Bai Ye: I Want to Be Clan Leader!

"Elder Hui, you want to know where I stand, right?"

"Yes. You're one of the finest of the younger generation now. I doubt anyone would disregard your opinion, would they? Don't worry too much. Just think of this as a casual chat."

Uchiha Hui nodded as he spoke.

They were both intelligent men. Getting things out in the open would only make the rest of the conversation easier.

The struggle between the Dove Faction, the hawks, and the moderates had already reached a fever pitch.

Bai Ye mattered.

"Elder Hui, before I answer that, I'd like to hear what you think of the Uchiha Clan as it stands today."

Rather than answer directly, Bai Ye posed a question.

That left Uchiha Hui bewildered.

Wait, what?

Wasn't I the one asking you?

How did you suddenly become the one questioning me?

Still, it really is a good question!

He fell silent for a moment, considering Bai Ye's question as his thoughts on the clan's current state gradually took shape.

Then he raised his head to look at Bai Ye and said slowly, "The Uchiha face trouble both within and without."

He was a shrewd old man who saw things clearly. He understood the village's current situation all too well.

But he had no other solution.

Why did the Uchiha Clan have a moderate faction?

To his mind, it was precisely because of the Uchiha's internal situation. If there were only the Dove Faction or the hawks, without the moderates to mediate between them...

They might have started fighting among themselves.

That was why the Uchiha faced trouble both within and without.

"If things are already that dire, why is the Uchiha Clan still fighting among itself?"

Those words immediately made Uchiha Hui realize what Bai Ye was getting at.

So this was what he'd been leading me toward!

"You mean the three factions within the clan, right? If everyone were part of the Dove Faction, the Uchiha Clan's circumstances would only get worse. Surely you can see that?"

"If everyone were a hawk, going to war with Konoha would be suicide. I trust you can see that too? The Uchiha Clan is simply no match for the village!"

Uchiha Hui spoke slowly. He understood Bai Ye's point perfectly. If the clan could not unite...

Then it could not bring its full fighting strength to bear.

Yet whichever faction they sided with, it would merely mean dying sooner or later.

"Elder Hui, since you already understand that the Uchiha Clan will ultimately be destroyed no matter which side it leans toward, why do you moderates keep holding everyone back?

"When the Dove Faction has the moral high ground, you side with the radicals.

"When the radicals have the moral high ground, you start siding with the Dove Faction.

"You keep draining the clan's strength from within, making it impossible for everyone to unite. I think... of everyone in the Uchiha Clan, you moderates are the most disgusting.

"Either die on your feet or die on your knees. But because of you, the Uchiha want to die standing one moment and kneeling the next. Is that constant flip-flopping really what you moderates want to see?!"

Bai Ye's words hit like thunder, leaving Uchiha Hui momentarily at a loss for words.

He had always believed he was mediating the conflict between the radicals and the Dove Faction.

Yet the way Bai Ye put it, he had become one of the most disgusting people in the clan instead.

Uchiha Hui instinctively wanted to argue. He was angry, but when the words reached his lips, he could not work out what to say.

After all, Bai Ye was right. The moderates were part of the reason the Uchiha Clan could not speak with one voice.

But...

Had I really done something wrong?

"But without the moderates, should we just stand by and watch the Uchiha Clan perish? Since you've said all this, you must know the Uchiha have already reached a dead end.

"Only by mediating and leaving things to those who come after us can we make a stable transition. Perhaps then we'll find the right opportunity someday!"

Those words told Bai Ye that the old man had nothing left in the tank.

He could see the problems facing the Uchiha, but he could do nothing to change them.

"That's why I say your thinking is naive. The Uchiha Clan has only one path left: remove the entire council of elders led by Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. Otherwise, the clan could be wiped out at any moment.

"Back when the Fourth Hokage was in office, we had none of these worries. But now the village no longer trusts the Uchiha.

"So unless we replace him with a young, powerful shinobi from an ordinary family, like Minato Namikaze...

"Or one of us Uchiha becomes Hokage, or we choose a shinobi who won't target the Uchiha to become Hokage...

