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Year 58 of Konoha. Hokage Tower.
The meeting hall smelled of old wood and incense.
Every clan head was present. Every elder. Every shinobi captain who carried enough weight to earn a seat. The Uchiha delegation sat near the back. They were a group of dark hair and dark eyes. The uchiwa fan was stitched onto every back.
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood at the front. He was young. Calm. But his voice carried.
"Senju Tobirama-sama has fallen. He was attacked during peace negotiations with Kumogakure. He gave his life so that his escort could escape."
A ripple moved through the room. People murmured. A Hyuga elder closed his eyes. An Akimichi lowered his head.
Hiruzen continued. "Before his death, Tobirama-sama named me his successor. The final decision rests with the Village council and the Daimyo."
Uchiha Kagami stood.
The room went still. Kagami was Tobirama's student. He was the only Uchiha the Second Hokage had ever trusted. His reputation was like a blade.
"The Uchiha clan accepts Tobirama-sama's final wishes," Kagami said. His voice was steady. "Sarutobi Hiruzen has our support."
Behind him, several Uchiha elders said nothing. Their faces were stone.
One of them was a thin man with a white beard and dark eyes. He watched Kagami with an expression that was not agreement. His name was Uchiha Takami. His hands, hidden in his sleeves, were clenched.
---
Night. Uchiha Compound. Naka Shrine basement.
Torches lined the stone walls. Over a dozen elders gathered in the flickering light. The air was close. Hot.
"We should have pushed for the Hokage seat!"
The speaker was an old man with a scar across his jaw. His Sharingan was active. Three tomoe spun slowly. "Tobirama is dead. The Village is shaken. This was our moment. And Kagami handed it to Sarutobi like a gift."
"Kagami is not the Clan Head." Another elder was younger. His fists were clenched. "He does not speak for us."
"He speaks with Tobirama's voice," said a third. "And his strength supports it."
A pause.
"He is one of us."
"He is a moderate," the scarred elder spat. "He cares more for the Village than the clan."
The argument circled. Voices rose. The torches flickered as bodies shifted.
Uchiha Takami stood near the wall. He had not spoken.
But now he moved.
The room quieted. Takami was not the most powerful elder. But he was the one who had named his grandson Mali. He was the one who had declared the child the hope of the Uchiha. His words carried a different weight.
"Kagami's strength is beyond ours," Takami said quietly. "His Sharingan is fully mature. His combat record is unmatched within the clan. If we move against him openly, we lose. He will side with the Village. And we are not ready for that war."
The elders stared at him.
"Then we swallow our anger?" the scarred man demanded.
Takami's eyes met his.
"We wait for a chance, The day will come when Kagami's will be betrayed by them, they will betray him, it's matter of time " takami touched his eye, and said with his evil smile.
The scarred elder held his gaze. Then, slowly, he nodded.
The meeting broke into smaller arguments. But the decision was made. For now, the radicals would wait.
---
Across the compound, in a house near the back wall, a woman was pregnant.
Uchiha Asuka moved through the rooms. She had one hand on her belly and the other against the wall. Her feet were swollen. Her back ached. But her eyes, when she looked at her son, were soft.
"You are going to be a brother," she told Mali one morning.
Mali paused in the doorway. He was two years old. Already walking. Already too steady.
" Brother! "
He nodded. He stored the information. He returned to the garden.
But that night, he lay awake. The cracks in the ceiling had changed over the years. New lines. New shapes. He traced them with his eyes.
" So, i am going to be big brother, my siblings"
---
Spring. Year 59.
The twins were born on a night of heavy rain.
Uchiha Kazuki. Boy. Small. Furious. His first cry split the air like a kunai.
Uchiha Hana. Girl. Smaller. Quieter. She blinked at the lantern light with dark eyes that reflected nothing yet.
Mali stood at his mother's bedside. His father was beside him. A rough hand rested on his shoulder. His grandfather stood in the corner with arms crossed. He watched the two bundles with an expression that was difficult to read.
"Your brother and sister," Asuka whispered. Her voice was tired. Happy. "Kazuki and Hana."
Mali reached out. His hand hovered over Kazuki's tiny fist.
The baby's fingers closed around his thumb.
Mali did not speak. But something in his chest shifted.
Mail cheeks flushed red and shy, he picked his sister and brother played with them.
Both twin babies laughing and playing with his fingers, but when he put them in baby carriage, they would start crying.
" Mali, it's look like your brother and sister really like you, you have to take care of them "
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