Chapter 17: Meeting Again

Chapter 17: Meeting Again

That afternoon, Yoshino Nara stormed out of Ryoko's room and headed straight for Haiichi Yamanaka's house.

Knock, knock!

Kaoru Yamanaka opened the door and saw Yoshino with a flushed face. "What's wrong?" she asked, surprised.

"Let's talk inside," Yoshino said, leading her into the living room. She dropped heavily onto the sofa, looking at Kaoru with eyes full of sadness. "Kaoru, do I seem like a scandalous woman?"

"Don't be angry!" Kaoru replied, sitting beside her and gently patting her shoulder. "Since when has the wife of the head of the Nara clan been a scandalous woman? Who's saying that? I'll go defend you."

Yoshino exhaled deeply and looked towards her house, speaking in a trembling voice, "When my brother died, I told my sister-in-law she could remarry, but she said she didn't want to leave that home. Seeing her determination, I agreed. But I also told her that if she ever wanted to remarry, she just had to tell me. Now, even though I want to support her, it hurts to know she's bringing another man into the house... and into my brother's bed..."

Trying to comfort her friend, Kaoru asked gently, "What do you want to do?"

"I'll gather evidence of their relationship. If the man isn't from the Nara clan, I'll give her a property outside the clan in exchange for my brother's house. If he is from the clan, she'll move into his house and my brother's property will go to my nephew," Yoshino replied, wiping her tears and looking at her friend with sadness. "Kaoru, I need your help."

"I'll help you," Kaoru said, hugging her. "And don't worry, you're pregnant. Tomorrow I'll take you to the hospital to check on Shikamaru."

"I want a daughter! When Ino is born, we can take care of them together," Yoshino joked, easing the tension a bit.

"That sounds like a great idea."

The next morning, Tobio Uchiha left the Hokage tower, tired after a night of discussions. As he reached the clan area, the smell of food made him relax a little.

They had spent the night arguing without reaching any agreement. The ninjas from the Cloud Village kept harassing the borders. They couldn't send a large army because that could reignite the war. But sending small units only served to temporarily repel the enemies, who soon returned.

No one agreed on who should handle the situation: Danzo opposed the Uchiha going, but he didn't want to go himself either. The Fourth Hokage and Hiruzen disagreed on involving Jiraiya and Tsunade. Even using the Nine-Tails was not accepted.

Remembering the meeting, Tobio felt exhausted. "Being Hokage is hard," he thought, "when will the old ones in the council retire?"

"Mr. Tobio!" a chunin stopped him. "The clan meeting has been moved up, it starts in an hour."

"Understood."

Tobio Uchiha waved wearily and changed direction towards the Naka Shrine.

These clan meetings were like jounin meetings, they didn't discuss anything important, it was just an excuse to socialize.

When he arrived at the Naka Shrine, many elders from the Uchiha clan were already gathered.

"Good morning, elders."

Tobio Uchiha greeted the elders and, after biting his finger to summon several boxes of food, distributed them while discussing the events of the previous night.

"I've already had breakfast," said Elder Ryoi, patting his stomach and looking at the two boxes of food on the table. "I'll eat one, two would be too much for my stomach."

A cold laugh suddenly came from beside him. A one-eyed elder looked at Ryoi with disdain and said, "Mr. Madara used to say: The more you want to protect something, the more likely you are to lose it, whether it's a friend, a brother, or even a descendant. This phrase is still true today. Ryoi, the more you try to protect your stomach, the more likely you are to lose it. You must master it."

After a prolonged burp, the one-eyed elder looked at Tobio Uchiha with his healthy eye and said, "Bring me three more boxes!"

Ryoi looked at the crazy elder with a face full of question marks. Was he crazy? Eating that much fried chicken in the morning was bad enough, but eating four boxes at once...

Seeing that all the clan members were watching them, Ryoi stood up and jumped a few times in place, saying disdainfully, "Three boxes? Are you raising cats? Four boxes!"

When Uchiha Fugaku arrived late to the meeting, he heard applause and cheers from inside the hall, followed by a strong smell of fried chicken.

Eating again?

Imagining the elders biting into fried chicken, Uchiha Fugaku paused for a moment. If they kept eating like this, in future clan meetings he would have to face a bunch of fat people.

"Burp~"

"The clan leader has arrived."

"Good morning, clan leader."

"Clan leader, come try some."

Politely declining the offer, Uchiha Fugaku stepped up to the podium with a serious expression and said, "Elder Danzo has rejected our request to participate in the war. We will have nothing to do with the confrontations with the Cloud ninjas."

"Burp~"

Ryoi stood up and, holding back the feeling of nausea, said, "If the Uchiha clan doesn't produce a Hokage, we will always be oppressed. The First Hokage was stronger than Mr. Madara. The Second Hokage was superior to other Uchihas. The Third Hokage also surpassed the strongest in our clan. The Fourth Hokage is an unparalleled genius. Do you expect the Fifth Hokage to be an idiot?"

Seeing that everyone remained silent, Ryoi patted his big belly and continued, "We need to raise someone strong, someone who can surpass everyone else in Konoha. I believe Shisui Uchiha has the potential to be that strong, and besides, he is a descendant of Kagami, so he has a great chance of becoming Hokage."

Tobio Uchiha looked around and, seeing that everyone agreed, stood up and opposed, "I disagree. I suggest the clan choose a girl and the clan leader pays Tsunade to take her as a disciple. That woman desperately needs money, if the amount is enough, she will definitely accept. The title of Tsunade's disciple is worth as much as a Mangekyou Sharingan. The Second Hokage has been dead for many years, and Kagami's descendants do not weigh as much in the minds of the top officials as the Sannin's disciples."

"How much would that cost?"

"Yes, I heard Tsunade spends millions in a single day."

"Would the clan leader have to sell his house?"

As the discussion opened, the clan members began to consider both proposals. They had been trying to raise talents in the clan for a long time, but their talents were always surpassed by those of the Hokage and his followers.

Competing with the village's talents was difficult...

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