I Choose Bai Ye-He's the One Everyone Wants!

"Wait!!!! My head's a mess right now!!"

Uchiha Setsuna waved his hands repeatedly, signaling for them to wait. His head really was a mess.

At first, Uchiha Huo had thought Bai Ye was all talk.

Hadn't they already recognized everything Bai Ye had mentioned?!

But Bai Ye's final remark left the Uchiha, Uchiha Hui, and Uchiha Setsuna frozen in place.

It seemed he actually had a point...

Why did the Uchiha need to rebel?!

Weren't they one of the ninja clans that had founded the village?!

"No, we're being targeted!"

Uchiha Setsuna immediately spoke up.

Why were they rebelling?!

Wasn't it precisely because they were one of the two great clans that had founded Konoha?

Yet the village ruthlessly targeted them, which was why they were considering rebellion in the first place!

That was precisely why the Uchiha Clan felt so aggrieved.

Both clans had founded the village, but the Senju Clan had produced two Hokage, while the Uchiha had produced none-and still had to endure the village's suspicion.

"Yes, we're being targeted. But get one thing straight: who are our enemies, and who are our allies? We shouldn't treat the entire village as our enemy.

Not every ninja clan was our enemy from the start, were they?!

What we need to do is set things right. We should stop shouting about rebellion and instead work to fix Konoha's internal problems. That's how we give our cause legitimacy.

Not declare a rebellion and put ourselves directly at odds with the village, making every ninja and even every civilian see us as enemies!"

Bai Ye laid out his argument clearly. These were conclusions he had reached after thinking things through countless times.

More importantly, the people of the Naruto world genuinely had no idea how to handle politics.

Ninja were basically no different from a bunch of reckless brutes.

Who in their right mind would normally do things this way?!

If you offended everyone, who would help you?!

Wasn't the Uchiha's destruction only to be expected?!

Even within their own clan, one group offended another, leaving them unable to pull together.

"Gentlemen, I invited you here because I want to give this a try. I want to let Bai Ye try. Surely that's better than continuing to waste our time like this?!

At the next clan meeting, I'll support Bai Ye as the Uchiha Clan Head!"

Uchiha Hui made his position clear.

He had initially been somewhat torn.

But by now, he had made up his mind. Rather than keep wasting time, they might as well let Bai Ye try.

He saw hope in Bai Ye. At the very least, wouldn't he be better than Uchiha Fugaku?!

After Uchiha Hui declared his stance, the other two immediately grew more serious.

They had suspected as much.

But Uchiha Hui had openly admitted it.

That made things different!

Besides, Bai Ye had actually managed to win over an old fox like Uchiha Hui.

This was the Middle Faction they were talking about!

The Middle Faction was notorious within the clan for stirring up trouble.

After thinking for a while, Uchiha Huo asked, "Will you lead the Uchiha into a direct confrontation with Konoha?"

The Dove Faction had never wanted conflict, which was why it had always been at odds with the Radical Faction.

Their ideologies were completely different.

This question was, in fact, the crux of the conflict between the two factions. Uchiha Huo fell silent, waiting for Bai Ye's answer.

"Yes, but I won't do it blindly!"

Bai Ye spoke slowly.

There was no getting around this question.

No matter how he answered, one of them would hear something he didn't want to hear.

"Good. I'll support you at the clan meeting!" Upon hearing Bai Ye's answer, Uchiha Huo immediately declared his stance.

As long as Bai Ye wasn't purely a dove, as long as he was willing to confront Konoha...

Then he would support Bai Ye!

What Bai Ye had just said had indeed helped Uchiha Huo see things clearly.

Rather than watch Uchiha Fugaku remain in charge and accomplish nothing, they might as well let someone else try.

"You already have so many supporters. You don't need me!"

"I'm definitely going to run!"

"Our Dove Faction won't support you, but we won't oppose you either. We won't help you after you take over, but we won't trip you up."

Uchiha Huo stated his position.

Seeing Bai Ye's resolute expression, he sighed.

Deep down, he wasn't happy about Bai Ye's intention to confront Konoha.

But the Middle Faction and the Radical Faction had already chosen to support Bai Ye. At the clan meeting, Bai Ye would very likely oust Uchiha Fugaku from his position as clan head.

