For the first time in months. I acted like the clan head. I summoned the clan for an emergency meeting.
In the hall, I sat in the head chair waiting. Tapping on the armrest as the legions assembled. The atmosphere was abuzz. But not with tension, with conversation. They discussed the law like we discussed weather.
There was no anguish or anger. No wrath. Just cold, calm acceptance. I even heard a conversation about how to hand over the black box without it causing trouble. I had not stopped the research on the black box.
Finally, I stood up. Emiko slapped the table to gather attention. I took a deep breath and unleashed my fury.
"There are two kinds of people in this world. The fools, and not fools. The ones who take, and the ones who are taken from. The Lords and their servants.
Do you know what I see when I look around the table today? I see servants wagging their tails when the master beats them with a cane. I see worms begging for scraps as the Lords eat. I used to see the makings of something great within you all. Now I see nothing at all."
I might have taken a long break. But I was still their savior. I was still the man who fed them and clothed them. I was still their leader. And my words were harsh. Especially so because I was rarely harsh.
"If you are deluding yourselves that this is for the greater good. That this is the right thing to do. These laws seem righteous. Let me tell you about the men who have proposed them."
And I spoke. I spoke of every dark secret the village had in this period of time.
"Their allies they treat as bait and harvest. When the Uzumaki cried for help, they stood by and watched as their allies were torn to pieces. They watched as their children were put to the sword and their legacy set aflame. They watched till the battle was over, and then, like the vultures descending upon a kill, they snatched their treasures and gold and the seals their allies developed over a thousand years of history, and lined their pockets with it."
"The Senju sacrificed their name and everything for this village. Do you know what their reward is? Slowly, they are vanishing. Nobody knows how are why. Just that when they go on missions, they rarely come back. Their missions often have unreliable intel, strange accidents, and, of course, a group of very select Shinobis who have a mastery in assassinations."
"You think them righteous. The man who built the lab that trapped our little Taku. Is back on the council. Unofficially for now. But the hokage often seeks his advice. Hundreds died suffering gruesome deaths. The punishment was a few years out of office. Do you know how the root functions? How does their cursed tongue seal work? I assure you, if he ordered, a root shinobi would rape and murder his own sister while his family bled out crucified on the wall by his own hand."
"And good of the village? Check the dusty registers and all those heavy ledgers. The clans that benefit from it are not the clans of Konoha, but the clans of the men who hold power. The yami know my memory. Let them attest to the truth."
I had made sure that nobody outside the Yamigami bearers was present here today. The murmurs were shocked, stunned, and disbelieving.
"And let me tell you. As they did all this. Their clothes were still as white as milk, and their expressions as saintly as the Sage of the Six Paths. I could tell you a hundred more things, but I do not have to. The origins you were given have taught you this truth. You had just forgotten in my warm embrace."
"This world was a cold, dark place. Our power has protected our light so far. It protected you all when we started. It protected Taku when he needed. It has protected us so far. Do you really think the Hokage would have moved for a random Genin out in the sticks? This Power is our foundation and our survival. Which is why all clans worth their salt guard it vehemently above all else. And today they have sent you a letter, a letter that says that they can take whatever they want. That they can do whatever they want. And we are powerless."
"Now, today, I ask you all. I am Kurosawa Ren. I am the Lord of the clan called Kurosawa. And I am going to fight. I will not go quietly into the night. I will not be a servant, I will not be a worm. If there are only two who walk the Earth. Then I shall be the one who rules. Now the question is, are you with me?"
I waited for the silence to settle after I finished. It hung there for a beat, then two — a fragile thing, like ice holding water that wants to run free.
Emiko was the first to break it. She slammed the table again, harder this time, and the sound echoed like a war drum. "We are not servants!" she shouted, eyes blazing. "Burn that damn letter!" Her voice carried through the hall, finding the backs of every neck, the pockets where fear had been hiding.
A chorus of yeah! And Arrggh! Went up, followed by the chant of Burn the Letter!
Hina rose, slow and steady. Her face was usually all soft smiles and careful hands, but now it had a knife's edge. "You have words, Lord Ren," she said, and there was a tremor — not of weakness, but of something that had finally been freed. "Tell us how we fight. Tell us what we do next."
A ripple ran through the room. The old reluctance, the whispered bargains, the resigned shoulders — they all began to straighten. Haruto stepped forward, palms flat on the table, the familiar commander stance making the space between us feel like the front of a march.
These weren't your run-of-the-mill crew. They had survived war and starvation. They had fought for their life and laughed in the face of death. They had built this place from scratch while their peers struggled to survive. They had just forgotten. They had forgotten their will. They had forgotten their roots. They had forgotten the truth of the world.
And now they remembered.