Naka Shrine.
The torii at the shrine entrance had stood for a hundred years, and its vermilion pillars had faded somewhat.
But the glass tomoe and the three characters "Uchiha" on the plaque at the top of the torii still glittered in the sunlight.
Listening to the rustle of the wind through the leaves, Uchiha Chen strode up the shrine's bluestone steps and soon spotted the two enormous stone statues of armored Crow Tengu enshrined at the entrance.
White-haired Uchiha Setsuna stood alone beneath the statues, gazing into the distance.
His eyes suddenly fell on Uchiha Chen. He scrutinized Chen's collar and clothes again and again, and for the first time, a variety of emotions showed in his hollow gaze.
Setsuna thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Uchiha Chen's proud figure seemed to overlap impossibly with someone in Setsuna's memories. For an instant, he mistook Chen for someone else.
"Madara, Izuna. I'm old. I can't even tell people apart anymore!"
Uchiha Setsuna let out a deep breath and shook his head, banishing the illusion from his mind.
"Elder Setsuna, is something the matter? Why aren't you going in?" Uchiha Chen asked.
Uchiha Setsuna came back to his senses. The wrinkles on his face bunched together as, remarkably, he showed a trace of a smile.
"I came here to talk you out of it, too. But now that I've seen you, I know there's no talking you out of it! Keep that contemptuous look in your eyes. You have my vote!"
The smile on Uchiha Chen's face grew brighter. "To me, victory is a foregone conclusion! Elder Setsuna, after you!"
"No! You're the main character today!"
Uchiha Setsuna knew his place. He extended a scarred hand toward the dark shrine, signaling for Uchiha Chen to go first.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony!"
Uchiha Chen stopped refusing and strode into the shrine with an air that seemed to say he alone could take on the world.
Being head of the Uchiha Clan was both an honor and a burden.
Especially after Madara defected, when the clan fell into disarray and spent a long time fighting among itself before managing to elect a clan head.
A few years later, Uchiha Setsuna staged a coup. Although he failed to kill Senju Tobirama, he did kill the clan head of the time.
After the coup, the battered Uchiha Clan fell under the leadership of Mikoto's father. Later, he took Fugaku as a son-in-law and passed the position on to him.
Yet among the three clan heads after Madara, none had much authority within the clan. They were nowhere near the Warring States era, when the clan head could have the final say.
Ultimately, the three clan heads after Madara simply weren't strong enough.
Everyone had Three-Tomoe. Even if you were the "strongest," the most you could manage was taking on two Three-Tomoe clan members at once. What gave you the right to boss me around?
"So if Fugaku doesn't have a Mangekyō, I'll only need to show mine, and all these clan members will support me!"
Uchiha Chen knelt on a redwood cushion, gazing confidently at the Six Paths Stone Tablet covered in strange writing before him. Inside, he was as unruffled as Germany and the Soviet Union signing a non-aggression pact.
But the atmosphere in the secret chamber was still rather strange.
Uchiha Chen's "usurpation" had been no secret at all—in fact, it had been almost farcical. Nearly all the clan's jōnin had heard about it, and now they were sizing up Uchiha Chen, who remained calm and composed.
Most of the clan's middle generation regarded him with cold eyes. Among the younger generation, everyone except the few seated behind him showed some discontent.
By contrast, the old-timers from the village's founding era looked at him with considerable approval.
Uchiha Chen paid no attention to their gazes. He sat bolt upright, as sharp as a freshly drawn sword, only occasionally glancing at Uchiha Fugaku, who sat at the head of the room.
Uchiha Fugaku wasn't wearing his usual clothes today either. He had changed into a black, close-fitting combat suit with the green flak jacket of a Konoha jōnin over it. Clearly, he was prepared as well.
"Everyone's here. Let's begin!"
Uchiha Fugaku stood and surveyed the clan members in the secret chamber, finally fixing his gaze on Uchiha Chen. "I called this clan meeting because there's an important matter to discuss."
He paused, then extended a hand toward Uchiha Chen and gestured to the seat beside him.
"The Konoha Military Police Force is busy, and I can't handle everything on my own. I intend to appoint a full-time deputy director to help me with its affairs and manage clan business.
"Chen, though you're young, you're virtuous and even-tempered. You also brought honor to the Uchiha Clan on the Eastern Front. Would you be interested?"
His words sent shockwaves through the room.
The Konoha Military Police Force and the Uchiha Clan were two sides of the same coin. The clan head had always served as the force's director, with four captains beneath him. There had never been a "deputy director," let alone a "full-time deputy director"!
This wasn't a deputy director. It was a deputy clan head—or even a "second clan head"!
Everyone instinctively turned to look at Uchiha Chen, wondering whether such a generous offer would win him over.
"Fugaku, you've disappointed me so much!"
Uchiha Chen rose to his feet. He didn't even call him clan head anymore. With a sweep of his sleeve, he fixed Fugaku with a haughty, scornful gaze.
"You could have chosen to fight me. You could have invoked the authority of your title as clan head to denounce me. You could even have sent trusted followers to assassinate me. None of that would have mattered!
"But instead, you chose to back down, hoping that a moment of compromise would let you coexist peacefully with me, hoping I wouldn't push my luck just because you gave ground.
"You're wrong!
"The Uchiha can be killed. We can die in battle!
"But even if one step forward leads to a bottomless abyss and certain destruction, the pride carved into our bones and souls will never let us retreat by so much as half a step!"
The corner of Uchiha Chen's mouth curled up. He looked around at the many clan members in the chamber, then declared with ringing conviction:
"How can someone who doesn't understand the Uchiha, someone who doesn't act like an Uchiha, lead the clan and guide it to glory?"
Uchiha Fugaku furrowed his brow, his expression darkening.
He looked around at the clan members and saw several of them nodding slightly, including a few of his own supporters. Clearly, they agreed with Uchiha Chen.
The Uchiha's defining trait was arrogance.
Fugaku thought he was making a sacrifice for the clan by holding back.
But in the eyes of the clan members, he had simply shown cowardice. He didn't dare face Uchiha Chen in a direct fight, and he lacked the Uchiha's pride.
He had already lost their respect.
"Chen!" Uchiha Fugaku's voice turned cold, brimming with anger. "You think I'm unfit to be clan head? You think you'd make a better clan head than me?"
"Of course!"
Uchiha Chen raised his eyebrows at Fugaku in challenge and formed the Hand Seals for the Summoning Technique.
The Flame Gunbai appeared out of thin air. He gripped it and planted it on the ground.
"Just this is enough to make me more worthy of leading the clan than you!"
Uchiha Chen's confident, resonant voice reached every clan member in the chamber.
"Without the Flame Gunbai, can you even call yourself the Uchiha clan head?"
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