Seeing the gate close.
Senju Shinji, standing below the platform, immediately ordered his subordinates to start cleaning up.
Today's punishment was meant to give the clan members a small warning, but more than that, it was staged for outsiders to see.
Now the gate was closed and the outsiders were gone, so it was time to move on to the next part.
The punishment would certainly continue, but the next round of interrogations would all take place in the dungeon!
Seven or eight Sentencing Department Senju shinobi ran into the square.
Without untying the prisoners, they pulled them up, stakes and all.
As for whether they might hurt the people tied to the stakes?
Heh... In their eyes, these were traitors, so there was no need to treat them as people anymore!
The shinobi worked efficiently.
In no time at all, they had pulled up all the stakes in the square and carried them away.
Apart from the two who stayed behind to use Earth Release to deal with the ground, the others had already disappeared from the square, carrying the stakes.
Looking at the ground, which had already been cleared, and receiving the signal from the platform,
Senju Shinji circulated his Chakra and called out to the Senju clan members, "Assemble. The Clan Meeting has something to announce."
After calling out, he stepped to the side and waited for the clan members to move.
Although the Senju clan members were now mostly the elderly, women, and children, they were still a shinobi clan.
In less than three minutes, everyone had lined up neatly in the middle of the square according to family and bloodline!
Seeing that the clan members were ready, the First Elder stood up and walked to the front, taking a scroll from his sleeve.
After opening it, he followed the orders written on it and announced the latest changes within the clan!
He began with personnel appointments, starting with the clan head and ending with the squad leaders.
People from the Soratate Branch filled all the positions in several key departments.
Everyone listened to this information in silence, without raising any objections!
After all, the higher-ups had already learned about it during the Clan Meeting that morning.
And when ordinary clan members saw Senju Toka sitting in the main seat, they had already prepared themselves for it!
But once the policies on childbirth, marriage, and other matters were announced,
everyone below the age of forty-five and above the age of five erupted!
When they heard the minimum number of children required after marriage, a large number of unmarried people looked relieved and smug.
When they heard the new restriction added by the Second Elder, the smiles vanished from the faces of the unmarried people.
Looking at the clan members below, who wanted to curse but didn't dare and were holding their faces red,
Senju Uka couldn't help shrinking closer to Mito Uzumaki, inwardly blaming his aunt for setting him up.
If the clan members found out that he was the one who had come up with these rules,
he could forget about walking the streets of the Senju clan at night!
Seated in the main chair, Senju Toka quietly watched the clan members' reactions.
Suddenly, she sensed a resentful gaze from beside her.
After a moment's thought, she knew who it was.
While the First Elder paused to catch his breath, she turned her head slightly and glared threateningly at the seat below.
Though Senju Uka was deeply unwilling to yield after understanding the threat in his aunt's eyes,
to keep his aunt from "accidentally letting slip" that he was the one who had made the new rules,
he could only reluctantly look away.
Having watched the aunt and nephew's entire exchange, Mito Uzumaki smiled silently.
She turned to the child who was practically hiding behind her and said, "Come see me tomorrow morning. Your Grandpa Hashirama left behind some notes on Wood Release."
"Come and take a look. I hope they can give you some inspiration!"
Hearing this, Senju Uka's expression changed, and a smile immediately appeared on his face.
His Wood Release differed from Hashirama's, but the difference lay in its fundamental nature.
This might mean that A- and S-rank techniques could not be used by both of them, or that their power could not match Hashirama's level.
But the C- and B-rank techniques Senju Hashirama had developed early on would be a great addition for him!
Because the lower the difficulty, the smaller the differences would naturally be.
And even if he couldn't find any useful techniques, he could still learn about Senju Hashirama's approach to developing techniques.
That would also count as experience and improvement for his own future development.
His good mood lasted only a few minutes before he heard Senju Shinji bellow, "Meeting adjourned!"
The clan members in the square heard him, and those with families immediately took their wives and children home.
Most of them had come on empty stomachs at noon, and by now they were already hungry.
Those who had brought children were especially eager to get home, with the kids urging them to hurry.
Meanwhile, the unmarried people headed toward the clan cafeteria in groups, discussing the penalties in the clan's new rules as they walked.
More than half of them were already over twenty. According to what had just been announced, if they still weren't married by the second half of this year,
their missions would be suspended and their allowances docked next year!
In the crowd, Senju Kenchū looked at everyone complaining nonstop and suddenly interrupted them with a warning: "Stop complaining. Be careful they hear you and send you straight to the Front Line for half a year."
"Then I'll go. It's just the Front Line, nothing special!" Senju Yoshitoki said nonchalantly.
Senju Sanji chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. We've been to the battlefield. Why should we be afraid of the Front Line?"
"Are you afraid?" Senju Daisuke asked, looking directly at everyone.
At those words, the group of young men immediately started making a fuss.
You took a jab at me, I took a jab at you, and Senju Kenchū, who had started it all, got ganged up on by everyone!
Watching his companions laugh and joke around, Senju Kenchū didn't mind their teasing at all.
Instead, he grinned and egged them on: "Get louder. Otherwise, the people on the platform definitely won't hear you!"
"No one's afraid of the Front Line. The problem is, if you're docked for half a year, how are you going to solve your single problem?"
"By the time you get home, it'll be too late! Your missions will be suspended and your allowance docked. You'll end up unable to afford the cafeteria and can only go outside to eat a meal."
Hearing this, the young men looked at one another and could no longer find anything to complain about!
The higher-ups really might pull something like that.
Their allowances were high, but so were their expenses!
Every year, almost two-thirds of their income went toward their own training.
That meant most of them had practically no savings.
If they made too much noise now and ended up bumming food off everyone next year, they'd be humiliating themselves!
After a moment's silence, Senju Mizuki, the Senju who had guarded the back gate in the third chapter, looked at Senju Kenchū, who still had a smile on his face, and suddenly asked, "Brother Kenchū, looking at you, why don't you seem worried at all?"
"Does that mean you can get it settled this year?"
Hearing this, Senju Kenchū scratched his head, a little embarrassed.
An honest smile spread across his square face as he said, "More or less, more or less!"
"I'll treat you all to drinks when the time comes!"
Hearing this and looking at his happy smile,
the group, already upset by the new rules, felt even worse!
They were all single and worrying about the new rules.
Then suddenly, one of their friends was about to get married and start a family, with no need to worry about the new rules anymore.
For a moment, a sour feeling spread through the crowd.
However, since they were all Senju who had grown up in the Jiyang Institute together,
they were still happier than anything else to see their companion start a family!
Ignoring the jealous crowd, once Senju Mizuki learned that Senju Kenchū had already sorted things out,
he looked at Kenchū with a hint of ingratiation.
He had already decided to visit him tonight and ask for help!
He could only hope Kenchū's wife's friends, relatives, and acquaintances were plentiful!
After all, surely he wasn't the only clever one.