In the Land of Fire, Konoha Village, at the Naka Shrine.
Today was the Uchiha family's monthly meeting.
The purpose of the meeting was to strengthen relationships between the different branches of the family, ease conflicts among the members, and also discuss how to get into Konoha's higher ranks, or even become Hokage.
Although the Uchiha clan wasn't well-liked by Konoha's higher-ups, things hadn't reached the point of complete hostility. It was mostly just mutual dislike.
Bang!
An elderly Uchiha with white hair and a face full of wrinkles slammed his hand on the table and stood up. He glared at the clan leader and the other old Uchihas around him. His voice became sharp because of his anger.
"The Second Hokage's position was given directly by Senju Hashirama to his brother Tobirama. Because Uchiha Kagami passed away, we watched as the Third Hokage's position went to Sarutobi Hiruzen. And now, the Fourth Hokage's position has gone to Namikaze Minato.
What happened to our plan to secure second, third, or even fourth place?
What kind of plan is this?
Decades have passed, and we haven't even gotten close to the Hokage's chair!"
The old man saw that no one was looking at him; they were either staring at the ceiling or looking down. No one even glanced his way.
"What? Are you still planning to go after the Fifth Hokage's position?
Namikaze Minato is only 24 years old, and look at that guy, he looks like he could live to be 50 with that long life appearance of his.
50 years?? While your sons are dead!"
Sigh!
Uchiha Fugaku let out a quiet sigh. He took his hands out of his sleeves and looked calmly at the angry elder.
As the leader of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku had seen this kind of thing many times. The clan members weren't in the best mental state, and whenever things didn't go their way, they overreacted. Some would even challenge him for his position as clan leader if things went wrong.
It was tiring.
After a moment of silence, Fugaku raised his hand to calm the elder down, signaling for him to sit. His gaze swept over the clan members in the hall.
Those present were all Uchiha clan members who had awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan.
"Elder Ryoichi, please sit down."
"I won't!"
Uchiha Ryoichi waved off Fugaku's kindness and stepped forward, grabbing the old man by the collar and gritting his teeth.
"You old fool, you were the one who proposed the plan to secure second, third, and fourth, right?"
"That's right!"
"But now the plan has failed."
"Ryoichi, don't panic. I still have a backup plan."
"Backup, my foot!"
"My grandfather died when he entered Konoha with Lord Madara."
Spit!
Uchiha Asuka wiped the spit that splashed on his face. He glanced at the two old men still arguing, then turned his eyes to the ceiling as his mind slowly went blank.
He had been in the ninja world for 18 years. When he first found out that he had been reborn into the Uchiha clan, he was excited.
But then, after his first birthday, he lost all excitement.
Because of the Second Great Ninja War, his entire family was gone.
By the time he was three and able to move around, and realized he had no special abilities, he started thinking about how to leave the Uchiha clan and find a different village. At worst, he could work as a soldier in another village and still live a comfortable life.
However, after researching the family's history, he abandoned that idea.
It wasn't a problem to defect and hide his identity, but if he became a soldier in another ninja village, not only would Konoha constantly try to kill him, but his own clan would also hunt him down.
Moreover, there were secret agreements between the major villages, not accepting any rogue ninjas.
The villages that took him in might just kill him once he left descendants.
Once, some Uchiha clan members had defected, only to mysteriously die on the road.
After reading that part, Asuka immediately started thinking about conspiracy theories.
In order to prevent the Sharingan, or even Indra's bloodline, from escaping his control, he suspected that Black Zetsu, that loyal son, might have been secretly pulling strings behind the scenes.
When he realized that being a soldier was too dangerous, he started researching business.
After studying for a few days, Asuka quickly abandoned the idea of business.
The technology in the ninja world was strange.
There was electricity, chakra, wind energy—all kinds of power.
Light bulbs, white paper, and cement were cheaper than in his previous world.
Farming, medicine, and other industries were even more of a cheat—no machines needed, everything was done by hand like magic.
After giving up on business, he turned to studying the path of a ninja.
They say that hard work can change your fate, but in the ninja world, that didn't apply. Here, bloodlines changed your fate.
He had one of the top bloodlines in the ninja world, so from a young age, he worked hard, learning ninja skills, thinking that he would definitely be wealthy and powerful in the future. Even if he was unlucky, he wouldn't be worse than Uchiha Itachi. He should be able to protect himself.
But when he went to the battlefield, he realized he couldn't compare to the brother of the son of the Sage of Six Paths (Sasuke). It was like dragging down someone's potential.
The first time Uchiha Itachi went to the battlefield, seeing such brutal scenes, his Sharingan awakened. It was a shock that made him numb.
Itachi saw the bodies of ninjas scattered across the battlefield and started thinking about the meaning of life.
Asuka looked at the dead ninjas on the battlefield and thought about whether he should just defect now. After all, swords and kunai don't have eyes, and he didn't want to die here.
As he watched his familiar comrades die before his eyes, his Sharingan evolved, and his power grew greatly.
Seeing his familiar comrades die made his thoughts deepen, and his mental state grew stronger.
