Finished with their meal, the four people all went their separate ways after Kazuya ordered them to meet him first thing in the morning outside the Ninja Academy for their first mission together.
Returning home, Hikaru found his mother waiting for him, in uniform with her hair up and a stern expression on her face.
"I hope you were able to connect well with your new team. It's a very important thing, being able to seamlessly cooperate and synergize with others. You must achieve this quickly."
"Yes, mother."
Her expression softened slightly, "I don't mean to put so much pressure on you, but it's important. It will save your life, my sunshine."
"I understand." The boy beamed up at her, a smile full of gratitude for her concern.
She couldn't help but smile back. "Good, I'm sure you will perform wonderfully." She moved towards him and ruffled his hair. "Now, we have a clan meeting to attend. Since you are now a fully fledged shinobi, you have to attend them too. Although the clan has been absent most of your life, that does not make it any less important to you as an Uchiha."
"The clan is an important part of our heritage, something to be proud of. It is also something that protects us, from both our enemies and the other clans of the village." Although she held the village high above the Uchiha clan, it was still clear to her that the shadows of the Senju clan were very much hostile to any and every Uchiha and that only through a clan structure could they hope to stand against such pressure.
"Just like with your squad, together we are stronger than we would be alone. The clan is not perfect, but it is a reliable institution that protects and nurtures us."
Seeing her son nod, she stopped her sermon. "Now, let's go. We wouldn't want to be late."
Since Sora was busy with work, they had no need to say goodbyes to anyone, and thus they both departed swiftly and arrived at Nakano Shrine just as quickly.
Most people warmly greeted Ahma's appearance, but some still turned their noses up at the woman. However, ever since her promotion and visible dedication to the clan, it became harder for the traditionalists to paint her as some sort of traitor.
Most importantly, there had been a significant political change within the Uchiha clan. Not too long ago, the old patriarch had stepped down and entrusted the future of the clan to the much younger Fugaku Uchiha.
However, though almost everyone reacted to Ahma's presence, virtually no one paid any attention to the little runt behind her beyond a cursory glance.
Although he had seen several of these people before, he didn't truly know anyone here. So, using this opportunity, Hikaru attempted to spot the Uchiha members that he knew would be instrumental in leading the clan to the brink of rebellion and forcing Fugaku's hand in supporting them.
๐๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข, ๐๐ฏ๐ข๐ฃ๐ช, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ข๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ฐ. He couldn't help but feel complete disdain towards the three men, especially Yashiro. He was the one who held the most political power in the clan other than Fugaku, he also led the radical faction from its very inception, and there was a reason for that. Yes, Yashiro had been contacted by Obito, masquerading as Madara Uchiha. He was but a puppet on one of Obito's many strings, unwittingly leading the Uchiha clan to its destruction.
๐๐ข๐ฉ! ๐๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ? ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ข๐ด ๐ช๐ง ๐ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฉ๐ข ๐๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ.
Shaking his head, he finally entered the shrine. If one were to describe the atmosphere, it would beโฆ tranquil. Though there existed a tangible tension between the traditionalist and integration factions, it wasn't such an overbearing issue, at least not to Hikaru's senses.
Indeed, this was an entirely different clan from the one Itachi experienced growing up, almost pure by comparison.
Finally, he spotted the beady-eyed fool that was Yashiro Uchiha; he looked much younger than Hikaru had ever seen him. Yet, the man still must be in his thirties at the very least.
๐๐ฎ๐ฎ, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ดโฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ?
Smiling, Yashiro nodded at everyone who entered the room. Beside him knelt Fugaku, who had his eyes closed as if he had to take every opportunity he could, no matter how brief, to contemplate the many matters he was responsible for.
Once everyone seated themselves, Fugaku nodded his head ever so slightly, and in response, Yashiro opened his mouth, "We'll now begin our regular meeting!"
Any chatter and whispered conversations instantly died down at the announcement.
Opening his eyes for the first time, Fugaku took note of every single gathered Uchiha member from the left side of the room to the right.
"Now, before we discuss the matters on the agenda, I first want to formally welcome Lieutenant Ahma's son, Hikaru Uchiha into our midst."
With those words, everyone's focus shifted to the young genin with purple-streaked hair beside Ahma. Some with curiosity, others with bemused twinkles in their eyes, but everyone looked towards him with a level of respect and warmth that he hadn't expected. Returning their gazes, Hikaru smiled and nodded his head before bowing towards Fugaku, "Thank you, Lord Fugaku. I hope to serve the clan well from this point onward."
The boy's manners, respect as well as the contents of his words pleased those present greatly. Yashiro's teeth bared as he grinned; despite his many faults, it was undeniable that the man loved the clan more than anything in the world.
Fugaku's expression, although unchanging, seemed to soften by the smallest degree as well.
"Now then, onto a more serious topic. I'd like to discuss the very likely outbreak of a new war among nations-"
Before Yashiro could even finish, the room's warm atmosphere completely disappeared, and various people all began to talk at once.
"Is it true?"
"What is the village doing to prepare?"
"What will be the role of our Uchiha clan?"
"Will we be targeted again?"
"Enough." Fugaku ordered, his voice low and dispassionate, yet it was enough to cut through the dozens of voices with ease.
๐๐ฐ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต'๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณโฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ, ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ฎ๐ข? ๐๐ฐ, ๐ช๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ.
