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To the right of the Uchiha clan leader, in a column forming a 45-degree angle, were the members of his faction, and to his left, also forming a 45-degree angle, were the members of the Hawk faction.
They were all clan elites, so they were qualified to sit there.
In total there were 10 elders in each column, and the rest were sitting facing the patriarch and the elders.
When Sanjiro brought Natsuo, almost all of them turned their heads and looked at the group.
Ignoring everyone's stares as he looked around the place, Natsuo followed behind Sanjiro.
"Natsuo, I present to you the clan leader, Uchiha Eiichiro," said Sanjiro as he brought Natsuo to the front and introduced the clan leader.
"Hello Natsuo, the Uchiha clan will remain strong with geniuses like you," Eiichiro Uchiha said to the small boy in front of him.
"It is an honor that the Patriarch thinks so highly of me," Natsuo said as he bowed slightly.
Eiichiro smiled at the boy and continued.
"The reason we called you is first to congratulate you on getting into Class A of the academy," Eiichiro said, and almost half the people in the room started to applaud.
Applause* Applause* Applause*
Those who didn't applaud at first were from the Hawk faction, but one by one they raised their hands and applauded too.
"The second reason we're calling you is to apologize for the clan's negligence."
"If we had done our job properly, you would have received better training these past few years," Eiichiro said with a sad face as he apologized, trying to gain the boy's sympathy.
The elders of the Hawk faction frowned because they knew what the clan leader was trying to achieve.
The dove faction has always wanted to take over all of the clan's industries, but so far they have only managed to integrate half of them.
The training of the clan's geniuses was important because they could influence the way children thought, but they could also secretly invest more resources in their own offspring.
The Dove faction argued that their intentions were for the good of the clan, but the elders of the Hawk faction knew that they were just hypocrites hiding their true intentions.
"That's fine, clan leader, there's no need to apologize. It's reasonable that the clan trains the most qualified," Natsuo said.
"..."
"But you managed to get into Class A at the academy, proving you're a genius, and the clan didn't even notice."
"This proves that the clan's way was wrong," Eiichiro said as the elders of the Hawk faction cheered at what the boy had said.
"This…" Natsuo said, not understanding why the patriarch was behaving that way.
He was just a child, and the patriarch of the Uchiha clan didn't have to give him so many explanations in front of so many people.
But the aura surrounding the patriarch, which suggested he had ulterior motives, made Natsuo wary.
This meeting seemed like a power play within the clan, and Natsuo didn't want to get involved.
After thinking for a while, he decided to keep his words as neutral as possible.
"I've trained every day to get into the academy"
"To call me a genius would be to ignore all my efforts"
"And I personally believe that the clan is right to train the best qualified people."
"In any case, the academy can guide the rest of the clan's children, so that the clan can use the family's resources in other ways."
Natsuo spoke his mind while remaining as reasonable as possible. He didn't want to offend any of the factions within the clan.
Since he didn't know if he had accomplished what he had done, he scratched his head while looking at the old men on either side of him.
While the elderly people to his right had smiles on their faces, the elderly people to his left looked as if they had chewed on a lemon.
Seeing that, Natsuo realized that his words had upset them, but that told him that he would still offend one of the parties.
So it was best to say what I thought and end this meeting as quickly as possible.
"..."
"That's very mature of you to say."
"But in any case, the clan will not ignore a genius at its head."
"So from now on you can join the training of the clan's young geniuses."
"You can decide whether you want to continue at the academy or not," Eiichiro said with a sigh.
At first, he thought the boy might be a little resentful because he wasn't taken into account by the clan, and that his words might bring his faction closer to taking control of the clan's genius training.
But he didn't think that the boy was more mature than other children his age and that his plan would fall apart before it even began.
If Natsuo expressed that the clan should not ignore the other Uchiha children, Eiichiro could start a campaign among the rest of the clan and use pressure to overcome the Hawk faction.
He would take the boy as a disciple and take him out of the academy, but that no longer mattered.
Their plans were now destroyed, and Eiichiro wanted to end the meeting since there was no other important topic to discuss.
Looking at the boy in front of him, Eiichiro wanted to punch him, but he restrained himself and almost ended the meeting.
"If they have nothing else to discuss..."
"Clan Chief, there is another matter we must discuss," said an elder of the Hawk faction, and his companions nodded in agreement.
"Ah, yes, young Natsuo, many elderly people have shown interest in adopting you," Eiichiro said through gritted teeth.
At first he wanted to be the one to adopt the child and he could easily do so since he was the clan leader and the other elders would not fight with him over just one child.
But now, he changed his mind and let the other elderly people choose among themselves.
"Really?" Natsuo asked, surprised.
He still had the mind of a teenager, so he had never thought about being adopted.
The news took him by surprise and he didn't know what to say.
"Child, you have shown good results with your efforts, so if I adopt you as my grandson I will teach you everything I know," said the first elder in the Hawk faction column.
Nobody in the Paloma faction said anything.
Although they had initially wanted to adopt the child if the patriarch refused, that was now a bad idea because the child had offended the clan leader. It was best not to get involved with the child.
"Will you teach me?!" Natsuo asked eagerly. If the old man could be his mentor, he wouldn't mind calling him grandfather.
"Yes, I will make sure you become a powerful ninja in the future," said the elder of the Hawk faction, pleased with the boy's enthusiasm.
"I want to be a medical ninja, can I achieve it?" Natsuo asked more calmly when he realized he had shown too much enthusiasm.
He reminded himself that he had to be a medical ninja if he didn't want to fight on the front lines in the next world wars, so he inquired beforehand.
It would be foolish if this old man was the typical Uchiha who cared only about strength and I threw him headlong into the world wars. It would be a tragedy if Natsuo died because his 'grandfather' wanted him to be a mercenary.
And he was right because the old man grimaced when Natsuo mentioned that he wanted to be a medical ninja.
"Medical ninja?"
"Kid, you have talent, don't waste your time learning medicine."
Everyone present nodded in agreement.
At this time Tsunade was only known as the granddaughter of the first hokage and disciple of the third hokage.
His medical skills had not yet been recognized, and his title of Sannin was still many years away.
Now, medical Ninjutsu is a profession with little combat power after many years of training, so it wasn't worth it for the Uchiha.
As a large clan, the Uchiha clan had its own medical ninjas, but most of them were women and a few were retired shinobi.
It's not that the Uchiha are ignorant of medical ninjutsu, since they've copied many medical ninjutsu techniques with their Sharingan. The difference is that the Uchiha have a greater affinity for Yin chakra than for Yang chakra.
Since it took them several years to learn anatomy and other subjects, the Uchiha preferred to learn Ninjutsu and Genjutsu to become more powerful. Instead, they only copied medical Ninjutsu with their Sharingan for use in emergencies.
"I don't want to be a shinobi, I want to be a medical ninja," Natsuo argued, with a little fear that he would be forced to become a shinobi and fight in the next world wars.
Natsuo knew how crazy the Uchiha could be, like when Fugaku took his 4-year-old son to war and forced him to kill to survive.