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Chapter 55 - Chapter 55: The Weight of Tomorrow

"Have you ever wondered," Toyoma said calmly, his gaze moving between Elder Kohaku and Elder Kazuto," why Hawk has become so stern… and openly opposed to the village, during this time?"

The question lingered.

Both elders fell silent, their minds drifting to the Uchiha clan's recent actions.

Compared to the past, Hawk's faction had grown noticeably more aggressive—more uncompromising.

Too radical,

Pushed by the village, they had assumed.

Kohaku studied Toyoma carefully.

So… there's another reason, he realised.

Elder Kazuto snorted. "Wasn't Hawk always like that?" he said dismissively. "Radical by nature."

As a leading elder of the Dove faction, he had never seen Hawk as anything other than that.

Toyoma looked at Elder Kazuto's face and said nothing.

For a moment, silence hung between them.

Then he spoke calmly, "Well… the reason for this, I can show you."

As the words left his mouth, his eyes changed.

The familiar crimson glow surfaced, but this time it was different.

Six tomoe rotated slowly within his Sharingan, moving with an unnatural harmony.

Both elders stiffened.

Toyoma's Sharingan was already a well-known topic within the village—but seeing it directly was another matter entirely.

Elder Kohaku narrowed his eyes.

"Is it like Ancestor Madara's Mangekyō?" he asked carefully.

"Mangekyō abilities are known to—"

Toyoma shook his head.

"No," he said plainly. "These are not Mangekyō."

He met their gaze without pride or hesitation.

"They don't manifest that skeletal armour of the ancestor," he continued.

"Instead, they possess a completely different ability."

His voice lowered slightly.

"One that I have already used."

The room fell silent once again.

Grand Elder Setsuna looked at Kohaku and spoke calmly,

"And that," he said, "is the reason I supported every request Toyoma made."

The words struck harder.

Kohaku turned slowly toward Toyoma, his expression no longer relaxed.

Elder Kazuto frowned.

"What ability did you use?" he asked sharply.

Toyoma met his gaze without hesitation.

"Foresight," he said. "The ability to see the future."

Silence crashed into the room.

Kohaku's breath caught for a fraction of a second.

Is what he said… true? He thought.

Elder Kazuto reacted instantly. "Wait," he said, disbelief clear in his voice.

"You saw the future of the clan?"

Toyoma nodded once.

Nothing more.

Both elders turned their eyes toward the Grand Elder, seeking confirmation.

Setsuna met their questioning gazes without flinching.

"I confirmed it," he said. "Toyoma proved it to me in multiple ways."

He paused, then added,

"Starting with the death of the White Fang."

The room fell into absolute silence.

Both elders sat back down, the weight of the revelation pressing heavily on them.

Time passed in silence.

As the implications of Toyoma's ability settled in, their expressions gradually changed.

This was no longer about ideology or factional disagreements.

This was about survival.

Elder Kohaku broke the silence first.

His voice was low, each word deliberate.

"You said…" he paused, choosing his words carefully, "that you cannot see the Uchiha falling into destruction."

His eyes locked onto Toyoma.

"That means something happens to the clan, doesn't it?"

Elder Kazuto turned as well.

The pieces were finally aligning in his mind.

He wanted to ask—but the answer frightened him.

Kohaku had already spoken for both of them.

Toyoma nodded.

"Yes."

He let that single word sink in before continuing.

"I'm telling you this because I need both of your support—for the future of the clan,"

Toyoma said calmly. "Elders, this is the only reason I am disclosing this."

His gaze remained steady, unyielding.

"If you know what lies ahead," he said quietly,

"you will understand what decisions must be made… and which ones cannot be delayed."

Silence returned once more.

Both elders remained seated, their expressions grim.

They understood now—whatever future Toyoma had seen, it was not a bright one for the Uchiha clan.

Unconsciously, their thoughts drifted toward the same possibility.

Toward the same answer neither of them wanted to voice.

Because if that answer was true…Then everything they had believed in until now—

their choices, their principles, their entire lives as elders—

would amount to nothing but failure.

Elder Kohaku finally broke the silence.

He turned to Elder Kazuto, his voice heavy.

"Kazuto… I don't want to know what that future looks like," he said quietly.

"But if we refuse to act now, I'm certain of one thing."

He clenched his hand slightly.

"We'll be making the greatest mistake of our lives."

The strain on his face was impossible to miss.

Elder Kazuto looked at him, startled.

This was the first time he had ever seen Kohaku like this.

As an elder of the neutral faction, Kohaku had always remained detached—

never overly concerned with village politics or factional conflicts.

To him, as long as the clan survived, everything else could be endured.

But now… knowing that there existed a future where even the clan itself could be destroyed—

Kazuto finally understood how deeply this revelation had shaken them all.

