In the Hokage Tower's conference room that night, a second clan meeting was hastily convened.
As the initiator, the Third Hokage sternly rebuked Clan Leaders Uchiha and Hyuga for their lack of broader perspective.
Kazushi immediately fired back with a complaint, "Lord Third, how do you explain over a hundred Hyuga surrounding my youngest son? What do we make of that?"
"Shameless! Your son clearly harbored ill intentions from the start—that's what provoked our justified retaliation!" Meide declared indignantly, insisting it was the other side who started it.
Kazushi quickly rose to his feet, slamming the conference table furiously, "Just touching someone's hand constitutes ill intent now? Old fossil, your thinking is seriously outdated!"
Feeling deeply wronged, Meide also stood up angrily, "Do you call that not an attack? Per the main house's rules, the offender must be publicly bound at the entrance of the Hyuga compound!"
"What ridiculous rule is that? No way the Uchiha will accept such garbage!"
"It's my territory; I make the rules!"
The gathered clan leaders finally understood the full story.
It had nothing to do with Shen fighting off over a hundred men at the Hyuga training ground.
Or how the Hyuga clan members took it upon themselves to give him a beating.
It was all about conflicting clan regulations.
Such a situation where each side claimed righteousness naturally called for a family meeting to discuss.
The Third Hokage had long believed these restrictive clan regulations were holding back Konoha's development.
So, once he got the full picture, he decided it was high time for some real changes.
"Never thought the Hyuga still maintained such customs. No wonder the main house enjoys elite status," muttered one small clan leader to his neighbor.
"The Uchiha aren't much better either—survival of the fittest, whoever wins gets to dictate terms. Small wonder troublemakers emerge from there."
"Pfft, strength *is* the only truth. When someone uses their own skill to touch another, why should they endure punches without fighting back?" Clearly this clan head came from seriously shady stock.
"We all live in the same village. Minor conflicts are inevitable due to differing perspectives. Maybe compromise could work?"
"Compromise? Wait until this happens to you personally—you wouldn't talk like that anymore."
As the noise level rose, the Third Hokage began recalling past interactions with these powerful clans.
The Senju loved peace yet charged into battle headfirst when war arose—their impulsiveness was legendary.
The Uchiha valued strength above all else, resolving disputes through combat. Though showing recent changes, fundamentally they still believed brute force determined right.
The Hyuga epitomized extreme conservatism, bound by strict rules—not just symbolized by the Caged Bird seal, but even dictating exact eating postures. In short, they were unbending traditionalists.
The Sarutobi also had a proud historical legacy. Their inherited [Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique] revealed a certain degree of conservatism—though not quite to the extent of the Hyuga.
Matching the Sarutobi in prominence was the Shimura clan, best represented by Danzo—a master strategist known for his calculating plans and composed demeanor.
Shimura and Senju were kind of forced into it—that's just how the author set it up.
Ino-Shika-Cho, referring to Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi, had maintained close ties for generations. These three clans generally possessed mild temperaments and belonged to the type who wouldn't easily offend others.
Other clans like Aburame and Inuzuka had always been reasonable and easygoing in their dealings with outsiders, typically holding no particular opinions toward members of other clans.
Added to these were Uzumaki, who had joined Konoha. They were a group of lively and outgoing people who generally showed little caution toward others.
Combined with other smaller clans and civilian ninjas, they formed today's flourishing Hidden Leaf Village.
On the surface, Konoha appeared to be the strongest among all ninja villages, but in reality, it was nothing more than a ninja alliance. How many people within truly had the village's best interests at heart?
The Third Hokage coldly observed various clan heads whispering secretly beneath the conference table, clearly feeling his mood becoming even heavier.
"Wartime situations are understandable," he knew that differences in philosophy made it hard to unite and develop Konoha together.
At Nama River, two small figures dressed in black and white were enjoying snacks and the latest commercial street product—"happy cola for couch potatoes"—while happily raising their heads to admire the moon.
"Nayou, do you think there might be people living on the moon?"
"That's impossible, right? Didn't you say the moon is a vacuum where humans can't breathe?"
Shen's pupils contracted as he looked at the moon, discovering another logical inconsistency in this world again.
"Ninjas really are unreasonable people," he quietly reached this conclusion without saying anything further to Nayou.
The Naruto world was full of unreasonable elements. Take for instance reincarnated individuals like Asura and Indra—they could actually have two incarnations existing simultaneously. Even split personalities wouldn't go that far.
What would happen if someone used Impure World Reincarnation to bring back all their previous reincarnations one by one?
Would these soul forces be complete or incomplete?
"Whenever things don't make sense, just blame it on quantum physics," Shen realized he could always attribute anything unexplainable to this world, especially regarding his future inventions.
In the conference room of Hokage Tower, the headache-inducing monster felt his eyes drying out, so he raised his hand to rub them.
"Family background doesn't matter—once you're in our compound, you do what we say!"
"You dare act so tough despite being such a tiny clan?"
"We vow to defend our clan's sovereignty with our lives!"
Now it was time for heads of smaller clans to express their opinions.
Kazushi and Meide, the two parties involved, remained silent. They had long known that Konoha's clan structure would change soon enough.
To really build a proper village, they needed to bring all these independent clans together and keep things balanced.
This was precisely where the Third Hokage struggled—dividing this cake wasn't easy. Large portions naturally went to major clans while small portions to minor ones.
Yet no matter whether large or small, when cutting the portions, it was impossible to ensure each piece weighed exactly the same.
The Uchiha used to run the Konoha Police Force, which had always annoyed other clans.
Even now, while they controlled both the Commercial Street and Research Department and had managed to ally with a few families, there were still many clans who believed the Uchiha had become even more domineering than before.
Kazushi brushed off every one of those opinions, secretly sneering at them all.
Don't wanna spend big on R&D, but still want top quality for cheap?
As the Konoha Troublemaker once put it, they were classic examples of people with little ability but huge egos.
Of course it's expensive—it makes sense for a reason. Just think about how much funding the Uchiha gave Orochimaru annually; it was nearly thirty percent of their profits back then, and that was just for one person.
Add in the entire budget for the Konoha Research Department, which the perpetually complaining Third Hokage miserably handed over to Shen, and really, the Uchiha weren't making all that much profit after all.
At least, that's what the Konoha Troublemaker claimed. Whether or not the headache-inducing monster actually believed him remained a secret.
"Ahh… ah… ahh…" The Third Hokage let out a series of heavy sighs in his heart.
He looked up at the clock hanging on the wall and saw that it was nearly 11 o'clock, so he slammed his hand on the table and stood up.
Seeing that several clan leaders were still chatting below, he knocked on the table again. "Silence!!!"
Everyone immediately stopped whispering and sat bolt upright.
"That's all for today. Resume discussions tomorrow at ten sharp. Dismissed!"
Filled with frustration, the Third Hokage left the conference room first.
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