My Will

"You... Uchiha Kaede... What are you going to do?"

"You're staging a coup..."

"You little bastard..."

Some cursed at her, while others waited calmly to hear what came next. One man was still nursing a grievance, though. Why had his eyebrows been shaved too? Didn't she know that old men treasured what little hair they had left?

Kaede rose calmly. Her Mangekyō Sharingan appeared before the crowd for the first time. "Shh. You old geezers are so noisy."

"That's..."

"The Mangekyō Sharingan. There's no mistaking it."

"What gives that kid the right to awaken the Mangekyō?"

"Why shouldn't she?"

Kaede carried her small table to the center of the room and sat down. "There's only one thing I want to discuss today. Starting now, I'm in charge of the Uchiha. Who's for it, and who's against it?"

The room fell utterly silent!

"Kaede, are you going to become clan head?" Fugaku finally spoke from his seat at the head of the room.

"Clan head? It's not time for that yet." She still had to keep up appearances with the Third Hokage—at least until she'd established herself as one of his people.

"Then I'll wait for the day you take my place."

"You're awfully magnanimous, Clan Head. Aren't you going to fight me?"

"We will. Let's make it the day you come to claim my position!" Fugaku gazed into Kaede's eyes, liking them more the longer he looked. They were still as captivating as ever.

Without a blood relative's Mangekyō to merge with, awakening the Eternal Eye was impossible. Fugaku must have awakened his own Mangekyō already. He was probably eager to test his strength.

"Then it's a deal!"

A blue arm and rib cage formed around Kaede's body, lifting her into the air. Looking down at the elders, she declared, "Listen carefully. My will is the Uchiha's will. If word of what happened today gets out, I'll kill you. Madara didn't dare do what I'll do. Madara didn't dare dream of what I'll dream. There's only one goal: to make the Uchiha the strongest in the Shinobi World. Follow me and prosper; oppose me and die."

"Is that Susanoo?" They no longer had any doubts. They fell to their knees. The era when the Uchiha had been ruled by a Mangekyō wielder had returned. They had witnessed the clan's former glory, and now they would follow it once more.

After seeing that she had cowed all the elders, Kaede quietly wiped away her sweat. Putting on a show was exhausting.

"Starting tomorrow, the Military Police Force will thoroughly inspect supplies entering the village. Pay particular attention to corpses and similar items. No unidentified bodies are to be brought into Konoha."

Orochimaru dared threaten her? She wanted to see how he planned to continue his human experiments without a supply of corpses. Let him try killing someone in the village if he had the guts!

"What's the reason for this?" the bald elder asked, puzzled.

"Just do as I say. I'll tell you why when the time is right.

"Second, secretly buy up Soldier Pills, ninja tools, Explosive Tags, and other supplies, and stockpile them. Also buy and store grain from the various grain-producing countries. Don't be stingy with money. You can always earn more money, but once people are gone, they're gone for good.

"Use sealing scrolls to bring everything into the village. Don't let the village notice anything unusual. Understood?"

This time, even Fugaku sensed something was amiss. Unable to sit still, he asked, "Kaede, are you planning to defect? The Uchiha are wealthy enough to buy supplies for a small-scale war."

He was afraid the seemingly levelheaded girl might be blinded by her power and dare to lead the clan into a fight with the Third Hokage for his position.

"I'm not planning to defect. This is to prepare for the Third Shinobi World War. Tensions have been rising across the Shinobi World again in recent years. Once the right opportunity comes, the Third Great Ninja War will break out. I'm sure you can all see that.

"But I think Konoha will face an invasion by the Four Great Nations. It'll be brutal, and supplies will become scarce. That's why I want you to start stockpiling now. If the village gives the Uchiha a hard time and withholds supplies, we'll still be able to hold out on our own." Kaede explained her reasoning to Fugaku.

The explanation put Fugaku at ease. The young woman was still capable of keeping her composure.

"An invasion by the Four Great Nations? Surely not! The other shinobi villages have plenty of grievances against one another. Why would they all join forces to attack Konoha?"

"Grudges are a minor matter. What's important is that Konoha won both of the last two Shinobi World Wars. In recent years, its development has quietly surpassed that of all the other shinobi villages combined.

"How could the four great villages tolerate such an imbalance and let Konoha keep growing? If the Third Shinobi World War breaks out, the four nations may fight among themselves, but their main focus will be crushing Konoha.

"If Konoha keeps growing, with the fertile Land of Fire at its back, where will the other shinobi villages find room to survive? The Land of Fire occupies the most fertile land on the continent. Who wouldn't envy that? Nothing sways people like profit, and the Shinobi World has never lacked ambitious people."

Kaede and Fugaku continued exchanging opinions until evening. The clan meeting, at which nothing major had happened, finally adjourned. Tong, who had sat quietly in a corner the whole time, had witnessed firsthand how a young woman had changed the Uchiha.

"Kaede, you were incredible just now. You made all those elders back down."

"Tong, stop talking. Give me a hand. I can barely see." Kaede felt as if she'd gone blind. Her eyes hurt terribly, as if someone were constantly stirring them with a knife.

Every nerve throbbed with pain. The numb, itchy sensation made her want to gouge her eyes out right then and there.

Tong had been walking a step behind her, but she hurried ahead. In disbelief, she covered her mouth, managing not to cry out. "Kaede, your eyes..."

The tremble in Tong's tearful voice told Kaede how worried she was.

"Don't cry. I'm fine. My eyes were just under too much strain. They'll be better in a few days. Don't worry."

"But they're bleeding, Kaede! Are you sure you're all right?"

"Silly girl, when have I ever lied to you?"

"You're always lying to me!"

"Am I? I'm not that kind of person."

"Hmph! Kaede, you are."

"Fine, I am. Happy now?"

"You're lying again."

With Tong supporting her, Kaede kept bantering with her to distract herself and ease the pain.

Only when she got home and was alone did she feel safe making her way down to the basement and undoing the seal.

"You're in rough shape, aren't you, main body?" A perfectly intact Shadow Clone had been left there. Kaede needed it to cover for her over the next few days, because she was going into hibernation.

"Pfft." She drove her fingers into her eyes and gouged out the ruined eyeballs.

She lay down inside the Stone Coffin on the floor.

Her body had long since ceased to be human. A mysterious Golden Energy was growing within it, and she had always relied on it to suppress the growth of the evil ocular power.

That same mysterious Golden Energy was also repairing her body, but there was very little of it left. To restore her eyes as quickly as possible, she needed to fall into a deep slumber and reduce her energy consumption, allowing the energy to focus entirely on healing them.

Kaede's main body fell asleep underground while her Shadow Clone took over her work and daily life.

Konoha's Root

"Lord Danzo, our experiments are at a critical stage. Where are the test subjects I asked for?"

"Orochimaru's run into some trouble. You'll have to wait a few days."

"What trouble could possibly stump Root? Lord Danzo, surely you don't have some ulterior motive?"

"The Uchiha have been very active lately. They're inspecting supplies entering the village, especially corpses and the like. They've already destroyed two batches of materials." Danzo's face darkened, making him look quite frightening.

The Uchiha were so annoying!

Danzo hadn't started wearing bandages yet. He wasn't a bandage-wearing man at this point.

"The Uchiha, huh? What an interesting subject." Orochimaru licked his lips, his tongue flicking like a snake's.