Whether he supported Bai Ye no longer really mattered.

Besides, Fugaku leaned somewhat toward the Radical Faction himself.

There was plenty of criticism of Fugaku within the Dove Faction, too.

Taking Bai Ye's earlier words into account, he didn't think Bai Ye was a mindless lunatic like those in the Radical Faction.

Putting him in charge wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

At worst, wouldn't he just be like the current Uchiha Fugaku?!

But what Uchiha Fugaku had done over the years had indeed left the elders, and even other clan members, rather dissatisfied.

After that, the two elders left, while Uchiha Hui kept Bai Ye behind to talk a little longer.

He and the Middle Faction had now thrown their full support behind Bai Ye, so naturally, he needed to understand things clearly.

They talked late into the night. When Bai Ye left the reception room and was about to head home, he saw Uchiha Izumi leaning against the doorway, tapping her toe against the ground as though something was weighing on her mind.

Hearing movement inside, Uchiha Izumi immediately looked over. When she saw Bai Ye, she hurried toward him. "Bai Ye, have you finished talking with Grandpa?!"

"Izumi, have you been waiting here for me this whole time?"

"Yes. Grandpa asked me to leave earlier, but I've actually been right here all along." Uchiha Izumi looked up at Bai Ye and continued, sounding a little downcast, "I don't really have any friends."

"You will. I'll make things better and better for the Uchiha in the village, and you'll be able to make lots of friends, too, Izumi."

Bai Ye reached out and patted Uchiha Izumi's head. This time, she didn't resist much.

As she thought about his words, a glimmer of hope rose in her heart. "Then let's pinky promise, Bai Ye!"

"All right. Pinky promise."

Bai Ye reached out and hooked his little finger around Uchiha Izumi's.

Looking at her, he became even more determined not to let that oh-so-filial son hurt Izumi.

Over the next few days, Bai Ye went nowhere aside from training.

For the time being, he couldn't locate Shisui, either.

Shisui was in the Anbu.

Besides, talking to Shisui about those things now probably wouldn't accomplish much. Everything could wait until he became clan head.

The day of the clan meeting arrived.

At Uchiha Fugaku's home.

Uchiha Mikoto straightened his collar and asked gently, "Fugaku, is there another clan meeting today?!"

Lately, the Uchiha Clan's meetings seemed to be growing more and more frequent.

Even Uchiha Mikoto, who had settled into life as a housewife, could see it.

The Uchiha Clan seemed calm on the surface, but beneath it, turmoil was probably already brewing...

"Yes. Is something wrong, Mikoto?!"

"No... I was just thinking about the Uchiha Clan's current situation..."

The clan grounds had their own self-contained community.

In fact, most Uchiha could live entirely within the clan grounds and buy all their daily necessities without ever going into the village.

Even Uchiha Mikoto hadn't left the clan grounds in a long time.

But she had still heard about the situation outside.

Uchiha Mikoto looked at her husband worriedly. The problems between the village and the Uchiha must have been giving him quite a headache.

If only those things hadn't happened back then...

Uchiha Mikoto thought of Kushina and Minato, who had died so young.

If they were still alive, the relationship between the Uchiha and the village would never have reached this point.

"Don't worry. I'll lead the Uchiha Clan out of this predicament. I'm heading to the meeting now!!"

Uchiha Fugaku took a deep breath. The situation between the Uchiha Clan and the village really wasn't particularly good.

But he said nothing about it, not wanting to worry Uchiha Mikoto.

As clan head, he would resolve it.

The conflicts within the clan were so severe now that he had to mediate.

He figured today's meeting would probably be just like all the others.

With that thought, Fugaku said goodbye to Mikoto and headed to Naka Shrine, where the Uchiha held their secret clan meetings.

Naka Shrine.

When Uchiha Fugaku arrived, he felt that something was off about the atmosphere.

The people around him were giving him strange looks, too.

"You're here? Then let's begin!"

Uchiha Setsuna's voice carried through the crowd to Fugaku's ears.

Huh?!

What's going on?!

Uchiha Fugaku was even more baffled.

It had never been like this before!

Uchiha Setsuna had never treated him this way before. Why was everything completely different from what he had expected?!

"Fugaku, hurry up. We have something very important to discuss today."

