Whose Konoha Is It, Anyway?

"Clan Head!"

"Clan Head--"

Inside the Secret Chamber,

voices rose one after another.

Big Brother Shinji pressed a hand to his eyes. He still wasn't sure whether he had fallen under a Genjutsu. Those things were hard to guard against.

Then Shisui rested a hand on his shoulder and said softly, "Big Brother Shinji, you won!"

At the same time,

a system notification sounded in his ears.

[Main quest: Become the Clan Head of the Uchiha Clan completed. Reward: Purple Chest ×1]

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

[Side quest periodic settlement available: Current clan prosperity: 800. Reward: 300 gold!]

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

[Reward: Blue Chest–Scarlet Gold Chest (Reward varies according to the organization's name, location, fame, strength, influence, and other factors. Quest rewards may be claimed at any time.)]

[Note: Reward may be claimed only once!]

[P.S. You're an Uchiha! How could you abandon your ancestors' tradition of carrying yourself like a villainous mastermind? Build your own faction and let the Shinobi World feel the pain of carrying rice!]

Big Brother Shinji came back to himself.

He frowned at Uchiha Fugaku. "Uncle Fugaku... your Ocular Power?"

Fugaku struggled to his feet. "You awakened those eyes and gained this kind of Ocular Power, but you didn't tell me... Was it just to humiliate me in front of the clan?"

A Mangekyō Sharingan?

You're overthinking it. I just overwhelmed you with sheer Ocular Power.

"...I just didn't expect your Ocular Power to be so—"

Big Brother Shinji chose not to explain. Fugaku's murderous glare cut off the rest of his sentence.

Fugaku sighed and patted Big Brother Shinji's shoulder. "Now there's no disputing your title as the strongest in the clan."

"Go on. Make your first declaration as Clan Head. From now on, the weight of this clan rests on your shoulders!"

Big Brother Shinji nodded.

He turned to face the crowd.

Among the older generation, expressions were mixed. There was admiration, but also a trace of doubt. They worried that Big Brother Shinji's youthful recklessness would lead the Uchiha further astray.

After all,

he was the young man who had said, "Kill the Third Hokage."

They wanted the Uchiha to regain their standing, but they had no desire for a rash armed coup!

The younger generation gave no thought to politics. They understood only one thing.

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

Among the Uchiha,

strength commanded respect!

From that moment on, whatever the younger Uchiha had thought before, they accepted Big Brother Shinji as Clan Head without reservation! Their attention turned back.

Big Brother Shinji's gaze moved on.

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

"Big Brother Shinji!"

"Big Brother Shinji!"

They started forward to congratulate him, but Uchiha Kei held them back.

Big Brother Shinji nodded to them, then walked to the Uchiha Stone Tablet. After a long silence, he reached out and touched it.

Then he turned to face everyone.

"Thank you all for your support."

Big Brother Shinji's opening words were unremarkable. "As your new Clan Head, there's something I need you all to take a position on. I also have a question for Uncle Fugaku."

With Shisui's help, Fugaku sat down. "Go ahead."

"Uncle Fugaku, do you actually support a coup?"

"?"

Fugaku froze.

Every eye turned to Uchiha Fugaku.

Fugaku could barely hold it together. His mind was a storm of curses. When I was clan leader, you put me on the spot.

I'm not Clan Head anymore, and you're still doing it?

What the hell do you think I am, a Grilled Fish?

"Of course I support it!"

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

Back when the dissatisfied clan members had pressured him, he had agreed. He couldn't bring himself to reverse his position in front of everyone now.

That would only invite criticism for no reason.

In the distance, Uchiha Itachi raised his head. The disappointment in his eyes was plain to see.

But—

most of the clan members looked delighted.

After all, Big Brother Shinji had ruthlessly purged the pro-Konoha "spies" and advocates of surrender the night before...

Clearly,

among the clan's core members, support for a coup was stronger.

"Good!"

Shinji Uchiha made his first declaration as Clan Head. "Now I'd like to ask everyone a simple question: whose Konoha is it?"

"Of course it belongs to the Ho—" A radical Uchiha blurted out the answer, only to stop halfway. He frowned. Something wasn't right.

At the same time,

the clan members were stunned.

Whose Konoha was it? Obviously, it was...

For a moment, Naka Shrine fell deathly silent.

They exchanged looks, but no one spoke first...

Big Brother Shinji shook his head with a smile. "Let me tell you. From the very beginning, Konoha belonged to the Senju and the Uchiha. Who agrees? Who disagrees?"

Shisui stared blankly.

The Senju and the Uchiha? That can't be right. Isn't it the Senju and the Sarutobi?

Confusion crossed Uchiha Itachi's face. Right... Konoha belongs to everyone. What I thought before wasn't wrong.

So why does something feel off?

The Senju...

Where are the Senju, anyway???

"Tch..."

Shinji Uchiha swept his gaze over the crowd. "Look at us. The Uchiha can't even say outright that Konoha belongs to the Uchiha anymore. Where did all that courage to stage a coup and rebel go?"

Big Brother Shinji walked back among the crowd, looking from side to side.

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

"Because... this is my Konoha!"

Big Brother Shinji's words were firm, his voice brimming with absolute confidence.

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

"That's all I'm saying... As for what you think?"

"Honestly, I hate how casually some people say 'coup.' Do you even understand what it means?"

"A coup means war. It means death! Would you tear down your own house in a fight? Of course not! Especially when we have the power to change everything another way... Everyone!"

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

With that, Big Brother Shinji winked and let out an amused laugh.

"Hahaha!"

The younger Uchiha burst out laughing, especially those who understood Big Brother Shinji's intentions.

They knew what he meant!

"And to those clan members who are still fixated on the idea, I ask you this: after a coup, how would you make a village as large as Konoha willingly submit to the Uchiha? How would you handle the Hyuga, the Aburame, the Inuzuka Clan, the Nara, the Yamanaka, the Akimichi, and all the ninja of the Sarutobi and Shimura clans after you killed their Clan Heads in the coup?"

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

"Why?"

Big Brother Shinji spread his hands helplessly. "Simple. A regime gained through an internal armed coup will fall the same way. When that happens... the Uchiha will disappear from the Shinobi World. I've seen that tragedy play out countless times in a history book. One particularly unfortunate clan was cursed for ten million years."

"After all, no matter how strong I am, I can't live forever. Not yet!"

Big Brother Shinji's words drew another round of good-natured laughter, but the crowd soon fell into thought.

Because beneath everything Big Brother Shinji had said... he seemed to be promising them something enormous!

"So that's a door we shouldn't open."

Big Brother Shinji walked down step by step, smiling under the clan members' watchful eyes.

"Saving the Fourth Hokage back then would have been choosing a side—an investment. But an open coup would be rebellion. In their eyes, we'd be an uncontrollable threat, troublemakers who wreck peaceful, stable development. A cancer they'd have to cut out."

"They'd unite against us. Even if Konoha were reduced to rubble and its spoils divided up, they wouldn't compromise easily. And as I said before... Konoha is mine. I'm not letting the vase in my house get smashed just because the family is fighting. Understand?"

After Big Brother Shinji's final word, the entire Secret Chamber fell silent.

Now...

they really did understand!!!

"Of course, even if we took down the Hyuga, killed off the Sarutobi and Shimura, crushed Princess Tsunade, and reduced Konoha to rubble—even if we won! Everyone... Konohagakure isn't the only village in the Shinobi World!"

"That's all I have to say!"

Big Brother Shinji looked over the crowd. "If you still firmly believe in a coup, stand to my left. If you agree with what I just said and have come to your senses, stand to my right."

"Now, move!"