Wait, What!? What Rebellion Are We Talking About?

Become the head of the Uchiha Clan!?

A flicker of surprise crossed Uchiha Hui's eyes, but he also felt it made perfect sense.

After all, wasn't this what everything Bai Ye had just told him was leading up to?!

If he wanted to change the Uchiha, he had to become the head of the Uchiha Clan.

Otherwise, what could he do if nobody listened to him?!

"That's right. My plan is to first consolidate all the clan's resources and make the Uchiha Clan speak with one voice. Becoming clan head is the key!"

Bai Ye nodded as he answered.

He had never hidden his goal from the start.

Since Uchiha Hui had figured it out, he might as well admit it outright.

Hearing Bai Ye's words, Uchiha Hui narrowed his eyes slightly and said, "But isn't Clan Head Fugaku a hardliner?! If you're planning to use the approach you described,

"couldn't you just go talk to Fugaku about it?!"

Uchiha Fugaku might not necessarily consider it.

But as a member of the hardliners, his position was actually similar to Bai Ye's proposed approach.

Remove one hardliner clan head and replace him with another?!

Was this a joke?!

"He isn't a hardliner at all. He talks like a hardliner but acts like a member of the Dove Faction. Trust him, and you'll be screwed for life!"

Bai Ye curled his lip. He had nearly laughed out loud when Uchiha Hui called Uchiha Fugaku a hardliner.

If that guy counted as a hardliner, then there really was no hope.

He belonged firmly to the sit-around-and-wait-to-die faction.

Still, judging by his portrayal in the anime, Uchiha Fugaku really did seem like a hardliner on the surface.

No...

More accurately, Uchiha Fugaku outwardly sided with the hardliners, but he also kept the Dove Faction in balance.

As clan head, he couldn't completely favor either faction, or the clan would lose its balance.

When had Uchiha Fugaku become a "hardliner"?

After Shisui died, the clan's desire to resist reached its peak, and Uchiha Fugaku was swept into the hardliners' camp.

Later, when the hardliners gained complete ascendancy, Uchiha Fugaku had no other choice. He could only let them drag him along.

But at heart, Uchiha Fugaku was a member of the Dove Faction.

Uchiha Hui said nothing more. Instead, he pondered Bai Ye's words. For some reason, the more he thought about them, the more he felt they might actually be true...

Unbelievable!

Why had I ever thought Uchiha Fugaku was a hardliner?!

Apart from talking tough, Uchiha Fugaku didn't seem to have done anything a hardliner would do.

Could I really be less perceptive than Bai Ye?!

And when he carefully recalled the Uchiha's circumstances over the years,

it really did seem that they had been retreating one step at a time.

Starting with the Nine-Tails' Rampage, everyone in the clan had opposed moving the Uchiha Clan out of their original compound.

The Uchiha Clan had, after all, been one of the clans that founded Konoha.

Their old home had been right in the central district!

Yet now the Uchiha lived on the edge of the village, with several Ninja Clans around them keeping watch.

The whole clan had been furious back then, but what happened afterward?!

Fugaku seemed to have overruled all objections and agreed.

He had even said that the Uchiha needed to earn Konoha's trust, and that necessary sacrifices had to be made for their future.

So, even though everyone in the clan had opposed it at the time,

they had moved in the end.

There had been many more incidents afterward, each reminding Uchiha Hui that Bai Ye seemed to be absolutely right.

Uchiha Fugaku had been spineless from the very beginning!

He simply hadn't thought deeply about it before. Now that Bai Ye had brought it up,

the implications were genuinely frightening.

A clan head who could do nothing but talk...

"All right, let's leave that subject aside. How are you going to become clan head?! It takes more than talk. I can support you, but there are still those other two old fellows..."

Uchiha Hui got straight to the point. Since Bai Ye had this ambition, he felt that Bai Ye did indeed seem like a better choice than Uchiha Fugaku.

At least, after hearing what Bai Ye had just said,

he felt that Uchiha Fugaku was definitely unsuitable.

But his support alone couldn't guarantee that Bai Ye would become clan head.

Besides, he hadn't completely made up his mind yet.

"I'll handle that myself. I'll visit the other two elders one by one and discuss this with them. Or you could invite them here, Elder Hui, and the four of us could sit down and talk.

"If things work out, I'll move to remove Clan Head Fugaku at the next Uchiha clan meeting. How does that sound?!"

Bai Ye was strong enough.

