Uchiha Gathering

The central area of the Uchiha compound.

Uchiha Dojoma walked in front, with Baiyu following behind, nonchalantly observing the surrounding environment.

Pine trees lined a four-meter-wide stone staircase that stretched upward, its end nowhere in sight.

Unknown flowers and grasses bloomed beneath the pine trees.

The level steps were devoid of a single fallen leaf, the massive bluestone slabs connecting to reveal a profound sense of history.

After passing the stone steps, a tall red wooden shrine gate appeared, and behind it lay a vast open space surrounded by several small houses.

Directly ahead stood a wooden stilt house with four or five stone steps at the main entrance.

Above the doorway was painted the massive Uchiha clan crest.

"Is this the temple where the Uchiha worship their ancestors? It's much more luxurious than where I live. The guys who get to live inside must be the clan's upper echelon!"

Baiyu muttered to himself; the place where the dead lived was better than where the living resided.

Every day, there were people to clean and offer sacrifices on time.

His entire public housing unit wasn't even as large as this courtyard, let alone the small hill designated as the center.

Upon entering the ancestral hall, Baiyu discovered he wasn't the only one who had arrived.

Dozens of clansmen were already seated inside the main hall.

Baiyu glanced at Uchiha Dojoma and noticed that the guy had already shrunk into the crowd and sat down.

If the talk about Fugaku summoning him was a lie, whose orders was he following? The Uchiha upper echelon? Or Konoha?

Deception or betrayal?

What Baiyu hated most were liars and traitors!

The rotten Uchiha upper echelon, the culprits leading ordinary clansmen to their collective demise.

Baiyu held a grudge!

"One."

Dojoma's name was crossed off.

Scanning the hall, there were at least forty or fifty people.

In just this short while, several hostile gazes swept over him.

Baiyu standing blankly at the entrance was a bit conspicuous, so he walked to a corner and sat on the floor.

"Heh? A wooden sword..."

Just as he sat down, a voice filled with contempt came from beside him.

"Get lost, don't sit with me! You piece of trash."

A man wearing a black trench coat with a hedgehog hairstyle and a scar running across half his face was looking at Baiyu with disdain.

Baiyu ignored him, which made the man's face flush red with anger.

This man also held a long sword in his hand.

Was he a swordsman?

No.

Just a ninja who knew swordsmanship.

In this world, only among the samurai did a few remnants of true swordsmen remain.

Ninjas were tools whose primary purpose was to complete missions.

Swordsmen were not bound by worldly constraints.

Baiyu sat silently in place, taking his wooden sword down and leaning it against his shoulder.

He silently counted: "Two."

The rotten Uchiha always needed blood to change!

Out of the corner of his eye, Baiyu noticed Uchiha Dojoma say something to a clansman beside him, and that clansman quickly ran outside.

Just as Baiyu was considering whether or not to follow him out, the person in front suddenly turned around and said.

"Brother, don't mind him? A lot of guys in the clan have bad tempers, don't lower yourself to his level."

Only then did Baiyu realize that the person sitting in front of him was actually a fatty.

This guy had used special black armor to compress all his flesh into a mass, which looked incredibly uncomfortable, and then covered it with a trench coat, successfully deceiving everyone present.

The fat head and big ears that turned around exposed his true appearance.

And beside this fatty, he was actually all alone.

"Are you from the Akimichi clan?"

Baiyu asked, puzzled.

This was an Uchiha gathering; how could someone from the Akimichi clan have snuck in?

"Nonsense, I'm Uchiha, okay T^T!"

The fatty retorted.

As the two spoke, more clan members cast disdainful glances their way.

The fatty seemed immune to these stares, smiling as he said to Baiyu, "Judging by your look, you're not exactly popular either."

"How did you know?"

"You came in behind that scoundrel Toma, and no one greeted you afterward. People sitting in corners like this are all pretty much the same. My name is Uchiha Madoka, from the Intelligence Department."

"Intelligence Department? The clan has an Intelligence Department?"

Baiyu asked. Having always been on the periphery of the clan, this was his first time entering its inner circle, and he was unaware of many of its secrets.

"Yeah, you didn't know? You don't have a summoning beast yet, do you? I don't know how they manage things, but clan Jonin should all have a Ninja Cat for information transmission."

