Chapter 154: The Power of Information

"More than ninety thousand copies of The Fire Times have been sold."

"And they're still selling."

Grand Elder Setsuna and Toyoma sat inside the room, listening to the report from the Uchiha kunoichi standing before them.

After the clan split, Setsuna had become the new clan head of this Uchiha branch. He was still called Grand Elder out of habit, but his position within this branch was now that of Clan Head. Kohaku and Kazuto, however, had retained their positions as elders. They had been elders before the split, and they remained elders now.

"Grand... Clan Head, but..."

The kunoichi stopped halfway through.

The old habit still hadn't disappeared.

She clicked her tongue in frustration at herself.

"What happened?" Setsuna asked. He didn't seem bothered by the mistake.

The kunoichi took a breath before continuing, a hint of frustration entering her voice.

"The weekly release of The Fire Times may be difficult for us."

"We don't have many people, and..."

Her eyes briefly moved toward Toyoma, who was sitting cross-legged in his chair.

"Finding enough stories and rumours every week will be difficult. We think it might be better if we took a little more time between each release."

"Yes, that is a problem, Grand El—Head."

Kazuto also stumbled over the title.

He immediately clicked his tongue.

Slap!

Setsuna slapped his own forehead.

"Just call me what you always have."

He looked around the room in annoyance.

"I've already lost count of how many different titles you people have called me."

His eyes landed on Toyoma.

Pfft.

Toyoma had his head lowered, his shoulders shaking as he tried to hold back his laughter.

Kohaku wasn't doing much better.

Neither was Uzuku.

A few others in the room were also struggling to keep straight faces.

Setsuna coughed loudly.

"Ahem."

Everyone immediately straightened up and tried to look serious.

Toyoma cleared his throat and finally raised his head.

"Well..."

"The weekly release was just a sudden thought I had. I didn't really think it through properly."

He rubbed his jaw.

"Collecting new information, sorting through it, deciding what is worth printing, and then preparing everything..."

He shook his head slightly.

"Doing all of that every week will be difficult."

"Then why don't we release it monthly?"

Everyone turned toward Kohaku.

He had been thinking about the matter carefully.

"Think about it."

"A month would give us enough time to collect information, arrange it, separate rumours from confirmed facts, and prepare everything for printing."

"In this way, we can use The Fire Times to its full potential instead of exhausting ourselves trying to maintain a schedule we can't handle."

The others listened carefully.

Kohaku had thought about The Fire Times much more seriously than they had initially realised.

It could become one of the most powerful tools in the Uchiha's hands.

If used correctly, it could influence how people viewed the clan.

It could build their reputation.

And more importantly...

It could become a weapon that didn't require a single kunai to be thrown.

"Rumours are a much more terrifying thing than people realise."

Kohaku spoke calmly.

"They can build someone up..."

"And they can destroy someone just as easily."

The room became quiet.

Everyone thought about his words.

Toyoma remained silent for a moment, considering the idea.

The more he thought about it...

The more Kohaku's proposal made sense.

His original idea of turning The Fire Times into a proper newspaper had sounded good, but there was one major problem.

They didn't have enough skilled people.

Running a proper newspaper required people who knew how to gather, verify, organise, write, and prepare it for publication.

The Uchiha didn't have enough people capable of doing all of that.

And if they brought another clan into the project...

There was always a chance they would lose control over it.

That was something Toyoma wasn't willing to risk.

For now, The Fire Times was still in its beginning phase.

They needed to establish its image first.

They needed to understand how much influence it could actually gain.

Once they had done that...

They could decide what to do next.

As for the future?

They would deal with it when the time came.

Toyoma finally looked toward Kohaku.

"What Elder Kohaku is saying makes sense."

He nodded slowly.

"It might actually be more reliable than my original idea."

For now...

There was no need to rush.

The Fire Times had already proven that it could attract attention.

Now they needed to learn how to turn that attention into influence.

The new Uchiha branch was busy trying to find a way of living that didn't start and end with throwing their lives away on missions.

The old branch had a completely different problem.

They were running out of people to send on those missions in the first place.

"Clan Head."

Shishu stood in front of Fugaku with a stack of reports in his hands.

"Several districts have seen a rise in robberies and violent incidents."

"We simply don't have enough manpower to keep everything under control."

The two were sitting inside Fugaku's study, with several reports spread across the table.

Fugaku carefully went through each one, his expression becoming heavier with every report.