In fact, as far as everyone knew, his combat strength was roughly equal to Uchiha Fugaku's.

After all, Uchiha Fugaku had never revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan.

And Bai Ye's three-tomoe Sharingan and elite jonin strength put him at the top of the Uchiha's publicly known fighting power.

The Uchiha Clan was, after all, a clan that revered strength.

They couldn't possibly support him just because of a few words.

He had the strength, at least as far as anyone knew. If he could persuade the other two elders, he could force Uchiha Fugaku out.

So Bai Ye felt he had to secure the support of at least one of the other two elders.

Hearing Bai Ye's words, Uchiha Hui was inwardly surprised.

He hadn't expected Bai Ye to be so decisive.

Inviting both elders at once meant that if either one was displeased, word of Bai Ye's actions today would get out.

Then removing Uchiha Fugaku at the next clan meeting would become rather troublesome.

After all, Uchiha Fugaku was no fool. He would certainly make preparations of his own.

But since Bai Ye had said so, Uchiha Hui thought for a while, then nodded and asked, "Have you made up your mind?! If you have, I can summon them right now!"

"I have!"

"Good!"

With that, Uchiha Hui stood and stepped outside, instructing the guards stationed there to fetch the two elders who led the hardliners and the Dove Faction.

A short while later, the hardliner elder Uchiha Setsuna and the Dove Faction elder Uchiha Huo arrived almost simultaneously.

A flicker of surprise crossed their eyes when they saw each other.

He invited him too...

What was Uchiha Hui up to?!

With that question in mind, they entered the reception room. When they saw Uchiha Hui and Bai Ye sitting beside him, their confusion only deepened.

Why was Bai Ye here too?!

"What is it?! I have nothing to discuss with this old fellow!"

Uchiha Setsuna was more blunt by temperament.

He had originally assumed Uchiha Hui wanted to see him about something.

But with Uchiha Huo included, he wondered whether Hui wanted the two of them to shake hands and make peace.

That was out of the question!

As soon as he finished speaking, Uchiha Huo nodded as well and said, "Indeed. If it's the same discussion as before, I really don't think there's any need to repeat it!"

They had gone over those arguments countless times already.

Uchiha Huo also felt that the conflict between himself and Uchiha Huo was merely a reflection of the conflict between the Dove Faction and the hardliners.

There was simply no room for reconciliation between the two sides.

"I'm not the one who asked you here this time. He is."

After saying that, Uchiha Hui pointed to Bai Ye, who was sitting beside him.

He didn't know how Bai Ye planned to persuade these two, but his task was complete. The rest was up to Bai Ye.

He had already brought both of them here.

"Elders, why don't you sit down and hear my solution to the Uchiha's predicament?"

Bai Ye glanced at them and spoke slowly.

Hearing his words, the two exchanged a look. Then Uchiha Huo promptly sat down and said, "Fine. I was planning to speak to you anyway!"

Both Uchiha Huo and Uchiha Setsuna had wanted to have a talk with Bai Ye.

But since Bai Ye had taken the initiative, this worked out nicely.

He would take a good look at what Bai Ye really had in mind.

The two sat down, picked up the nearby teapot, and poured themselves some tea. Then they looked at Bai Ye, waiting for him to continue.

"The Uchiha are on the verge of being wiped out. Haven't you two elders noticed yet?!"

"?"

Wait, what?!

Uchiha Huo had just taken a sip of tea and nearly spat it straight out.

Wasn't I here to find out whose side Bai Ye was on?!

How had this suddenly turned into the Uchiha Clan being wiped out?!

Besides, the Uchiha Clan was doing perfectly fine. How could it possibly be wiped out?!

Even Uchiha Hui nearly lost his composure.

Although he had roughly guessed some of this during his earlier conversation with Bai Ye,

he genuinely hadn't expected Bai Ye to open with that.

The Uchiha Clan was about to be wiped out? You really had the nerve to say it!

But Bai Ye clearly paid them no mind and simply continued on his own.

"If the Uchiha keep clinging to their old mindset and believing they're the greatest Ninja Clan, then they deserve to be wiped out.

"Internally, we're split into three factions. We can't even present a united front against outsiders. Whatever one faction does, another will drag it down.

"After the Nine-Tails' Rampage, the Uchiha moved out of the central district. We're now surrounded by Ninja Clans. If the Uchiha Clan makes any move at all, those clans will immediately surround us and crush us.

