The Core Group

The great fire still raged.

The forest nearby had the misfortune of encountering Sōken. His Fire Style, backed by the inherent skill [Magic Release (Flame)], was enough to claim the title of strongest even within the current Uchiha Clan. A single 'Great Fire Annihilation' had not only burned away a large stretch of forest and taken two lives, but the remaining flames continued to devour the surrounding vegetation.

Sōken laid the sleeping Naruto flat on the grass.

He had chopped out a tree stump with his own blade, and not caring about the dirt, sat down. He had no desire to stand around waiting for those big shots to arrive late, and to be honest, despite having cut down twelve attackers like slicing vegetables without a single scratch, as easily as cooking a meal—

In reality, he had been on edge throughout the entire battle, not daring to relax for a single second.

To tell the truth, his chakra consumption was above the safety line, but mental fatigue was the most draining.

"My Mangekyo! Why won't it awaken!!! Even if the dojutsu is garbage, I'd accept it..." Sōken sat on the stump, resting while muttering resentfully about his elusive Mangekyo.

If he had the Mangekyo Sharingan, even a weak dojutsu would be fine—Susanoo was the real deal!

But, The next second, "Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo!"

Sōken spat several times and took it back.

After all, it was better for the dojutsu to be decent. If he ended up with a garbage ability like Haruto's 'Kagutsuchi', he'd be the one crying.

"Reacting this slowly? Why hasn't anyone come yet?"

Sōken looked down at the sleeping Naruto, wondering if he should wake the kid up for a chat. Just before he acted, he sensed movement from behind and turned his head sharply. Shisui, carrying a short sword on his back, appeared in his field of vision.

"Finally here."

"Sōken... what's going on here?"

"Shisui, you're too slow. The name 'Body Flicker Shisui' is crying!"

"Stop joking around, Sōken. What the hell happened? Why would you use a Fire Style of this scale inside the village?" The hurriedly arriving Shisui stared at the scene before him, his mind going blank for a moment. When he came to, he immediately shouted in panic, "What are you doing, you bastard? The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... right, is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki okay?"

"Hey, that's rude, Shisui."

Sōken blocked Shisui from approaching Naruto. "Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... calling him that is too disrespectful. This kid has a name, one his parents left him. 'Nine-Tails Jinchuriki' is not his name."

"Uh—"

Shisui's momentum faltered. He opened his mouth, looked at Naruto lying unconscious on the grass, and took a step back. "Well, sorry. That was... my rudeness."

"Now that's more like it!"

Sōken nodded in satisfaction.

"..." Shisui frowned suspiciously, staring at Sōken's smug face. He felt something was off. Why was he apologizing? No, the apology itself was correct—calling him 'Nine-Tails Jinchuriki' was indeed very impolite.

The problem was with Sōken. He and the Nine-Tails... no, what was the name... Uzumaki, Uzumaki Naruto. Right, he had apologized to Naruto-kun, which had nothing to do with Sōken. Yet Sōken had the audacity to accept his apology as if it were for him...

Really—

A headache!

"Sōken, enough. What happened here?"

"What happened?"

Sōken sneered. "Shisui, can't you see it? Don't fool yourself. I'd lose respect for you."

"..."

Shisui fell silent.

His gaze wandered around, spotting shuriken and kunai scattered in the grass, traces of ninjutsu attacks on the ground, and headless corpses so disfigured by the self-destruction seal that their original forms were unrecognizable.

As the only current Anbu member of the Uchiha Clan, He naturally knew what those strange corpses meant. Only suicide soldiers implanted with a corpse-destroying fuinjutsu seal would end up in such a deformed state after death.

"On my way escorting Naruto home, right here, we were ambushed. Twelve attackers, all top-tier. Based on my judgment, four jonin and eight special jonin... They attacked together, and some even had secret techniques. I couldn't hold back; I had to go all out to kill them."

"Secret techniques?"

Shisui looked up.

"A pig, a deer, and a nest of bugs."

"...Are you sure?" Shisui asked with difficulty.

"Hmph! Do you think my eyes are blind? Naruto was knocked out by that pig's Mind Body Switch Technique. I was also frozen by that deer. If I hadn't reacted fast enough... Shisui, by the time you got here, you probably wouldn't have found a corpse to collect for me."

Shisui's expression turned wooden.

He knew Sōken sometimes said strange things and occasionally told lies even a child could see through, but as a comrade who could trust each other with their lives on the battlefield, he could tell Sōken wasn't joking.

"Also, the attackers had a curse mark on their tongues."

Sōken added, which was as good as naming the attackers' identity.

"A curse mark... the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal?"

"The men were sent by Danzo. Maybe to kill me, maybe to use Naruto to challenge the Third, or for some other purpose I don't know. But... this matter, the Third..."

Sōken didn't finish his sentence.

More people were coming, approaching from the direction of the Uchiha clan grounds.

"Sōken!"

"Sōken, big brother."

"You alright? Sōken."

There weren't many of them—six in total, men and women alike. Their clothes all bore the Uchiha Gunbai crest, and with their uniform black hair and black eyes... without a doubt, they were Uchiha. And every single one of them was a Jonin.

Young Jonin at that, their ages not far from Sōken's. The oldest among them hadn't even reached twenty yet.

"Arashiyama, Futaba, Chihaya, Jun, Akitaro, Hokuto... why are you the ones here?" Sōken's eyes widened in surprise.

"It was Elder Genshi."

The speaker was Uchiha Arashiyama.

He was Sōken's cousin, three years older, and the eldest of this group. Before Shisui and Sōken had made their names known, Uchiha Arashiyama had been the clan's standout genius. He'd simply been overtaken by Shisui and Sōken, their brilliance overshadowing his.

But silver was still silver. Even if gold stole the spotlight, silver didn't turn into white copper.

His promotion to Jonin at thirteen proved his talent.

"The clan head isn't at the compound tonight, so the elders stepped in to take charge. Elder Genshi knew you were here, Sōken, so he sent us to back you up... but Shisui's already here. Looks like you don't need us." Uchiha Arashiyama scratched his head, then greeted Shisui.

Sōken suddenly understood.

No wonder it was Arashiyama and the other young ones who came, instead of the clan's veteran Jonin.

Compared to those elders who'd demand to be called uncle or aunt and were hard to command, Arashiyama and the others were the foundation Sōken had recruited. Every single one of them knew about his plan to usurp the clan head position. They were his steadfast supporters—the "we" Sōken had mentioned when he told Shisui.

As expected of Grandfather. This arrangement was truly thoughtful.