"It's all because of the Grand Elder."

Shishu's voice carried a trace of frustration.

After the clan split, Setsuna's branch had taken a much larger portion of the Uchiha shinobi than Fugaku's side.

Even with Elder Kohaku and Elder Kazuto joining the Grand Elder's branch, many of the shinobi under them had remained with Fugaku's side.

There were two major reasons for it.

The first was the constant support Fugaku had received from the Sannin and Minato.

Their support toward Fugaku had remained steady throughout everything that had happened.

The second reason was even more deeply rooted.

Many of those shinobi had originally been followers of Uchiha Kagami.

And Kagami's followers were more willing to follow Shishu than Kazuto.

The belief that they had a responsibility toward the village...

And that the strength of the village came from its unity...

Was still deeply rooted in their minds.

The Grand Elder's branch had failed to understand that.

They still believed the shinobi world feared the Uchiha name.

They still acted as though the clan's reputation alone was enough to make others back down.

But despite having more shinobi than Fugaku's branch...

The loss of nearly one-third of the clan's shinobi was hurting them far more than they had expected.

"Maybe we can lend a hand, Fugaku."

Fugaku and Shishu both looked toward the door.

Minato and Jiraiya were standing there.

Mikoto had just stepped aside after showing them in.

"Come in, Minato. Elder Jiraiya."

Fugaku gestured toward the table.

The two entered and sat down.

"Fugaku..."

Jiraiya looked at him with a troubled expression.

"The violence spreading through the districts is getting out of hand."

"I'm sorry, Elder Jiraiya."

Fugaku's shoulders dropped slightly.

"We're short-handed right now."

"I'm doing everything I can to find a solution."

"No, no."

Jiraiya quickly waved his hand.

"We're not here to blame you."

He had noticed Fugaku beginning to lower his head and immediately stopped him.

"We know you're short on manpower."

"That's exactly why we came here."

"We want to offer a helping hand."

Minato nodded.

"We've been discussing the situation as well."

"Sister Tsunade and Jiraiya-sensei came up with an idea."

He looked directly at Fugaku.

"What if we allowed shinobi from the other clans to join the guard force under Uchiha command?"

He paused before continuing.

"The guard force falls under your clan's authority."

"So even though we've discussed the idea..."

"We still need your permission before doing anything."

Minato made a small requesting gesture.

It wasn't a demand.

It was an offer.

Fugaku and Shishu exchanged a troubled look.

Neither of them had expected this suggestion.

"This...?"

They both spoke at almost the same time.

Both Fugaku's and Shishu's faces had become tense with worry.

Jiraiya and Minato watched Fugaku closely, waiting for his answer.

They knew what they were asking wasn't a small matter.

The Uchiha Guard Force had always been under the authority of the Uchiha clan. Allowing shinobi from other clans to join it would mean giving up at least some of that control.

But right now...

They needed the Guard Force operating at full strength.

And they needed it before the situation became even worse.

Since The Fire Times had been released, they had finally seen the scale of the public anger it had created.

For now, most of that anger was still contained within the clans and among the shinobi who had read the newspaper.

They were angry.

They were suspicious.

But they were still holding themselves back.

The ordinary villagers were different.

Many of them had lost someone during the war.

And now...

They were no longer willing to keep their anger hidden.

That anger had already begun spilling into the streets.

Clan shinobi had suddenly become targets.

Attacks were happening without warning, and no one could predict where the next one would come from.

At first, it had seemed like only the four clans mentioned in The Fire Times would become targets.

But the situation had quickly become far more terrifying.

What had started as anger toward a few specific clans...

Had slowly turned into hostility between clan shinobi and civilian shinobi.

The anger that had originally been spreading among ordinary civilians was now pulling shinobi into the conflict as well.

If nothing was done soon...

The situation could spiral completely out of control.

That was why the Sannin, the elders, and Minato had already started working on a solution.

They had also brought the Ino-Shika-Cho clans into the discussion.

The plan was to bring shinobi from other clans into the Guard Force.

Give them a common responsibility.

And use their combined manpower to prevent the growing conflict from turning into something much worse.

But now...

Everything depended on Fugaku.

Minato remained silent for a moment as he watched him.

Then he finally spoke.

"Fugaku..."

"This would also help build the Uchiha's image."

He paused.

"Even though there are many reasons we're asking you to do it."

Fugaku finally looked up at him.

Confusion crossed his face.

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