Please, Elder, Address Me as Vice Clan Head

Inside the clan grounds.

Fugaku led Hayato directly toward the shrine.

"Send word to convene a clan meeting."

The squad leaders following behind offered no objections and immediately set off to relay the order.

Hayato followed him into the shrine. Once Fugaku sat in the main seat, he patted the spot beside him and said, "Sit here."

Hayato raised an eyebrow; the seating arrangements were strictly fixed.

At the very least, even the clan elders were not qualified to sit in the position below Fugaku.

Hayato did not refuse. He sat down directly; if he wanted to accomplish things, he had to possess the corresponding position and authority.

Relying solely on the Mangekyo would not be enough.

As time passed, the clansmen arrived one after another. When the elders saw this scene, they did not immediately voice their doubts; after exchanging glances, they simply went to their respective seats and sat down.

Fugaku kept his eyes closed, maintaining the same posture he had held since their return.

"Clan Head, all the clan's ninja have arrived," Uchiha Yakumi said after confirming that everyone was present.

"Good."

Hearing this, Fugaku opened his eyes and swept his gaze across the clansmen one by one.

"I am announcing one thing at this meeting: Uchiha Hayato will serve as Vice Clan Head, leading all future clan affairs, while I will assist him."

The moment Fugaku spoke, the entire shrine erupted.

He had announced the appointment directly, without asking for anyone's opinion.

The three elders exchanged glances, and Yashiro was the first to lose his composure. "Hayato, I heard you have awakened the Mangekyo. Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, the clansmen who were still in the dark began to stir, though the members of the Police Force remained silent.

They were the ones who had witnessed Hayato reveal his Mangekyo with their own eyes, and that sight remained deeply etched in their minds.

Everyone's gaze shifted to Hayato, their eyes filled with irrepressible excitement.

Regarding Fugaku's arrangement, Hayato knew that based on seniority alone, he would have had no chance; he could only rely on strength.

Therefore, when he opened his eyes again, the Three-Tomoe in his pupils gradually transformed into the pattern of the Mangekyo, followed by the cold, unique chakra characteristic of the Uchiha clan spreading throughout the hall.

"Good! Good! Heaven bless the Uchiha clan!"

Yashiro and the other elders burst into loud laughter, their voices filled with the joy of knowing the Uchiha were not destined for extinction.

"Since Hayato has the Mangekyo, I support him becoming Vice Clan Head!" Yashiro was the first to express his approval. The Uchiha clan valued strength above all else, and Yashiro, a member of the hardline faction, saw this as a positive sign.

Following Yashiro's words, the young and middle-aged Uchiha voiced their agreement.

They were the backbone of the hardline faction and were unwilling to be suppressed by Konoha any longer.

"Quiet." Seeing the excitement of his clansmen, Fugaku spoke up to suppress the noise in the hall. He then looked at Hayato beside him and said, "Hayato, you shall preside over the rest of this meeting."

"Yes, Clan Head."

Hayato stood up immediately and bowed to Fugaku.

The position of second-in-command was exactly what he wanted. The one holding the blade did not need to stand in the spotlight; by becoming Vice Clan Head with Fugaku acting as his shield, he could accomplish much more.

Besides, Fugaku likely made this arrangement because he felt Hayato was still too young.

Fugaku still needed to provide a safety net for him.

"Respected elders, fellow clansmen, my first act upon taking this position as Vice Clan Head is to confirm a direction with all of you."

Hayato scanned the room and said, word by word, "From this day forward, there shall be no more talk of 'rebellion' within the clan."

These words were like a stone thrown into a pond, and the entire shrine erupted into chaos once more.

"What are you saying?" Yashiro, who had been grinning, froze and stood up abruptly. "Kid! You've only just become Vice Clan Head, and you're already telling us to shut up!"

"Please, Elder, address me as Vice Clan Head," Hayato said, his eyelids lifting slightly as he spoke in a flat tone.

Choking on his anger, Yashiro pointed a trembling finger at Hayato, his face turning beet red. The two elders beside him also moved to stand up.

Hayato raised a hand to stop them. "I say this because the Uchiha does not need this voice, nor can it afford to have it."

"Because we, the Uchiha, need to take a different path."

"A different path?" Inabi sneered. "What path haven't we tried over these years? And what has been the village's response? Since the Night of the Nine-Tails, we have been kept like livestock within these clan grounds!"

"Elders, I ask you: if we were to rebel now, what are our chances of success?"

Yashiro and the others were stunned and couldn't help but look at Hayato, though the meaning in the young man's eyes was clear: do not factor his Mangekyo into the equation.

To this question, no one could provide an answer.

Hayato pressed on, "Thirty percent? Or fifty?"

The question carried a clear sense of belittlement, causing the expressions of the elders and the core members of the Uchiha to darken. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean that your own reactions prove that you yourselves know exactly what the odds of a rebellion are."

"However, how many clan meetings have been held over these years? What results have you actually reached in the end? Nothing! Even a clansman like me, who rarely participates, knows you are all arguing about how to rebel, so I ask—"

"What does the emergence of this talk of rebellion actually gain the Uchiha clan?"

"Do we want the village to fear us? Are we handing them the blade ourselves, just waiting for the day the Uchiha are wiped out?"

"Today's farce is already proof of this. We are going to the Third Hokage ourselves to demand our innocence—is it because you don't want to rebel?"

"No, it's because you aren't prepared, or rather, you yourselves have no confidence!"

Silence.

Not just the clan elders, but even the captains of the Police Force were the same.

When Hayato first revealed his Mangekyo, they should have been shouting about the Uchiha clan rising in rebellion.

Yet, when Hayato proposed they all head to the Hokage Building together, not a single person objected.

Yashiro took several deep breaths, "Then tell us, if we don't rebel, what should we do?"

"This village was founded by our clan's Uchiha Madara and the First Hokage. Our clan can be considered half the masters of Konoha. What we must do is reclaim that status and those rights."

"How truly young—"

"Shut up!" Fugaku spoke up. "Today, in the Hokage Office, when Danzo was pressing us step by step, it was the 'young man' you speak of who stood up to defend the Uchiha clan."

"Furthermore, Hayato is right. He is the Vice Clan Head, and this is a clan meeting. Elder, please mind the occasion."

Yashiro's face turned from green to white in an instant.

After Fugaku finished speaking, he looked back at Hayato and said, "Hayato, continue."

Hayato nodded slightly, meeting everyone's gaze as he spoke, "Before we can achieve this, there is much we need to do."

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Hayato, and some even wore expressions similar to Shisui's.

"What did the village rely on to stir up these rumors this time?"