The following evening.
Uchiha territory, Naka Shrine.
This month's Clan Meeting was held a few days early due to the Jounin Council Meeting scheduled for tomorrow.
For Uchiha Gen, there were two differences about this Clan Meeting.
First, the Clan Head, Uchiha Hisaku, was bedridden with serious injuries and could no longer preside over the meeting as he had in the past; therefore, Great Elder Uchiha Gen took charge on his behalf.
Second, it was about himself.
Although more than a year had passed since he awakened his Sharingan, he had spent over ninety percent of that time in the Land of Rain.
Consequently, he had only attended two Clan Meetings.
A year ago, when he attended for the first time, he was just a Genin who had recently awakened a Single-Tomoe Sharingan. After parting ways with the Great Elder, he could only sit in the last row near the door.
Today, however, he possessed a Three-Tomoe Sharingan and had been promoted to Jonin, allowing him to sit in a very prominent position near the front.
The only ones seated above him were the elders and several veteran Uchiha Jonin who held key positions in the Police Force.
Other Uchiha with triple tomoe were, at most, seated alongside him.
In the Uchiha Clan, one was only considered an elite after awakening the Sharingan. The more tomoe one had, the stronger their power and the higher their corresponding status.
Uchiha Gen now possessed the Three-Tomoe Sharingan and had an amazing track record carved out with real blades and blood on the battlefield over the past year. He was fully qualified for his current status.
"The clan originally had thirty-five Jonin; I am the thirty-sixth. Excluding the seriously injured Clan Head and the elderly Great Elder, there are still thirty-four."
When Uchiha Gen first learned the clan had over thirty Jonin, it was a terrifying concept. But now, after traveling through the battlefields of the Land of Rain, he had a much clearer understanding of that number.
In the entire Land of Rain theater, the total number of Jonin-level combatants on Konoha's side was only about thirty.
It could be said that using the Uchiha Clan as the core backbone alone would be enough to sustain a large-scale war.
Even if the top-tier combat power wasn't quite what it was in the Sengoku era, their overall strength still lived up to the title of the Ninja World's number one noble house.
The Clan Meeting proceeded slowly.
Even though Uchiha Hisaku, the Clan Head, was absent, the agenda of the meeting was fixed.
Recent developments within the clan, the number of newborns, the death toll, changes in the Ninja ranks of the clan's elite, the awakening and evolution of the Sharingan, the economic revenue of clan industries, and the monthly stipends for Ninjas of various ranks.
For a Three-Tomoe Sharingan Jonin like Uchiha Gen, the monthly stipend was tens of thousands of ryo, equivalent to the earnings from leading a standard b-rank mission—normally, the reward for a b-rank mission wouldn't exceed 150,000 ryo, and that was the total reward, which had to be split with teammates after completion.
It didn't look like much, but over a year it added up to hundreds of thousands of ryo, matching the annual income of a Chunin working hard on missions.
This stipend was for life. Even if he lost an arm or a leg in the future and was no longer able to carry out missions, this income would still exist.
As long as the clan remained, he would always have a safety net for the rest of his life.
Other Ninja clans had similar talent policies to some extent, but only a few noble houses like the Hyuga could come close to the Uchiha Clan in terms of stipend amounts.
Time passed slowly, and the meeting reached its final segment.
That was regarding the Jounin Council Meeting to be held tomorrow and how the Uchiha Clan should participate.
"This Jounin Council Meeting should just be a summary of the recent major battles, arranging for various departments in the Village to make adjustments based on the subsequent war situation.
We will follow old precedents. As long as we ensure the clan's military merits and pensions can be assessed normally, there's no need to get involved in other matters.
This war was not fought in the name of the Police Force, and there are no extra interests to strive for. We only need to ensure that the clan and every clansman get what they are due."
The Third Elder, Uchiha Kai, sat cross-legged at the front, summarizing for all the clansmen.
Beside him, the Second Elder, Uchiha Hane, had no objections and nodded steadily.
With the Clan Head absent, he was the one overseeing all affairs of the Police Force, but this battle had not been fought under the Police Force's name.
Although the Police Force held great power, its jurisdiction did not extend beyond Konoha Village. There were no interests they could fight for at this Jounin Council Meeting.
At least, that's how it seemed to them.
The Great Elder's gaze slowly turned toward Uchiha Gen, who was sitting in the first row, and he gave a slight nod.
The latter nodded slightly and immediately stood up.
"It's not that there's nothing else to fight for."
As soon as Uchiha Gen spoke, he drew the attention of everyone around him.
He was actually very eye-catching in tonight's Clan Meeting; he couldn't keep a low profile even if he wanted to.
Awakening the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, being the youngest Jonin in Konoha's history, and having his battlefield merits emphatically publicized—he perfectly fit the clansmen's standard for 'restoring the clan's glory.' It was hard not to be the focus of attention.
"Gen, do you have something to add?"
The Second Elder looked at Uchiha Gen and asked.
Facing the gazes of more than two hundred clansmen, the latter spoke: "If you all have been paying attention to the Land of Rain battlefield, you should know that what Tsunade and I did there wasn't just participating in front-line combat. We also saved many people in the medical zone Tsunade established, significantly altering the landscape of the war in the Land of Rain.
Therefore, at this Jounin Council Meeting, Tsunade will put forward a formal proposal to establish a professional Medical Department to train Medical Ninjas on a large scale. They will participate in future Ninja missions to reduce casualties and improve the sustained combat capabilities of these important teams."
"Are you saying that the clan can also have a hand in this Medical Department? Can it be established?
If it is established, what kind of position can the clan occupy within it?"
The Second Elder asked again.
"Even though we are currently at war and the Village has no spare energy to push for the establishment of this department, it will be set up sooner or later. The Third Hokage is not so senile that he can't see the significance of this matter; it will at most be delayed due to the war.
The birth of Medical Ninjas will be a major event capable of rewriting the future of Ninja warfare, far more significant than the Second Kazekage of Sunagakure and Monzaemon creating Puppeteers.
Unsurprisingly, once established, the Medical Department will be a first-level department on par with major departments like the Police Force and Anbu."
Hearing this, the Second and Third Elders couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
The crowd of Uchiha below also began to discuss it fervently.
A department whose status was almost certainly destined to be equal to the Police Force in the future!
This represented a brand new, massive cake waiting to be divided.