Chapter 11

"What, nothing to explain?"

The lid half covered the cup, and wisps of steam curled up from its rim. Uchiha Madara's lowered eyes seemed all the more indistinct through the haze.

"I gave you seven days to reflect on your actions. What have you come up with?"

The man kneeling across from him stammered but said nothing.

"Who besides me could stop Senju Hashirama? Or do you think you could? A man like that went to the Land of Lightning, yet your Intelligence Gathering Department didn't get so much as a scrap of information. If the Uchiha are wiped out one day, I suppose all I'll be able to do is help bury you, won't I?"

Uchiha Etsu's face was pale, and he lowered his head even further. "It was my mistake. I ask the clan head to punish me."

"Punishment is meaningless. Think carefully about how you'll make up for it!"

"And you, Second Elder?" Madara turned his head and said coldly. "Tell me your reasons. You consider yourself exceptionally gifted and wise, Second Elder. I'm sure you can give me a good explanation."

Uchiha Tai bowed slightly in apology. "It was my oversight."

"An oversight? Oh? From a few clues, the Second Elder was able to deduce that there was infighting among the Hyuga leadership. You learned the exact details about Senju Tobirama that very morning. With judgment like that, you didn't truly fail to consider certain possibilities, did you? Otherwise, I wouldn't have 'happened' to run into Senju Hashirama, would I? Hah. Talent is hard to come by, but perhaps I've been too indulgent with you."

For the first time, Uchiha Madara spoke so bluntly. Shedding his usual tact, he cut straight to the heart of the matter with unusual sharpness. "When you hold a position, fulfill its duties. Don't meddle in things you shouldn't. It's your mind I value most. You should understand that."

Otherwise, with Uchiha Tai's ability to awaken only a Two-Tomoe Sharingan, he would never have made it to the position of Second Elder.

Uchiha Tai coughed a few times, looking ill at ease.

"Being clever is a good thing, but don't be too clever." Madara's sharp gaze swept over him. "You don't look like you've gone that far yet. If you ever truly lose your wits with age, the wise thing for the Second Elder to do would be to step down and make way for someone more capable. That would be the best way to repay my appreciation for you."

Uchiha Tai fell silent for a moment, then suddenly said, "We must break the deadlock. My lord, your stance toward us is too ambiguous."

Uchiha Etsu, standing to the side, looked puzzled.

Madara understood. "Good. You're not confused yet. Then do you remember what I said on my first day as clan head? The clan head holds authority. The elders may make suggestions and raise objections, but I do not accept opposition." His gaze fixed on Tai, cold beyond words. "I know everything you've mentioned. You may ask questions, and you may carry out orders, but who gave you the right to act on your own behind my back?"

Uchiha Tai finally lowered his head. "I overstepped."

A warning wave of killing intent swept toward them. The two men across from Madara trembled uncontrollably, sweat soaking through their backs. Uchiha Tai nearly lost control and revealed his Sharingan. Madara withdrew his pressure and returned to his usual calm expression. "This is the only time. Don't let it happen again."

He'd almost forgotten that this was a world where strength reigned supreme. Looking at the two men who now stood obediently before him, he began to reflect: had he been too gentle in handling things? Was that why the Hyuga Clan and his own elders thought they could bargain with him?

"Who's in charge of the Land of Wind?"

Uchiha Etsu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The clan head was finally acting like himself again! "Uchiha Soshu."

"Remove him. Take over the matter yourself and make up for your mistake."

Then he turned to Uchiha Tai. "As for you, you'll forfeit three months' salary. Go to Min Yue and accept your punishment."

The covered walkways in the inner compound wound back and forth, cool and quiet. Sunlight dappled the path through the canopy overhead, and the climbing wisteria was already dotted with little purple buds.

It was a lovely view, but neither of the men walking side by side was in the mood to admire it.

Uchiha Etsu was younger, after all, and couldn't keep his impatience in check. "What exactly have you been hiding?"

Uchiha Tai had his hands tucked into his sleeves. "Half the clan's external affairs pass through your hands. You know the state of the clan as well as anyone."

Uchiha Etsu was publicly responsible for the clan's finances and secretly handled intelligence gathering as well, so of course he knew their current situation. Since Uchiha Madara had formally taken charge of the Uchiha, the clan had advanced by leaps and bounds. In the third year, they gained complete control over the Land of Lightning. In the fifth, they began steering the world's affairs in the direction they wanted. By the seventh, they had forced the most powerful nation, the Land of Fire, to yield, and the Senju Clan's momentum had been curbed along with it. In terms of vision, wisdom, understanding of people, and strength, Uchiha Madara was flawless—unprecedented in history.

In recent years, the Uchiha's influence had penetrated every field, far beyond what a shinobi clan needed to manage. Though they didn't know the exact goal, the clan's upper echelons could sense that Uchiha Madara had great ambitions. Since his plans seemed to benefit the clan, they had all given him their full support.

But the clan had previously been nothing but a shinobi clan, and it couldn't change overnight. Its system was too closed; its education emphasized martial arts and neglected scholarship, focusing single-mindedly on developing physical prowess. That might have been enough for combat strength, but the clan was severely short of the economists, strategists, military experts, researchers, and other specialists it needed in practice. As it expanded its influence, it often found itself stretched too thin and had no choice but to recruit people whose loyalty could not be fully guaranteed.

On the surface, the Uchiha Clan was powerful, but beneath that lay a tremendous hidden crisis. And with the Senju Clan entrenched in the north, the Uchiha's expansion in that direction was obstructed. Even though Uchiha Madara's maneuvering had forced the Land of Fire to retreat, it had only retreated.

The clan's development had reached a bottleneck.

There was a way to resolve the crisis. The option that offered the greatest gains with the least damage was to expand their influence, maintaining the clan's momentum and thereby ensuring the loyalty of everyone within its system of interests. Then, time could expose the system's shortcomings, allowing them to gradually weed people out until their influence was firmly established. To accomplish this, the Uchiha had to move north, and the Senju Clan stood squarely in their path.

Time. What they needed most was time!

If they couldn't break through the bottleneck and the Uchiha's development stagnated, the entire system might collapse.

Fortune favored the bold. Success meant survival; failure meant death.

Those who handled the clan's affairs could see these circumstances most clearly. And as one of the few clever people, Uchiha Tai thought further ahead than others—and was more cautious and troubled by worry.

Uchiha Etsu pressed his lips together, displeased. "That's not what I asked."

"On the day of the Spring Festival, the clan head met Senju Hashirama in Muyun City."

Uchiha Etsu was shocked. "You arranged it?!" The Senju clan head had been on Uchiha territory, and the clan hadn't known a thing. No wonder the clan head was so angry.

"I'm not that capable." Uchiha Tai shook his head. "...All right, I did have a hand in it. I had no choice but to test the waters. It shouldn't have come to this, but should we win over the Senju, suppress them, or use them? My lord has not only delayed taking action, he hasn't made his stance clear. That has a serious impact on our next steps."

"Whatever the reason, deliberately withholding intelligence is a grave offense!" Uchiha Etsu lowered his voice.

"We're responsible for the whole clan, not just thugs who blindly carry out orders," Uchiha Tai said. "The elders oversee various affairs. We're both aides and checks on the clan head. For the sake of the clan, we have to understand his position."

"I believe in Lord Madara." He didn't say "clan head"—he said it because he was Uchiha Madara.

Uchiha Tai sighed. "Forget it. I suppose I worried too much."