Seeing the situation spiral out of control, Second Elder Uchiha Ya inwardly felt alarmed. His eyes flashed as he raised his voice:
"Setsuna, I admit that some of what you said is correct. Blindly compromising and enduring humiliation is not a long-term solution. The Uchiha clan is not so easy to bully!"
"But this time the Third Hokage and the others have already taken the first step back and offered compensation. What more do you want?"
"Compensation?"
Uchiha Setsuna laughed coldly.
"You mean the pensions and war merit rewards?"
"But those were things that already belonged to us in the first place!"
"For the past few days, the Uchiha have been treated as outsiders by the people of the village—gossiped about, slandered, and even restricted in our freedom of movement!"
"And in the end, all we get is the return of what was originally ours…"
"And they act as if they're doing us a favor."
Turning toward the gathered clan members, Setsuna raised his voice:
"Tell me—are you satisfied with such compensation? With such a result?"
"NO!"
"We will never compromise!"
"Let the Third Hokage give us an explanation!"
Several Uchiha immediately shouted in fury, loudly echoing Setsuna's words.
"Fools!"
Uchiha Ya roared angrily.
"The village is not as weak as you think!"
"This time the village took a step back, but the ANBU stationed outside our clan compound clearly show that the village is prepared to fight to mutual destruction if necessary!"
"If you push them too far, they will not compromise again!"
Setsuna's face darkened with anger.
"Second Elder, do you hear what you're saying?"
"From beginning to end, this entire matter was the village's fault! We only want an explanation—what's wrong with that?"
"Those old men led by Hiruzen Sarutobi simply say from their lofty positions, 'I won't punish you this time,' and you expect us to be grateful?"
"You say the village is prepared for mutual destruction."
"But does that mean the Uchiha lack the resolve to die together with them?!"
"So what exactly do you want?" Ya demanded through clenched teeth.
"Or are you determined to push this matter beyond the point of no return?"
"It's not that I want to escalate things," Setsuna snorted coldly.
"It's that we have no choice but to escalate them."
"Have you forgotten? That brat Namikaze Minato intends to take back the Uchiha's authority over the Konoha Military Police Force!"
"And Namikaze Minato is the Fourth Hokage candidate personally chosen by Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"Can you guarantee that Minato's proposal doesn't reflect the will of those old men behind him?"
"Or are you planning to retreat again this time—"
"And simply hand over the Konoha Military Police Force to them?"
"The Military Police is the foundation of the Uchiha clan's standing in the village!"
"If we give it up, what reason would we even have to stay in this village?"
The moment these words were spoken, the entire underground chamber exploded into chaos.
"We can't give it up! Absolutely not!"
"The village already restricts the Uchiha from leaving the village to take missions. If we lose the Military Police too, how are we supposed to survive?!"
"I thought that was just a rumor before—turns out it's true!"
"The village has gone too far this time! They're leaving us no way out!"
"The First Elder is right—we have no room left to retreat! If they want to fight, then let's fight! At worst, we'll drag them down with us!"
Seeing the surging emotions of the crowd, Uchiha Ya felt his heart sink.
He had deliberately tried to avoid letting the discussion shift toward the Konoha Military Police Force, but Setsuna had still used it as a bargaining chip.
Under the current circumstances—where the Uchiha were already restricted from leaving the village for missions—the Military Police had become the clan's primary source of income.
This arrangement was originally a political compromise between the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, and the Uchiha clan.
Cutting off someone's livelihood was like killing their parents.
Now that the village wanted to reclaim the Uchiha's authority over the Military Police, it was only natural that the clan would react violently.
"Silence!"
Uchiha Ya's gaze sharpened.
His three-tomoe Sharingan spun as he swept his eyes across the furious crowd, releasing a powerful aura.
The entire chamber instantly fell silent.
Everyone turned to look at him.
Ya's expression was grim as he shouted:
"Do you think I don't want to resist?!"
"But have you considered whether we even have the strength to resist?"
"How many shinobi does the Uchiha clan have in total? Less than a thousand!"
"And how many shinobi are there in the entire Hidden Leaf Village? More than ten thousand!"
"If that were the only difference, then fine! At worst, we would perish together with them!"
"But tell me—"
"Who among us can stop Namikaze Minato, the man known as the Yellow Flash?"
"Who can stand against Hiruzen Sarutobi, hailed as the Professor of Ninjutsu?"
"And what about the Legendary Sannin—Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade?"
"And the current generation of the Ino–Shika–Chō formation, who can even challenge the Hokage?"
"And Uzumaki Kushina, who can suppress the Nine-Tails itself?"
"Even if we fought with everything we had, how many of them could we hold off?!"
"And what about your parents? Your wives? Your children? Our fellow clansmen?"
"Do you expect them all to die alongside us?!"
"Can you calm down and think about this carefully?"
"If we want to rebel, we must first have the power to rebel!"
"I didn't want to say something this blunt, but even if we fight to the death—"
"The fish may die, but the net may not break."
"Right now, we simply do not have the strength to openly oppose the village."
Ya's harsh words spared the Uchiha no dignity.
Many clan members—who valued honor above life itself—became furious, shouting that they would rather die than submit.
"The Uchiha must never be humiliated!"
But quite a few others fell silent.
They hesitated.
They had families—people they cared about.
They themselves could die.
But what about their loved ones?
At that moment, Uchiha Fugaku, standing on the platform above, revealed a strange expression.
Because as far as he knew—
The high-level combat power on the Uchiha side was actually not inferior to the village leadership at all.
In fact, among the names Ya had just listed, several were secretly on their side.
If a battle truly broke out…
Their chances of victory might actually be even greater.
"If we can't defeat them," Uchiha Setsuna suddenly declared, finally revealing his true fangs,
"Then we leave!"
"If one place won't have us, another surely will!"
"Back then, we helped the Senju clan build Konoha."
"Now we can build another one!"
"The war has only just ended. With other villages watching closely, Konoha would never dare cripple itself by fighting us!"
"If this village doesn't want us—"
"Then we'll leave and build a village of our own!"
"A New Konoha!"
"A New Hokage!"
"A village where the Uchiha rule themselves!"
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