Let me ask you something: whose Konoha is it?

"Clan Head!"

"Clan Head—"

Inside the Secret Chamber.

Voices rang out one after another.

Shinji pressed his fingers against his eye sockets. He still wasn't sure whether he had fallen under genjutsu. After all, genjutsu was always hard to guard against.

Only when Shisui rested a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Shinji, you won!" did he begin to believe it.

At the same time.

The notification chimes for his system rewards sounded in his ears.

[Main quest: become the Uchiha Clan's Clan Head completed. Reward: Purple Chest ×1]

[Challenge: defeat Uchiha Fugaku once completed. Reward: 100 gold coins.]

[Periodic side quest settlement unlocked: current clan prosperity: 800. Reward: 300 gold coins!]

[Main quest phase two unlocked: create your own organization (long-term)]

Reward: Blue Treasure Chest—Crimson Gold Treasure Chest (reward varies based on factors including the aesthetic appeal of the organization's name, its location, its renown, its strength, and its influence. Quest rewards may be claimed at any time)]

Note: rewards may only be claimed once!

PS: as a proud Uchiha, how could you abandon your ancestors' tradition of badass villain leadership? Create your own faction and let the shinobi world feel the pain of hauling rice!

Shinji came back to his senses.

He frowned at Uchiha Fugaku. "Uncle Fugaku... your ocular power?"

Fugaku struggled to his feet. "You awakened those eyes and gained ocular power like that, yet you never told me... were you trying to humiliate me in front of the clan?"

Mangekyō Sharingan?

You're really overthinking this. I simply overwhelmed you with ocular power.

"...I just didn't expect your ocular power to be so patheti—"

Shinji chose not to explain, and Fugaku's murderous glare stopped the rest of his sentence.

Fugaku sighed and patted Shinji's shoulder. "Now there's no question that you deserve the title of the clan's strongest."

"Go on. Make your first declaration as Clan Head. From now on, the entire burden of this clan will rest on your shoulders!"

Shinji nodded.

He turned to face everyone.

Below him, the older generation wore complicated expressions, filled with amazement but also a trace of doubt. They worried that Shinji's youthful recklessness would lead the Uchiha even further astray.

After all.

This was a young man who could say, "Kill the Third."

They wanted the Uchiha to turn their fortunes around, not launch an armed coup in a fit of hotheadedness!

The younger generation had no political considerations at all. They understood only one thing.

Clan Head Fugaku possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, yet Shinji Uchiha had still defeated him!

The Uchiha!

The strong reigned supreme!

From that moment on, whatever the younger Uchiha had thought before, they now accepted Shinji as Clan Head without reservation!

His gaze shifted.

Shinji looked at Shisui, then Liuguang, Chiba, Kei, Shigetsu, Shusui, and the others.

"Shinji!"

"Big Brother Shinji!"

They wanted to crowd around him and offer their congratulations, but Kei Uchiha stopped them.

Shinji nodded to everyone, then walked toward the Uchiha's Stone Tablet. After a long silence, he reached out and touched it.

Then he turned to face them all.

"Thank you all for your support."

Shinji's opening words were unremarkable. "As your newly appointed Clan Head, there's something I need everyone to take a position on. At the same time, I have a question for Uncle Fugaku."

Shisui helped Fugaku sit down. "Go ahead."

"Uncle Fugaku, do you actually support a coup or not?"

"?"

Fugaku froze for a moment.

Everyone turned to look at Uchiha Fugaku.

Fugaku truly couldn't take it anymore. His mind was filled with nothing but *** and more ***. When I was Clan Head, you held my feet to the fire.

Now I'm no longer Clan Head, and you're still roasting me?

Do you fucking think I'm a grilled fish?!

"Of course I support it!"

After a moment's deliberation, Uchiha Fugaku made his decision.

After all, when the dissatisfied clan members had pressured him back then, he had agreed. He couldn't bring himself to do something as contemptible as changing his tune in front of everyone now.

He would only invite criticism for nothing.

The next instant, Uchiha Itachi raised his head in the distance, undisguised disappointment in his eyes.

But—

Most of the clan members looked delighted.

After all, last night, Shinji had used ruthless, lightning-fast measures to thoroughly purge those "spies" friendly to Konoha and those who favored surrender...

It was clear.

Among the bulk of the clan's core members, the voices favoring a coup were louder.

"Good!"

