Chapter 57: The Clan Tax
The Naka Shrine was the spiritual and political heart of the Uchiha clan. It was a place of heavy incense, dark wood, and centuries of unquestioned tradition.
When Ren walked through the sliding doors the next morning, he didn’t bother wearing the traditional high-collared clan crest. He wore a crisp, tailored charcoal suit—no tie, the collar open—looking exactly like a man who was about to attend a hostile board meeting.
He didn’t bring Kakuzu or Pakura. He didn’t need S-rank mercenaries for this. He just carried a single, slim leather folder.
Sitting in a rigid semicircle at the front of the shrine were the three primary Clan Elders. Fugaku sat slightly to the side, his arms crossed inside his kimono sleeves, his expression a completely unreadable mask.
"Ren," the Head Elder said, his voice echoing in the quiet room. He was an ancient, bitter-looking man with deep lines etched into his face. "Sit."
Ren didn’t sit on the tatami floor like a subordinate. He remained standing, politely clasping his hands behind his back.
"Good morning, Elders," Ren smiled, entirely unbothered by the heavy, oppressive chakra the three old men were passively leaking into the room to intimidate him. "My father mentioned you wanted a brief update on my operations in the Capital."
"Update?" The elder on the right scoffed, his Sharingan spinning to life in a pathetic display of dominance. "You embarrassed this clan yesterday. You paraded around the village with outside mercenaries and claimed a prime compound property without submitting a formal request to the council."
"The teahouse was abandoned," Ren replied smoothly. "And I bought the deed from the widow who owned it five years ago. It’s private property."
The Head Elder slammed a hand down on the low wooden table in front of him.
"You are an Uchiha!" the old man barked. "Everything you do reflects on this clan. You were sent away because you lacked the talent to be a shinobi. Now, it seems you have found success peddling soaps and perfumes to the capital nobles. Fine. But do not forget who raised you."
Ren just watched them, his expression perfectly pleasant. "I haven’t forgotten a thing. What can I do for you, Elders?"
The Head Elder straightened his posture, looking down his nose at Ren.
"The Military Police force requires modernization," the Elder declared. "Weapon costs have risen, and the village administration refuses to increase our budget. Since you have built your wealth using the Uchiha name, it is time you paid your dues. The council has decided on a mandatory clan contribution tax. Forty percent of your Capital revenue will be diverted directly to the main clan vault, effective immediately."
Fugaku’s eyes widened slightly at the sheer, greedy audacity of the number, but he remained silent, waiting to see how his son would handle the trap.
Ren didn’t get angry. He didn’t yell. He actually let out a soft, genuine laugh.
He unclasped his hands, opened the slim leather folder he had brought with him, and pulled out a single sheet of heavy parchment. He walked forward and placed it gently on the table in front of the Head Elder.
"What is this?" the Elder demanded, glaring at the paper.
"That is my corporate charter," Ren explained, his voice calm, polite, and completely lethal. "You see, Elders, you made a slight miscalculation. I didn’t build my wealth using the Uchiha name. I built it using the Daimyo’s tax code."
The Elders looked down at the parchment. At the bottom of the page was the massive, undeniable red ink stamp of the Fire Country’s Royal Treasury.
"The Uchiha clan has jurisdiction over Konoha’s military police and the residential properties inside this compound," Ren said, pacing slowly in front of them. "But my corporation is registered in the Fire Capital. It operates under the direct protection of the royal court. Which means, legally speaking, the Uchiha clan has absolutely zero jurisdiction over my assets."
The elder on the left turned red. "You arrogant brat! We are the council! We can disinherit you! We can strip your name!"
"You can certainly try," Ren smiled, leaning over the table to look the furious old man dead in the eye. "But disinheriting me doesn’t give you access to my bank accounts. It just means I stop sending you holiday cards."
The Head Elder’s hands were shaking with rage. "You would turn your back on your own blood? You would deny your clan the funds it needs to survive?"
Ren stood up straight, adjusting the cuffs of his suit jacket. The polite smile finally vanished, replaced by the cold, calculating stare of a tycoon who had spent the last five years financially suffocating his rivals.
"I am not a charity, and I am not a piggy bank for a failing police department," Ren said softly. "If you wanted my money, you shouldn’t have exiled me to a tea shop when I was twelve. You wanted me out of sight? Congratulations. I’m out of your reach."
Ren picked his corporate charter up off the table and slid it back into his leather folder.
"However," Ren added, his smug smile returning as he turned toward the door. "I am a businessman. If the clan wants a cut of my profits, you are more than welcome to buy corporate shares like the rest of the civilians. I believe they are currently trading at four thousand ryo a share. Have a great morning, Elders."
Ren didn’t wait for a dismissal. He simply turned and walked out of the shrine, leaving the three most powerful elders in the clan completely speechless, their faces flushed with impotent rage.
Fugaku remained seated. He looked at the empty space where his son had just been standing.
The Uchiha Patriarch didn’t feel angry. He didn’t feel insulted. As he listened to the elders begin to sputter and shout curses at the closed door, Fugaku felt a strange, deeply unsettling sense of amusement.
For his entire life, Fugaku had believed that true power was measured in chakra, in the Sharingan, and in military rank. He had spent decades playing the dangerous, exhausting political games of the Leaf Village, constantly fighting for an inch of respect from the Hokage and Danzo.
But watching his eighteen-year-old son casually dismantle the highest authority of the Uchiha clan with a single piece of paper and a polite smile, Fugaku realized the world had changed.
Ren wasn’t trapped in their shinobi system. He had simply bought a bigger one.
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