The Hidden Leaf Village, Naka Shrine.
"Tap, tap, tap..."
The room, which had been filled with heated debate, fell abruptly silent. The door closed once more, and the air grew heavy again, now thick with an oppressive tension that made it hard to breathe.
The Uchiha stared ahead without a word. The only sound was Fugaku's footsteps as he led Qing Xuan through the room.
Suddenly, the footsteps stopped beside the offering table on the right. Then everyone heard a young child's voice, brimming with complaint.
"Ugh! This is the Qinglu you told me about? It's all beat up! How can you expect me to accept it?"
A multitude of scarlet eyes turned toward him. A six-year-old boy stood beside the clan head, hands on his hips and looking thoroughly unimpressed.
"Just like Liuyun's child..."
The older Uchiha looked at that familiar face and sighed inwardly. Ever since Fugaku became clan head, only Liuyun had dared speak to him so brazenly. Now there was one more: Uchiha Qing Xuan.
Fugaku wasn't annoyed. He simply held Qinglu in his hand and frowned at the marks on its scabbard.
"Shing!"
The long blade slid free, its gleam like a clear spring in the crisp ring of steel. It wasn't dazzling, but it was so cold it made people shiver.
"Elder Shana."
Fugaku's low voice rang in everyone's ears. Setsuna Uchiha looked up and met those fierce eyes. The chains at his waist trembled faintly, as if wailing.
"The blade's been polished well."
Fugaku offered a mild compliment. Though he made no further move, Setsuna Uchiha, who had been so overbearing moments before, was already sweating cold.
Fugaku casually tossed the scabbard aside and handed Qinglu straight to Qing Xuan. "Use this for now. I'll ask someone to make you a new scabbard tomorrow."
"A straight blade?"
Qing Xuan studied the blade's perfectly straight tip, muttering inwardly, Are there ninja blades shaped like Tang swords in the Naruto world?
Fugaku stood before the platform. Despite the dozens of Sharingan fixed on him, his presence dominated the entire room.
"Elder Homen has already explained the matter clearly."
He spoke slowly. The Uchiha held their breath and listened in silence. Elder Shana lowered his head, saying nothing, while Elder Homen looked utterly alarmed.
How does the clan head know everything?
That was likely what every Uchiha there was wondering.
But they could rack their brains all they wanted and never guess that their esteemed clan head had just spent ages eavesdropping outside the door.
That was why Fugaku always arrived last at meetings—and why he always seemed to know everything!
"I believe Qing Xuan will shoulder the mission of restoring our clan and making the Uchiha great again!"
Fugaku got straight to the point. His calm words left no room for discussion. "So this child will be the Young Clan Head of the Uchiha Clan."
I've said my piece. Who agrees? Who objects?
Looking at the angry faces below, all too afraid to speak, then at his uncle, who had just claimed the room's MVP title, Qing Xuan couldn't help thinking, That's badass!
This old man really throws his weight around in the Uchiha Clan. He wasn't this forceful in the original story. If everyone respected him so much, how did they end up forcing him out?
"I don't approve!"
A voice suddenly rang out.
Every Sharingan turned toward the speaker. Qing Xuan, too, fixed his gaze on the brave soul who had shot to his feet.
Finally, my chance to show off and slap someone down!
Shisui frowned as he looked at the young Chunin. The man didn't seem to be under a genjutsu, but that fluctuation in his ocular power... Was it a suggestion? His eyes slid toward Elder Shana, who sat quietly without even glancing at the man.
Uchiha Jin had jumped up on impulse, and now cold sweat ran down his forehead. The pressure from the clan head left him caught between retreating and standing his ground. But when he looked at the child again, anger flared wildly within him.
He's nothing but an unknown brat from outside the clan.
He repeated the words to himself, and somehow they gave him courage.
He had no idea that the emotions driving him—impulsiveness and envy—had been secretly magnified countless times.
