The Uchiha clan meeting ended around nine o'clock that night. Uchiha Kai stepped out of the small council house, his expression as composed as it had been when he entered.
But beneath that calm surface, Kai's heart was far from still—he was quietly pleased.
Tonight's meeting marked a shift. Kai had, for the first time, made his presence felt within the clan's political inner circle. Most importantly, he had caught the eye of Uchiha Fugaku—the clan head, and a man whose approval meant influence.
Kai often thought of clans like games of shogi. The weak were pawns, expendable and interchangeable. Those with power became knights or lances, useful but ultimately replaceable. Those with cunning but no strength might become advisors—important, but still just tools for someone else's endgame.
But the ones who combined strength and intellect... they were the generals, the only ones who could truly dictate the flow of the game.
Kai knew his own place. Though he once dreamed of living quietly as a scholar, reality offered no such peace. If he wanted to survive—not just physically, but politically—he would need to become a general. Only from that position could he protect himself from the knives hidden behind smiles and clan emblems.
But that time hadn't come yet. His strength, though growing, wasn't enough. He lacked the power and the authority to lead. Still, his recent actions had made ripples—especially among the hardliners.
It was almost amusing how quickly he'd offended people. His first clash upon returning to the clan had been with Uchiha Hiroki, who, unsurprisingly, was one of those very hardliners. And now, tonight, he had directly challenged Uchiha Osamu and his younger brother, Uchiha Yu. That kind of confrontation was unlike Kai's usual style—he typically kept his demeanor cold, polite, and unreadable.
This time, however, he had chosen to be blunt. He knew it might earn him a blade in the back one day. But he also knew: these hardliners were going to stand in his way eventually. Sooner or later, they'd have to be removed.
"Even life and death aren't absolute," Kai murmured to himself as he walked. "And in my plan, these hardliners have no place. They'll die eventually—better sooner than later."
He wasn't being melodramatic. The hardliners were dangerous, both to the village and to the clan. Arrogant over the Sharingan, blind to the growing dissent among the commoner ninjas, and increasingly isolated from Konoha's leadership, they were driving the clan toward a cliff. Fugaku's growing support for militarization, Itachi's indoctrination by Danzō and the elders—it all pointed to a bleak future.
"If Itachi is a tragedy," Kai thought, "then the elders and these fools are the architects of disaster."
Just as Kai's thoughts darkened, a voice interrupted him.
"Impressive, Kai-kun," came the smooth voice of Uchiha Osamu. "No wonder you came back alive from the battlefield. We underestimated you."
Kai glanced at the two brothers standing in the moonlight. Osamu was composed, his younger brother Yu glowering beside him.
"You flatter me," Kai replied dryly. "I doubt I was even on your radar until recently. After all, I was just a nobody before. Not like you—a celebrated war hero, right?"
"No need for that tone," Osamu said lightly. "We're family. Maybe we'll even get to work together more closely. We're all striving for the same thing, after all."
Kai smiled politely, though the coldness in his eyes remained. "Who knows what the future holds? Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been training all day. I'm starving."
He turned and left without waiting for a response. He had no intention of indulging men he considered dangerous fools.
Yu's fists clenched as he watched Kai walk away, only stopped by Osamu's hand on his arm.
"That arrogant bastard!" Yu hissed. "He's just lucky. We awakened our Sharingan earlier—and we're already at three tomoe."
"But he is a genius," Osamu said, watching Kai disappear into the night. "Even if you or I were sent on that same mission at his age, we might not have survived. He didn't just survive—he devised the perfect strategy. And awakening a three-tomoe Sharingan during his first real deployment? That's unprecedented."
"Talent isn't everything," Yu muttered. "He hasn't had time to learn how to use it properly."
Osamu didn't argue, but his gaze was thoughtful.
"It doesn't matter," he said at last. "The elders will understand the outcome of tonight's meeting. But Kai is too proud. Pride will undo him. He has no idea what's really going on—the unrest among the civilians, the growing mistrust from the other clans... How can a lion and a sheep coexist peacefully?"
Of course, in Osamu's mind, the Uchiha were the lions—and everyone else, the sheep.
What he didn't realize was that the "sheep" were no longer passive. They were sharpening their fangs—and among the lions, one had started to rebel.
Kai returned home, stomach growling. He didn't expect to find food ready—he just planned to grab some coins and find something outside.
What he didn't expect was to find his parents, Uchiha Keisuke and Uchiha Ryoko, waiting for him.
Their faces lit up as he entered, pride unmistakable in their eyes. Their son had just attended his first Uchiha clan meeting—something neither of them had ever experienced in their lifetimes.
For a moment, Kai felt a pang of guilt. They didn't know what this meeting represented... how it could be the first step toward the Uchiha clan's ruin.
But he smiled for them anyway.
Let them have this moment. They deserved at least that much.