Chapter 560: A Noisy Clan Meeting

Chapter 560: Chapter 560: A Noisy Clan Meeting

Inside the Uchiha clan mansion.

As clan head, Fugaku sat in the center of the hall with his arms crossed and a stern expression on his face. His authoritative gaze swept over every Uchiha clansman who had come to attend the clan meeting.

Due to the change in Hokage and Danzo’s series of actions within the village, the Uchiha clan had hastily convened this meeting to discuss their strategy for dealing with Danzo, the Acting Hokage.

Shisui, who had originally been busy preparing for the entrance ceremony at the Ninja Academy, had also been hurriedly summoned back by the Uchiha clan.

A moment later, Fugaku’s gaze, having swept over all the clansmen, finally settled on Shisui. He said in a deep voice, "Shisui, I’ve received reliable information that you’re one of the candidates for the position of the Ninja Academy’s next principal."

Hearing Fugaku’s words, the Uchiha clansmen in the hall were greatly excited.

Ever since the Second Hokage’s administration, the Uchiha clan had been firmly confined to the Police Force. No matter how great their contributions or how prestigious their reputation, they had been unable to gain a foothold in any other department.

Now that Shisui had become one of the candidates for the position of Ninja Academy principal, it undoubtedly meant that the Uchiha were beginning to break through the restrictions imposed by the Hokage faction, extending their influence into other departments of the village.

Before Shisui could respond, Fugaku continued, "Shisui, the position of Ninja Academy principal is something we Uchiha must obtain!"

Faced with the eager gazes of the clan head and his fellow clansmen, Shisui said somewhat awkwardly, "I’m sorry, but the candidate for principal has already been decided just now. It’s Hyuga Kagami-senpai of the Hyuga clan."

"What!?"

Fugaku frowned upon hearing this, a flash of displeasure passing through his eyes.

"The Hyuga clan? What qualifications do they have to compete with our Uchiha clan? Who do they think they are!?"

"Damn it, it’s that Hyuga Kagami again! Wasn’t he the one who defeated Shinichi and Hiiragi before?"

"The village higher-ups must be deliberately suppressing us Uchiha! Otherwise, what qualifications does that Hyuga Kagami have to compete with Shisui? He wouldn’t even be able to withstand a single move from Shisui..."

"Exactly! We Uchiha cannot accept this decision!"

In an instant, the hall erupted into an uproar, with the Uchiha clansmen voicing their indignation.

Seeing this, Shisui hurriedly explained, "Everyone, please don’t misunderstand! I voluntarily gave up the position. It has absolutely nothing to do with Hyuga Kagami-senpai or the village higher-ups."

"Shisui, you don’t need to explain..."

"Hmph! Do you really think we’d believe something like that?"

"Shisui, stop defending the village!"

Knowing that Shisui had always sided with the village, the Uchiha clansmen simply refused to believe his explanation. They stubbornly insisted that Shisui was deliberately taking the blame upon himself to quell everyone’s dissatisfaction with the village higher-ups.

Seeing this, Shisui could only sit back down helplessly.

At this moment, a radical Uchiha clansman said to Fugaku, "Clan Head, we absolutely cannot accept the village’s decision! The position of Ninja Academy principal should belong to us Uchiha!"

Another Uchiha clansman stood up. "Exactly! This is what we Uchiha deserve! We now have six pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan! It’s about time the village learned to respect us!"

Undoubtedly, this Uchiha clansman had counted the two Homura of Kamigami, the mysterious spiral-masked man from Akatsuki, Uchiha Shinichi, and Fugaku and Shisui, who were currently present in the hall.

Yet all the Uchiha clansmen in the hall enthusiastically echoed his words, seemingly unconcerned by the fact that these six pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan belonged to three different factions.

Fugaku, who sat with his arms crossed, also wore a gloomy expression, clearly displeased.

The thought that a junior from the Hyuga clan had suddenly become a department head on equal footing with him, the captain of the Police Force, left him extremely unhappy.

In a corner of the hall, Itachi listened to his clansmen belittling and mocking the Hyuga clan while complaining about and expressing their dissatisfaction with the village higher-ups. An uneasy expression appeared on his face.

No one understood the true strength of the Hyuga clan better than he and Shisui did.

In his eyes, the Byakugan bloodline, which could evolve into the Tenseigan, was a powerful dojutsu bloodline capable of rivaling the Rinnegan, known as the ’Eyes of the Sage.’

The only reason the Uchiha clan could still proudly stand alongside the Hyuga clan as one of the two great dojutsu clans was that Hyuga Kagami, the true powerhouse, simply did not care about such empty prestige.

Looking at his fellow clansmen, who continued to clamor around him, Itachi couldn’t help wondering what expressions they would wear if they discovered that, of the six pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan currently active in the shinobi world, four belonged to Kagami’s subordinates.

"Phew... Fortunately, Kagami-senpai is broad-minded and doesn’t care about these things. Otherwise..."

As these thoughts crossed his mind, Itachi felt relieved, but also a lingering sense of fear.

At the same time, his clansmen’s shortsightedness, arrogance, and overbearing behavior filled him with utter disgust.

In the incredibly noisy hall, Shisui and Itachi exchanged glances before both revealing helpless expressions. Compared to their fanatical and radical clansmen, the two of them seemed completely out of place.

After the clan meeting ended, Shisui and Itachi immediately left the hall together, seemingly unwilling to spend even another moment in that room filled with dissatisfaction and arrogance.

Arriving at a training ground near the Uchiha compound, Itachi said to Shisui, "I asked Sasuke about it. While he was in Akatsuki’s hands, Shinichi was the one who took care of him the entire time. He even personally guided his training."

Shisui wasn’t surprised to hear this. He said, "Shinichi is the inside agent Kagami-senpai planted in Akatsuki. Once Akatsuki is defeated, he’ll be able to return to the clan."

Itachi nodded. "Mm. And there’s En-senpai, too. The clan needs more calm and wise clansmen!"

Suddenly, the sound of hurried footsteps interrupted their conversation.

Immediately afterward, a small figure burst through the bushes and threw himself toward Itachi.

Catching the breathless Sasuke as he rushed over, Itachi asked, "Sasuke, what’s wrong?"

After catching his breath, Sasuke pointed toward the clan compound and said urgently, "Big Brother! A... a whole bunch of clansmen went together to the Hyuga compound! They said they’re going to teach Neji’s sensei a lesson!"

Sasuke wasn’t actually very familiar with Kagami, but because he had experienced being abducted alongside Neji, he knew that Kagami was Neji’s sensei.

While at the clan mansion, Sasuke had overheard the clansmen returning from the meeting clamoring about going to give Kagami a hard time.

Out of loyalty to Neji, Sasuke had immediately rushed out of the compound to find Itachi and Shisui.

"What!?"

Shisui and Itachi were both startled.

Sasuke continued, "It’s true! There were seven or eight of them!"

Shisui frowned. "This is ridiculous!"

Itachi, who usually wore an expressionless face, showed a rare look of panic as he asked, "Brother Shisui, what should we do now?"

Shisui sighed helplessly. "Let’s go take a look. Hopefully, we’ll make it in time to stop them..."