Chaos and Prelude (Seeking Collection)

The basement of the casino was brightly lit.

The facilities were quite crude, with only a single table placed in the center, its surface piled high with dense stacks of paper.

Against one wall stood a blackboard, also covered in dense, scribbled content.

A closer look would reveal the nature of the text.

It seemed to feature phrases like "God-Making Plan," "Newspaper Office," and "Entertainment Section," terms that were difficult for the uninitiated to decipher.

Yan stood before the blackboard, his brow furrowing and smoothing by turns as he continued to sketch and write on the board with the pen in his hand.

In the quiet room, the pen dragged slowly across the board, emitting a "scratching" sound; this jarring noise seemed to carry a strange, eerie magic that made one's skin crawl.

Bang!

At that moment, the basement door was pushed open, and two people walked in.

One of them was Uchiha Yashiro.

He pointed to the young man behind him and spoke to Yan, who was still writing on the board.

"Lord Yan, I have brought the person. He is absolutely trustworthy!"

Hearing the noise, Yan put down his pen and looked up.

Beside Uchiha Yashiro stood a tall, handsome youth.

After sizing him up for a moment, Yan nodded, a look of satisfaction appearing on his face.

This was the person he had specifically asked Uchiha Yashiro to select from within the clan.

He was handsome and possessed decent talent.

Despite his youth, he had already awakened the Two Tomoe Sharingan. While his strength had not yet reached the level of a Jonin, he was far superior to most Special Jonin, and most importantly, he had not yet joined the Konoha ninja ranks.

"What is your name?"

"Uchiha Hideto!" The youth's expression was somewhat nervous, his speech slightly stuttered.

"A good name!"

Yan walked over to Uchiha Hideto. "Do you know why I asked you to come here?"

"I do!" Uchiha Hideto nodded. "Uncle Yashiro said you have an important mission to entrust to me."

Yan smiled slightly, turned to rummage through the pile of papers on the table for a moment, and pulled out a file.

He handed it over and said, "This contains your upcoming mission and the persona you need to cultivate. Go back and study it carefully!"

Uchiha Hideto took the file, but instead of opening it immediately, he bowed to Yan.

"Please rest assured, Lord Yan, I will not let you down."

"Since you were introduced by Yashiro, I naturally trust you!" Yan patted him on the shoulder. "However, aside from those present, I do not want a fourth person to know about this mission."

"That includes Clan Head Fugaku and the elders!"

Uchiha Hideto nodded heavily. "Please rest assured, my lord, no one else will ever know about this." His tone held not a hint of hesitation.

Yan patted his shoulder again and then waved his hand.

"Go. Act as if you were never here."

"..."

Uchiha Yashiro stood where he was, waiting until Uchiha Hideto had left before speaking.

"Lord Yan, does Xiuren's mission not require our cooperation?"

"Of course it does!" Yan nodded. "His mission is vital; it concerns my subsequent plans."

"Understood, I see!" Uchiha Yashiro did not say another word.

Regarding Xiuren's mission, he only knew a portion of it, but since Yan had no intention of volunteering more, he naturally would not ask.

After all, he was merely a subordinate; he would do exactly as his superior commanded.

To this, Yan smiled slightly, took a set of documents and files from the table, and handed them over.

"Yashiro, these are your subsequent tasks. Cultivate Xiuren well, but be careful. It is not yet time for him to make his appearance."

"Understood, Lord Yan!" Uchiha Yashiro took the files and began to read them carefully, his expression focused, taking a long time to reach the final page.

Meanwhile, Yan walked past Yashiro toward the door, his silhouette slowly disappearing.

The basement returned to silence, save for the "rustling" sound of Uchiha Yashiro occasionally turning the pages!

Over the next two and a half months.

Yan gradually gained immense prestige within the Uchiha Clan, his influence even overshadowing Shisui at times.

The reason for all of this could be attributed to the success of the Casino Plan.

This project had already enabled over twenty clansmen to successfully awaken their Sharingan, including the one who had experienced countless ups and downs—Uchiha Teuchi.

Although most of them were just ordinary clansmen, this was already enough to make them ecstatic.

The Uchiha Clan had approximately two thousand four hundred members, of which only about six hundred were ninjas, a ratio of nearly four to one.

However, this did not mean that the remaining ordinary clansmen did not want to awaken the Sharingan.

On the contrary, they dreamed of awakening it, but it was only because their dreams had been shattered so many times that they were forced to accept reality.

Now that they knew there was a plan within the clan that could increase the possibility of awakening the Sharingan, it was no surprise that they had fallen into a frenzy.

To put it bluntly, Yan did not even need to pay for anything when he went out to buy things now!

At the same time, many casinos of various sizes had sprung up within the Uchiha Clan, and they had even come up with many rules that skirted the edge of legitimacy.

For example, they would refund all the money to those who awakened their eyes, and even give them a bonus. But for those who did not awaken their eyes, they could only blame their own bad luck!

But no matter how arrogant those casinos were, they all knew who the real boss was.

They were willing to obey all of Yan's orders and cooperate with all of his actions.

As a result, the atmosphere within the clan became increasingly bizarre.

Then, under Yan's deliberate guidance, the concept of class gradually took root in people's hearts.

Whether or not one could awaken the Sharingan had completely become an obsession in their hearts.

Those clansmen who had participated in the Casino Plan but had not yet awakened their eyes were even referred to as trash!

This also caused many clansmen to have no heart for labor, spending their days immersed in the casinos.

At first, Yan had thought that the promotion of the Casino Plan would give those clansmen some mental preparation, thereby reducing the probability of awakening their eyes.

But he had not expected that the concrete manifestation of class would be so terrifying, causing them to engage in so many actions filled with immense pressure.

The ecstasy of getting rich overnight, the despair of being penniless, the disappointment of parents, the contempt of friends and relatives, the jealousy toward those who had awakened their eyes, and the constant labeling of "trash" in the words of surrounding clansmen.

The Uchiha Clan was shrouded in a variety of extreme emotions, like an invisible haze that made every clansman feel suffocated.

Likewise.

Under these multiple pressures, the number of clansmen awakening their eyes began to surge.

In just over a month and a half, more than seventy clansmen had awakened their eyes, and with a little training, they could become qualified genin.

This made those who had not awakened their eyes even more frantic!

Chaos frequently erupted within the clan, the civilian economy was once on the verge of collapse, and there were even multiple incidents of bloodshed.

If it hadn't been for Yan promptly contacting the clan and the Military Police Force to mobilize a large number of personnel.

With the three parties acting together to forcibly suppress them, there was no telling how many people would have died.

Faced with such a chaotic situation, even Uchiha Fugaku, no matter how slow he was, realized what was happening.

But before he could summon Yan, a message from the Anbu had already arrived.

It was now nearing the end of the year, and the Third Hokage had convened a jonin meeting to summarize the year, requiring Uchiha Fugaku to attend without fail.

And it had to be now!