"There are countless Anbu watching the Uchiha Clan. Even Shisui and Itachi, whom the Uchiha placed in the Anbu, lean toward Konoha.

"Now the hardliners keep clamoring for resistance, but they lack the strength to resist, while the Dove Faction and moderates hold them back.

"If we try to compromise, they force us to make further concessions. Give up five cities today and ten tomorrow, and gain a single night of peace. But once we've given them everything we can,

"what if they demand our Sharingan next? Will you hand those over too?!

"If we refuse, tensions keep rising. If we agree, how many Sharingan do we have to give?! And what happens once we've given them all away?!"

Bai Ye spared them no mercy.

Whether hardliners or members of the Dove Faction, he tore into all of them.

That instantly delighted Uchiha Hui!

How could he not be delighted?!

Bai Ye had berated him like this earlier. Now it was finally the other two old fellows' turn.

This felt fantastic!!!!!

"What are you getting at?!" Uchiha Setsuna looked at Bai Ye with a dark expression.

Uchiha Huo said nothing beside him, but his gaze had also grown more serious.

Unlike Uchiha Setsuna, he had been thinking about Bai Ye's words, and he actually felt that Bai Ye was right.

At first, he had felt rather pleased when Bai Ye criticized the hardliners.

He had thought Bai Ye wanted to side with the Dove Faction.

Who could have expected him to drag Huo into it as well?

But Bai Ye wasn't wrong!

The Uchiha had already made many concessions, yet they really hadn't received the respect they deserved.

Now, more and more Anbu ninja were watching from outside the Uchiha Clan Compound.

That was a clear sign of distrust toward the Uchiha Clan.

"My meaning is simple. If the Uchiha keep going like this, the clan will perish in your hands. What we need now is reform!"

"Reform?! You think you can change the Uchiha's current situation?! Do you think we..."

"Let him finish!!"

Uchiha Huo cut Uchiha Setsuna off before he could continue.

Although Uchiha Setsuna was annoyed, he ultimately sat back down. He was impulsive, but he wasn't brainless.

He simply felt that Bai Ye was being far too naive.

Had no Uchiha ever recognized these problems before?!

And hadn't things ended up the same anyway?

"My idea is simple. Right now, the Uchiha need to speak with one voice. Let's stop dividing ourselves into hardliners, the Dove Faction, and moderates. All of us want a better tomorrow for the Uchiha.

"Next, we need to change the external conditions the Uchiha live under. We need to push back against Konoha, but not too directly. At the very least, we need to show others that the Uchiha aren't easy targets.

"At the same time, we need to change how the other people in the village see the Uchiha.

"Reform ourselves internally, use both firmness and conciliation externally, and win over suitable allies. The Uchiha Clan's enemy has never been all of Konoha. Haven't you noticed that yet?!

"Hasn't it always been the Hokage's faction that targets the Uchiha?!

"But not every clan and shinobi in the village is loyal to Hiruzen Sarutobi's faction. Those are the people we can win over.

"We need to fight Hiruzen Sarutobi, not the entire village.

"We need to change things internally, but we need a unified voice. That's what I think. There's one more thing: I want to become clan head, and I hope both elders will support me at the next clan meeting!"

Bai Ye laid it all out bluntly.

All three people present fell silent.

Even Uchiha Hui was mulling over what Bai Ye had just said.

Why did everything suddenly seem so clear after Bai Ye broke it down like that?!

In the past, they had always felt that all of Konoha was their enemy.

But after hearing Bai Ye's explanation, it seemed like Danzo and his cronies really had been behind it all along.

"No, wait... what we want is..."

"To become Hokage, right?! You walk one step at a time and eat one bite at a time. First, we need to change things internally and stop fighting among ourselves.

"Then we change the Uchiha's external circumstances, instead of shouting about rebellion every day. Why the hell would we Uchiha rebel?!

"Wasn't Konoha founded by us and the Senju? We're the legitimate heirs!!"

For fuck's sake!

These people were so goddamn stubborn!

Rebellion?!

That was called restoring order in the name of rightful authority, goddammit!!

We were one of the clans that founded Konoha, especially now that the Senju Clan was gone, having integrated into Konoha.

Didn't that make the Uchiha the eldest legitimate son?!

And they still fucking called it rebellion!!

Were they out of their minds?!!!

After hearing Bai Ye's words, the others were dumbstruck.

Wait, what?!

I bolted upright from my deathbed, only to realize the clown had been me all along?!