"The third stage of Susanoo... Such reckless consumption of ocular power won't last long." Uchiha Obito sighed in disappointment. He hadn't yet uncovered Uchiha Sōgen's true ocular abilities. Since Sōgen was already using Susanoo without hesitation, there was no way he would waste more of his power using other Mangekyō Sharingan techniques.
Still, it wasn't entirely a wasted effort.
Though Obito hadn't used Susanoo himself, from what Madara had said, its consumption of ocular power was terrifying. The higher the stage, the greater the cost. The third stage was already a significant drain, and repeated use of the Mangekyō would inevitably lead to blindness.
"Obito, should we continue watching?" Black Zetsu asked.
"No need. Leave a few White Zetsu here to monitor things." Since he couldn't fully grasp Sōgen's ocular abilities, there was no point in staying. Instead of wasting time watching Sōgen slaughter Root's shinobi, it made more sense to return to Kirigakure to plan the upcoming war between Konoha and the Mist. The goal would be to deplete Sōgen's Mangekyō Sharingan through the Mist shinobi.
As for Konoha...
It was already drowning in blood without his intervention!
The Byakugan was also too much of a nuisance. Operating in Konoha required extreme caution to avoid being detected by the Hyuga clan. He had no intention of revealing himself so early. In comparison, the chaotic Kirigakure, where he had control over the Fourth Mizukage, was far more liberating. He could manipulate the Mist as he pleased.
Space suddenly distorted, and Uchiha Obito's figure rapidly shrank, absorbed into his alternate dimension. Black Zetsu, seeing this, closed up his Venus flytrap-like form and left several White Zetsu to hide nearby, while he himself silently merged into the ground.
———
"Have all the personnel gathered?"
"Elder Homaru, 42 of the clan's jōnin are present."
At the Konoha Police Force headquarters, on the rooftop.
Uchiha Homaru, Uchiha Genshi, and Uchiha Kyo, the three elders, arrived together. They had brought part of the clan's stationed jōnin and used the authority granted by the clan head to summon some of the jōnin stationed in the police force, gathering a total of 42 jōnin.
If the three elders were included, that made 45.
This was despite leaving some behind to guard the clan's grounds and the police force, which explained why the Konoha leadership had despised the Uchiha for years but couldn't easily handle them. In Sōgen's view, the real reason for the Uchiha's near-destruction in the original timeline was the lack of a solid backbone, which led to internal division.
"Very good," Uchiha Homaru stepped forward. He looked at the 42 jōnin kneeling on one knee. Among them were 14-year-olds and elders with graying hair who already had grandchildren. He took a deep breath and spoke:
"Time is short, so I'll keep it brief. The clan head has run into trouble, and we, along with the other elders, are going to support him. If anyone has an issue with this, speak up now. You have ten seconds to decide. If no one objects after ten seconds, we move out."
Ten seconds wasn't much time at all.
The younger Uchiha looked excited, while the older ones cautiously checked their ninja tools. But no one objected within those ten seconds. The proud Uchiha were not afraid of death.
Especially these jōnin.
They were proud of their bloodline, confident in their strength, and ready to die for the glory of the clan!
This was the Uchiha, a clan with arrogance embedded deep in their bones!
"Move out!" Uchiha Homaru commanded.
The three elders, despite their age, led the way at the front, and the 45-man group raced toward the southern part of the village.
———
At the Hyuga compound.
The Hyuga clan, already situated in the southern part of the village, was close to the Matsutake Pavilion. That was why Hyuga Hiashi had suggested breaking out toward the southeast. Under normal circumstances, the Hyuga clan should have been the first to notice the battle at Matsutake Pavilion when the barrier team temporarily malfunctioned.
However,
When the Third Hokage visited, he first met with Hyuga Seikou, one of the clan elders. For some reason, Seikou then contacted the other main family elders, and together, they issued a lockdown order. Without the elders' permission, no clan member was allowed to leave the premises.
Even when some noticed the ongoing battle, the elders remained indifferent and even dispatched trusted members to watch over the clan leader's close allies.
Until—
"Seikou, it seems you've made the wrong choice."
The main family elders activated their Byakugan, gazing at the deep crimson Susanoo visible in the distant forest. The oldest elder spoke slowly, "Whether Hiashi really intended to break our clan's thousand-year traditions is unclear, but without a doubt, he bet on the right outcome."
Hyuga Seikou's face paled,
Though he was battle-hardened, this situation pushed his limits.
"Elder Kiyohiko, are you really going to let the Hyuga clan go down this dangerous path?" The Third Hokage, addressing the eldest elder—who had lived through the era of the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara—tried to reverse the situation.
"This has nothing to do with the Hyuga anymore, Lord Hokage. Your concern should be the Uchiha." Elder Hyuga Kiyohiko sighed while watching the deep crimson Susanoo. "I never thought I'd live to see Susanoo again. What a disappointment!" He made no effort to hide his disdain for the Uchiha clan's Susanoo.
