Branch Family

In truth, Jin had known Akatsuki's location long ago, because Itachi's chakra marker had given them away. It was only that Jin currently lacked the time and ability to deal with them.

After sensing that Itachi and the other two had moved far away from the village, Jin returned to the clan. The ability to sense chakra markers had come from the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Under normal circumstances, Jin rarely used it, lest he expose his true strength.

The next day, the Uchiha Clan held a clan assembly. As clan head, Uchiha Fuchiu had invited the Third Hokage, Hiashi Hyuga, and the heads of the other major clans. The seats in the hall were filled. Jin and Sasuke were led in by their mother, Uchiha Mikoto.

"To make the Uchiha Clan even more prosperous and powerful, I have decided to divide the Uchiha Clan into two. When Itachi Uchiha defected, he killed most of our clansmen. As a result, the Uchiha Clan's population is now far smaller than before. In order for the Uchiha Clan to spread its branches and flourish, Uchiha Jin will lead the fifty most elite households of the clan to establish their own family, and they may design their own clan crest. The remaining clan members will continue to have Uchiha Sasuke inherit everything of the clan! Thank you all for bearing witness!" Uchiha Fuchiu announced to everyone.

Jin had long known that the clan would be divided, because both Sasuke and he had awakened the Sharingan at a young age. It was only that outsiders knew Sasuke had awakened his eyes at the age of two. Now, Uchiha Fuchiu was separating the two children to tell the Third Hokage, "I have divided my clan in two, so you no longer need to worry about me rebelling."

"I wonder how much of the assets Jin will receive?" Hiashi Hyuga asked. The Third Hokage and the other clan heads all gained a much better impression of Hiashi Hyuga, each thinking, What a good question! How incisive! Why hadn't we noticed Hiashi Hyuga's strengths before?

"As everyone knows, the Uchiha Clan made tremendous contributions to the construction of Konoha. Therefore, in order to ensure that the Uchiha Clan does not decline, Jin can only be considered the head of a branch family. However, they are still members of the clan, so they will receive thirty percent of the assets," Uchiha Fuchiu replied.

The Third Hokage nodded, thinking, This old fox calculated things quite precisely. That is exactly the bottom line I can accept. But after suffering this disaster, where will he find fifty elite households? If they had not split off, they would have remained a minor threat to Konoha. Now that he has given away thirty percent of the assets, that threat no longer exists.

My precious daughter actually got so much money. Heaven knows how much property that is! Although I made the wrong move back then, who could have expected that the old Third Hokage would not wipe out the Uchiha Clan? Still, mistakes have their advantages. It is just a pity about my clever eldest daughter—a flower stuck in a pile of cow dung! Hiashi Hyuga's eyes gleamed as he quietly made his calculations.

"Achoo!" Jin sneezed for no apparent reason.

The crowd began discussing the matter in private.

"Could that idiot and freeloader also be sickly? Poor child!"

"The Uchiha Clan truly has one disaster after another!"

"Look how terrible Hiashi Hyuga's expression is! He must be heartbroken over his precious daughter!"

"I have to explain this properly to my wife when I get home. We need to think carefully when choosing a future son-in-law!"

Jin looked around and muttered, "Damn it, someone must have been cursing me. Otherwise, there's no way I'd sneeze that hard. If I find out who it was, I'll curse him every day until he sneezes himself to death."

After everyone had left, Jin was taken to a courtyard, where he saw the fifty households assigned to follow him. Looking at them, Jin nearly cursed out loud, though his face still wore an innocent, clueless expression.

Uchiha Fuchiu looked at Jin and said, "Jin, from today onward, these people are entrusted to you. You must become a qualified clan head. Though you are still very young, I know your abilities will erupt in the future. That mysterious old man with the Mangekyō Sharingan will certainly help you. I have already learned of the character of Lanhui Zi and the other two, so I will entrust the thirty percent of assets assigned to you to their management. You may leave the clan without worry. As a descendant of the Uchiha Clan, you must face everything with strength!"

At that moment, Jin was staring blankly at those fifty households. As for everything Uchiha Fuchiu had said, it had all gone in one ear and out the other.

Fifty households! Truly fifty households! Every single one left with nothing but themselves. One person counted as one household. Worse still, none of those fifty people are over ten years old! Jin had been utterly defeated by the sight before him.

"This old fox, isn't he afraid Jin will take revenge once he grows up?" The Third Hokage smiled as he looked at the crystal ball.

"What! You mean that old fox Uchiha Fuchiu only gave that little brat Jin fifty Uchiha war orphans? I'm furious! Should I even marry Hinata off to him? Forget it! I'll think about it later!" Hiashi Hyuga roared in anger.

"Aunt Lanhui Zi, perhaps you already know that the clan has kicked me out. And now you're my chief financial officer, so from now on, all these dozens of people will be relying on you!" Jin said to Lanhui Zi with a smile.

"Do you mean that sincerely, little brat? You want to know how much property your father gave you, don't you?" Lanhui Zi seemed to have already seen through Jin's intentions.

"Then just tell me. How much cash and fixed property do I have?" Jin asked directly.

"Look at how impatient you are. I won't keep you in suspense. Everything he gave you is cash. Thirty million ryo in total. That's an enormous sum!" Meiko said in astonishment.

"Oh? That's quite a lot, isn't it?" Jin was startled by the number. He thought excitedly, Damn it, no matter how many lottery tickets I bought before, I never won. Even if I did, it would only be five million. Being a young master really is different—just splitting off from the family gets me thirty million!

"Stop being happy over there! You still have more than fifty households to support!" White cut in, shattering Jin's daydream.

"Damn! Fine, then! We'll first buy a large place, then build houses, training grounds, a cafeteria, and so on. We'll make these fifty households into ninjas, then have them take missions to earn money and support themselves. What do you think?"

"That works, but it seems your father left you a plot of land, along with houses, a cafeteria, training grounds..." Kimimaro added.

"Aunt Meiko, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Jin complained.

"You never asked! Come on, let's go take a look! Then we can recruit some people. How can such a big clan function without anyone?" Meiko had long since figured out Jin's temperament, deliberately emphasizing the words "such a big clan."

"Hehe, my clan will become Konoha's largest clan sooner or later. Didn't Father say I could design my own clan? What he really meant was that I had been struck from the Uchiha Clan's rolls, along with those fifty war orphans. Does he think I'm such a simple person? Let us form a super clan—a bloodline limit clan!" Jin loudly announced his plan.

Different stars appeared in the eyes of the three of them.

"People throughout the world fear the power of us bloodline limit users! They persecute us everywhere! Then we must unite and establish our own organization!" Jin continued.

"Good!" the three of them shouted in unison.