Ren turned his head toward the second elder on the platform, his expression mocking.
"A decision reached together?"
Ren strode forward, bearing down on the platform.
"Second elder, have you grown so old that you can't even think straight anymore?"
"Insolence!"
The second elder's eyes widened in fury.
"The insolent ones are you old fossils, holding offices and doing nothing to earn your keep!"
Ren's voice echoed through the spacious basement.
"Since Fugaku occupies the highest seat of authority in the Uchiha Clan, enjoying the loyalty and reverence of the entire clan, he should bear ultimate responsibility along with that power."
"No matter how many suggestions the Elders Council offers, isn't he the one who makes the final decision and gives the orders?"
"When things go wrong and disaster strikes, he drags out the Elders Council to hide behind. Is that how a Clan Leader should shoulder responsibility?"
The second elder flushed crimson, his mouth hanging open as he gasped for breath, unable to offer a single word in rebuttal.
He turned toward the other elders, only to find that those normally lofty figures all avoided his gaze, their heads lowered in speechless silence.
Ren gave them no chance to catch their breath.
He turned and directed his attack at the deathly pale Fugaku Uchiha.
"Since you've brought up the Elders Council's decisions, let's settle the score over your second great mistake!"
Ren raised two fingers.
"Relocating the clan grounds!"
At those words, every Uchiha present went pale.
The relocation of their clan grounds was the most painful scar on every Uchiha's heart.
"After the Nine-Tails' Attack, the Konoha Leadership used rebuilding the village as an excuse to force the Uchiha Clan into an isolated corner on the village outskirts."
Ren pressed him relentlessly, unable to contain the fury in his voice.
"The entire clan was outraged. How many people knelt outside your home, begging you to reject that utterly unreasonable demand?"
"But what did you do? You ignored the clan's fierce opposition and meekly obeyed the village's orders!"
Ren swung his arm up, pointing straight at Fugaku's nose.
"With that move, you completely excluded the Uchiha from Konoha's heart. You personally turned us into prisoners isolated on the village outskirts."
Fugaku clenched his fists and raised his head, roaring with bloodshot eyes.
"What do you know? The village had just been devastated by the Nine-Tails, and the leadership's suspicions of us had reached their peak!"
"ANBU and Root had already drawn their blades and pressed them against our throats."
"If I'd refused to relocate and openly gone to war with the leadership, the Uchiha would have faced annihilation!"
"I did it to preserve the family! We weren't strong enough then. We could only endure the humiliation and plan for the long term."
"Endure the humiliation? Plan for the long term?"
At Fugaku's defense, Ren burst into laughter, the sound full of sorrow and scorn.
"Fugaku, you're hopelessly stupid!"
Ren stopped laughing and rebuked him sharply.
"You thought backing down would earn the leadership's pity? You thought compromising would prove the Uchiha's innocence?"
"You were wrong! Completely wrong!"
"Your spineless concessions, with no line you refused to cross, only convinced Danzo and the leadership that the Uchiha were a bunch of weaklings they could bully!"
Ren swept his gaze over the room, his voice deafening.
"After you relocated, did the oppression stop?"
"No! They only became worse!"
"They cut the Military Police Force's funding, restricted our access to missions, and even allowed the villagers to insult us however they pleased."
"This is what your so-called endurance bought us. You trampled the family's dignity underfoot, only to have our enemies weaken and humiliate us even more viciously."
Among the crowd, the clan members who had once supported Fugaku all wore looks of dawning realization.
As if waking from a dream, they recalled everything they had endured over the past few years. It was exactly as Ren had said.
Since their relocation to the outskirts, the village's oppression had not eased at all. Instead, it had only intensified.
"Lord Ren is right..."
An elderly clan member spoke, his eyes reddening.
"Ever since we moved to the outskirts, our standing in the village has plummeted. Even when we go to buy vegetables, those civilian merchants roll their eyes at us!"
"We're the proud Uchiha, one of Konoha's founding clans! Why should we be treated like dogs too weak to fight back?"
The proud Uchiha clan members were thoroughly fired up.
Pride ran in their blood. They could never accept being treated as weak, helpless playthings by the village leadership.
Even Uchiha Yashiro and Uchiha Inabi, once among Fugaku's staunchest supporters, were completely shaken.
As they looked at Fugaku, the respect and loyalty once in their eyes gave way to disappointment.
"Clan Leader... you've truly let us down."
Yashiro gritted his teeth and closed his eyes in anguish.