Something important?!

Has anything particularly important happened to the Uchiha lately?!

A flicker of confusion crossed Uchiha Fugaku's eyes.

He hadn't received any news.

Is there something happening in the Uchiha Clan that I don't know about?!

Or is it something concerning the village?!

And those words had come from Uchiha Hui, no less.

At every meeting, Uchiha Hui never spoke unless there was a particularly heated argument.

Still bewildered, Uchiha Fugaku made his way to the head seat.

Before he could even settle into his seat, Uchiha Setsuna spoke bluntly. "Fugaku, I don't think you're fit to be clan head anymore. At today's meeting, we want you to step down."

"Ah... oh... Huh!? Step down!!!?"

Uchiha Fugaku had initially been nodding, thinking this must be the major event that had happened recently.

So the clan head is stepping down.

But the moment that thought crossed his mind, he snapped back to his senses.

Wait, no!!!!?

Hold on, what the hell is going on!!!!?

When did I ever say I was stepping down!!!!

He had no idea what was going on, but he was pretty sure he had never intended to step down in the first place!

More importantly, this was completely different from what he had expected!

Why are they coming straight at me right from the start?!

Usually, the Radical Faction and the Dove Faction argued over the Uchiha Clan's current plight.

Then the Middle Faction muddied the waters.

After that, he mediated between the three factions, and they discussed a few matters concerning the village.

That was how the clan meeting ended.

It had always been like that. They never reached any conclusions anyway.

But this isn't right, is it?!

Why are they demanding I step down right from the start!?

Have I been doing a bad job lately?!

But Uchiha Fugaku didn't think he had done anything wrong. When he needed to stand firm against Konoha, he felt he had done so. It was just that the other side seemed even firmer.

He also felt that the Uchiha Clan couldn't afford a head-on confrontation with them.

And so things had ended up this way...

Was that somehow wrong?!

He instinctively looked toward Uchiha Hui.

Uchiha Setsuna had always had a problem with him, though he didn't know why Setsuna had suddenly turned his fire on him.

But at that moment, Uchiha Fugaku felt the others ought to know about this too, right?!

And just what was going on here? Shouldn't they explain it to him?!

They couldn't just tell him to step down and expect him to do it!

"Fugaku, I really do think you're no longer suited to be clan leader!"

Meeting Uchiha Fugaku's gaze, Uchiha Hui sighed and spoke slowly.

After his last conversation with Bai Ye, he had spent a long, long time thinking it over. In the end, he realized that things really did seem to be just as Bai Ye had said.

If they kept letting Uchiha Fugaku remain clan leader...

He would only lead the Uchiha Clan into disaster.

To prevent that from happening, Uchiha Hui felt that it really was time for Uchiha Fugaku to step down.

Hearing Uchiha Hui say that left Uchiha Fugaku even more bewildered!

Wait, what?!

Why was everyone telling me to step down?!

And Uchiha Hui was the representative of the Middle Faction.

What on earth had happened to the Middle Faction?

They had never acted like this before!!!

"Elder Hui, Elder Huo, and Elder Setsuna, I want to know why! Haven't I done a good enough job?!"

Uchiha Fugaku was reluctant to accept it.

He felt he hadn't done anything wrong at all.

So why were they making me step down?!

"Not quite. During your time in office, the Uchiha Clan's living conditions have only gotten worse. I think we really need to choose someone else to turn things around!"

Uchiha Huo spoke bluntly.

With this whole spectacle unfolding, Uchiha Fugaku finally understood what was going on.

So this was the major matter they had gathered to discuss.

No wonder some people had looked at him strangely when he first arrived.

Those people were all trusted confidants of the three elders, so they would generally have known about this.

In other words, it wasn't just the Radical Faction and the Middle Faction involved today. Even the Dove Faction had taken part in this.

They simply hadn't spoken up yet!

At that thought, Uchiha Fugaku immediately asked, "Then who is it?!"

Someone must have done something!

That had to be why this was happening.

But who was it?!!!

Uchiha Fugaku kept turning it over in his mind. Who could it be among the three factions?!

As soon as he finished speaking, a voice suddenly rang out from somewhere in the crowd: "I choose Bai Ye! He's the one everyone wants!!!"