Pacifists, You Think You Won't Get Roasted?

"Elder Setsuna, Senya's already said everything I wanted to say."

"With the clan's strength as it is now, a coup would be nothing but a joke."

"Didn't the Battle of Yomi teach you enough last time?"

"I can't believe you didn't learn your lesson. You've only gotten worse. Are you trying to bring about the end of the Uchiha Clan in this generation!?"

Uchiha Yashiro sipped his tea and spoke sarcastically.

Setsuna snatched up the teacup beside him and smashed it on the floor.

His body shook with rage. Speechless with fury, he pointed at Yashiro.

The clan members below didn't dare speak in that atmosphere. It was true that Senya's words had been harsh, but even if the truth was hard to hear, he wasn't wrong.

Elder Yashiro had suddenly said something like that—wasn't he stealing Senya's thunder? Senya had never joined any faction in the clan.

Senya had been standing up, ready to keep lecturing the likes of Elder Setsuna.

He hadn't expected an elder from the pacifist faction to be so shameless as to say that, making it look like Senya was speaking on their behalf.

Who was Senya? He wasn't about to let that slide.

"What do you mean, 'I said everything you wanted to say'? Does being an elder mean you can act however you please and twist the facts? If that's what you wanted to say, why didn't you say it yourself? If you can't come up with words like that, don't take credit for them."

"Just look at the mess you've made. You still have the nerve to call yourselves pacifists? You sent Itachi and Shisui to the Anbu, hoping Hiruzen would throw our clan a few scraps and reconcile the clan with the village?"

"So, have relations between the clan and the village improved? That's your brilliant plan? Very impressive. You gave two geniuses away to serve as the Anbu's dogs, brainwashed them until their heads were full of the Will of Fire, and made them care only about the village, without giving a thought to the clan!!"

"Elder Yashiro, did Danzo pay you off? When have the Uchiha ever had to rely on someone else's charity? Our clan has always conquered through its own strength! Strength is the foundation of our clan—not bowing and crawling before others like dogs! Where's your Uchiha pride!!?"

The situation suddenly turned around. Elder Yashiro flushed with anger, his blood boiling as he pointed at Senya and cursed him.

"At least our way can save the lives of our clan members! The Uchiha aren't what they used to be!"

"Ever since Uchiha Madara left the clan and the village, not one person has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan all these years!"

"While Tobirama was in office, he restricted our clan, but at least he wasn't so extreme. Now Hiruzen is in office, and that old scoundrel Danzo is still watching us from the shadows."

"Our clan's situation is growing more dangerous by the day! What else can we do but bow our heads? Who wants to see their clansmen die? You're so good with words—why don't you come up with a way to set the clan on the right path!!"

Elder Yashiro's words voiced the feelings of the pacifist clan members.

Awakening or evolving the Sharingan required intense emotional stimulation. Some people experienced sorrow, some hatred, and others the fear of being in mortal danger.

The pacifists had all experienced the loss of someone they loved. They didn't want to see such scenes happen again.

That was why they had always opposed the warmongers. Even if it meant bowing their heads and abandoning their dignity and honor, they wanted the "loved ones" still alive to keep living!

As a fellow Uchiha, Senya naturally understood the pacifists' thinking. But there was no denying that this was one of the Sharingan's negative effects: it made a person's thinking narrow in certain ways.

As the Sharingan evolved and its ocular power grew, one's thoughts became increasingly extreme, either too impulsive or too pessimistic.

But Senya was different. In his previous life, he had been through too many entanglements of love, hate, and grudges. With nearly ninety years of experience across two lives, he had long since learned to control his thoughts and judge things rationally.

He was a new kind of Uchiha. He could distinguish love from hate without letting his emotions cloud his thinking.

After hearing Elder Yashiro's words, Senya picked up where he'd left off.

"I can only say that you pacifists are far too naive. What makes you think that if the Uchiha just bow their heads to the village, all these conflicts will be resolved?"

"Do you still think the Hokage is Tobirama Senju? Isn't the Senju Clan the perfect example? Hashirama thought that disbanding the clan and becoming civilians would resolve the conflict between the clan and ordinary people."

"And what happened? During the Second Shinobi World War, the Senju Clan's members died on the battlefield! Aside from Tsunade, do you think she'd still be alive if her grandfather weren't a daimyo and she weren't Hiruzen Sarutobi's student!?"

"If the clan wants to survive, it absolutely cannot do so by barely clinging to life! Without enough strength, everything else is empty talk! Abandoning your dignity just to survive will only drag the clan into the mire and lead it step by step toward its death!!!"

The clan meeting fell silent once again. It was true: the Hokage in office now wasn't Tobirama Senju, but his student Hiruzen Sarutobi. He didn't have Tobirama's breadth of vision. Otherwise, the clan wouldn't have ended up in such a dire predicament, targeted from every direction.

And that was without even mentioning Danzo, who was constantly working against them in secret.

Only then did everyone realize just how dire the clan's situation had become. Whether they staged a coup or submitted to the Third, they couldn't avoid the clan's destruction. The only difference was how soon it came.

Uchiha Dayi's mental defenses shattered, Uchiha Nantong's mental defenses shattered...

A total of 32 people's mental defenses shattered. Sharingan ocular power increased by 10%.

The system reported the gains from this time. The increase was pretty good; ocular power was much harder to raise than chakra.

Fugaku kept tapping the table with his fingers as he pondered. He had long understood all this, which was why he'd constantly weighed the warmongers against the pacifists, trying to maintain a balance within the clan.

It was under his guidance that the neutral faction, led by him, had emerged.

Just then, someone from the pacifist faction spoke from below.

"Uchiha Senya, are you saying that no matter what, the Uchiha are doomed to meet their end sooner or later?"

His words immediately sparked discussion among the crowd.

"So there really isn't any way out for us..."

"Looks like our Uchiha Clan is going to follow in the Senju Clan's footsteps."

"Damn it, I'd rather die in battle than die so miserably!"

Senya was floored by how quickly these clan members changed their tune. They changed their minds faster than his ex-girlfriends in his previous life. Was this what it meant to be an Uchiha...?

Just then, Fugaku slammed his palm down on the table.

"Enough! The purpose of this clan meeting is to find a way for the clan to survive and to find hope!"

"What good is being pessimistic all the time?"

"The Uchiha aren't reckless fools! And we're not cowards!"

"I believe we'll find a way!"

Fugaku's words rekindled hope in the clan members' eyes. That was right. As long as they had the clan head leading them, they'd surely find the right way forward.

But Senya didn't know what to say anymore. This was bad. The clan's shit-stirrer was pouring poisonous motivational syrup down everyone's throats again...