The Uchiha Clan Head’s residence.
In the spacious Japanese-style courtyard, a Shishi-odoshi filled with water and struck a stone heavily, emitting a crisp ‘thud.’
Inside the room, the light was somewhat dim.
Uchiha Fugaku sat cross-legged in the seat of honor, holding a cup of hot tea in his hand, his brows furrowed together.
Recently, the situation within the clan had become increasingly chaotic; the cries of the Radical Faction grew louder wave after wave, making it hard for him, the Clan Head, to breathe.
“Father.”
The sliding door was gently pushed open, and Uchiha Itachi took off his shoes, respectfully entered the room, and sat down formally in a kneeling position before Fugaku.
Fugaku set down his teacup and looked at the eldest son who made him so proud; his furrowed brows relaxed slightly.
“Itachi, are Sasuke’s enrollment procedures settled?”
“They are settled. Sasuke has been assigned to Class A.”
Itachi reported.
“Very good.”
Fugaku nodded, and just as he was about to offer a few words of encouragement, he noticed that Itachi’s expression was unusual.
No one knows a son better than his father, and he sensed something was wrong.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
Itachi remained silent, the words Lu Ming had spoken to Sasuke on the street and the sight of Lu Ming’s back as he turned to leave flashing through his mind.
“Father, on our way back, we ran into Big Brother Lu Ming.”
Itachi looked up, his gaze meeting Fugaku’s directly.
Hearing the name “Lu Ming,” Fugaku’s fingers paused slightly.
“Lu Ming? What did he say to you?”
Regarding Lu Ming, Fugaku’s feelings were extremely complicated.
This young man’s prestige within the clan was too high; in the hearts of some of the younger generation, Lu Ming’s words were even more influential than his own as the Clan Head.
“Big Brother Lu Ming helped Sasuke out of a predicament.”
Itachi recounted exactly what had happened on the street, and then his tone became solemn.
“However, Big Brother Lu Ming told Sasuke that he must use his strength to prove the Uchiha’s power to all of Konoha, to prove that we are rightfully the number one clan.”
“He also promised that if we take first place, he will give us specially-made Chakra weapons.”
As Fugaku listened, the expression on his face froze.
“Father.”
Itachi looked at Fugaku.
“Big Brother Lu Ming’s words sounded like he was encouraging a junior, but I noticed a dangerous aura emanating from him.”
“He… has radical ideas.”
“I’m worried—has he also sided with Yashiro and the others in the Radical Faction?”
Bang!
Fugaku slammed his teacup onto the low table, tea splashing everywhere.
The thing he feared most had happened after all.
“Lu Ming…”
Fugaku gritted his teeth, a sense of powerlessness surging in his heart.
He understood the current situation all too well.
The Konoha High Command’s suppression of the Uchiha was now out in the open, and the Village civilians were full of complaints against the Police Force.
The Radical Faction in the clan clamored every day for a violent seizure of power, while he was stuck in the middle, desperately trying to maintain that fragile balance.
Fugaku knew well that Konoha’s foundation was deep; Anbu, Root, and the various great ninja clans—which one of them was easy to provoke?
Once the Uchiha truly launched an armed coup d’état, it would be a dead-end road with no chance of survival, dragging the entire clan into the abyss of destruction.
The reason he could still suppress the Radical Faction was that there wasn’t a single top-tier powerhouse among them who could truly lead.
People like Yashiro and Inabi shouted loudly, but their strength wasn’t enough to command everyone’s respect.
But Lu Ming was different.
He was a terrifying existence who had once forced back the Third Tsuchikage on the battlefield with an S-rank Lightning Release, and he was the savior of countless Uchiha Clan members.
If Lu Ming truly cast aside all pretenses, stood up to rally the troops, and led the Radical Faction in a rebellion, then the entire Uchiha Clan would spiral out of control, and his own authority as Clan Head would be stripped away!
“I must not let the situation reach that point…”
Fugaku gripped the fabric on his knees with both hands, fine beads of sweat breaking out on his forehead.
Just as Fugaku’s mind was in turmoil.
Swish!
A dark shadow suddenly landed in the courtyard outside the door.
An Uchiha Clan member wearing a Police Force uniform knelt on one knee, his voice urgent.
“Clan Head! The Great Elder has just issued an emergency notice!”
Fugaku’s heart sank, an ominous premonition enveloping him.
He pulled the door open and stared at the clan member.
“The Great Elder’s notice? What is it?”
“The Great Elder demands that all clan members who have awakened the Sharingan go to the Naka Shrine!”
The clan member kept his head down, his tone unable to hide his excitement.
“The Great Elder said there are major matters concerning the survival of the clan, and a clan meeting must be held!”
Fugaku was struck as if by lightning, his entire body freezing in place.
An emergency clan meeting, deciding the survival of the clan…
He, the Clan Head, was actually the last one to be notified!
Fugaku’s breathing became rapid.
For the Great Elder to bypass him and directly convene a clan meeting, something monumental must have happened.
“I understand. Prepare the carriage immediately.”
Fugaku suppressed the shock in his heart and strode out of the room.
…
On the outskirts of Konoha Village, the Naka Shrine.
This ancient shrine, hidden deep within a dense forest, was a forbidden area for the Uchiha Clan and the ancestral ground where the Uchiha ancestors were enshrined.
On ordinary days, the gates here were tightly shut.
