I Should've Beaten That Bastard Long Ago!

"Slurp, slurp..."

A group of Red Eyes sat together in a meeting.

Kazuna once again brought out his standard setup, sitting off to the side and slurping his tea.

He had even brought out a reclining chair, only for Setsuna to kick it away. He nearly went flying along with it.

This was the Uchiha clan's most important meeting, and you were here fooling around?

"Kazuna!"

Suppressing his anger, Fugaku said, "Everyone in the clan is acting according to your plans. Show some proper decorum."

Kazuna looked astonished. "Am I not being proper?"

Fugaku resisted the urge to roar. "What do you think?"

"I think I'm doing fine!"

At that, Setsuna and Zongyi both turned hostile looks toward him.

"Fine, fine!" Kazuna reluctantly set down his teacup and said, "I'll say a few words. First—"

"Try spouting nonsense, and see what happens!"

Fugaku's Mangekyo appeared.

Kazuna said awkwardly, "Clan Leader, you seem pretty fired up today."

"Obviously!" Fugaku snapped. "Do you know what kind of day I had? I nearly came to blows with Danzo face-to-face. The village's civil war nearly ignited today."

Thinking back carefully, even he found his actions today astonishing.

Unbelievable!

Was that really him?

Even now, his back was breaking out in sweat just thinking about it. Of course, he would never admit that.

"Exactly!" Setsuna nodded repeatedly. "Kazuna, you have no idea. Our Clan Leader finally showed some backbone. I thought he'd been put under a genjutsu."

Fugaku gave him a cold look.

What did that mean?

Who was he mocking?

I'm the Clan Leader!

Thinking of Danzo's greenish face today, Fugaku felt a surge of secret delight.

He had long wanted to slap that face hard.

There would be a chance!

Fugaku looked at Kazuna. With this brat around, there was absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Bullshit!" Zongyi sneered. "What kind of genjutsu could control a Mangekyo?"

Several gazes imperceptibly swept over a certain button nose lowered in thought.

Kazuna really wanted to know whether Kotoamatsukami, the strongest genjutsu, could control a Mangekyo.

If it really could control anyone, then there would be no need to do anything at all. They could simply wait for a certain black mosaic obsessed with saving his mother to rescue Kaguya Otsutsuki, then hit her with a Kotoamatsukami...

Sigh, forget it!

It was not that Kazuna looked down on Shisui. It was simply absolutely impossible.

Even the Dance King would probably let out a wild laugh when faced with Kotoamatsukami: Don't stop, keep dancing!

Then where was Kotoamatsukami's limit?

Could he run an experiment?

Kazuna rubbed his chin.

Fugaku was out of the question.

The Filial Son was no longer the Filial Son.

He himself was even less suitable...

Oh!

He had it!

There was still another Mangekyo!

Kazuna's eyes lit up.

According to Kazuna's estimate, that idiot Obito Uchiha would definitely be unable to sit still after something this big happened in Konohagakure. He would probably come knocking within the next couple of days.

Using Kotoamatsukami on that bastard would come with absolutely no pressure.

Obito Uchiha, a minor boss from the Original Work.

Kazuna did not have the slightest bit of goodwill toward that guy.

Uchiha Itachi could at least be explained—he had lost his way in life.

After all, he had a father like Fugaku Uchiha and had also faced pressure from the Hokage's side.

Under that double pressure, he broke down.

Mm, understandable.

My disciple Itachi was so pitiful!

But you, Obito Uchiha... holy shit!

The woman you loved died—you could have avenged her. You could have slaughtered Kirigakure, and no one would have said a thing!

Anyone who knew about it might even give you a thumbs-up.

You could also have found a way to revive her!

But what the hell did Konohagakure ever do to you? It was the village that raised you, yet look what you did to it!

On the Night of the Nine-Tails, half of Konohagakure was stained red with blood.

Minato Namikaze had been sincere toward you, hadn't he?

