Senju Is Dead, Uchiha Shall Rise!

Surrounded by so many jealous eyes, that Anbu ninja naturally had no chance of escaping alive.

As one pair after another of scarlet Sharingan appeared, the Anbu ninja had no time to make any move before he was forever laid to rest within his own mental world.

Sizzle!

However, after the ninja died, his corpse and clothing quickly melted into a puddle of yellowish-brown liquid, making it impossible to identify what he had once looked like.

"This kind of ninjutsu... as expected of the Anbu."

Glancing at the puddle of liquid, the many Uchiha ninjas present recalled the legends surrounding Anbu operatives. Any lingering doubts in their hearts vanished at once.

Who besides the Anbu would use a method that destroyed the corpse immediately after death to prevent secrets from leaking?

"Go. Gather the clan members and head for Hokage Rock!"

Things had reached this point. They had already killed someone, so Uchiha Homura could not pretend nothing had happened. He gritted his teeth, gathered the clan members, and prepared to confront the village directly.

"This time, we'll take back everything we've ever lost!"

Uchiha Homura looked toward Hokage Rock. The three Hokage of the Senju line seemed to be silently watching him from there, as though they had heard his thoughts.

"If the Senju can sit in the Hokage's seat, why can't the Uchiha?"

"Black Zetsu, was sacrificing an elite White Zetsu really worth it?"

At that moment, amid the dense trees beside the Uchiha clan head's residence, a figure resembling a pitcher plant quietly appeared. Watching everything unfold, it began speaking to itself.

"Why wouldn't it be? If the Shinobi World doesn't descend into chaos, how will we ever get an opportunity?"

A low voice rang out. Though they shared one face, the black and white halves spoke in entirely different voices.

"Haven't we done this countless times over the past thousand years?"

That Anbu ninja had actually been a White Zetsu using the Transformation Technique. Moreover, the identity of an Anbu operative allowed the corpse to be destroyed smoothly, compensating for the flaw of a White Zetsu's true body being revealed after its disguise died.

Over the course of a thousand years, Black Zetsu had naturally mastered a few low-level sealing techniques. By using a sealing technique that destroyed the corpse upon death, Black Zetsu successfully made the Uchiha believe its lie. Taking advantage of the current public outrage, it thoroughly ignited the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha.

"Still, this indirectly helped that brat from Kirigakure. Without us, his plan wouldn't have succeeded so smoothly."

Indeed, Hozuki Shingetsu's propaganda campaign had achieved such success and exerted such far-reaching influence not only because of the measures he had arranged himself, but also because various ambitious figures had helped fan the flames.

Black Zetsu was one such figure.

"I have to say, in a certain sense, that brat really is a genius! His strength is so-so, but his brain is remarkably sharp."

Ever since receiving Vortex White Zetsu's report, Black Zetsu had been secretly observing Hozuki Shingetsu's every move and watching the changes in the Shinobi World over this period. Even Black Zetsu, who had endured a thousand years of trials and could be called the greatest force behind the scenes in today's Shinobi World, had to acknowledge Hozuki Shingetsu's talent.

If his talents were ranked among the many outstanding figures Black Zetsu had seen over a thousand years, Hozuki Shingetsu's cultivation talent could only be considered first-rate, nowhere near the top. But his talent for stirring up storms in the Shinobi World and weaving schemes was absolutely among the top three.

"Let there be chaos, let there be chaos. The more chaotic the Shinobi World becomes, the greater our chances!"

Zetsu glanced at the Uchiha group, who had gathered every clan member and were advancing toward Hokage Rock. A faint smile curled across its lips as it slowly sank underground.

To be honest, it was one thing for the lower-ranking Uchiha clan members, who did not know the truth, to blindly join the uproar. But did the Uchiha higher-ups not know those rumors were false?

The claim that the Uchiha clan could only survive by offering up their eyes—if that day truly came, not a single Uchiha would choose to live on their knees.

As the proud Uchiha clan, you could say they looked down their noses at others, were arrogant and disdainful, and knew nothing about politics. But you truly could not deny their worth as ninja.

Never retreat. Never surrender.

But where did this inexplicable Saiyan vibe come from?

The Uchiha clan, the battle-ninja clan of the Shinobi World?

Leaving aside how Kishimoto had drawn inspiration from Toriyama Akira, the Uchiha clan would absolutely never exchange the sacrifice of their own people for their continued existence.

In the Uchiha's view, the chain of events was actually quite simple:

An enemy whose origins were still unknown had exploited the discord between the Uchiha and the village to spread rumors and cause trouble.

Konoha clearly knew they had been falsely accused and had suffered an undeserved disaster, yet it still forcibly ordered them to clear up the rumors without offering any compensation.

Was there no justice left? No law?

Believing himself to stand on the moral high ground, Uchiha Homura immediately led his clansmen, intending to make a big move before the news leaked out.

Of course, they could not truly fall out with each other. If they did, neither side would benefit.

But as the saying went, only a fool turned down a free advantage.

The current tide of public opinion was rarely so favorable to the Uchiha. If they did not take advantage of it, they would truly be letting down that enemy far away who had been helping them from the sidelines.

Objectively speaking, the Uchiha did indeed suffer discrimination on certain levels. It was not in terms of strength, but rather within the inner circles.

It was like a demon who had achieved cultivation in the primordial world and possessed an impeccable lineage being mocked by a newly initiated Yuqing Disciple as "a furred beast with horns, born damp and hatched from eggs."

Though I can't beat you, that doesn't stop me from looking down on you.

Thus, the Uchiha higher-ups keenly recognized how rare this favorable shift was. They intended to use this public opinion crisis to reclaim all the benefits they had failed to obtain before.

For example... the position of the next Hokage.

And the method was simple. Since it had arisen from public opinion, they would use public opinion to achieve their goal.

As the saying went, "Cry, make a scene, then threaten to hang yourself." They had gathered so many people and even brought out the leaf preserved at Naka Shrine, left behind by Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara when they founded Konoha. Standing atop Hokage Rock and raising this "imperial sword," they could recount, before all the villagers, every contribution the Uchiha clan had made over the years and every injustice they had suffered. Who could stop them?

Did they even understand the weight carried by the family of Konoha's founders?

This was an imperial gift from the former emperor. Did you recognize it?

Riding this wave, Uchiha Homura refused to believe his clan could not soar!

Who said the Uchiha clan didn't know how to use their brains?

We simply couldn't be bothered to!

Of course, none of the above had the slightest connection to a letter that had inexplicably arrived earlier from the Land of Water.

The measures we came up with were all the crystallization of the Uchiha clan's collective wisdom. They had absolutely nothing to do with Kirigakure's Minister of Foreign Affairs.