The Uchiha's Fury

After dinner, Kyosuke thanked Ikezi for her hospitality and then went with Fugaku to his study for a private discussion.

By the time the two emerged from the study, the sky had fallen completely dark.

Fugaku looked up at the sky and said to Kyosuke, "It's this late already. Stay here tonight."

Kyosuke shrugged indifferently and agreed.

After all, being alone, it didn't really matter where he stayed.

And so, Kyosuke settled in at Fugaku's home for the night.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, an urgent coded report had already been placed before all of Konoha's top brass in the dead of night—including, of course, the Uchiha Clan, who were still unaware of it at that moment.

Tonight was destined to be turbulent.

In the guest room, the sleeping Kyosuke was suddenly jolted awake by a faint noise.

Groggy, he crept to the door and spotted Fugaku and his wife, both fully armed, conversing with a ninja wrapped head-to-toe in black.

This black-clad ninja was one of the Secret Ninjas secretly cultivated by the Uchiha.

Normally, these Secret Ninjas handled matters that the Uchiha couldn't deal with openly.

Their role was roughly similar to Root.

"Something's wrong!" Seeing the grave expressions on the two, Kyosuke snapped fully awake in an instant.

After a brief moment of thought, he dressed quickly, pushed open the door, and stepped out.

The three people in the conversation showed no surprise at his appearance—after all, even the weakest among them, Uchiha Ikezi, was a jonin. Detecting Kyosuke's eavesdropping was far too easy.

As Kyosuke approached, Fugaku shot him a complicated look before ending their discussion.

After the Secret Ninja departed, Kyosuke frowned at Fugaku, wanting to ask what was going on.

But Fugaku only said, "Follow me," and then dashed swiftly toward the Council Hall.

Kyosuke exchanged a glance with Ikezi and hurried after him.

Soon, they arrived outside the Council Hall.

Before they could even enter, Kyosuke heard the Second Elder's furious roar from inside.

"Fight! We have to fight!"

Honestly, this was the first time he'd seen the Second Elder so enraged. At the same time, his sense of foreboding grew even stronger.

With a heavy heart, Kyosuke entered the Council Hall alongside Fugaku.

Once inside, he saw over twenty ninjas packed tightly into the hall—all of them jonin. Nearly every notable figure in the clan was present.

Of course, the four elders of the Uchiha's highest authority were also there.

But for now, none of them spoke; only the Second Elder was raging wildly.

After a long while, the Second Elder finally calmed down and noticed Kyosuke's grim expression.

Their eyes met, and Kyosuke suddenly asked, "Is it Nagisa?"

"Haah." The Second Elder sighed without answering. It was the Great Elder sitting nearby who replied: "That's right. She's been taken hostage by those damned Sand Shinobi."

"I knew it." Kyosuke closed his eyes in pain after receiving the confirmation.

Then, involuntarily, he recalled an event from a month ago.

"Hey~ Kyosuke, are you going to Orochimaru's place again?" Nagisa had found him early in the morning, her face full of displeasure.

The reason for her unhappiness was that ever since Kyosuke had been removed from the Military Police Force, he'd buried himself in Orochimaru's lab, often disappearing for ten days or half a month at a time.

With no one to play with, Nagisa was bored nearly to madness.

So, knowing Kyosuke had returned to the clan last night, she'd come to block his door first thing in the morning.

Unfortunately, Kyosuke had no mood to entertain a child at the time and sent her off with a few words.

Some time later, he heard that Nagisa, out of boredom, had taken some guards and gone traveling.

That trip had lasted over a month.

Now, it seemed that for some unknown reason, she had been captured by Sand Shinobi.

And according to the Great Elder, the group was currently dragging her and a few surviving guards in a frantic dash toward the border.

Clearly, these Sand Shinobi intended to take her back to the Land of Wind.

As for their goal, it was likely the Uchiha Clan's special Kekkei Genkai—the Sharingan.

Fortunately, intelligence suggested this was a spur-of-the-moment act.

So they lacked the means to properly preserve a Sharingan, which was the only reason poor Nagisa had kept her life.

With the situation now clear, the next matter to discuss was how many people to send for the rescue.

After a brief deliberation, it was decided that Fugaku would lead ten jonin to rescue the captured Uchiha Nagisa.

"I'm going too." Kyosuke, who had been silent, suddenly looked up and said.

"Nonsense! What use would you be? Don't cause trouble here." The Second Elder scolded him without mercy.

Kyosuke ignored his reprimand, simply biting down on his finger.

"Boar—Dog—Bird—Monkey—Ram."

"Summoning Technique!"

"Boom~" With a puff of smoke, countless small snakes of varying colors were suddenly summoned forth.

The Second Elder saw this, opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

Because ninja of the Uchiha Clan had historically rarely possessed outstanding sensory abilities.

Especially now, among the eleven jonin including Fugaku, not a single one was proficient in sensory techniques.

So Kyosuke's use of this Summoning Technique left the Second Elder somewhat speechless.

Setting other factors aside, Kyosuke's presence would indeed be a great help to the search and rescue operation.

After a moment of silence, the Second Elder slowly spoke: "You can go, but if anything unexpected happens, I permit you to escape alone. Understood?"

His words were directed at Kyosuke, but also at Fugaku and the others.

Kyosuke first nodded, then shook his head, and said with a proud expression: "The Uchiha Clan has no ninja who flee. There never were, and there never will be."

"Excellent!!!" Hearing Kyosuke's words, everyone including Fugaku burst into cheers.

Seeing their impassioned excitement, the elders smiled with satisfaction.

After finalizing the details, the Uchiha rescue squad prepared to depart.

But just then, they were blocked by an unexpected group of arrivals.

These people were none other than the Third Hokage and his party, who had rushed over.

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Root's leader Danzo, Elder Council members Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura—all four were present.

Clearly, their purpose was to stop the Uchiha Clan's operation.

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