Tonight's dinner in the Uchiha Clan

It was dinnertime in the Uchiha Clan Compound. Shingetsu, Madara, and Hōkaku sat around the table, enjoying a meal that could hardly be called lavish.

Unlike the Senju, who liked communal meals, the proud, reserved Uchiha preferred individual servings and were extremely particular about their tableware. Three dazzlingly luxurious lacquerware meal boxes sat on a low table made from fine torreya wood, yet the food inside these exquisite containers was decidedly meager.

Tonight's dinner in the Uchiha Clan consisted of a whole block of tofu drenched in sauce, large, roughly cut chunks of boiled radish, sticky natto and miso soup as side dishes, and a large bowl of rice with a plum as the staple. The only meat was fish fried until crisp and fragrant.

Even if the cook was highly skilled and the food delicious, the thought that even the head of a powerful clan like the Uchiha could afford only such humble fare was enough to make anyone weep over Konoha's finances.

Kneeling stiffly beside the table, Hōkaku quietly removed every bone from the fish in his meal box, then placed the whole piece in Shingetsu's bowl.

Shingetsu looked at the two pieces of fish in her meal box, then at Hōkaku's dinner, which now had no meat at all, and felt an overwhelming sadness. With her chopsticks, she divided the fish he had given her into two portions, one large and one small. Keeping only the tiny piece, she returned the larger portion to Hōkaku's bowl.

"Thank you, Father, but this is enough for me."

My daughter is an angel!

Utterly moved, Papa Hōkaku shed tears of gratitude in his heart. Through more than five hundred layers of his rose-tinted filter, Shingetsu seemed gilded from head to toe. Whatever she did, she was the purest, most wonderful child of all.

Very soon, however, Shingetsu shattered that unrealistic fantasy herself.

Under Hōkaku's and Madara's gazes, Shingetsu happily ate her crispy fish. The Uchiha Clan, so skilled in Fire Release, proved surprisingly talented at cooking too.

She pinched off a large piece of fish with her chopsticks and savored it on her tongue, enjoying the sweet freshness of the flesh and the fragrant crispness of the skin. After happily finishing an entire piece of fish, she dumped all the natto she disliked into Hōkaku's bowl.

Both the corner of Hōkaku's mouth and his eye twitched at the sight. Apparently, being a parent meant having to eat your child's leftovers.

But as a shinobi born in the Warring States Period, he knew how precious food was. Besides, they hardly had enough food to waste freely. Shingetsu's picky eating irked him, and he resolved to make her break that bad habit.

With a light cough, Hōkaku tried to summon his authority as her father. Unfortunately, he had too little authority and far too much affection, leaving him looking every bit the doting fool. He picked up a large clump of natto and tried to put it in Shingetsu's bowl, but she hurriedly pushed her meal box aside, terrified that the hated natto would contaminate her rice.

"Shingetsu, natto is very nutritious. Come on, try a little."

Thwarted, Hōkaku reluctantly softened his approach and coaxed Shingetsu gently. Meanwhile, his chopsticks kept pressing toward her mouth, determined to feed her the vile natto himself.

"But natto is all sticky! It's disgusting!"

The terror on Shingetsu's face was plain to see. She put every bit of her shinobi training to use, perfectly evading all of Hōkaku's attacks. Watching from the side, Madara Uchiha curled his lips into a smile and decided to add natto to the punishments for her failed training exercises.

With his paternal authority challenged over and over, a vein bulged on Hōkaku's forehead. Now he was no longer merely trying to correct Shingetsu's picky eating. He was fighting to defend his dignity and his ninja way!

"Shingetsu, how can an Uchiha be a picky eater? Just a little! Really, just a little!"

"No way! I'll definitely throw up if I eat something that disgusting!"

Shingetsu stared in horror at the mysterious food dangling in sticky strings from his chopsticks, her face deathly pale. The mere thought of putting something that smelled like an old man's stinky feet into her mouth sent her stomach churning uncontrollably. Just smelling it made her want to vomit.

Natto is pure evil! I'm never eating that stuff!

Just as the bond between father and daughter was about to rupture over a clump of natto, Madara Uchiha, who had been quietly eating beside them, finally spoke. He elegantly set his chopsticks down beside his thoroughly emptied bowl. Raising his brows, he swept his gaze over the father and daughter chasing each other with their meal boxes, a faint hint of amusement in his eyes.

"If she doesn't like it, don't force her to eat it."

Shingetsu sat down triumphantly, hugging her meal box, while Hōkaku lowered his chopsticks in resignation. Now he understood. Fine, then. The clan head was entirely responsible for indulging Shingetsu's picky eating.

Sitting back down beside Shingetsu, Uchiha Hōkaku was overcome with emotion. Before his precious daughter was born, he had never shared a meal with the clan head.

Before that, never mind such private occasions-even at clan meetings or on the battlefield, the only person who could stand beside Lord Madara had always been Lord Izuna.