Except for the Clan Head, no one was allowed to set foot inside.
Only when a major clan meeting concerning the fate of the family was convened would the Naka Shrine be opened.
The shrine’s basement was an extremely spacious secret assembly hall.
Back then, Uchiha Madara had implemented a dictatorship within the Uchiha using his terrifying strength that dominated the era.
After Madara defected from Konoha, the Uchiha Clan, in order to avoid another such powerful Clan Head who could drag the entire family into the abyss, carried out drastic reforms to the clan’s power structure.
The Clan Head’s power was significantly weakened, and major decisions for the family had to be jointly discussed and decided by the Council of Elders and the clan meeting.
By Fugaku’s generation, he found his position as Clan Head quite stifling.
He didn’t have Madara’s absolute strength to suppress everything; he relied more on a steady style and past prestige to sustain himself.
The real power had long since been divided up by those several shrewd elders.
On the stone steps leading to the Naka Shrine’s basement, shadows of people flickered.
Large groups of Uchiha Clan members were arriving from all directions.
“Sharingan, activate!”
At the shrine entrance, two clan members responsible for guarding watched everyone who arrived coldly.
To enter the Naka Shrine’s basement and participate in this clan meeting that would decide the family’s fate, the sole qualification was—awakening the Sharingan!
Hum!
Hum!
Hum!
The arriving clan members didn’t waste words; they closed their eyes one after another, and when they opened them, their originally black-and-white eyes had turned into a sea of crimson.
One-Tomoe Sharingan, Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Three-Tomoe Sharingan…
pair after pair of Sharingan, emitting a cold ocular power, lit up one after another in the night.
After the guards confirmed everything was correct, they allowed them into the basement.
The interior of the basement was vast.
By now, over a hundred Uchiha elites who had activated their Sharingan had gathered.
Within the crowd, various discussions rose and fell, and the entire venue was so oppressive it made it hard to breathe.
“What exactly happened? Why would the Great Elder suddenly convene a clan meeting?”
A Two-Tomoe clan member lowered his voice, his face full of confusion.
“Is that even a question?!”
Uchiha Yashiro stood in the center of the crowd, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spinning wildly as he waved his fist with a face full of fanaticism.
“It must be that the Council of Elders has finally had enough of the high command’s suppression and is preparing to issue the order to move against the Hokage Building! The time for our Uchiha counterattack has arrived!”
“Exactly, being ordered around like a watchdog every day, I’ve long since had enough.”
Uchiha Inabi echoed loudly from the side, his hand already resting on the hilt of his ninja blade.
“As long as the Great Elder gives the word, I’ll go and cut down that old geezer Danzo tonight!”
The Radical Faction clan members were boiling with excitement, each one rubbing their palms together, wishing they could rush out right now and go on a killing spree.
Meanwhile, the Conservative Faction clan members in the corner all had pale faces.
“Are you all crazy? Moving against the high command? That’s treason!”
An older clan member pointed at Yashiro and cursed.
“You’ll be the death of the entire Uchiha! Once war starts, the Village’s Anbu and Root will surround us.”
“Coward! It’s because of spineless people like you that the high command dares to walk all over us!”
Yashiro shouted back.
Neither side would back down, and the shouting grew louder and louder until the entire basement was in chaos.
Everyone was frantically guessing the true reason for this meeting.
But whether they were from the Radical Faction or the Conservative Faction, they all knew one thing in their hearts—after tonight, the world of the Uchiha Clan was going to change.
Step, step, step.
Just then, steady footsteps echoed from the stone steps at the basement entrance.
The originally noisy basement went quiet.
Everyone turned their heads, over a hundred pairs of crimson Sharingan staring in unison at the entrance.
“Is it the Great Elder?”
“Or is it the Clan Head?”
Everyone speculated in their hearts.
However, when that figure finally descended the stone steps and appeared in everyone’s sight, everyone present involuntarily gasped.
The one walking in was neither the Great Elder nor Uchiha Fugaku.
It was a young man wearing a dark, high-collared short-sleeved shirt with a short sword strapped to his back.
Uchiha Shisui!
Upon seeing clearly who it was, an irrepressible exclamation erupted from the crowd.
“Shisui?! How could it be him!”
“My god, Shisui of the Body Flicker actually came to participate in the clan meeting?”
“Hasn’t he always been indifferent to the internal power struggles of the family and rarely set foot in the Naka Shrine? Why would he appear here today!”
Yashiro, Inabi, and the others looked at each other, the fanaticism in their eyes turning to shock.
That was Uchiha Shisui.
Looking at the entire Uchiha Clan, besides the powerful Lu Ming, Shisui was the undisputed ceiling of combat power!
Not only did he possess the Body Flicker Technique that was famous throughout the Ninja World, but he was also one of the very few top-tier powerhouses who had awakened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan!
This kind of big shot, who usually only executed the Village’s highest-level secret missions and whom even the Clan Head couldn’t easily call upon, had actually come to the clan meeting today for the first time ever!
Shisui paid no heed to the gazes of those around him.
He walked into the basement expressionlessly, and with every step he took, the terrifying pressure emanating from him made the surrounding clan members subconsciously take half a step back, forcefully creating a path through the crowded room.
Looking at Shisui’s cold expression, all the Uchiha Clan members present felt their scalps tingle.
They finally understood that what was going to happen tonight was a hundred times more terrifying than they had imagined!