What happened next followed a normal path: school—graduation—participating in wars—awakening the Sharingan—fighting in wars—awakening the Three Tomoe Sharingan.
After the Third Great Ninja War ended, he became one of the few high-ranking ninjas in the Uchiha clan and earned the right to attend the clan's meetings.
"Meeting??"
Looking at the old men arguing, Asuka's lips twitched. Before attending, he thought the atmosphere would be very serious, with discussions about the Hokage and the Uchiha clan's future situation.
But once he got there, he realized the atmosphere was actually quite cheerful, and the topics didn't really relate to the Hokage. It was more like they had little to do with it.
It made sense, though. These old men had probably been talking about the Hokage for decades, and the topic had long lost its initial excitement.
This meeting was really boring.
Grrr~ Grrr~
Feeling his stomach grumble, Asuka, wanting to end the boring meeting quickly, stood up and walked to the center of the room. He faced Fugaku and the other elders and said:
"Elders, stop arguing. I have a way to make the Uchiha clan the Fifth Hokage."
Hmm??
As the young voice rang out, the elders stopped arguing immediately. They all turned their heads to look at Uchiha Asuka.
Seeing that it was the newly promoted jounin from the clan, Ryoichi raised an eyebrow and asked with curiosity:
"Tell me, let me see what kind of interesting idea the younger generation of Uchihas will come up with."
"My idea is…"
After scanning the faces of the Uchihas in the hall, Asuka rubbed his flat stomach, took a deep breath, and continued:
"Clan leader Fugaku, how about considering a divorce and then marrying the current clan leader of the Senju clan, Lady Tsunade?"
"The Senju clan only has Lady Tsunade left now. If the two clans marry, not only will the Fifth Hokage position definitely belong to the Uchiha, but the Senju clan will eventually merge with the Uchiha over time.
Back in the Warring States period, some of our ancestors dreamed of merging with the Senju clan."
He paused for a moment, watching the hall fall into a strange silence. The room was so quiet that the sound of a needle dropping would be as loud as a glass breaking.
The elders' eyes kept shifting between Fugaku and Asuka.
"Hmph!"
One elder with a scarred face stood up, turning to face Asuka. His voice was low and gruff as he spoke:
"A proud clan like ours, relying on the clan leader to sell his body just to become Hokage? Even if I agree with this rotten idea, others won't, and the clan leader definitely won't."
"Right!"
Another Uchiha elder, who had one eye missing, nodded and agreed. "This is a rotten idea. How can we mix with the Senju clan? Even though our 'secure second, fight for third, aim for fourth' plan failed, that doesn't stop us from aiming for the Fifth Hokage again."
"Bullshit!"
At this moment, Elder Ryoichi stood up again, pointing at the elder who was missing an eye. He gritted his teeth and said:
"Back when Madara-sama was still here, we aimed for the Hokage position. But after the village was established, they gave the Hokage position to the Senju clan. After that, we aimed for the Second Hokage.
But just two years after the village was founded, Madara suddenly left Konoha.
Our hopes shattered.
Later, Uchiha Kagami worked hard and finally became the Second Hokage's bodyguard, so we aimed for the Third Hokage. But when Kagami went with the Second Hokage to the Land of Lightning, he died on the road, and our hopes were shattered again.
Then, at the end of the Second Great Ninja War, we rushed to choose someone to represent us, aiming for the Third Hokage's position. At that time, Sarutobi Hiruzen still hadn't firmly taken the seat.
But the person we chose was an idiot. He led the clan's ninjas into battle for a year, losing more times than I go to the bathroom in a day, dragging down our clan's reputation.
When the Third Great Ninja War started, the clan leader finally got a chance to be a Hokage candidate. We aimed for the Fourth Hokage. But then that freak, Namikaze Minato, appeared, and our hopes were dashed before we even had a chance to draw our sword."
After swallowing some saliva and clearing his throat, Ryoichi continued to point at the one-eyed elder and angrily shouted:
"Now you want me to aim for the Fifth Hokage with you??
You must be kidding.
If becoming Hokage means the clan leader has to sell his body, I'll accept it. When I go to the Pure Land, I'll personally kneel in front of Madara-sama and explain this."
Watching the Uchiha clan slowly split into two factions, with some even looking like they might fight, Asuka quietly stepped back towards the door. As he slipped out of the hall, he casually closed the door behind him.
"Tsk, tsk!"
Turning his head to look at the group still arguing behind him, Asuka smirked but said nothing.
The Uchihas were a bit mentally unstable, and as a family with such problems, their management was naturally very lax. At these meetings, not only could people speak their minds, but they could even argue physically, and discussions about ninjutsu could get heated.
Asuka's suggestion to have the clan leader divorce and marry Tsunade to become the Fifth Hokage had successfully sparked the old men who had failed at aiming for the Fourth Hokage.
Crazy!
With that, Asuka used his Body Flicker Technique to leave. He planned to go back, pack up his things, and after witnessing the Fourth Hokage's wedding, he would defect.
Sigh… no more pride, it's over.