Fate

I'd only closed my eyes for a moment, dozed off for a little bit. How had things come to this?

This was getting troublesome.

Nara Shikaku's bleary eyes snapped wide open, suddenly alert.

They had all read Hatake Sakumo's battle report from the front.

It didn't contain any detailed combat intelligence, but those few simple phrases—[Fortress Breached] [Tens of Thousands Defeated] [Third Tsuchikage Defeated] [Third Raikage Defeated]—were enough to show how powerful Hatake Sakumo was, and how unbelievable the situation had become.

At first, they hadn't taken the intelligence attached to the Third Tsuchikage and Raikage's surrenders very seriously.

After all, some of it seemed detached from reality.

But the Hokage's subsequent actions had made Nara Shikaku realize that the pile of seemingly nonsensical reports might contain a great deal of true or accurate information.

It was even possible that every word of it was true.

As the brains of Ino-Shika-Cho, he had immediately made up his mind. The three clans, which had always drawn close to the Hokage, promptly distanced themselves from him.

We've been fighting tooth and nail, and you've been stabbing us in the back behind the scenes? Is this what a Hokage is supposed to be?

Nara Shikaku had assumed that, although they'd fallen out, family interests always came first.

The Hokage and the Uchiha should still be able to secure their clans' interests through wave after wave of political maneuvering, and then the whole matter could be downplayed and eventually forgotten.

But now Uchiha Yuji had opened with a Seal of Reconciliation. It was as if someone had hit him over the head, leaving him completely stunned.

I know you Uchiha love acting recklessly, but this is too much! Have all three generations of your clan made a habit of rebelling against the Hokage?

All the shinobi were stunned. Sarutobi Hiruzen, seated at the head of the table, had also been caught off guard by this sudden challenge.

He stared blankly at Uchiha Yuji's two fingers raised toward the sky.

With his clan's handsome features and long hair, Uchiha Yuji bore a striking resemblance to Uchiha Madara. Looking at the Seal of Reconciliation, it was as if he could see Madara's statue in the Valley of the End.

Lord Hashirama's clash with Madara, Teacher Tobirama's dispute with Uchiha Setsuna. At last, it's my turn, the Third Generation.

The previous two clashes had both ended in victory for the Hokage's side. But in this battle, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew he had little chance of winning in a one-on-one fight.

Yet a sense of responsibility weighed on his heart.

Every shinobi had weaknesses! No one was invincible! Even a shinobi as powerful as Lord Hashirama had died. Uchiha Yuji was nothing but—

He had a chance!

With that thought, Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly rose to his feet and firmly formed the Seal of Reconciliation toward Uchiha Yuji.

"There are still many matters piling up in Konoha. How about we fight after noon?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked gravely.

Or rather, he wasn't asking at all. He was simply setting the time.

The Uchiha had never refused such a small request.

Uchiha Yuji nodded, then turned to leave. He paused at the doorway. "Then for the location, let's meet at the Valley of the End."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded in agreement.

The meeting of the jōnin came to nothing, but no one cared about that little gathering anymore.

The news that the Third and the Uchiha Clan's leader would face off spread throughout Konoha in an instant.

"Ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha!" Uchiha Setsuna laughed maniacally.

Despite his aged body, he had more lung capacity than many adults. His laughter rang out loud and long, echoing through the Uchiha Clan Compound.

"Shut up!" Annoyed, Uchiha Yuji punched him.

"Cough, cough, cough." Though the punch left Uchiha Setsuna winded, he still wore a smile.

"Come on, Elder Setsuna. Is there really any need to get this excited?"

"There is! Absolutely!"

The old man's gaunt fingers clutched Uchiha Yuji's hands tightly. He was so worked up that he couldn't even stop his Sharingan from showing.

"The First had a heart big enough to embrace everyone. He treated our Uchiha Clan as equals."

"Senju Tobirama was a bastard who hated us Uchiha, but at least he had some restraint. The only one who—this monkey, Sarutobi Hiruzen—"

His words grew more impassioned and furious, most of them insults.

His impressive lung capacity let him keep cursing for a long time.

"Kill him in this duel!" the flushed old man finally concluded.

Uchiha Setsuna's grip tightened with tremendous force, as though he wanted to pass his own strength to Uchiha Yuji.

But a hand covered his, then gently pried it away.

"I told you before, Elder Setsuna. You're too weak."

"Now it seems you've even lost the confidence of our Uchiha Clan."

"You really have gotten old."

As their eyes met, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly into a Mangekyo. His blood-red eyes brimmed with confidence.

"What does Sarutobi Hiruzen have that could let him survive a fight against me?"

Uchiha Yuji's chin lifted as he spoke, his pride and confidence plain to see.

"His defeat is inevitable."

As he looked at the boy before him, Uchiha Setsuna seemed to see another figure standing behind him, superimposed over his form.

The wrinkles on Uchiha Setsuna's face seemed to fade, and his smile grew wider.

"Elder, I've brought it." A member of the Uchiha Clan crouched outside the doorway and carefully set what he was carrying inside the room.

It was a suit of armor, blood-red like a battlefield of the Sengoku era.

Times had changed. Armor from the Sengoku era had long since fallen out of use.

It was heavy and cumbersome, greatly hindering a shinobi's movements. With improvements in materials, it couldn't even match the basic defensive capabilities of the lighter, more convenient flak jackets.

But despite all its disadvantages, Uchiha Setsuna had still brought out this suit of armor.

"After generations of being suppressed by the Hokage, our Uchiha Clan is finally about to turn things around."

His slightly frail body now held a heart that beat strong and steady, as if, for this brief moment, he had returned to his youth.

He carried the crimson armor over to Uchiha Yuji.

"Clan leader, would you mind an old man like me helping you put on your armor?"

"Of course I mind. Why isn't Kushina the one helping me put it on? Why does it have to be you, an old man left behind by the times?" Uchiha Yuji mercilessly chided him.

Uchiha Setsuna was taken aback. He wasn't angry at all. Instead, his smile grew even brighter as he gently settled the shoulder guard onto Uchiha Yuji.

"Let this relic of the old era shine once more in this new age."

"Clan leader."