“Cough, cough!”
Hearing this, Fugaku quickly snapped back to his senses and coughed several times in succession.
If he didn’t stand up now, he feared he would be completely sidelined by Uchiha Genya.
Genya glanced at Fugaku, whose eyes were flashing with a sharp edge, and after a momentary pause, he spoke again.
“This person who has already stepped forward is our clan leader!
Uchiha Fugaku!”
“I believe he will take action, leading the Uchiha clan to reclaim the glory that belongs to us!”
As soon as he finished speaking, the entire clan compound erupted into a frenzy.
The sounds of applause and cheering flooded in from every direction.
Amid Genya’s infectious speech, everyone turned their fervent gazes toward Uchiha Fugaku.
At this moment, nearly everyone present believed Genya was Fugaku’s shill—that some things which were inconvenient for the leader to say needed to be voiced by a young, powerful Uchiha!
Even Shisui thought so.
Shisui looked at Fugaku on the high platform with deep concern, feeling he had underestimated this habitually silent clan leader.
“Clan Leader…”
*Was your previous demeanor all an act?
Why are you choosing this moment to reveal your sharp fangs?*
Shisui thought of the power of his own Mangekyo, beginning to hesitate.
Did he really need to use Kotoamatsukami to alter the leader’s will?
If things continued like this, he could already see a future where the Uchiha launched a coup.
Fugaku looked at Genya with a livid expression.
If he hadn’t realized by now that he was being played, he really didn’t deserve to be clan leader.
Yet, he never expected that Uchiha Genya would, at the final moment, name him as the great leader of the Uchiha.
Even someone as emotionally composed as Fugaku felt a flicker of pride in that fleeting second.
However, he quickly realized that everything tonight must have been planned this way from the start.
Fortunately, Fugaku naturally possessed a stern, angular face; even though his expression was livid, others interpreted it as a symbol of his solemnity.
The entire venue was still in a state of jubilation, the Uchiha now forged into a single, unified force.
As long as Fugaku raised his arm, they would charge straight for the Hokage Office Building, seize that old man Hiruzen’s seat, drape the Hokage robe over Fugaku, and then petition the Daimyo.
The first thing they would do after he became Hokage would be to sacrifice Danzo Shimura to their banners.
Fugaku raised his hands and slowly pressed them down.
Sure enough, the noise inside the Naka Shrine was suppressed by his simple gesture.
To be honest, this feeling was quite exhilarating.
Previously, he had merely served as a mascot during clan meetings, listening to the Hawks and Doves bicker back and forth.
Today, he finally experienced a taste of a clan leader’s true authority.
Fugaku gave a feigned cough and addressed all the Uchiha clansmen.
“The contents of today’s meeting are confidential and must not be leaked by anyone.
After everyone returns, forget everything you saw and heard just now.”
Hearing this, the Uchiha were not disappointed; instead, their enthusiasm reached a new fever pitch.
*Strict secrecy?
The Clan Leader is clearly preparing to do something big!*
Only Shisui grew even more troubled, his previous thought becoming more intense.
The Uchiha were almost unable to contain themselves; he didn’t know what to do.
*I wonder if Lord Third has any good solutions?*
Fugaku’s guess was correct: everything just now had been self-directed by Genya to drag Fugaku into the fray.
Genya understood Fugaku’s character; he was weak and lacked a bottom line.
Under his leadership, the Uchiha would only be subjected to death by a thousand cuts, step by step, until they reached the cliff of extinction.
In Genya’s view, at least half the blame for the Uchiha massacre in the original story could be pinned on Fugaku.
Even if Fugaku had stood up to resist at the final moment, the clan wouldn’t have been left with only a single survivor; at least some sparks of life could have been preserved.
Because Fugaku had no convictions, he only knew how to compromise on everything.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others only kept pushing and testing the Uchiha’s limits because they knew Fugaku had such a weak personality.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi and his peers had overlooked one very important fact.
If they could exploit Fugaku’s personality, so could others.
Currently, Genya hadn’t fully grown yet and urgently needed someone to stand in front and draw the fire.
Especially with Shisui—although the permanent Kotoamatsukami could only be used once every ten years, its effect was terrifyingly insidious.
Directly and permanently altering a person’s thoughts—what was the difference between that and the original personality being completely wiped out?
While Shisui’s personality wasn’t as extreme as Itachi’s, he was still firmly on Hiruzen Sarutobi’s side, and Genya had to be on guard.
Precisely because of Shisui’s presence, Genya had to ensure that while he was stirring things up, he remained out of everyone’s crosshairs.
At the very least, there had to be someone else to attract the attention.
As for the system mission, he didn’t actually need to become the clan leader; he just needed prestige that surpassed the leader’s.
Fugaku was an excellent target and had the easiest personality to manipulate.
Genya could easily guess exactly what he was thinking.
“Genya, you…”
After suppressing the room, Fugaku looked at Genya with a deep frown, about to scold him for taking such liberties.
But the moment Genya turned his head, Fugaku’s next words were completely stuck in his throat.
Because Genya’s Sharingan was still active, the three tomoe in his eyes still spinning wildly.
Under that high-speed rotation, the three tomoe actually showed signs of merging into one.
A trail of bloody tears even began to flow from the corner of Genya’s eye!
This situation wasn’t exactly rare; when an Uchiha awakened their eyes or when their pupillary power surged to awaken more tomoe due to stimulation, such a phenomenon would occur.
But Fugaku remembered clearly that Genya had only recently awakened the three-tomoe.
If it were to evolve further…
Sensing Genya’s current state, Fugaku couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
“…When the clan meeting ends, come to my office.”
In the end, Fugaku only managed to say those words with a measured tone.
Fortunately, Genya was facing the high platform, and the clansmen’s attention was almost entirely on Fugaku.
Aside from Fugaku and a few elders, almost no one noticed the abnormality in Genya’s eyes.
Genya calmly wiped away the blood tear from his eye as the tomoe slowly faded.
He didn’t know if he had started to believe his own words as he spoke them…
Or if it was because his intense emotions had allowed him to fully absorb the power of Yin Release.
Just now, in his agitated state, Genya had directly awakened the Sharingan’s higher evolution beyond the three-tomoe—the Mangekyo!