In the end… it was a failure!
A profound sense of powerlessness, mixed with icy despair, once again engulfed Tianti.
He slowly unclenched his fist, lowered his eyes, and said in a low voice,
“…Yes, I will return now.”
No resistance, no argument.
He turned obediently and walked back along the path he came, step by step, under the silent gaze of the four Root Ninja, toward the Uchiha Clan Grounds.
As if walking toward a graveyard…
The setting sun cast his shadow long, dragging it lonely across the leaf-strewn forest path.
In the distance, the outline of Konoha Village gradually became clear in the twilight; the familiar Hokage Rock looked like a giant tombstone at this moment.
When he returned to the entrance of the clan grounds, the Root Ninja vanished silently into the shadows, as if they had never appeared.
The guarding clansman glanced at him, wanting to say something but stopping himself, and finally just nodded.
Tianti walked back home, and his mother came to greet him with concern in her eyes:
“How was your training? Why were you gone for so long?”
“It was fine. I was a bit absorbed in the training and lost track of time.”
He squeezed out a smile, just like usual.
He walked into his room and closed the door.
He leaned his back against the door panel and slowly slid down to the floor.
Can’t escape…
The web of surveillance was denser and tougher than he had imagined.
The high-level officials’ vigilance and precaution against the Uchiha Clan were deep-seated and would not be diverted by any external events.
The tragedy of the Hyūga Clan was not a turning point for the Uchiha Clan, but a clearer omen!
He lifted his head and looked out the window at the deepening night sky.
To what stage had the gears of the clan extermination turned?
Tianti thought to himself,
“System, help me think of a way! You don’t want me to die either, do you?”
[Received! The Dual Cultivation System reminds the host that by performing dual cultivation, you can acquire the other party’s constitution and abilities!]
“Then how can I become stronger quickly?”
[Detected that the host is a descendant of Indra. You can achieve a leap in strength by obtaining the constitution of an Ashura descendant!]
[Descendants of Ashura include the Senju Clan, Uzumaki Clan, Thunder Cloud Clan, Kaguya Clan…]
“Stop, stop…”
Tianti sighed.
“Can you give me the most efficient and concrete target?”
[Searching…]
[Command confirmed! The most efficient target is one of the Sannin, Tsunade! The union of Senju and Uchiha powers becomes all of creation!]
[Drafting a plan for the host to conquer Tsunade… Her hobbies include gambling, she likes…]
Hearing this, Tianti’s eyes lit up.
He naturally knew the path of fusing bloodline powers; he had not failed to try and obtain Naruto’s cells and physical tissue over the years.
As long as he could fuse the cells of the Ashura reincarnation and cultivate them…
But with his limited strength, he could not even get close to that kid…
Members of the Uchiha Clan were not allowed to approach the Jinchūriki!
But on second thought, he frowned:
“Where would I find the time to conquer Tsunade?”
“Besides, I can’t get out; I can’t take any action at all.”
After thinking for a moment, he continued to ask:
“System, can you take me away from Konoha to find Tsunade for dual cultivation?”
[Can perform one space teleportation; the cost is consuming sixty years of the host’s lifespan.]
Sixty years?!
Wouldn’t he just turn into a corpse immediately after the teleportation was complete?
Tianti really wanted to curse, but didn’t know who to curse at.
Helpless, he had to give up on this idea for the time being.
The worry for his younger sister in his heart reached a peak, and suddenly his eyes became scorching hot!
Huh?
He quickly took out a Kunai and held it in front of him, seeing his own scarlet eyes through the reflection of the diamond-shaped blade—
Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
At this point, had his Sharingan finally evolved?
He clearly felt the enhancement of his ocular power, and the amount of Chakra in his body had also grown a lot!
The Uchiha Clan had a special constitution; as the level of eye-awakening increased, both Chakra and ocular power would change accordingly.
However… just like this, it still couldn’t change anything…
What should he do next?
Continue trying to persuade the Clan Head and Uchiha Shisui?
No…
He had already tried many times; it was useless.
No matter what facts or arguments he presented, their internal Will of Fire would always find an angle to refute them…
Even once, when Tianti told Uchiha Shisui that Danzō had gouged out his grandfather Uchiha Kagami’s Sharingan and would gouge out his own in the future, it was dismissed by Uchiha Shisui as unreasonable!
He even said that light and darkness coexist; although Danzō was dark, his starting point was also for Konoha…
Tianti deeply understood the meaning of the phrase “casting pearls before swine”.
It was impossible to communicate; one person really could never persuade another…
“I can only take it one step at a time…”
“As long as I keep an eye on the situation, I can alert everyone in time, and we will definitely be able to avoid being wiped out!”
Tianti thought to himself.
The Uchiha Clan had nearly two hundred Ninja who had awakened their eyes, and over twenty experts with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
As long as they could react in time, even if the enemy was strong, it would be impossible to complete a clan extermination!
It wasn’t that he hadn’t thought about contacting and changing Uchiha Itachi’s thoughts.
But, he only tried once…
Tianti knew that that thing which was not human was not something he could shake in the slightest!
Uchiha Itachi’s heart was colder and more self-centered than Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Shisui’s!
Facing Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Shisui, he could still talk endlessly.
But if he said these things to Uchiha Itachi… he felt that having his memory and intelligence extracted would be a minor matter; in a serious case…
He would probably have died long ago, or been locked away in some unknown death row prison!
In the Uchiha Clan, it was not uncommon for Ninja to disappear inexplicably in recent years!
The next day,
Tianti got up early in the morning and went to the training ground within the clan grounds to practice.
Although his strength was limited, every bit of improvement counted; every point stronger provided one more point of protection, didn’t it?
The experts of the clan gathered once again in the meeting hall; this was something that had to be done almost every day.
Only experts with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan could attend the meeting.
Tianti did not reveal the news of his eye-awakening, so he did not go.
He didn’t intend to join them there either.
It was nothing more than the same old routine of everyone venting their dissatisfaction, denouncing the Konoha high-level officials, and then being held back by the Clan Head.
Uchiha Fugaku did not openly oppose everyone’s will, but Tianti knew…
That lousy Clan Head was already in cahoots with the Third Hokage!
He didn’t even dare to tell his clansmen about awakening the Mangekyō, fearing that everyone would kidnap the Jinchūriki for him to control…
Uchiha Fugaku only thought about stalling for as long as possible, hoping that the Third Hokage’s wise decision would save them from suffering.
After all, Hiruzen Sarutobi often gave him all sorts of assurances…
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
In the training ground, Tianti’s figure flickered rapidly a few times; while avoiding the traps, the shuriken he threw accurately hit the bullseyes in every blind spot!
“Both dynamic reaction ability and ocular power have improved significantly!”
He retracted his Sharingan and whispered his self-assessment.
Afterward, he began his practice of Genjutsu and Fire Release.
As a commoner in the Uchiha Clan, he couldn’t access the clan’s major techniques or forbidden techniques, so the training methods available to become stronger were actually very limited…