Even the smallest family has its internal disputes.
Sakuma Goro then explained everything from start to finish.
To most of the Sakuma, the Hyūga clan is like a big tree. Relying on this powerful ally would make their group even stronger.
But they forgot one thing—when their group was weak in previous years, why didn't the Hyūga come after them?
Only strength commands respect.
Unfortunately, too many people couldn't see through this simple truth.
"Just finished talking about others, and now I face the same problem myself."
Akaba found it ironic—and kind of amusing.
The headache wasn't exclusive to the Uchiha.
Sakuma Goro sighed with hesitation. He couldn't just resolve such an issue with a few casual words.
Purging disloyalty within meant an ugly internal conflict.
"You must have gathered everyone for a meeting already?" Akaba asked.
"Yes, they're all waiting in the meeting room behind us." Sakuma Goro nodded.
Akaba formed a hand seal and released the genjutsu.
Hesitate, and you're already beaten.
On this point, he actually agreed with Monta, that poor bastard caught in a genjutsu—the great achievements were his alone; what did those fools have to do with it?
Having useless teammates bark stupid orders is just asking for trouble.
Things have been going great lately—no way he'd let these morons mess it up now.
"If you're going to purge them, leave it to me. After all, you're the future of the family."
Sakuma Goro clenched his fists and walked forward.
"I hate trouble."
Akaba followed out, all the way to the meeting room.
Sakuma Goro opened the door and entered first, sitting down at the main seat before pointing at an empty chair beside him.
Akaba walked over without hesitation and sat down, waiting for the Clan Leader to speak first.
"Esteemed elders," Sakuma Goro spoke calmly, "let's continue our previous discussion. As I was saying, the Hyūga clan wishes to form an alliance with us—who supports it, and who objects?"
"Clan Leader, we should unite with the Hyūga clan."
"They're a major clan. We've allied with them before—we should do so again now."
"Support the alliance!"
Many elders immediately voiced their agreement, though some sensed something amiss and remained silent.
Elder Chingen let out a long breath.
He knew the internal conflict was finally reaching its end.
"All those who support the alliance, please stand up."
Sakuma Goro said indifferently.
A large group stood up at once, but as they looked around and saw hesitation in others' eyes, some reconsidered and sat back down.
"I hereby declare that everyone who stood up just now is stripped of their position as elder."
Sakuma Goro announced coldly.
"What?!"
"Goro, you're being too stubborn! Cooperating with the Hyūga will only bring us benefits."
"The sudden change of heart must be because of something Akaba said!"
The elders were furious and panicked—none had expected such an outcome.
All eyes turned toward Akaba. Goro had seemed indecisive earlier, yet returned with newfound determination.
And the only event in between was his brief conversation with Akaba.
"Fellow elders," Akaba smiled faintly, "you really believe there are benefits to working with the Hyūga?"
An elder spoke up, "The Hyūga and the Uchiha are fighting each other. We can profit by staying neutral. Forming an alliance with the Hyūga simply increases our bargaining power."
The old saying goes: when the clam and sandpiper fight, the fisherman profits. That was exactly their intention.
"The Hyūga clan wants to cooperate with us because we possess a Kekkei Genkai, and several of you elders still carry Sakuma blood. Why don't you break away and ally yourselves with the Hyūga? It doesn't make any difference anyway."
Akaba shrugged indifferently.
These men were too old and set in their ways to hold any ambition anymore. All they did was scheme from their rooms—stubborn, decaying, and greedy.
They blinked in shock before shouting back together, "How can there be no difference?"
"The difference is that you're already useless. We, on the other hand, still have power and strength. Furthermore, your choice was stupid and wrong."
Akaba said coldly, "If you can't even handle us, how dare you try playing both sides with the Hyūga and Uchiha clans?"
Playing both sides?
They didn't understand the term, but the word "useless" was clear enough.
A group of elders grew livid, ready to tear someone apart.
"Enough! Didn't any of you hear what I just said?"
Sakuma Goro shouted harshly.
"The elder system was established by our ancestors!"
"Five and—"
"Elder Fukasaku, say something quick! If we keep going like this, the Sakuma clan's done for!"
At this moment, Sakuma Chingen stood up. He was the oldest and held the highest prestige; his words now carried the most weight.
Akaba frowned slightly.
If this Elder opposed the Clan Leader, everything would collapse.
In that case, he'd better prepare early and leave the Sakuma clan.
Playing tricks between the Hyūga and Uchiha was like courting disaster. Even at its peak, let alone in decline, the Sakuma lacked the strength for such a gamble.
What could a bunch of weaklings ever accomplish?
"I think Akaba's suggestion makes sense. If you believe cooperating with the Hyūga brings benefits, then go do it yourselves."
Sakuma Chingen declared, "I, as Elder, hereby announce your expulsion from the Sakuma clan."
The elders nearly went mad.
They had thought Elder Chingen would be more lenient, yet his decision proved even harsher than expected. In the end, they weren't even clan members anymore.
"Guards, expel them from the compound."
Sakuma Chingen remained expressionless.
Having experienced real battlefields, his decision was firmer than Sakuma Goro's.
Debate?
Unnecessary. Once decided, simply remove these people.
"Yes!"
Several Jonin entered from outside.
