The Uchiha Clan's Regular Meeting

April 30th. Akaseki had graduated a month and a half ago.

It had also been over a month since he returned from the Flower Capital. During that month and a half, Akaseki had completed six C-rank missions and six D-rank missions.

There were only six C-rank missions because he only had time to complete six, while there were only six D-rank missions because he could only take six—Konoha only allowed each team to accept one D-rank mission per week.

Although newly graduated Genin were an exception, Jiraiya clearly did not treat them as "new graduates."

From a purely money-making standpoint, D-rank missions were simple, safe, and quick to complete, so they were actually more cost-effective than C-rank missions, and even some B-rank missions.

Thus, they were more or less a form of "minimum wage"...

Ordinary ninja would not take D-rank missions after becoming Chunin unless they were teaching students or happened to be short on money.

Of course, there were also some rather extraordinary ninja. For example, a certain someone who frequented casinos had records of hundreds of D-rank missions on his ninja card...

Today was a good day for Akaseki.

For one thing, today was the first time he would attend the clan's monthly regular meeting. For another, he was finally going to finish watching Family Happiness.

Inside Naka Shrine, the Uchiha Clan was holding its monthly gathering.

As a Genin, Akaseki was now eligible to attend as well...

At the end of March, Akaseki had been away on a C-rank mission and had been unable to return. This month was his first time attending, so Clan Head Jiancheng formally introduced him first.

"This is Akaseki's first time attending the clan's regular meeting. Though he only just graduated, he has already awakened his Sharingan. Moreover, his Jonin leader is Jiraiya, and he has already begun carrying out C-rank missions. That was why he was not in the village last month..." Jiancheng introduced Akaseki enthusiastically.

Mainly because he had already awakened his Sharingan, the clan members were all very welcoming toward Akaseki and hoped that he would become one of the Uchiha Clan's future pillars.

Since the other newly graduated Uchiha Genin had all been introduced last month, Akaseki was the only one this month. The occasion felt a little overly formal, making him somewhat embarrassed.

Fortunately, Jiancheng and Lanyu had not deliberately promoted his "talent," both to protect and temper him. Everyone merely regarded him as ordinarily talented. Among the ordinary clan members, aside from Fugaku and Yashiro, who had interacted with him more often, no one truly considered him a "genius."

After offering a few words of encouragement, Clan Head Jiancheng said, "All right, Akaseki, go take your seat and listen carefully to the meeting!"

The meeting then entered its formal proceedings. First, everyone reported which clan members had made breakthroughs in strength that month. Naturally, the most eye-catching news was whenever someone awakened their Sharingan or evolved it to Two-Tomoe. Unfortunately, there were still no clan members whose Sharingan had evolved to Three-Tomoe this month.

However, everyone kept that excitement in their hearts. It was an unspoken convention within the clan not to directly congratulate someone for awakening their eyes. They would only later remark with relief that so-and-so had awakened their Sharingan.

After all, the Uchiha Clan's eye awakening was often accompanied by personal grief and rage—awakening one's eyes through happiness and transformation was simply too rare.

Next came the important segment: the clan head's speech...

"Regarding the new confidential organization that Shimura Danzō has secretly established, I submitted a request at last week's Jonin meeting to the Third Hokage. I demanded that its functions be disclosed to the Jonin and its roster be revealed to all major ninja clans. There has now been a reply... They actually refused!" Clan Head Jiancheng said forcefully, slamming his hand against the table in anger.

"What? They still want to keep it secret? Isn't the Anbu enough?"

"That Shimura Danzō has always been at odds with our Uchiha Clan. I'm afraid he means us no good!"

"Exactly. Back when the Second Hokage was still around, it was mostly this man who whispered poisonous counsel..."

"What did Kagami say? Why didn't he become the Hokage's advisor?"

The clan members began discussing it heatedly, clearly harboring deep resentment.

And so, the regular meeting entered its main subject—cursing the Third Hokage and cursing Danzo...

It was no wonder the Uchiha Clan members were dissatisfied.

When the First was in office, the Military Police Force possessed far greater authority than it did now.

The Second Hokage had established the Anbu and taken away a large portion of the Military Police Force's original powers. Now, the Third Hokage had actually created another secret department outside the Anbu...

In the corner, Akaseki watched the scene before him with an odd expression.

He had originally thought the clan meeting would be more solemn and discuss more important matters. But now, it seemed...

"Not used to it, are you? Actually, we're all family. Everyone is relaxed during meetings, so don't overthink it," Fugaku said to Akaseki with great tact.

"It really is... quite warm," Akaseki suddenly realized that the clan's regular meetings were nothing special after all.

Right, this was not petty-mindedness. It was "warmth."

"After the meeting, do you want to copy a few more Lightning Style ninjutsu?" Fugaku asked.

Fugaku had already grown accustomed to Akaseki's Dojutsu Power recovering faster than that of ordinary clan members...

Normally, after awakening their eyes, an Uchiha could copy everything they needed within a month with help from their clan members.

But...

Although Akaseki recovered quickly and worked efficiently, he possessed three chakra transformations. Moreover, he had spent more than half of the past month and a half outside the village. As a result, he had only finished copying Fire Style, Genjutsu, and Taijutsu. His Lightning Style and Earth Style were still behind schedule.

"Not tonight. I need to rest too," Akaseki politely declined Fugaku.

"Mm, resting is good too." Fugaku had always worried that Akaseki worked too hard.

But Akaseki was not actually resting tonight...

He was saving himself for the last three hours of Family Happiness!

After 180 hours, Akaseki was finally about to finish Family Happiness.

Although he had not completed his ninjutsu copying on schedule over the past month and a half, his chakra growth was basically complete. It had now reached the level of an ordinary Chunin and was no longer increasing rapidly.

Since he had constantly used the time difference to practice chakra control while in "Immersion," Akaseki had suffered virtually none of the usual side effects of diminished control following a rapid chakra increase. He had always kept his enhanced chakra properly under control.

As for chakra transformations, two days ago, Akaseki had finally pushed the "Scorching Heat" of his Fire Style chakra transformation to 10%, further increasing the temperature of his Fire Style!

"Incineration" (difficulty of extinguishing) and "Overspread Burning" (range) had both improved as well.

As juniors, Akaseki, Fugaku, and Yashiro barely spoke during the meeting. They only chimed in with things like "What are we eating?" when clan members announced weddings and invited everyone to their banquets. They coasted through the entire meeting until it ended...

After the meeting, although Akaseki's Dojutsu Power was quite abundant, he surprisingly did not go copy any ninjutsu. Instead, he prepared to return to his residence and begin "Immersion."

However, on his way back to the clan grounds, Akaseki happened to see a girl riding a dog, red battle markings painted across her face. She looked thoroughly impatient. The moment she saw him, she urged her dog straight toward him and blocked his path.

"Hm? Claw, do you need something?" Akaseki recognized her as a classmate from the ninja academy—Inuzuka Claw.

Back at the academy, Claw, who came from the Inuzuka Clan, had been an outstanding student who consistently ranked in the top ten. If Akaseki did not count the fan on himself, he could only look up to her. But after awakening his Sharingan, Akaseki was not exactly arrogant—he simply looked down on everyone a little...

"Of course I do! If you arranged for me to come over, then don't leave the house!" Inuzuka Claw said impatiently.

Ah...

Right, Akaseki remembered. He really had arranged for someone to come by today... to deliver something.