He finally understood that the Clan Leader he had always served was the very man pushing the family, step by step, toward the abyss.
Everyone's resentment toward Fugaku erupted, impossible to contain any longer.
The entire basement of Naka Shrine filled with accusations and angry curses directed at Fugaku. The momentum to impeach him at the clan meeting had fully taken shape and could no longer be reversed.
Fugaku slumped in his chair, his expression utterly wretched.
He stared at the furious eyes below him.
He believed he had compromised for peace between the family and the village, believed he had borne all the blame, yet no one understood how helpless he had been.
"Why... why can't any of you understand what I was trying to do...?"
Fugaku murmured in anguish.
Watching Fugaku's devastated expression, Ren gave him no chance to recover and went straight to the most decisive issue of today's clan meeting.
"Past mistakes have brought us to today's desperate situation. Now, let's discuss the present."
Ren turned and swept his gaze over the room before fixing it on Fugaku.
"Fugaku, since you still occupy the Clan Leader's seat, I'll ask you the most pressing question facing our family."
Ren's voice was low.
"What exactly is your stance on the armed coup our clan members have been planning in secret?"
The question plunged the entire basement into silence.
Every gaze converged on Fugaku.
Over a hundred pairs of scarlet Sharingan watched him, waiting for his final decision.
Within the Uchiha Family, the radicals had grown more powerful than ever.
More than two-thirds of the clan favored seizing power by force and completely overthrowing the Konoha Leadership.
Fugaku's forehead was drenched, cold sweat trickling down his cheeks.
He understood the situation all too well.
If he dared utter a single word of refusal now, these thoroughly enraged clan members would tear him to pieces.
He would lose every last bit of support and become a leader with no one left to command.
To salvage the last of his dignity,
and to gain the support of those more than two-thirds of the clan, Fugaku gritted his teeth and stood.
"I... I support the coup!"
Fugaku announced it loudly, his voice echoing through the basement.
The moment he finished speaking, the radical clan members erupted in deafening cheers.
"Wonderful! The Clan Leader has finally made up his mind!"
"Kill the Konoha Leadership and reclaim our glory!"
"Long live the Uchiha!"
The radicals were ecstatic, waving their fists with crazed killing intent on their faces.
Yet in a corner of the crowd, Uchiha Shisui and Itachi Uchiha lowered their heads at the same time, their expressions filled with profound disappointment.
They knew the depth of Konoha's strength. They knew a coup was a road of no return, with no chance of survival.
Fugaku's declaration was tantamount to pushing the family into the abyss of destruction with his own hands.
Just as the radicals celebrated, Ren suddenly let out a cold laugh.
"You support the coup?"
Ren looked at Fugaku and made a shocking declaration.
"But I am firmly opposed to it!"
An uproar erupted!
The entire room burst into an outcry, every cheer cutting off abruptly.
The radicals stared at Ren with wide eyes, stunned.
"Ren! What do you mean?!"
Inabi angrily drew his Ninja Blade and pointed it at Ren, rebuking him harshly.
"You just tore into the leadership and condemned the Clan Leader as utterly worthless, and now you're saying you oppose the coup? Are you going to follow his example and weakly back down too?"
"That's right! What right do you have to oppose it?"
"We've been oppressed for so long! Are we supposed to keep putting up with it?"
Facing their furious accusations, Ren did not retreat a single step. Instead, he stepped forward.
Overwhelmingly violent chakra erupted from his body, its almost tangible pressure making the air throughout the basement hum.
The forty-three three tomoe elites behind him also stepped forward together. Forty-three pairs of scarlet eyes blazed with terrifying killing intent, suppressing the uproar.
"All of you, shut up!"
Ren silenced them with a sharp shout, then pointed at the clamoring radicals and sneered.
"You worthless trash think you can launch a coup? Do you think the Konoha Leadership is made of paper?"
"With the Uchiha's pitiful strength right now, you couldn't even get past ANBU and Root, never mind the Ino-Shika-Cho and the Hyuga clan still in the village."
"You wouldn't be staging a coup. You'd be leading the entire clan to its death!"
His mockery enraged everyone present.
"Who are you calling worthless trash?!"
"Ren, you're far too arrogant!"
Ignoring the clan members' furious shouts, Ren turned his head. His gaze pierced the crowd and settled on the figure who had remained silent in the corner.
"Shisui."
Ren looked at Uchiha Shisui.
"Where do you stand?"
Before you continue