These Jonin represented the clan's elite forces, while these elders had long been aged and weak, probably lacking even Chunin-level strength.
"You crooked old bastard Chingen, you can't pull this crap on us!"
"We were wrong, we were wrong!"
High-and-mighty elders were cast down from their seats overnight. After the commotion, the Jonin walked in, released Genjutsu, and dragged them away.
"Nothing else to do here—I'm heading out first."
Akaba felt drowsiness creeping in.
He'd been woken up in the middle of his nap, so now he really needed some shut-eye. As for updates—
Nah, gotta get my beauty sleep first before I've got the energy to draw!
No one stopped him, because the most critical issue was already resolved. What followed was trivial.
Sakuma Chingen stood upright, scanning the entire room with his gaze.
After eliminating so many people, only three members remained in the meeting hall, including the Clan Leader himself.
He was old but exuded imposing pressure. "Also, I hereby announce the promotion of Sakuma Chiaki to Elder."
"Who supports or opposes promoting Sakuma Chiaki as Elder?"
Sakuma Goro scanned the room.
Complete silence.
After a long pause, everyone nodded their heads.
Although the authority was given to Sakuma Chiaki, he actually lacked administrative talent. This move mainly served as a transitional step to transfer Elder power to Akaba.
The Sakuma clan was undergoing a dramatic change!
Ten Elders were expelled from the clan.
News quickly spread across all clans in Konoha, but no one made any moves, maintaining an unusually tacit understanding.
Moreover, many smaller clans began similar actions to reduce their number of Elders.
"Picking twelve-year-olds as candidates? How outdated can you get?"
In the Hokage office, the Third sighed and deactivated [Telescope Technique].
How could he not notice what the Hyūga clan had been up to?
They had orchestrated this balance between two clans themselves. If the Sakuma clan really leaned toward the Hyūga clan, the final outcome would be very tragic.
"Hokage-sama, about the Hyūga..."
"They will understand."
The Third shook his head and ordered his Anbu to stand down.
Struggles within the rules—there was no need for the Shadow to intervene personally.
Akaba lay on his bed. It didn't take him long to piece everything together.
Even without him, Sakuma Chingen would have taken action eventually. Compared to that seasoned veteran, this situation was nothing more than a small farce.
He saw clearly the path before him now.
"Though since I showed up this time, I might get something worthwhile out of it."
Perhaps it was time to start considering becoming Clan Leader someday.
Earlier, Sakuma Goro had let him sit in the position reserved for the future heir.
Thinking carefully about it again, Akaba felt somewhat troubled.
There'd probably be plenty more of these situations coming up. Refusing wasn't an option—so better start cultivating a capable assistant right away.
As this thought passed through his mind, he quickly ran through possible candidates.
Obviously, outsiders wouldn't be suitable for handling internal clan affairs, so only clan members could be considered.
Considering carefully, apart from his parents, the person he knew best seemed to be Sakuma Yunlang.
Suddenly sitting upright, Akaba walked out from his resting chamber.
At the moment, there were no customers in the shop, so Yunlang appeared quite idle, gesturing at something unknown.
Akaba walked over for a look—
On a white sheet of paper were crude figures resembling stick men.
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Akaba asked after glancing at it: "What exactly is this thing you've drawn?"
"Eh? Sorry, I——"
Yunlang turned red-faced, hurriedly hiding the 'drawing' behind his back.
"Don't bother learning this. You don't seem to have much talent for it."
Akaba remarked.
Even though neither had any artistic experience, Jiraiya's first drawing had been hundreds of times better than this attempt.
"Sorry, I just didn't know what else to do, so I randomly drew these things."
Yunlang immediately explained.
When business was busy, he stayed occupied—but during downtime, he got really bored.
"My ventures won't stop at just this one shop. In the future, you'll need to manage numerous stores and people. With your current abilities, you're simply unqualified."
"You're talking about me?" Yunlang blurted out, pointing at himself in disbelief.
He was just an ordinary guy!
"Start learning proper management skills. I'll rely on you to expand this business someday."
Akaba continued speaking.
"Huh?"
Sakuma Yunlang was confused.
Honestly, he didn't have big ambitions. His current life was already satisfying enough.
Going further felt somewhat distant.
"Believe in yourself. You possess extraordinary management talent."
Akaba gave a thumbs-up.
"I have extraordinary management talent?"
Why wasn't I aware of that myself?
Sakuma Yunlang looked at his own hands, wearing a slightly puzzled expression.
"When the Sage of Six Paths closes one, he opens another. There are no untalented people in this world—only those who haven't discovered their potential."
Akaba kept dishing out hollow motivational speeches.
Lines like these were everywhere online back in his previous life. He could go on for an hour without ever repeating himself.
And hypnosis was also part of genjutsu, after all.
As a master of genjutsu, slipping in some hypnotic tricks while talking came easily to him.
He felt just like those charismatic bosses from motivational videos in his past life—rallying their teams with relentless energy.
"Closing one door and opening another..."
Sakuma Yunlang froze. He actually started feeling convinced that he indeed had considerable managerial talent.
Otherwise, why would Master Akaba value him so much?
A few seconds later, he clenched his fist tightly and declared loudly, "Master Akaba, leave it to me! I will definitely work twice as hard!"
"That's the spirit! You got this!"
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