A wide underground passage appeared before the assembled clansmen.
Uchiha Gen followed beside the Great Elder at the front of the line, slowly entering the passage. At the end of the corridor was the secret room where the clan meeting was held. The chamber was quite spacious, more than enough to accommodate the clansmen who had awakened their eyes, though it was still not as large as the main hall of the Naka Shrine above.
With the crowd gathered together, things were much clearer to see than when they were scattered outside. In the entire Uchiha clan, there were about two hundred members who had awakened their eyes. Among them, sitting in the front rows, were about thirty Jonin who possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
In all of Konoha, the current number of Jonin did not exceed two hundred. The weight of these thirty-plus Jonin from the Uchiha clan could well be imagined. In the shinobi world, the only ninja clan that could compete with the Uchiha in terms of Jonin numbers was the Hyuga clan, another top-tier powerhouse.
But the key lay in the fact that Uchiha with the Sharingan were generally stronger than other ninja of the same level. An Uchiha with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan only needed to refine their ocular power and become proficient in its various abilities; while not every one of them could become an Elite Jonin, they all surpassed the average level of a standard Jonin.
The Clan Head, Uchiha Hisaku, sat at the head of the room, his face sharp as if carved by a knife, his gaze piercing. The Great Elder sat in the first seat of the front row below him. Beside him were Uchiha Hane and the Third Elder, Uchiha Kai.
The three elders formed the management level second only to the Clan Head. The Great Elder held the highest status, overseeing the clan's educational heritage and resource coordination while possessing the authority to enforce clan rules; he was the Clan Head's deputy for internal affairs. The Second Elder was the Clan Head's deputy in the Police Force, while the Third Elder was responsible for other matters, such as external intelligence channels, commercial operations, and internal production.
Seeing that everyone had arrived, Uchiha Hisaku spoke from the head of the room.
"This month, the family has one new member who awakened the Sharingan: Uchiha Gen."
Sitting at the end of the last row, Uchiha Gen immediately stood up, activated his Single-Tomoe Sharingan, and displayed it to all the clansmen.
"I hope that in the future, you will not fail the clan's high expectations. Use your eyes to protect the glory of the Uchiha," Uchiha Hisaku said in a deep voice.
"Yes, Clan Head-sama," Uchiha Gen bowed slightly.
"Mm, sit down."
For him, this meeting was just a chance to show his face and let the clan know he had awakened the Sharingan. After this meeting, relying on this pair of eyes, he would receive a monthly subsidy from the clan. As a prestigious family, the Uchiha were naturally wealthy and had never been stingy toward those who awakened the Sharingan.
The gap between clan ninja and civilian ninja was multifaceted, not limited just to the inheritance of ninjutsu and Kekkei Genkai.
The clan meeting continued.
"...Two people have had their Sharingan evolve. Special Jonin Uchiha Yama has evolved to the Three-Tomoe, and an application for promotion to Jonin has been sent to the Sandaime. Chunin Uchiha Yao also evolved to the Two-Tomoe during a mission the day before yesterday."
A young Uchiha man and a girl who looked slightly older than Uchiha Mikoto stood up, following the procedure to show their newly evolved eyes to the clansmen.
"The clan assets' operating profit for this month..."
"The personnel adjustments for the Police Force are as follows..."
Uchiha Gen sat at the back with nothing much to do, listening for a while before he started to daze off. The matters currently being discussed had nothing to do with him, until the topics turned toward the war.
"Since the start of this Great Ninja War, the Sandaime has prioritized Konoha's safety and has repeatedly rejected the Police Force's requests to join the battle. The few clansmen who are not part of the Police Force organization have also not received deployment orders."
Uchiha Hisaku looked at the dense crowd of Uchiha elites before him and continued.
"However, due to the incident a few days ago where the Kumogakure delegation intended to kidnap an important figure in the village, all members of that delegation are currently being detained. The village leadership estimates that the war with Kumogakure will escalate further, leading to a shortage of manpower. They have now agreed to the Police Force's request to join the battle."
The previously silent clansmen suddenly erupted into a commotion. Voices requesting to be sent to the front could be heard incessantly. The Uchiha, with their Sharingan, had always been a family that adapted best to war; they were the ones who most craved and enjoyed combat.
Uchiha Hisaku turned his gaze toward the Great Elder. The latter caught the look and nodded slightly in understanding, then shouted in an aged, powerful voice.
"Silence!"
As the highest-ranking elder in terms of seniority and military merit, the Great Elder held significant prestige. Most of the Uchiha present had heard the Great Elder's name since they were born. Coupled with his control over punishments and rules, he possessed a natural aura of authority.
The chaotic noise quickly subsided. The Great Elder tapped his cane on the ground.
"Listen to the Clan Head quietly."
Uchiha Gen sat cross-legged at the back, watching the scene with a thoughtful look in his eyes. It seemed that Uchiha Hisaku's prestige as Clan Head was not quite sufficient; he still needed to rely on an old senior to barely suppress the clansmen.
It made sense; almost everyone here had the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Since Uchiha Hisaku had neither awakened the Mangekyo nor was a Kage-level powerhouse, he lacked the strength to completely overwhelm other clansmen of similar power. Without that, how could those arrogant Uchiha possibly submit to him? It appeared that Hisaku's position was quite tenuous; at the very least, he could not suppress the clan on his own.
"However, the slots for participation in the war are limited. The clan cannot allow every member to go to the battlefield, as the normal work of the Police Force cannot stop. This is the basic prerequisite for our ninja to join the war," Uchiha Hisaku said in a deep voice.
"Now, those clansmen who are not in the Police Force but have already received war deployment orders, stand up."
Out of the more than two hundred Uchiha, only about a dozen clansmen stood up. The Police Force was made up of Uchiha, and most who had awakened their eyes were in it, but that did not mean all Uchiha joined the organization.
Uchiha Gen was among these dozen or so clansmen. Orochimaru had already notified them this morning that their team had been incorporated into the strategic support forces for the Land of Rain, serving as second-line troops. While they wouldn't be sent on the most dangerous missions, it was still part of the war front.
"Next, the Second Elder will read the list of front-line combat personnel arranged by the Elders' Council."
"Yes, Clan Head-sama."
Uchiha Hane stood up, took out a form, and began to read aloud.
"The following clansmen are temporarily relieved of their duties in the Police Force as of now and will head to the front lines as combat members."