Uchiha Compound
In the ancient assembly hall, Sora was so heavy it seemed one could wring water from it.
Portraits of clan leaders throughout the generations hung from the high rafters. At the very center was a space left for Sora—a blank, Haku, reserved for the next leader.
Today, this place would decide whose name would fill that spot.
The people in the hall were clearly divided into two factions.
On the left sat the Dove Faction led by Kagami Uchiha, along with the younger generation that supported reform, all sitting upright.
Kagami had deliberately worn a dark formal robe embroidered with an exquisite clan crest today. His expression was calm, but the tight line of his lips revealed how seriously he took this.
Beside him sat several promising middle-aged and younger members who had distinguished themselves in the Police Force reforms, as well as some pragmatic elders who had recognized the clan's predicament.
On the right was the Hawk Faction, centered around Elder Yusuke.
Elder Yusuke's face was gloomy, his brows streaked with Haku and tightly furrowed. Behind him gathered clan members who insisted on "Uchiha supremacy" and were most resistant to policies encouraging integration into Konoha.
Most of them were elderly, while others were radical young shinobi who believed clan glory should stand above all else.
The current clan leader, a weary middle-aged man with Haku-streaked temples, sat in the seat of honor at the front of the hall. Looking at the tense confrontation below, his heart was filled with complicated emotions.
The election meeting had been charged with the smell of gunpowder from the very beginning.
Elder Yusuke struck first. Rather than nominating himself directly, he put forward an older Hawk Faction elder—conservative in thought but relatively mild in temperament—as a candidate.
He launched into an impassioned