Compared to the tense, grief-heavy air suffocating the Senju compound, the Uchiha clan hall was so loud and heated that the rafters themselves seemed ready to ignite.
The Uchiha did not mourn quietly.
They burned.
Inside the vast stone hall, three factions sat at the head table:
Uchiha Shikata — Clan Head; leader of the compromise faction.Uchiha Setsuna — Leader of the battle-hardliners.Uchiha Honoka — Patriarch of the conservative elders.
All three looked like they had just clawed their way out of a battlefield—robes torn, hair singed, scorch marks across their armor—clear evidence that tonight's "discussion" had started with fists, fireballs, and several ruined tables.
Shikata coughed twice, pretending there wasn't still smoke curling from a broken wall.
"Ahem. Everyone has expressed their… heartfelt opinions very clearly. Now, regarding Soren's imminent return, we must reach a definite conclusion."
He scanned the room.
Nearly a hundred Uchiha jōnin filled the hall.
Battle Faction — over forty hardened elites.Conservative Faction — twenty-plus veterans.Compromise Faction — a dozen moderates.
Half of them held official jōnin council votes.
Nearly half possessed Three-Tomoe Sharingan, elite jōnin at minimum.
Three Kage-tier elders sat among them.
The Uchiha remained, without question, the greatest clan in the shinobi world.
But with that greatness came a familiar curse—
arrogance.
Without a Mangekyō Sharingan, even the clan head struggled to command the entire clan. And with the shadow of Uchiha Madara—the "Wrath of the Shinobi World"—still lingering in every veteran's memory, many Uchiha unconsciously refused to fully acknowledge Shikata's authority.
And their greatest bitterness?
The Second Hokage had not been an Uchiha.
That wound still burned.
Setsuna slammed a hand down, cracking the wooden table.
"Soren—I've watched that boy since he was little."
"I saw it early. He carried the same destiny as Lord Madara."
"I invested in him without hesitation."
His voice rose, thundering.
"Now look. He awakened the Mangekyō, stepped onto a god's path, killed the Second Raikage, and may have killed Tobirama as well!"
Gasps and murmurs erupted across factions.
Setsuna jabbed a finger upward.
"I propose we declare him the Young Lord of the Uchiha—our official heir—and fully endorse him as Third Hokage!"
Even the conservative elders stiffened.
Even they could not deny the shift of fate.
The Uchiha could feel it—bone-deep:
Their era was rising.
The Senju had lost Wood Release.
The Uchiha had birthed another Mangekyō.
Destiny itself leaned back toward their clan.
Honoka dusted soot off his sleeves and spoke in a low voice.
"I have no objection to naming Soren the Young Lord."
His faction nodded.
They wanted peace—prosperity through political channels, not war.
And Soren, who carried home the corpse of the Second Raikage and returned alive from the forest where Tobirama died, was a once-in-a-century political gift.
But Honoka hesitated.
"However… appointing him as Third Hokage immediately—at age sixteen—may be too hasty. Youth means impulsiveness. A single misstep could bring disaster to clan and village alike."
A few jōnin nodded, murmuring agreement.
Setsuna scoffed.
"And? He has us."
He swept his flaming gaze across the hall.
"You think we elders would let him err unchecked?"
"When Hashirama became First Hokage, it was Tobirama who handled much of the work."
"Soren becomes Third—we handle the rest."
Then he dropped the blow that crushed all remaining doubt:
"And his youth is his greatest weapon."
"A Mangekyō Hokage ruling for forty or fifty years?"
"Imagine how high the Uchiha will rise."
The entire hall trembled with a surge of raw, electric pride.
Even Honoka—ever the calm elder—felt his resistance waver.
At the head, Uchiha Shikata felt something very different:
Relief.
He was long accustomed to being pinned between Setsuna's fire and Honoka's stone.
Let them fight for glory; he had no desire to die in a political inferno.
His infant son, Uchiha Fugaku, was barely a year old.
He had no ambitions toward the clan lordship or Hokage title.
A safe, cushy, elder-adjacent future suited him just fine.
He raised a hand.
"You have heard the elders. We now vote."
"All in favor of naming Uchiha Soren as the Young Lord—raise your hands."
Every hand shot up.
"All in favor of endorsing the Young Lord as Third Hokage—raise your hands."
Another unanimous wave of fists into the air.
Shikata nodded solemnly.
"Then it is settled."
"From this day, Soren is the Uchiha Young Lord."
"We will devote the full might of the Uchiha to his ascension as Third Hokage."
Setsuna and Honoka lowered their heads in grave acknowledgment.
Shikata stood, voice bursting with rare fire and pride.
"The Senju are relics—bones buried in a grave."
"They cannot hinder us now."
"The title of Third Hokage belongs to the Uchiha."
"It is our destiny."
He thrust a hand toward the hall doors.
"Prepare for the Young Lord's triumphant return!"
"Let all of Konoha—no, the entire shinobi world—witness the might of the Greatest Clan of All!"
"YES, MY LORD!!"
The roar shook the entire compound.
For the first time since the reign of Madara—
the Uchiha stood united in a single will.
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