The thought of Lord Izuna filled Hōkaku's heart with grief. Izuna's death had not merely been a tremendous blow to Madara. In truth, it had dealt a devastating blow to clansmen like Hōkaku and to the Uchiha Clan itself.

Madara was aloof and knew practically nothing about politics. Izuna had managed nearly all the clan's affairs and taken full responsibility for diplomacy. Back then, Madara, a gifted warrior, could throw himself into battle without restraint because he knew his younger brother Izuna would always hold the clan together behind him and support him with everything he had.

Yet Izuna had died before peace arrived, on the eve of Konoha's founding. His death meant that Madara Uchiha had lost his brother and the Uchiha Clan had lost its guiding mind. It had also left the peace between the Senju and the Uchiha hanging by a thread.

Tobirama Senju, the true power and decision-maker behind the Senju and Konoha, happened to be a man full of hatred and prejudice toward the Uchiha. With Hashirama keeping him in check, he could set those feelings aside and coexist peacefully with them. But how long could Hashirama Senju keep him in check?

Having lost their guiding mind, how were the Uchiha supposed to contend with the mind behind the Senju Clan?

Once Tobirama Senju became the Second Hokage, he would surely do everything in his power to suppress the Uchiha. How would they survive in a Konoha steeped in prejudice and hatred then?

The future of the Uchiha, and even of Konoha itself, was not as bright as Madara and Hashirama imagined.

If only Lord Izuna were still alive. How wonderful would that be? He would never let something like this happen!

Hōkaku felt as though his head would split. Like most Uchiha, he was not skilled at intrigue. Young Shingetsu, on the other hand, had shown a talent for it. What the Uchiha Clan needed now was not another first-rate fighter, but someone with a capable mind. Even if she was only a child, they could not ignore her ideas.

"Shingetsu, tell us again what you said to Lord Madara earlier today."

Hōkaku cautiously glanced at Madara Uchiha, who sat nearby holding a cup of hot tea. Only after seeing that Madara had no intention of stopping them did he feel comfortable letting Shingetsu continue. Admittedly, two adults listening to a five-year-old's advice on their clan's survival was a rather absurd sight. But considering that this was the Shinobi World, where five-year-olds could go to war and seven-year-olds could think like Hokage, it all began to seem perfectly reasonable.

"How should I put this?"

Shingetsu set down her bowl and chopsticks, closed the meal box before her, and put it away. She raised her head, a precocious sharpness on her young face, and spoke solemnly.

"I think it's already completely impossible for the Uchiha to run the Ninja Academy."

"Of course."

Madara Uchiha chuckled. It was impossible to tell whether he was mocking his close friend or genuinely proud of him.

"Hashirama would never let such a good idea slip away."

Cold sweat beaded on Shingetsu's forehead at the thought of the elusive, cunning, and troublesome Hashirama she had encountered that day. It had been terrifying and utterly unexpected. Who could have imagined Hashirama Senju would turn up there?

"But we can still be involved. That doesn't just mean sending the clan's children to school. We can also have Uchiha serve as teachers."

Shingetsu patted her cheeks, doing her utmost to drive Hashirama Senju's face out of her mind. Hōkaku was the first to raise a bewildered objection. He did not want the clan's children spending all day with those loathsome Senju, especially Shingetsu. The thought of her being surrounded by ill-intentioned Senju-particularly a certain member named Toka-made him want to draw his sword and cut down everyone with the name Senju!

"If we Uchiha can't have full control, we might as well give up on it altogether. Our clan has been raising capable shinobi through the Clan School for a thousand years anyway."

Shingetsu pressed her lips together and gently shook her head. Her dark gaze passed over her father Hōkaku, rejecting his suggestion outright.

"Once the school is established, it won't just be civilians and the Senju attending. Sooner or later, all the clans will go too. Rather than resist it, we should seize the initiative while we can."

Knocked out in a single blow, Uchiha Hōkaku widened his eyes indignantly. His mouth opened slightly as he tried to say something, but he could not find a rebuttal. Seeing this, Shingetsu hurriedly delivered another blow.

"The Ninja Academy is bound to become one of Konoha's most important centers of power. If we want the Uchiha to have influence there, we have to act now."

"But..."

He understood the reasoning, but the thought that Senju Toka might become a teacher and gain access to Shingetsu left Hōkaku bitterly unwilling to accept it.

"Enough, Hōkaku."

At that moment, Madara Uchiha, who had finally finished his tea, put an end to Hōkaku's last desperate struggles. He set down his teacup and cast a cool glance at Uchiha Hōkaku, who had frozen in place.

"We'll do as Shingetsu suggested."

Since even the clan head had spoken, their involvement in the Ninja Academy was truly settled. Hōkaku stared blankly, his hands braced weakly against the tatami. Yet before he could fully digest this terrible news, Madara issued an order so dreadful that Hōkaku felt as though he had lost his parents.

"Hōkaku, once the Ninja Academy is established, you'll be a teacher."