"Forget it. I got all these injuries because you sent a woman over. If you want to send your daughter, go yourself. Leave me out of it."
Uchiha Tajima rubbed his throbbing face, hesitated, then asked, "Under that unfilial son's guidance, Uchiha Osamu managed to extract chakra in a single afternoon. Now she can even exchange a few moves with Izuna. Are you sure she had no ninja talent when she was tested?"
"Fourth, you're responsible for testing all the children in the clan for ninja talent. What happened?" the First Elder demanded with a frown.
"She extracted chakra in one afternoon? And she can already spar with Izuna? Impossible. The report I received back then clearly said she had no ninja talent."
The Fourth Elder's expression turned serious as well. If they investigated this, it would mean someone under him had made a grave mistake.
Uchiha Tajima's expression instantly grew solemn. His earlier embarrassed fury disappeared, replaced by the imposing bearing of a Clan Head.
"Fourth, we Uchiha revere strength. Boy or girl, anyone with ninja talent must train and take to the battlefield. Our ratio of male to female ninja is unbalanced now. You know what I mean. Deal with whoever needs dealing with."
The Fourth Elder's face darkened, a flash of killing intent crossing his eyes. He immediately set down his cup and stood. "Keep talking. I have some matters to attend to."
By the time his words faded, he had already vanished from the Meeting Hall.
The others exchanged glances.
"Hmph. I've said it before: those clan members with impure bloodlines can't be trusted with responsibilities. Fourth just wouldn't listen. Since when did our Uchiha men need to get their resources by cutting back on the women's share? Utterly disgraceful."
The Second Elder admitted he had his own petty biases when allocating resources, but he only ever voiced them. He had never actually shortchanged anyone.
He had discovered this issue when he was younger. His wife received a completely different allocation from his. Both were three-tomoe ninja, yet she received only half as much as he did.
After they married, her share disappeared altogether.
If he hadn't wanted control over the Uchiha's resource allocation, Uchiha Tajima might not have been the current Clan Head.
"Tajima, it's time to address the Uchiha's internal problems, especially those of mixed blood. Ever since that incident of yours, the clan's ninja have grown considerably more unruly."
Helplessness showed in the First Elder's eyes as well. This was difficult to handle. After all, even the Clan Head had fathered a child with an outsider. It was hard to keep people in line when you forbade them from doing something you had done yourself.
"Leave that to me." The Third Elder paused, his brows knitting together. After a moment's hesitation, he said, "There hasn't been a war lately. The one in the Dungeon has been terribly restless and has already injured several clan members assigned as guards."
"Force the medicine down!" Uchiha Tajima lightly stroked the corner of his eye, an almost imperceptible weariness showing in his expression. "Have we found out anything about the Daimyo's arrangements lately? Without stockpiles, this winter will be hard."
"Half the commoners' grain was requisitioned. They're keeping thirty percent and selling only twenty percent, and plenty of clans have their eyes on it. The Daimyo won't sell us supplies, so we'll likely have to fight the other clans for them."
The First Elder sighed, a trace of worry appearing on his normally expressionless face. After speaking, he seemed to remember something. He hesitated for a few moments, then asked, "That unfilial son of yours has not only Uchiha under him, but Kaguya clan members too. Where does he get his supplies?"
At those words, the Second and Third Elders both turned to Uchiha Tajima.
Under their unwavering stares, embarrassment crept onto Uchiha Tajima's face. He coughed several times, cleared his throat, and slowly said, "I don't know. The Kaguya... probably have their own ways of getting by."
The others wore unreadable expressions at this explanation.
What ways of getting by could the Kaguya possibly have? All they thought about was fighting. When there was no one else to fight, they fought among themselves.
If the Kaguya clan ever died out, they would definitely have brought it upon themselves.
"Clan Head, you haven't given that child so much as a single ryo all these years?"
Even the Second Elder's eyelids twitched uncontrollably, his face full of disbelief.
Although he had always been narrow-minded and placed great importance on personal gain, he would still have been willing to provide a share of resources if Uchiha Tajima had simply asked.
Even if he withheld half that share, the boy only had half Uchiha blood, after all. There was nothing wrong with giving him half, was there?
Yet what he had never imagined was that Uchiha Tajima had never once brought the matter up with him in all these years.
He had assumed the Clan Head was supporting the boy out of his own pocket. Even when Tajima said the boy had never used any Uchiha resources, he hadn't believed him.
But... every word had been true. Uchiha Natsu had achieved everything he had today without using a single penny's worth of Uchiha resources.
Uchiha Tajima's silence had already answered his question.
The First Elder rubbed his brow and clicked his tongue. "If you'd told us sooner, I'd rather have sent someone to tie Xia up and take what we wanted by force than try to play on his feelings to obtain those ninjutsu. This is humiliating."
"Didn't I tell you long ago that he'd never used any Uchiha resources?" The muscles in Uchiha Tajima's face twitched. He was in the wrong here, but he had told them not to get their hopes up.
"Call that child over tomorrow. We'll talk to him ourselves. You're a decent Clan Head, but you really aren't a fit father. Never mind. I am his eldest uncle, after all."
Meanwhile.
At the Senju Clan Compound.
Unlike Madara, whose explanation only made him look more suspicious, Hashirama was caught red-handed by his younger brother.
"Big brother, where did you go? Coming home this late-don't you know how dangerous it is?" Tobirama Senju folded his arms and sternly scolded his troublesome older brother. "If Father finds out, you'll get another beating."
"Heh-heh, I went fishing. I just wanted to give you and Itama something better to eat!" Hashirama shoved the basket on his back into Tobirama Senju's arms and grinned foolishly, taking the opportunity to study his younger brother's face.
Seeing the basket full of fish, Tobirama Senju dismissed his suspicion that Hashirama had sneaked out to cause trouble. But when he met that openly scrutinizing gaze, he shuddered and couldn't help taking two steps back.
"Big brother, w-why are you looking at me like that?"
Had Father's insistence on matchmaking driven him mad? Why was he looking at me so... so...
We're brothers!
Surely he wouldn't do anything to me...
Surely not!
Every time he gets hurt, I'm the one who treats him and brings him food...
He definitely wouldn't do anything to me. He's my own big brother, after all!
"Ah, Tobirama, now that I look closely, you've actually got such delicate features. You're even prettier than the girls in our clan."
Hashirama figured that putting Tobirama in women's clothes could indeed turn him into a little sister. If Wudi saw through it, he would at least have an explanation ready.
Besides, the other party most likely wasn't an Uchiha, so his younger brother probably wouldn't go tell on him.
At those words, the last of Tobirama Senju's conviction shattered with a crack. His older brother really was setting his sights on him to escape those matchmaking meetings.
Just as his terror reached its peak, Hashirama reached out and pinched his cheek. He had only meant to get used to things in advance, thinking this was how one ought to dote on a little sister.
But the gesture frightened Tobirama so badly that the basket slipped from his hands and hit the ground, scattering fish everywhere. He jerked his face away from Hashirama's hand, burst chakra from the soles of his feet, and fled as fast as he could.
"Ah! Stay away from me!"
Before you continue