Madoka grumbled. He hadn't expected someone attending a meeting here to not have a Ninja Cat summoning beast.

Seeing this, Baiyu smiled without speaking, exuding an air of mystery.

"Then don't say anything reckless later. Recently, the clan members have been increasingly dissatisfied with the village and might take action soon. You're still so young, don't get picked!"

"Picked? Picked for what?"

Baiyu's eyes flashed as he asked.

This fatty from the Intelligence Department knew quite a few inside secrets.

"I'm not sure. The clan lost quite a few members on missions recently. The clan head probably intends to confront the Third Hokage.

Anyway, I think the chances of winning against the village are slim. If this stalemate continues, it will eventually lead to bigger conflicts."

"Shut up, you dead fatty!"

Suddenly, a furious roar erupted. A clan member in front of the fatty suddenly stood up and lunged to punch Madoka.

Baiyu's expression remained unchanged. With a flick of his wrist, the hilt of his wooden sword flew out, blocking the fist. Half of the blade was still within its sheath.

"Interrupting someone while they're speaking is very impolite."

Baiyu warned in a cold voice.

He could tell that this fatty was likely one of the extremely rare rational thinkers within the Uchiha clan.

Baiyu had never seen this fatty in the clan before, and this was his first time meeting him.

To be this fat and still a Jonin, he must have some skill.

"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding! I misspoke, apologies, apologies!"

Madoka said awkwardly from the side, easing the tense atmosphere. This guy had none of the Uchiha arrogance, exuding a certain smoothness instead.

The one who had attacked gave Baiyu a deep look, snorted, and turned away.

Once the situation calmed down, Madoka leaned closer to Baiyu and whispered, "His older brother died in the last incident, and he's awakened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan now. It's best not to offend him."

Madoka was afraid Baiyu would suffer a loss. While there were many Uchiha Jonin, those who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan were extremely rare and powerful.

Each one was a pillar of the clan.

Most clan members had either one or two tomoe.

And there were many ordinary clan members who hadn't awakened their Sharingan at all.

"It's fine."

Baiyu chuckled softly, not taking the man from earlier seriously.

"Third one."

Three targets, three representatives of Uchiha extremism, and suitable objects to display his strength.

Baiyu didn't want to provoke the village's nerves right now, nor did he want to incite the village to attack the Uchiha. But he had to show his strength to be valued by the higher-ups.

People needed to have a certain level of importance before they wouldn't be easily sacrificed.

Being on the same team as Shisui gave Baiyu no sense of security.

He needed to become a Jonin as soon as possible, even a Special Jonin, to get out of Shisui's team.

Arranging Jonin was the village's responsibility. Killing members of Root was explainable, but he couldn't attack the Anbu, at least not yet.

In comparison, he could only find a few clueless guys from the Uchiha higher-ups to make an example of.

These three people were unfortunately chosen by Baiyu.

The fatty chuckled and said no more. Every Uchiha clan member was incredibly arrogant. He thought Baiyu was also a fool; trying to get back at a clan member with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was like dreaming.

In his opinion, how could a newly promoted Jonin contend with a veteran Jonin, let alone one who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan?

No one understood the terror of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan better than the Uchiha clan members.

Baiyu was unaware of the fatty's thoughts, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care. If he had the Mangekyo, he might be a little wary, but against an ordinary Uchiha clan member with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he felt no fear.

He was just that arrogant.

Wanderer's Heart, moving forward without hesitation.

Just as I was fretting over having no one to hone my swordsmanship against, they came, and I would take them on one by one.

One after another, more clansmen walked in, and the empty seats around Baiyu were soon filled.

No one spoke to him, and Baiyu couldn't be bothered to talk either, so he simply cradled his wooden sword and closed his eyes to rest.

After a while, the noisy hall suddenly fell silent. Baiyu opened his eyes to see that Uchiha Fugaku had walked in, followed by several people—mostly middle-aged men, along with two old men.

They were all high-ranking members of the Uchiha.

Uchiha Fugaku walked to the main dais with a cold expression, while the high-ranking members behind him took their seats in the front row.

The Clan Meeting had finally begun.