"One at a time." He then nodded to a person at the back of the room.
"Do we know when it will begin?"
"War is not such a simple thing, but the village has made some estimates. It is predicted that war will break out within the next 3 months."
A prolonged silence fell upon the room of shinobi as they digested the idea that their currently tranquil lives would become ones of death and destruction in just three months' time.
"Wh-what are the village's preparations?"
"The village has been stockpiling weapons, medicine as well as all other necessary items for the last year. Battle plans have been drawn, alliances have been shored up and spies have been sent out in every direction. The advancement of academy students has also been accelerated, to increase our military strength."
People naturally found themselves glancing toward the newest member of their meetings. All things considered, it wasn't strange for such accelerated advancements; it hadn't been so long since the last war, so the academy system was still operating similarly to how it had during that war.
"On top of that, the three legendary Sannin have all been recalled to the village."
With that final piece of news, everyone inwardly whooped; relief and a sense of security returned to their bodies. Those three great branches of Konoha had been instrumental in the war which had given them their title, now after all this time? They could only have grown stronger! With those three on Konoha's side, it was almost certain that the war would end in their favor was what everyone thought, such was the reputation of the Sannin.
Unbeknownst to the assembled Uchiha, although all three Sannin had been recalled, Tsunade Senju would not answer the village's summons.
Only Hikaru knew this fact. ๐๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ช๐ฎ๐ข๐จ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ข ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ.
"Do we know who our allies and enemies are going to be?"
Fugaku could only sigh, "It seems that all of the other great nations will be our enemies in one sense or another. As for alliesโฆ Well, it's impossible to say until the war really starts who will remain by our side."
"Will we be hunted down and defiled again?" Everyone murmured insults towards whoever it was that had orchestrated such hunting during the last two wars.
Face hardening, Fugaku's voice was like ice, "It seems likely that will be the case."
Hikaru couldn't help but be confused as to what everyone was talking about, but it didn't take long for things to click. War was chaotic and messy; it was the best time to steal kekkei genkai from certain clans. Furthermore, his mind summoned an image of a large room filled with floating eyes from wall to wall.
๐๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ก๐ฆ๐ต๐ด๐ถ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ข ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ฆ๐ช๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ข๐ฏ. ๐๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ช๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด๐ด๐ถ๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฉ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ.
People again found themselves naturally looking in the direction of the young Uchiha, except they weren't looking at him this time, but instead the woman that sat beside him.
Bowing her head to those looking in her direction, the woman spoke. "I will volunteer myself to lead the retrieval team once again. I swear this to you, brothers and sistersโฆ." Her eyes spun rapidly as they flashed red and settled on three tomoe. "โฆThose that hunt us will find us not such easy prey this time."
In response to this, red eyes lit up around the room as people nodded. Various other people also volunteered themselves to join this so-called retrieval team.
"Good. With your experience during the last war as well as your talent, you are best suited for this position. Send me a list of the things you need for the retrieval team and I will do my best to have them allocated to you."
"Thank you, Lord Fugaku."
This time a young boy raised his hand; receiving Fugaku's approval to speak, he then asked his question of the clan leader. "Are there preparations we as a clan are making for the war, other than the formation of a retrieval unit?"
Fugaku considered Hikaru's question for a second, "The Uchiha clan will take part in the war, leaving the duties of the Military Police Force mostly to other shinobi. However, we are to be integrated into squads with everyone else, so we cannot plan any specific actions. One key preparation will begin after this meeting, however."
Everyone in the room perked their ears up at this, curious as to what it could be.
"As a clan, we will hold training sessions for all of our shinobi before the war breaks out. Whenever you are free from your regular duties I expect you to visit the clan training grounds, to improve your abilities as much as possible." Saying this, he did not leave any room for people to object, staring at each and every person within the room.
As clan leader, he would do everything within his power to preserve the lives of everyone inside this room. Furthermore, by doing so, he would also increase the chance of victory for the village. A happy byproduct of both of these things meant that the reputation of the Uchiha clan would also spread.
After everyone's burning questions were answered, Fugaku allowed the gathered clansmen to discuss things among themselves as he calmly observed it all.
"You intend to fight on the frontlines, don't you Lord Fugaku?" His trusted aide whispered to him.
Closing his eyes, the stern-faced clan leader responded in a similarly low voice, "Yes. It is my duty. To destroy the village's enemies. To represent the Uchiha clan. To lead by example."
Yashiro nodded without saying another word. He had never met a man as dedicated as Fugaku Uchiha, and even to this day, he was in awe of him because of this.
Talks of war slowly subsided as people began to discuss the village's persecution. It was a tired old topic by now, but still very much relevant. Although things were not as bad as they would later become, the clan members were still keenly aware of their being kept away from the center of political power. Not a single Uchiha had ever gained a position anywhere close to the village's center, not as an Anbu member, a Leaf elder, or even an administrator! It was grating and a common sore spot for traditionalists and those who favored integration.
After the meeting, Hikaru and his mother walked home in silence.
"So, now you know why I've been so insistent on you forming good relations with your teammates."
"I know." Smiling up at his mother, he felt a strange feeling in his stomach.
She ruffled his head as she gazed at him lovingly. "It is very likely that those teammates of yours will go into war with you, you cannot afford to have any childish bickering. You must work as a single unit. That's the best way to keep yourself alive."