"The Uchiha have a clan head, but no rule about appointing a Young Clan Head."
Fugaku replied offhandedly, "Now we do."
"That's against the rules."
"I am the rules in the Uchiha Clan!"
Fugaku's forceful response made Jin's newfound courage falter. Silence filled the room. Not one clan member was willing to speak up on his behalf.
Only then did Jin slowly regain his composure. But at that moment, the faint sound of chains rang out in his mind. Vaguely, he remembered something one of the elders had said in passing the day before.
"He'll drag the entire Uchiha Clan into the abyss! Lord Liuyun's name doesn't speak for the boy himself, much less mean that he deserves to inherit everything from Lord Liuyun!"
He shouted out everything some people wanted him to say.
"I don't approve of him!"
This time, Fugaku didn't answer. He simply shoved Qing Xuan forward.
"Bring him to his senses."
At the order, Qing Xuan, who had been itching for a chance, eagerly raised the straight blade in his hand.
The sharp tip pointed straight at Uchiha Jin. The child grinned, baring his teeth. "Are you ready?"
"Hmph!"
Jin folded his arms and looked down at him, displaying the Uchiha's customary arrogance.
After all, he was a skilled swordsman, while Uchiha Qing Xuan's grip on the blade showed not the slightest trace of expertise.
"Even Lord Liuyun's sword is utterly useless in your hands..."
He began his contemptuous assessment, but the other boy didn't seem patient enough to hear him out.
The small figure chuckled. The next instant, his entire presence changed!
Dragging the blade, he took a casual step forward. His body seemed weightless as he crossed several meters in an instant. Then, under everyone's astonished gaze, he lunged into a vicious rising slash from a bow stance.
Qinglu's blade trembled as if it were singing with joy. A blade of icy-blue chakra, over two meters long, swelled into the shape of a massive straight sword and slashed toward Uchiha Jin.
"Get back!"
Cries of alarm rang out.
The blade carried a frigid mist. It moved with astonishing speed, sharp and deadly, and the Uchiha in its path hurriedly scattered.
Then came a thunderous crash. Ice and splintered wood exploded, and the temperature plunged in the freezing mist.
The vast temperature difference whipped up a fierce wind that scattered the mist, revealing a gash nearly two meters long in the floor. Splintered wood around it had frozen into sharp icicles. Uchiha Jin knelt on the ground in a wretched heap, gasping for breath.
Even the One-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes hadn't predicted the sheer terror of that slash. Tiny ice crystals had cut bloody lines across his face.
The chill sank into his body, making him shudder. The madness in his eyes cleared, replaced by a hint of lingering fear.
"Is that all the courage you have?"
The fading wind outlined itself in the cold mist as it swirled around Qinglu's blade.
As the wind howled, the sight of the child holding the sword made the Uchiha draw in another collective breath.
"The Sharingan?"
At the sight of the single tomoe in Qing Xuan's eyes, even Elder Shana looked feverish. The old man murmured, "Such talent—and that swordsmanship..."
"C-could this child really be Itachi's younger brother?"
Shisui stared at the face so like Itachi's, yet wearing such an arrogant expression. The sense of unreality in his heart grew stronger.
He couldn't connect the two of them at all. He truly is that lord's child.
He was still marveling when Qing Xuan gave a sharp clang and planted Qinglu in the floor.
He braced both hands on the hilt. The single tomoe in his eyes stared challengingly at every Uchiha like a young lion, and his childish voice rang out in a fierce roar. "Who's next!"
This time, no Uchiha was willing to step forward—not even the two elders.
He had awakened his Sharingan at just six years old, possessed such powerful swordsmanship, and been taken on as a disciple by the Hokage! The Uchiha Clan's revival was within reach!
What no one knew was that a panel was floating in front of Qing Xuan.
[Blue Dragon Possession Fusion ended. Total time: 1 minute, 36 seconds. Final calculation: 200 Soul Points spent this time...]
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