"Then the only difference for the Uchiha is whether we die sooner or later!"

Bai Ye was not wrong about that.

After all, judging by the anime, wasn't that exactly how the story had gone?

The radicals had eventually taken complete control of the Uchiha Clan. After Shisui died, the Uchiha truly felt threatened.

Many moderates had gone straight over to the radicals, and Hiruzen Sarutobi's side had decided to act.

But if the radicals had never risen to prominence, if the Dove Faction had kept suppressing them, would they have been spared?

No!

That was absolutely impossible!

Even if Hiruzen Sarutobi could hold back, Danzo certainly could not.

Danzo wanted to seize the Uchiha's eyes, and he also wanted the position of Hokage.

That meant he could not sit still. He had targeted Shisui this time; next time, he might target another Uchiha.

And when it came to inflaming the conflict between the village and the Uchiha, Danzo deserved much of the credit.

So even if the Uchiha wanted to hide in their shells, Danzo-who had firmly inherited Tobirama Senju's hostility toward them and taken it even further-would never allow it.

The likely outcome would still be death.

That was why, ever since the Nine-Tails' Rampage, the Uchiha had only one path left.

"So you're a radical now?"

After hearing Bai Ye's words, Uchiha Hui actually calmed down.

From his earlier criticism of the moderates to everything he had just said...

To Uchiha Hui, Bai Ye seemed to lean toward the radicals.

After all, not a single thing he had said sounded like something the Dove Faction would say.

"What radicals, the Dove Faction, or moderates? All anyone wants is for the Uchiha to survive!"

Perspective!

Now that was a broader perspective!

For a moment, Uchiha Hui felt as though Bai Ye was positively glowing.

Well, damn!

With just a few words, Bai Ye had reframed all their opposing sentiments as efforts made for the Uchiha's sake.

And Bai Ye himself believed he was right.

Except for that oh-so-filial son. That guy was a lunatic.

Even Uchiha Fugaku and Shisui Uchiha had wanted to save the Uchiha Clan.

They might have favored surrender, but deep down, they still wanted the clan to prosper.

Only after truly becoming part of the Uchiha Clan could Bai Ye better understand why Sasuke Uchiha had hated Uchiha Itachi so much.

Anyone would have felt the same!

The Uchiha were a large Ninja Clan, but not everyone in that clan was a shinobi.

In fact, most Uchiha were ordinary people who could barely put up a fight. They were not even shinobi, much less people who had awakened the Sharingan.

Yet on the night of the massacre, every last one of those people had been killed.

Only Sasuke had been spared.

That oh-so-filial son could claim he had no choice, that he had done it to preserve the last of their bloodline.

But no one would accept that.

Why could everyone else die, but not his little brother?

More importantly, the Uchiha Clan later became little more than a name.

Sasuke kept saying he would restore the Uchiha Clan.

Then he had one daughter, and that was it.

Only two members of the entire Uchiha Clan remained in the shinobi world. It was downright laughable.

Bai Ye had originally planned to run away, but now that he had a chance, of course he would change all this.

After all, many people here had treated him quite well in the past.

Besides, there were system rewards to earn.

Meanwhile, after digesting what Bai Ye had just said, Uchiha Hui suddenly realized something.

"So what are you planning to do?"

He had caught on. Bai Ye would never have said these things before.

It was not as though he had never sounded Bai Ye out. But every time, Bai Ye had given evasive, fence-sitting answers, leaving him no chance to discover what he really thought.

This time was different.

Bai Ye had stated his thoughts so directly, and Uchiha Hui knew exactly what that meant.

He seemed ready to do something.

Originally, Uchiha Hui had only wanted to learn where he stood. That would have been the end of it.

But things were different now.

Now he truly thought even more highly of Bai Ye. He genuinely wanted to know what Bai Ye had in mind.

What would Bai Ye do next?

What was his plan?

Looking at Bai Ye, Uchiha Hui suddenly felt that there might truly be a chance to change the Uchiha's situation.

