some tea.

As far as he knows.

The Uchiha are roughly divided into three factions.

One is the faction led by Uchiha Shisui, the doves who advocate for integration into Konoha.

Another is the hawk faction led by Uchiha Yachiyo, who advocate for a coup to seize power, and the moderates led by Uchiha Fugaku.

In Uchiha Youhu's view.

The doves represented by Shisui are too weak. Even after Danzo stole his Mangekyo, he didn't have the resolve to fight to the death; he's better suited to be a dog for the Hyuga Branch Family.

The hawks led by Yachiyo think about a coup all day long, but they've been discussing it for four or five years without coming up with any viable plan.

His evaluation: they want a coup in their mouths, but their bodies are very honest, clearly enjoying the oppression coming from the Hokage Building.

As for the clan head, Uchiha Fugaku, there is even less to say. He is a pure fence-sitter; his surrender is not thorough, and he lacks the resolve to launch a coup.

He ended up being killed by his own son, wasting all that martial prowess.

With these insects in charge, how could the Uchiha not perish?

Uchiha Youhu sighed softly, then raised his hand and said, "Captain Fugaku, Elder Yachiyo, I have a way to obtain the position of Hokage without shedding a drop of blood."

"Obtain the position of Hokage without shedding a drop of blood?"

Youhu's statement immediately drew the attention of all the Uchiha present. Whether they were hawks or doves, they all looked toward Youhu, waiting for his insight.

Fugaku walked over to Youhu and said with a smile, "Youhu, if you have any good ideas, speak up and let everyone hear them."

Youhu glanced at Fugaku and said in a calm tone, "My method might require Fugaku Captain to make a small sacrifice."

"As long as it allows the Uchiha Family to produce a Hokage, no sacrifice is too great."

Fugaku patted his chest, speaking with a sense of duty.

Youhu nodded in satisfaction, walked to the podium, and laid out his thoughts: "My idea is for the clan to intermarry with the Hokage Faction. As long as the Uchiha and the Hokage Faction are joined by marriage, the two sides will naturally become one family."

"And the best candidate for this marriage is the Third Hokage, who has lost his wife."

"Intermarriage is indeed a good method, but there is no suitable candidate within the clan, and the Third Hokage might not necessarily be willing to take an Uchiha as his new wife..."

Uchiha Fugaku, desperate and clutching at straws, began to consider the feasibility of such a marriage.

At that moment, Fugaku noticed the clan members around him looking at him with strange expressions. It was then that he recalled why Youhu had asked him to make a sacrifice.

This guy couldn't possibly be suggesting that he divorce Mikoto and offer her to the Third Hokage.

Although he had been feeling a bit inadequate in recent years, this was a matter of masculine dignity. He could never do something as disgraceful as offering his wife to a superior, and it was impossible for the Uchiha to be that cowardly.

This brat Youhu was completely humiliating him.

Just as Fugaku was about to settle the score with Youhu, Youhu revealed a malicious smile: "As long as Fugaku Captain is willing to divorce Mikoto and marry the Third Hokage, the clan will have a man who is the Hokage's partner."

"Fugaku Captain marries the Third, becoming the Hokage's man?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the Uchiha present became incredibly bizarre, and even Fugaku stood frozen in place.

Setting aside whether being the "Hokage's man" actually made one a Hokage.

The Third had a son and a grandson; his sexual orientation was certainly not toward men, and it was impossible for him to take Fugaku Captain as his spouse. This guy Youhu was talking complete nonsense.

"Youhu, stop talking nonsense. I will not divorce Mikoto, nor will I marry the Third."

Fugaku tried hard to maintain his composure, but the anger in his heart was becoming difficult to suppress.

Youhu shook his head and said with a cheeky grin, "Fugaku Captain, are you really not going to consider it? I truly feel that the Third has a taste for your type. As long as you make this one sacrifice, it could benefit the entire Uchiha."

"You!"

Before Fugaku could speak, Youhu continued, "Fellow clansmen, I am truly not talking nonsense. I have studied this carefully; having the Clan Head marry the Third Hokage is the best choice for the clan."

"Why hasn't the Third Hokage remarried all these years? Why has he repeatedly indulged that old thief Danzo?"

"It's because that old thief Danzo is favored by the Third Hokage. Men are like fine wine; the older they get, the more mellow they become. I believe that Fugaku Clan Head's charm will surely surpass that of the old thief Danzo..."

"Besides, a preference for men is a tradition among the successive Hokage."

"The First Hokage loved Uchiha Madara, that old thief Tobirama had a soft spot for Elder Setsuna and Senior Kagami, and the Third Hokage and Danzo were locked in a love-hate relationship."

"The only one who didn't like men, the Fourth Hokage, lasted less than a year before he made the ultimate sacrifice for the village."

"What does this prove? It proves that a preference for men is a tradition of the Hokage faction. If we Uchiha want to become Hokage, we must lean in that direction."

"Doesn't Clan Head Fugaku want to become Hokage? Let's start with this tiny sacrifice..."

After listening to Youhu's speech, the Naka Shrine fell into a dead silence. The Uchiha looked at one another, not knowing what to do.

Uchiha Youhu was clearly spouting nonsense and slandering the relationships between the successive Hokage and the Uchiha ancestors, but it sounded so logical, as if it might actually be true.

They say history is a little girl who can be dressed up however one likes; perhaps this was the true history of Konoha.

Fugaku, who was about to become the man of the Hokage, had a face that had already turned the color of a pig's liver. With eyes burning red, he shouted at Youhu, "Youhu, get out of here!"

Under the pressure of Uchiha Fugaku, Youhu had no choice but to retreat for the moment, leaving the Naka Shrine under the gaze of the crowd.

In the wake of Youhu's heaven-defying speech, the forgotten leader of the Doves, Uchiha Shisui, sat in the center of the crowd, watching Youhu's retreating back, lost in thought.

After leaving the Naka Shrine, Youhu arrived at the riverside. Watching the rushing water, a subtle arc formed at the corner of his mouth.

[Detected that the Host's fabricated lie, "The Secrets Behind the Successive Hokage," has gained the approval of a large number of Uchiha ninja.]

[They are half-believing, thinking that such things might have actually occurred in reality. Rewarding 500 Deception Points.]

[Current Deception Points: 550]