The voice, cold with fury, made everyone shudder in unison. Their gazes turned toward Fugaku Uchiha at the same time.
Fugaku Uchiha's face immediately fell. Even if he was no longer the clan head, there was no need to use him as an example, was there?
"Don't look at him. He bears responsibility, but are all of you here really so blameless?"
"At the very least, each of you bears forty percent of the responsibility."
"The clan can obey one person, but it must never become one person's clan."
"Don't think I don't know that some of you have already started siding with outsiders, dreaming of becoming the Hokage's dogs."
At those words, Fugaku Uchiha could no longer maintain his expression. He looked up in disbelief.
I already gave you the clan head position, and you still keep dragging me out to flog my corpse. At least I'm your cousin.
Uchiha Kyu ignored the resentful look in Fugaku Uchiha's eyes.
What's wrong with saying a few words to him? If I hadn't traveled here, the Uchiha Clan would have been wiped out.
"I can let bygones be bygones regarding your crimes, but if I discover anyone betraying the clan and selling it out again, I will never forgive him. The clan will never forgive his entire family either."
Uchiha Kyu warned the turncoats present. Traitors were the most detestable of all.
Those who already had guilty consciences did not dare raise their heads. Their hearts were filled with unease.
"Now that I am taking over as clan head, who supports me? Who opposes me?"
"I swear to serve the clan head to the death."
Uchiha Kage was the first to kneel on one knee, pressing his fist to his chest as he loudly pledged his allegiance.
"I swear to serve the clan head to the death."
Huo Uchiha and the others shouted in unison, their voices surging with momentum.
The uneasy clan members exchanged glances, not knowing what to do for a moment.
However, some of the more quick-witted ones seized the opportunity. Without hesitation, they knelt on one knee and loudly pledged their allegiance.
Once someone had set the precedent, the others scrambled to swear allegiance to the clan head.
Fugaku Uchiha stared blankly at the scene. Back when he had still been the clan head, these people had never worn such faces.
Where did those ugly expressions go—the ones filled with righteous indignation as they demanded this and that from me?
"Is this the voice that power gives you?"
Uchiha Itachi silently compared his father with his older cousin. The contrast gave him a sudden understanding of what power meant.
Uchiha Kyu's gaze swept over the clan members pledging allegiance. He knew that some of them were not truly submitting, but were merely being coerced by the tide of events.
But that was enough. Completely taking control of the Uchiha was only a matter of time.
"Now, in the name of the clan head, I will issue my first official order."
"From this moment on, no clan member is allowed to take a single step outside the compound until the restriction is lifted."
"Understood."
The clan meeting was simple. Uchiha Kyu did not issue many orders, merely forbidding the clan members from leaving the compound.
After all, he had thrown Konoha into complete chaos. Many clans had been slaughtered by his hand, and most clan members who went out would likely never return.
This was all thanks to the turncoats within those clans. Otherwise, he could never have obtained so much intelligence on them, much less effortlessly eliminated most of their younger generation.
Nothing bred turncoats more easily than profit, especially the turncoats in the Sarutobi Clan, who had betrayed a large amount of clan intelligence because they wanted to rise to power.
This was also a major reason Uchiha Kyu had paid a high price to hire the Akatsuki and successfully bloodbath the Sarutobi Clan.
Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately learned that the Uchiha Compound had been placed under lockdown.
Uchiha Kyu slept more soundly than ever that night, but Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others could not sleep at all.
The Uchiha Clan had thrown Konoha into complete chaos.
Compensation for damaged houses, relief for civilian casualties, relief for shinobi casualties, lists of the dead and wounded from every clan, and so on all needed to be handled by Konoha's leadership.
What gave Minato Namikaze and Hiruzen Sarutobi the biggest headache was not these matters, but the fact that the clans targeted by the Uchiha had joined forces and planned to surround and destroy them.
The people most eager to agree were Konoha's leaders.
The people least able to agree were also Konoha's leaders.
There was only one reason: the Uchiha Clan possessed two pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan. Once war broke out, it would be impossible to destroy the Uchiha Clan in a short time.
If the other nations' shinobi villages learned of the internal strife, the disastrous consequences alone were enough to make Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others' scalps go numb.
Yet they could not simply refuse. The pressure from the clans joining forces was more than Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others could bear.
Although the Hokage's faction had trained a large number of civilian shinobi, the clans remained the most important part of Konoha's main structure.
Once Konoha lost the support of these shinobi clans, what awaited it was easy to imagine.
"This act of sowing discord means this child absolutely cannot be allowed to live."
Exhausted, Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair and gazed at the moon outside the window, letting out a deep sigh.
Hiruzen Sarutobi promised the clan heads countless benefits before barely managing to suppress their dissatisfaction.
"Lord Third, should we bring Jiraiya-sensei and Lady Tsunade back?"
For the first time, Minato Namikaze felt powerless and unusually began to question his own abilities.
"Send the Anbu to look for them."
"Understood, Lord Third."
Early the next morning, white funeral streamers hung from every household along Konoha's streets.
Some civilians had died after being caught in the fires. More had been killed by people trying to take advantage of the chaos and profit from the disaster. Human nature was truly sinister.
But Uchiha Kyu did not care about any of this. So what if some people died? There were plenty of civilians in the Land of Fire who wanted to move to Konoha.
"These are all clan affairs that the clan head needs to handle. If there is anything you don't understand, you can send someone to ask me."
Fugaku Uchiha personally carried confidential clan documents to Uchiha Kyu's home, worried that his young cousin would not know how to handle them.
"Don't you hate me?"
Uchiha Kyu casually flipped through the confidential documents, then raised his eyes toward Fugaku Uchiha, who stood obediently before him.
A hint of relief appeared on Fugaku Uchiha's already troubled face. He gave a bitter laugh.
"To be honest, I did at first."
"But after last night's meeting, I suddenly understood. Perhaps if I continued occupying the position of clan head, I really would have pushed the Uchiha into an abyss."
Fugaku Uchiha took a deep breath and faced his true feelings. He said honestly, "At least up until now, you have been right."
After saying that, Fugaku Uchiha saw Uchiha Kyu rise and extend a hand toward him.
"Since you think I'm right, then I invite you to help me. You won't refuse, will you, Cousin?"
The sorrow on Fugaku Uchiha's face vanished completely. A smile he had not shown in many years appeared as he firmly grasped that hand.
That handshake was like a duckweed drifting in the water finally reaching the shore.
"Cousin, we are family. Whatever you need, I will always be the first to charge ahead. I will never retreat."
"Good. It's a deal."
"Then I will leave the clan affairs to you."
"From today onward, we will establish a new position beneath the clan head: clan head's assistant. You will be responsible for helping the clan head handle clan affairs."
Uchiha Kyu smiled and patted his shoulder. This arrangement should suit Fugaku perfectly.
"I'll leave things here to you. I'm heading out first."
"You..."
Fugaku Uchiha turned around, only to find that Uchiha Kyu had already vanished.
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