The candlelight flickered. Aside from the stir Senya had caused when he first arrived at the clan meeting, nothing else had disturbed the silence.
The other clan members had also taken their seats after entering, not saying a word.
They were waiting for the last person to arrive.
"Tap, tap, tap."
Footsteps sounded from the stairs, growing louder by the moment.
Uchiha Fugaku walked to the cushion at the front and sat down.
Two cushions were still empty. His son, Itachi Uchiha, and Shisui Uchiha still hadn't arrived.
The appointed time had come. Fugaku had already delayed the meeting as long as he could by arriving right on time; he couldn't keep putting it off for those two.
With no other choice, Fugaku had to open the meeting.
"It's time. Let's begin the clan meeting."
As soon as Fugaku made the announcement, one of the elders on either side immediately jumped in.
"Fugaku, yes, it's time. So where's your good son, Itachi Uchiha, who joined the Anbu? And where's Shisui Uchiha? Where are they? Every clan member is here except those two!"
"Fugaku, look at the state of the clan! We're forced to skulk under the watchful eyes of the Anbu and Root every day! As clan head, you can't even keep your own son in line?!"
"Fugaku! Is this what we got for bowing to that old monkey, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and letting Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha join the Anbu?! Is this the result of cozying up to the Hokage?!"
"Those two have probably become the Hokage's lapdogs! For all we know, they're helping Danzo and Hiruzen keep an eye on the clan right now!"
Uchiha Setsuna grew more and more agitated. He slapped both hands on the table, sprang to his feet, and pointed accusingly at Fugaku.
The hardline elders seated on the left side of the meeting looked furious.
At the previous clan meeting, Fugaku had backed the doves, and those Uchiha traitors had strutted around as if they'd grasped the key to the clan's future.
And now? The Anbu's surveillance was growing more intense, and the villagers' hatred of the Uchiha was deepening. Just look at what this clan head and those cowardly doves had done!
Fugaku knew the rift between the clan and the village kept widening. But with the clan's strength as it stood, how could they possibly launch a coup?
Not only was the Konoha High Command keeping its distance from the Uchiha; the other clans were too.
The villagers were terrified whenever they saw an Uchiha and hurried to avoid them. Not one dared to approach, and behind their backs, they kept sending complaint letters to the Hokage.
The Konoha Military Police Force had been swamped with trouble because of it.
"Under my leadership, we chose the wrong path. Fine. So what better ideas do you hardliners have?!"
"Does the clan have enough strength to launch a coup now? Did any of our past coups succeed?!"
"Since the coup during the Battle of Yomi, the clan has lost half its elite shinobi. How many more clan members died in the Second Shinobi World War and the Third Shinobi World War? What are you going to use to launch a coup?!"
"The Sarutobi Clan alone has over a thousand registered shinobi! How many clan members do we have left to sacrifice? Do you really want to send every last person in the clan to their deaths?!"
Fugaku's words left Uchiha Setsuna with no answer.
Setsuna sat back down, still fuming.
"Even so, you shouldn't have led the clan into compromising with that old monkey, Hiruzen! You bowed your head and pledged obedience to him! What happened to the Uchiha's pride?!"
"Have you all forgotten the pride we had as one of the two strongest clans in the Ninja World?!"
Uchiha Kagerou, seated beside Setsuna, looked over the clan members below and tried to stir them up.
"That's right! We can't forget the Uchiha's pride!"
"The Senju have vanished! The Uchiha are destined to reach the pinnacle of the Ninja World!"
"If we can't win a coup, why not leave the village? The clan can just abandon Konoha!"
The clan members below were successfully riled up by Uchiha Kagerou.
"Ha ha ha ha ha! You're going to laugh me to death, then make off with my combat gear and Ninja Blade?"
Senya's laughter and words struck a nerve.
The clan meeting fell silent.
Setsuna was riled up by Senya once again.
"You're just a youngster from the clan! How dare you mock the pride of the Uchiha Clan!"
"I'll admit you've got a little talent, but after what you just said, where does that leave the clan?!"
"Don't think we have to put up with your disrespect just because both your parents are dead!"
"Can you face our ancestors? Are you worthy of being an Uchiha? Are you worthy of the Gunbai on your back?!"
As Setsuna spoke, the clan members around Senya's eyes reddened, and the Tomoe in their Sharingan spun rapidly. A few of them even went from two and a half Tomoe to Three-Tomoe.
Senya rose to his feet and opened his eyes. The Tomoe in them spun so fast they nearly formed a complete circle.
"Tell me, what is pride? Is it the glory we supposedly earned by piling up the dead? You're living in comfort now. If you're unhappy about being watched, then fight back! All you do is shout about pride. Which one of you has brought glory to the Uchiha?!!!"
"A coup? Abandoning the village? Whether we die in battle or flee, what happens to the clan's women, children, and elderly who are frail and helpless? Once we're gone, do you expect Danzo and Hiruzen to feed them?!!!"
"Aren't the Uchiha supposed to be the clan of love? You idiots who think about nothing but coups all day—do you care whether your fellow clan members live or die? Have you forgotten what awakened your Sharingan in the first place?!"
"Can you all try using your heads for once? A few words and you lose the ability to think, to stay calm, to act rationally! Are you even Uchiha shinobi? Can you live up to the name of an Uchiha shinobi?!!"
The hardline elders lowered their heads at once.
Only Setsuna glared at Senya. Remembering how he'd mistaken Senya's silhouette for Uchiha Madara's earlier only made him angrier.
What a nasty little brat! He'd actually made an old man like me lose face!
Watching Senya, Fugaku felt his tension ease. It seemed there was another genius among the younger generation besides Itachi and Shisui, one he'd overlooked until now.
The clan members seated below felt ashamed too. They clenched their fists; some even wept and pounded their thighs, hating themselves for what they'd thought before.
"Uchiha Kura is broken, Uchiha Kota is broken..."
"39 people broken in total. Chakra increased by 10%."
Senya did the math. So, if he already had the talent, copying it only gave him a slight boost?
But this familiar state, this familiar feeling—everything was back! Senya was practically over the moon!!!
Sixteen years! He was finally experiencing this thrill again!
This was the very thrill that had led Senya, after retiring at sixty, to venture onto the internet and plan to become an online video creator. It was a shame he'd been forced to quit.
But now, everything was back!
Still, Senya wasn't just someone with a mean streak. Whenever he'd managed to get someone worked up in his previous life, he'd also use what he'd learned to offer them a new solution.
As the saying went, you couldn't build anew without first tearing down the old. If you didn't break someone's old way of thinking, how could you point them toward a new course?
As a "sunny, cheerful young man," Senya wasn't the sort to shirk responsibility. Except for those "trolls" from back then—they were nothing but spoiled babies whose lives had been far too easy.
So Senya could only be the first obstacle in their lives, letting them experience what a setback felt like.
Seeing that so few people had been rattled, Senya was about to put more pressure on the hardliners and hit them with something even harsher.
But then Yashiro of the doves spoke up.
Before you continue