Before, whether he looked at Fugaku or anyone else...

Uchiha Hui had always felt there was no hope of change.

Uchiha Fugaku might have seemed radical, but deep down, he favored surrender.

And Shisui Uchiha and Uchiha Itachi, the clan's two geniuses, both leaned more toward Konoha.

Both had joined the Anbu.

He was no fool. He knew what that meant.

According to Uchiha Fugaku's earlier arrangements, the idea had been for the two of them to obtain intelligence on Konoha.

They were supposed to use their positions in the Anbu to do things that benefited the Uchiha.

Yet they had accomplished none of it!

Uchiha Hui could see at a glance what that meant.

But...

Even though those three were so disappointing, in Uchiha Hui's eyes...

They were still the ones with the best chance of changing things.

As for the fools among the radicals, Uchiha Hui felt that if he were Hokage, he could toy with them to death eight hundred times over.

They controlled the Konoha Military Police Force, yet they had made the Uchiha Clan universally despised in Konoha.

One could say they deserved half the credit for the Uchiha's current predicament.

They shouted about rebellion every day, but it was all talk.

Thinking about it that way, Uchiha Hui suddenly felt that Bai Ye's earlier words had not been wrong.

The Dove Faction favored surrender, the moderates favored gradual surrender, and the radicals favored surrender with plenty of bluster.

Perhaps someone who could truly change the Uchiha would not belong to any of those three factions.

Someone who could see things so clearly, without leaning entirely toward Konoha or blindly siding with the Uchiha.

What Bai Ye had shown today had completely exceeded his expectations.

"I want to unite the Uchiha Clan. Before confronting outside threats, we must settle our internal problems. If we stay divided like this, the Uchiha Clan really is finished!"

Bai Ye's plan was simple.

To change the Uchiha Clan's circumstances, he first had to resolve its internal problems.

Otherwise, if they could not even agree among themselves, how could they change anything outside the clan?

If someone inside opposed everything he did, how could he put any policies into effect?

That was why his first priority had to be changing the situation within the Uchiha.

"That will be difficult. Leaving the situation outside the clan aside, the conflict between the Dove Faction and the radicals is irreconcilable. Whatever you do, someone will oppose it."

Uchiha Hui could not help frowning as he listened to Bai Ye.

He felt that what Bai Ye proposed would be very difficult to achieve.

The main problem was that the conflict between the radicals and the Dove Faction had already become irreconcilable.

Take Bai Ye's goal of uniting the Uchiha Clan.

He would have to face a very practical problem.

The Dove Faction wanted no friction with Konoha whatsoever, while the radicals believed that made them far too weak, even if the radicals themselves were still only talking big for now.

But all it would take was one unexpected incident, and their thinking could change at any moment.

So if Bai Ye wanted to unite the two factions...

How would he do it when they wanted different things?

"Then we remove Fugaku as clan leader first and gradually reconcile their differences afterward. With Fugaku leading us, there's no way out of this predicament. Only I can lead the Uchiha to victory!"

Of course Bai Ye knew the conflict between the two sides had become irreconcilable.

But he also knew perfectly well that, whether they were radicals or part of the Dove Faction, neither faction was something he could control or change right now.

The only thing he could do for the time being was remove Uchiha Fugaku from his position as clan leader.

At first, Bai Ye had been wondering how to go about it. After all, he would have to impeach the Uchiha Clan's leader and remove him from office all on his own.

That was simply impossible.

But now Uchiha Hui had chosen to discuss the matter with him.

And since Uchiha Hui seemed to accept his ideas, Bai Ye naturally felt that his opportunity had arrived.

As long as Uchiha Hui supported him, the entire moderate faction would swing to his side. Then he would only need to put forward a few ideas to win over another faction.

If he then brought charges against Uchiha Fugaku, it might actually be possible to oust him as leader of the Uchiha Clan.

Suddenly, the plan he had thought might require a roundabout approach became much more straightforward.

"You want to become clan leader?!" Uchiha Hui abruptly realized exactly what Bai Ye was trying to do!