Uchiha Clan Meeting

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In a damp cavern somewhere in the Land of Rain.

Drip.

A drop of water struck the stone, producing a crisp sound.

At that moment, two enormous pitcher-plant leaves slowly rose from the ground. In the center of the leaves, a strange face appeared, half white and half black.

The masked man sitting inside the cavern glanced at him and asked casually, "Zetsu. How is the situation?"

The strange man named Zetsu, still half-submerged in the ground, answered, "They have already begun peace talks. Nothing like what you expected."

The masked man fell silent for a moment. "Why did Kumogakure slow its offensive?"

At the beginning of the raid, Kumogakure had advanced like a hot knife through butter, almost breaking through Konoha's frontal defenses. Everyone watching the conflict, including the masked man, had assumed Kumogakure would press its advantage and approach Konoha quickly.

No one expected Kumogakure, while holding the advantage, to suddenly slow down its offensive and make the previously clear situation murky again.

Zetsu shook his head. "I am not sure either."

Monitoring every battlefield inside the Land of Fire had already kept Zetsu running back and forth. Battles outside the Land of Fire were not something he could cover at the same time.

The masked man was irritated. "Kumogakure is wasting an opportunity."

After thinking back, Zetsu answered, "Maybe something happened in Kumogakure's rear. In the weeks before they withdrew from the Land of Fire, their deployment looked strange. The Two-Tails jinchuriki even left the front line and hurried back to the rear."

The masked man waved a hand. "Forget it."

He had no interest in digging deeper. To him, Konoha and Kumogakure were only pieces he could use. Since they were just pieces to be moved around as needed, there was no reason to place too much hope in them.

Zetsu asked bluntly, "What do we do next?"

The masked man smiled. "This conflict with Kumogakure shows that the village no longer trusts the Uchiha at all. We should start with the Uchiha and further weaken the village's strength."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Find me a suitable Uchiha clan member." After a pause, the masked man's tone grew darker and darker. "I need a useful pawn to stir up the relationship between the Uchiha and the village..."

Konoha Village, Uchiha District.

Knock, knock, knock.

A rapid knock sounded from outside the courtyard.

Shisui, who had only recently returned home, had no choice but to drag his exhausted body to the gate. As soon as he opened it, Itachi's small figure appeared before him.

Itachi said happily, "Brother Shisui, you finally came back."

The Uchiha Clan knew Shisui had been sent on a secret mission.

Many Uchiha even believed the Third Hokage was abusing his authority to settle a personal grudge, deliberately sending Shisui away on a mission to eliminate the clan's top genius. Because of that, Itachi had been very worried about Shisui's safety.

Shisui smiled and led Itachi inside.

After they sat down, Shisui briefly mentioned Team Eleven's mission, then smiled. "Do not worry. Team Eleven has Senior Naoki with us. There was not too much danger."

Hearing that Team Eleven had caused a major disturbance inside the Land of Lightning, Itachi looked curious. "Brother Shisui, does that mean Kumogakure slowed its offensive because of you?"

Kumogakure's abnormal behavior had also puzzled Konoha. All kinds of guesses and probes had continued without stopping. Only after confirming that Kumogakure's rear had truly suffered trouble did the Third Hokage personally lead a force to attack Kumogakure's raiding troops and drive them out of the Land of Fire with a single decisive counterattack.

Shisui nodded with a smile.

Remembering the Third Hokage's shocked expression after hearing Team Eleven's report, he felt extremely satisfied.

There was no doubt that after Team Eleven returned to the village and combined all available intelligence, they quickly reached one conclusion. It was their harassment behind Kumogakure's raiding force that had forced the enemy to slow its offensive and bought Konoha precious breathing room.

After they chatted for a while, Itachi suddenly became serious. "Brother Shisui, look."

As he spoke, Itachi's eyes suddenly turned red, and two tomoe slowly appeared in each pupil.

Shisui was delighted. "You awakened the Sharingan?"

Itachi nodded. "I awakened it on the battlefield last week."

"Why were you on the battlefield?"

Itachi said, "I graduated early."

At that moment, a figure landed in Shisui's courtyard. "Shisui, the clan head is holding a clan meeting at the main house. They are only waiting for you."

The smile on Shisui's face froze, and his expression darkened.

After arriving at the main house, Shisui looked over the people inside.

Uchiha Fugaku, the clan head, sat in the center with his arms folded. Around him sat the elites of the Uchiha Police Force. More than a dozen of them were all jonin.

Seeing this, Shisui's heart tightened.

Even ordinary special jonin in the clan were not qualified to attend this meeting. He could already vaguely guess what issue this clan meeting would discuss.

"Clan Head."

After greeting him, Shisui silently sat in a corner.

Fugaku glanced at Shisui and nodded.

Once Shisui arrived, the Uchiha clan meeting officially began.

Soon, an elite Uchiha jonin from the Police Force said, "Captain, I received accurate information. This time, the village lost more than thirty jonin alone. The Hyuga, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame, Inuzuka, and other shinobi clans all had jonin die in battle. As for chunin and genin, the number is even higher."

As he spoke, the elite Uchiha jonin stood, his voice growing more heated. "After suffering such a huge loss, the Third actually agreed to peace talks. Many people in the village are dissatisfied. This is an opportunity for us."

Another elite Uchiha jonin said methodically, "It is said that the ANBU under the Hokage's direct command also suffered considerable losses this time. The Third's forces have been weakened again."

As soon as that Uchiha jonin finished speaking, the Uchiha inside the room all looked toward Shisui in the corner.

At present, Shisui was the only person in the entire Uchiha Clan who had joined the ANBU. So if the Uchiha wanted the real situation inside the ANBU, Shisui was their only channel.

Seeing everyone look at him, Shisui felt both annoyed and helpless. He could only answer vaguely, "I do not know much. Roughly three ANBU squads were lost."

The Uchiha in the room were all excited by this. One person stood and said to Fugaku, "Captain, it is time. The position of Hokage should have belonged to the Uchiha in the first place."

"That's right, Captain. Make the move."

As the atmosphere grew hotter, the Uchiha of the Police Force began rising from their seats.

Clan Head Fugaku remained seated steadily with his arms folded.

He swept his gaze over the clan members, then finally looked at Shisui. "Shisui, what do you think?"

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