Toyoma watched the two elders quietly.

Their faces had gone pale, worry written clearly across them.

He sighed softly.

"From observing the conflicts between all the factions in the past," Toyoma said, "I've come to understand something."

Grand Elder Setsuna, Kohaku, and Kazuto all turned their attention to him.

"The Hawk faction wants the Uchiha to gain greater influence in the village—to truly be recognized as a great clan," Toyoma continued.

"The Dove faction wants respect equal to the Senju and peaceful relations with the village."

He paused briefly.

"And the neutral faction believes that as long as the clan survives, anything it achieves is enough."

Grand Elder Setsuna listened carefully, then nodded.

"That is an accurate understanding," he said.

"Well said, my boy."

Kohaku and Kazuto exchanged glances before nodding as well.

"What you said…" Kazuto admitted, "…is exactly what we want."

For a moment, the elders could only stare at Toyoma.

Hearing the true goals of all three factions laid out so clearly—

by a boy barely twelve or thirteen years old—was nothing short of astonishing.

Toyoma looked at them and spoke again, his tone thoughtful.

"Despite our differences, it's clear that all of us want what's best for the clan," he said.

"But if the clan has no future…"

He raised his eyes slightly.

"Then what meaning is there in achieving any of these goals at all?"

Grand Elder Setsuna let out a slow sigh.

Elder Kazuto and Elder Kohaku both looked at Toyoma, the defeat in their expressions impossible to hide.

After nearly a minute of silence, Kohaku finally gathered his courage.

"So, Toyoma," he asked quietly, "what did you see in the future that made you so distrustful of the village?"

Toyoma didn't answer right away.

Instead, he looked toward the Grand Elder. He understood something very clearly—

once the truth was spoken, neither Kohaku nor Kazuto would be able to remain calm.

Setsuna met his gaze, then turned to the two elders.

"Kohaku. Kazuto," he said in a deep, steady voice.

"After hearing what is to come, you must control yourselves. Any mistake born from emotion could affect the entire clan."

Both elders stiffened.

Hearing such a warning from the Grand Elder himself made the gravity of the situation unmistakable.

They looked at him, then nodded slowly.

They understood.

This was serious.

Only then did Toyoma speak.

"In the future I saw," he said, "there was one thing above all else that led to the downfall of the Uchiha."

Both elders focused on him, their expressions sharpening.

"We became divided," Toyoma continued.

"Deeply divided."

He paused briefly, then went on.

"Our ideologies began to clash. The harmony within the clan broke apart."

Toyoma's eyes moved between the two elders.

"For example—when a family lost someone, or when a clan member was injured because of incorrect mission information or mistakes made by the village…"

His voice remained calm, but the meaning behind it was heavy.

"That family would not receive unified support from the clan," he said.

"Some would stay silent, believing that confronting the village would harm the clan's image."

He clenched his fingers slightly.

"Others would justify it in the name of the Will of Fire. For the 'greater good' of the village."

Toyoma looked straight at them.

"And in that future," he asked quietly, "no value the life of an ordinary Uchiha shinobi has… when weighed against that so-called greater picture?"

Hearing this, both elders looked at Toyoma with anger flickering in their eyes.

Elder Kohaku spoke first, his voice tight.

"Did the clan really become this indifferent to its own people?" he asked, the image forming painfully in his mind as he processed Toyoma's words.

On the other hand, Elder Kazuto felt uneasy—but still spoke.

"If sacrificing one life can preserve peace for the clan," he said slowly, "what exactly is wrong with that?"

His thoughts drifted to the sacrifices the Senju had made in the past.

The reaction was immediate.

Both Grand Elder Setsuna and Elder Kohaku turned toward Kazuto, their expressions dark.

"Kazuto," Setsuna said sharply, "do you even hear what you just said?"

Kazuto flinched. "But, Elder—"

He was cut off.

Toyoma's voice broke the moment, calm but heavy.

"And what if I told you," Toyoma said, "that this 'sacrifice' began happening more and more often?"

Kazuto froze.

"That many Uchiha lives were lost because of the same silence," Toyoma continued.

"Because no one spoke up."

He paused, letting the words sink in.

"And there's more."

Both elders focused on him.

"In the future I saw, this wasn't accidental," Toyoma said.

"It was intentional."

His eyes hardened slightly.

"It was a plan by the village leadership—to experiment on Uchiha shinobi bodies. To study the Sharingan… and to force the activation of Izanagi."

The room felt colder.

"This knowledge," Toyoma added quietly, "was handed to the village by a traitor in the past."

He looked at the elders one by one.

"I believe you already have an idea who that was."

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Extra chapter on patr**n - hear_tteeth [18+]

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