Yet you got the couple killed, leaving behind a little kid to struggle through life alone.

The Uchiha were your clan, sharing the same blood as you. Yet you joined forces with the Filial Son and wiped out the clan.

Thinking of that man, Kazuna only felt a toothache coming on.

Sometimes, the Hokage faction really could not be blamed—there were plenty of problems within the Uchiha themselves.

What left Kazuna most speechless was this: after that bastard Obito got hold of Nagato, why didn't he find a way to revive Rin Nohara? Why was he so dead set on the Infinite Tsukuyomi?

So whether this world was beautiful or destroyed all depended on whether your girl lived or died?

She died once, and the whole world had to start over?

Sure enough, life and death held great terror!

The ancients had not deceived me!

Come to think of it, if I revived Rin Nohara, which direction would the plot take?

If I hugged Rin Nohara and strutted around in front of Obito every day, feeding him dog food every day, I refused to believe he could keep it together!

Right, you're Madara Uchiha now, not Obito Uchiha!

Whatever I do is none of your business!

Kazuna wore a saintly smile.

"Kazuna!"

Setsuna gave a low shout, his gaze unfriendly. "What are you thinking about again?"

Kazuna sighed. "I was thinking about the Uchiha's future..."

Like hell I believe you!

Just look at that sleazy grin on your face.

Facing their cold stares, Kazuna explained, "I really was thinking about the future... forget it!"

"This time, I've practically crippled Root. Danzo will behave himself for a while. The Uchiha should follow what I said before: meddle less, study more ninjutsu, and show the villagers more of our 'goodwill.'"

The others were speechless.

You still want to torment them?

If Uchiha smiles were ranked by ninjutsu grade, what rank would they be?

At any rate, they had scared the villagers badly.

The past two days had been somewhat better. On the first day, though, it had truly caused quite a commotion. Supposedly, it had even reached the Hokage.

"By the way, why did I hear that the clan members ran into difficulties learning ninjutsu?" Kazuna asked in surprise. "Shouldn't learning ninjutsu be smooth sailing for us? What are the Sharingan for? Can't they copy?"

In Kazuna's understanding, the Uchiha should have had absolutely no trouble learning ninjutsu.

One person learned a technique, and everyone else copied it.

It would all be done in a few days.

After all, none of the techniques he had brought out were particularly profound.

There were only a handful of A-rank techniques.

"How could it be as simple as you make it sound?" Fugaku said irritably. "Having one person learn it while the others copy it is indeed a good idea, but doesn't the first person have to learn it first? The ninjutsu have only been distributed to the clan members for a few days."

"Besides, using the Sharingan to copy techniques depends on the person. Not everyone can perfectly copy something after seeing it once."

Kazuna curled his lip. "Not as good as an outsider."

Fugaku's eye twitched. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Kakashi Hatake became a Jonin at twelve. Back then, Konohagakure was at war, and even then he was one of a kind—let alone now, in peacetime. If our clan members were all at that level, would we need you to lead the Uchiha? I'd have beaten that Hokage bastard already!"

"Cough, cough!"

Sougi Uchiha could not help coughing dryly.

Over the past two days, it wasn't just the ordinary clan members who had changed—Fugaku had become wilder too.

For some reason, he thought of something Kazuna had once said: "When I, Uchiha Kazuna, came to the Uchiha, it was like a Tibetan Mastiff slipping into a pack of huskies!"

Though he had no idea what that meant, it still felt strange.

In any case, Kazuna was different from them. From his way of thinking to his actions, he was different—and now he was starting to influence them as well.

"Fine!"

Kazuna didn't care much either. There was no rush; they wouldn't end up fighting anyway.

From beginning to end, Kazuna's goal in strengthening the Uchiha and weakening the Hokage faction had been to prevent a civil war!

What was so good about civil war? Wouldn't it be better to play things out little by little?

"Kazuna!" Fugaku's expression turned serious. "Will war break out? Between the Uchiha and the village?"