The Uchiha and Hyuga, the two most renowned dōjutsu clans in the shinobi world.
The rivalry between them had spanned over a thousand years. If the Sharingan's three tomoe could barely compete with the Byakugan, the Mangekyō Sharingan was a power beyond the reach of the Byakugan. Because of this superior power, the Hyuga had always been ranked below the Uchiha.
Especially during the time of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, the Hyuga didn't even dare speak against the Uchiha.
That humiliation,
Hyuga Kiyohiko, now almost 90 years old, had never forgotten.
"Seikou, take responsibility for your actions. Hiashi remains our clan leader until he does something truly harmful to the clan. Today's mess is your doing, so you should be the one to clean it up." With these words, Elder Kiyohiko summoned an attendant to help him leave Seikou's courtyard.
The other main family elders followed suit, leaving Seikou to face the consequences of his actions alone. It was clear that he had been chosen as the sacrifice to appease Hyuga Hiashi's anger.
Afterward,
The Third Hokage also hurriedly excused himself.
The old Hyuga elder wasn't wrong—Susanoo's appearance would not go unnoticed by other clans in the village. Failing to kill Uchiha Sōgen and Hyuga Hiashi meant Root's operation had failed. Whether the Hyuga clan intervened or not was now irrelevant.
The Hokage needed to figure out how to handle this mess and deal with the backlash from both the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.
———
At the Akimichi clan compound, Nara Shikaku and Yamanaka Inoichi had both arrived, led by their friend Akimichi Chōza to meet Akimichi Torifū. The elder of the Ino–Shika–Chō trio was enjoying a barbecue with Chōza's son. The old man and the young boy sat on either side of the grill, eating heartily.
"Shikaku, Inoichi, want to join?" Akimichi Torifū asked, offering a piece of ribeye as the two entered.
"Uncle Torifū, now isn't the time to be eating," Shikaku said with a wry smile. If he had any choice, he wouldn't keep bothering the old man. But without Torifū's presence, he felt uneasy about the situation.
"Sigh! I knew today's troubles weren't over!" Akimichi Torifū sighed heavily.
He had suspected something would go wrong when he saw Uchiha Sōgen and Hyuga Hiashi talking outside the Hokage building. But he hadn't expected it to escalate so quickly!
"What exactly happened?" Torifū put down his chopsticks. The chubby Chōji looked up in confusion but was encouraged to continue eating by Torifū. The Akimichi children had to eat well, after all. The more they ate, the faster they mastered the clan's Multi-Size Technique.
"Susanoo," Yamanaka Inoichi answered, sharing what he had observed. Using his Mind-Body Switch Technique, he had controlled a hawk to survey the situation firsthand. At first, he hadn't recognized the deep crimson giant, as Susanoo hadn't appeared in decades.
Thankfully, Nara Shikaku had identified it based on the information provided.
"Root attacked the Uchiha and Hyuga clan leaders, but from the looks of it, the operation failed. Both the Uchiha and Hyuga clan leaders are still alive, and the Uchiha leader has activated his Susanoo and is currently wiping out Root's forces," Inoichi Yamanaka observed carefully.
"Root?"
Torifu Akimichi felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Are you sure you didn't mistake him for someone else?"
"I saw Sho Yamanaka." Worried that Torifu Akimichi might not know who he was referring to, Inoichi Yamanaka explained, "Sho Yamanaka, my cousin. Danzo took him to Root for training a long time ago."
Torifu Akimichi sighed silently. Among the Ino-Shika-Cho trio clans, both the Nara and Yamanaka clans had people taken by that bastard Danzo. Only the Akimichi clan had no one join Root. Of course, it wasn't out of respect—Danzo just didn't think anyone from the Akimichi clan was suited for the secretive and covert work.
"If it's Root… Danzo's still laid up in the hospital..."
Torifu felt an even bigger headache coming on. It didn't take much imagination to figure out who was pulling the strings behind this.
"Let's go check it out. Be ready to adapt to the situation. You three should come with me."
Torifu didn't have any better ideas.
Ignoring something like this was definitely out of the question. The heads of the Uchiha and Hyuga clans had been attacked inside the village. Regardless of the reasons behind it, the severity of the situation couldn't be understated. If they just let it go, who knows what chaos would follow in the village?
He couldn't help but feel a bit of resentment toward his old friend. This kind of bottomless struggle was going way too far!
It wasn't just the Uchiha, Hyuga, and the Ino-Shika-Cho clans.
Every clan with any standing in the village was starting to make moves. The Aburame, Kurama, Kazamatsuri, Ise—one by one, they were all sending people to the scene in the south of the village. Even the Sarutobi, Shimura, Utatane, and Mitokado clans had dispatched members to head to the site of the incident.
(End of chapter)