Shinji Uchiha made his first declaration as Clan Head. "Now I want to ask everyone a very simple question. Konoha—whose Konoha is it?"

"Of course it's the Hoka..." one radical Uchiha blurted out. Halfway through, however, he suddenly frowned, realizing something was wrong.

At the same time.

The clan members were all stunned.

Whose Konoha was it? Of course it was...

For a moment, the Naka Shrine fell into deathly silence.

Everyone exchanged glances, but no one dared speak first...

Shinji shook his head with a smile. "Let me tell you all... from the very beginning, Konoha has belonged to the Senju and the Uchiha. Who agrees, and who objects?"

Shisui stared blankly.

The Senju and the Uchiha's Konoha? That wasn't right. Wasn't it the Senju and the Sarutobi's Konoha?

Even Uchiha Itachi looked bewildered. That's right...

Konoha belongs to everyone. There's nothing wrong with that, and there was nothing wrong with what I thought before.

Why does something feel off?

The Senju...

Where are the Senju???

"Tsk..."

Shinji Uchiha swept his gaze over everyone. "Look at you. Today's Uchiha don't even dare blurt out that Konoha belongs to the Uchiha anymore. Where did all your courage to stage a coup and rebel go?"

Shinji walked back among the crowd, looking around on either side.

"Some of you may have figured out what I mean. That's right. I'm sorry to disappoint everyone... I won't stage a coup, much less launch an armed uprising."

"Because... this is my Konoha!"

Shinji spoke decisively, his voice brimming with incomparable confidence.

"Starting today, it will soon become the Uchiha's Konoha. Your Konoha!"

"What I want to say is that simple... as for what the rest of you think?"

"Honestly, I hate hearing people throw around the word 'coup' so casually. Do you even understand what a coup means?"

"A coup means war and death! Would you tear down your own home during a fight? No, right? Especially now, when we have the ability to change all of this... everyone!"

"The best chance for a coup passed during the Nine-Tails' Attack. We had a choice then. We don't now. Fortunately, you have me."

As he spoke, Shinji winked and laughed with a teasing grin.

"Hahaha!"

The younger Uchiha, especially those who understood Shinji's resolve, immediately burst out laughing.

They understood what Shinji meant!

"As for those clan members stuck in a rut, I want to ask... once your coup succeeds, how will you make a village as enormous as Konoha willingly submit to the Uchiha? The Hyuga, Aburame, Inuzuka Clan, Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi, plus the vast numbers of shinobi from the Sarutobi and Shimura clans whose clan heads you killed in your coup—how will you deal with them properly?"

Shinji shook his head. "Everyone, the Uchiha don't need a dictator, and Konoha certainly doesn't need an emperor. At least... well, not yet."

"Why?"

Shinji spread his hands helplessly. "It's simple. A regime established through an internal armed coup will inevitably end the same way. When that happens... the Uchiha will vanish from the shinobi world entirely. I've seen countless examples of this tragedy in a history book. The worst-faring family was cursed for millions of years."

"After all, everyone, no matter how strong I am, I can't live forever—not yet!"

Shinji's words drew another round of good-natured laughter, but soon everyone began to think.

Because everything Shinji said... seemed to promise them a grand future!

"So we can't set that precedent lightly."

Shinji walked down step by step, smiling under the clan members' gazes.

"Saving the Fourth Hokage back then was choosing a side, making an investment. But once we openly launch a coup, it's rebellion. In their eyes, we'll be an uncontrollable factor, troublemakers disrupting peace, stability, and development—a cancer that must be removed."

"They'll unite against a common enemy. Even if it means smashing Konoha to pieces and redistributing the spoils afterward, they won't compromise easily. And as I said before... Konoha is mine. The vase in my home mustn't be shattered because the family gets into a fight. Do you understand?"

As Shinji's final question fell, the entire Secret Chamber went silent.

Now...

They truly understood!!!

"Of course, even in the most extreme scenario, let's say we beat the Hyuga into the ground, kill off the Sarutobi and Shimura, fuck Princess Tsunade over, smash Konoha to pieces, and succeed! But everyone... Konohagakure isn't the only village in this shinobi world!"

"That's all I have to say!"

Shinji swept his gaze over the crowd. "Anyone who still firmly insists on a coup, stand to my left. Those who agree with what I just said and have calmed down, stand to my right."

"Now, begin!"