Make Konoha Great Again!

The dinner the children had made was rather rough, but eating the fruits of their own labor added a special flavor.

Yamanaka Chujiu told a few short stories, further livening up the gathering while using Heart Severing Realm to stir everyone's emotions.

As the mood grew more and more excited, Yamanaka Chujiu clearly sensed the limit he had vaguely felt before.

He knew that the crucial opportunity had arrived.

He glanced at Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui, hesitated for a moment, then made up his mind.

He tapped his bowl to draw everyone's attention, then spoke. "Today, we made a miracle happen in Konoha."

"Some said it would take three years to clear the land. We did it in one day!"

"Some said nothing could be harvested in winter. We harvested crops—and even got to eat them!"

The children burst into laughter. Uchiha Itachi blushed, but, strangely, he didn't feel embarrassed. Instead, he felt his heart open, filled with the joy of sharing a bond with everyone.

Yamanaka Chujiu waved his hand and continued, "Konoha, the village where we live, was itself born from a miracle."

"Fifty years ago, everyone thought there could be no peace between shinobi clans. But the First refused to believe it, and Uchiha Madara... refused to believe it too!"

"Those two great shinobi cast aside their petty hatred and joined hands to sow the seeds of peace on this land. That was how Konoha came to be, ushering in the era of the hidden villages."

"Some say the era of the hidden villages is worse than the Warring States Period. In the 36 years since the First's death, we've spent a full 20 years at war. And the number of shinobi involved has ballooned, from hundreds or a thousand to several thousand or even tens of thousands."

"They're right, but they're also wrong!"

"The scale of wars has grown, and the death toll of each battle has risen. But they fail to see that parts of the Shinobi World have gone many years without experiencing war, and many people are no longer driven from their homes by it."

"At least, there are places like that in the Five Great Nations. And apart from Kirigakure, the Five Great Shinobi Villages are relatively peaceful too."

"So Konoha is a place where miracles are born!"

Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi jumped to their feet and applauded with all their might.

At last, someone had acknowledged the Uchiha's contributions—and that someone was the senior they trusted, Yamanaka Chujiu.

They were so moved they nearly cried.

The other children looked at the two Uchiha in surprise, thinking that the Uchiha must have been one of the clans that founded Konoha. No wonder they were so proud.

After twenty years of tireless effort by Shimura Danzō, and the Third Hokage's deliberate, if sometimes subtle, suppression, the Uchiha's reputation was truly terrible.

The children had only accepted Itachi and Shisui reluctantly out of respect for Yamanaka Chujiu.

Now that they had heard him tell the true history, everything felt different.

Thinking of how hard the two had worked that day and how warmly they had treated everyone, the children felt a natural sense of closeness, as if they were all on the same side.

Yamanaka Chujiu waited for the emotions to build. Though he said nothing, Heart Severing Realm continued to work at full strength, keeping the children's fervor high and readying them for the next surge.

"But..."

"Is Konoha still a place of miracles today?"

"Would a true land of miracles let the Senju Clan, one of the clans that founded the village, fade into obscurity?"

Kazamatsuri Harume silently clenched her fists, her teeth gritted tight.

"Would a true land of miracles treat the Uchiha Clan, another clan that founded the village, like enemies, keeping them under suspicion and hostility?"

Uchiha Shisui's pupils contracted. He thought of Root's blockade during the Night of the Nine-Tails, as well as the increasingly fierce clashes over the past few days. Without realizing it, his Sharingan had activated.

"Would a true land of miracles let the clans that joined first decline one by one, until they vanished?"

"Would a true land of miracles treat ten-year-old children as shinobi and throw them onto the battlefield to fight vicious enemies?"

With each question Yamanaka Chujiu asked, the children answered, "No!" Their voices grew louder, and by the third time, they were roaring.

"No!"

"No!!"

"Absolutely not!!!"

Yamanaka Chujiu suddenly stopped. He met the gazes of all fifty-five children, and a mysterious connection gradually formed between them.

It wasn't a thread of telekinetic energy, but something even more wondrous: a thread of faith.

The strongest connection was naturally with his first believer, Uchiha Itachi. The thread of faith had fully taken shape, and a steady stream of faith energy flowed into him.

It wasn't mental energy or emotional energy, but true energy formed from faith.

Just a little faith energy from Uchiha Itachi, a child, flowed into Yamanaka Chujiu's heart and manifested there as a sun.

Or, in the terms of Eastern immortal cultivation, it condensed into a false core—the embryonic shadow of a golden core.

This wasn't the golden core that shattered to form an infant, but the Great Dao Golden Core of the saying, "Swallow a golden core, and my fate is mine to command, not Heaven's."

Yamanaka Chujiu understood. His crucial opportunity had arrived!

The emotions had reached their peak as well. Yamanaka Chujiu stood up, making sure everyone could see him.

He shouted, "Konoha should not be like this!"

"The First's Konoha basked in the radiance of ideals. The Second Hokage's Konoha prospered through rational planning. The Fourth Hokage's Konoha was brief as a flash of lightning, yet full of hope."

"But under the Third Hokage, everyone in Konoha is shrouded in the shadow of failure and threatened by the terrible 'Execution Line.'"

"Even a single accident can silently wipe out a shinobi and their family, leaving them no chance to save themselves."

"Shinobi from civilian families are in constant danger, and even powerful clans aren't safe."

"The Senju are gone. The Uzumaki are gone. The Hatake, Kurama, Shiranui, Moonlight, and Kato are either extinct or reduced to a single surviving member."

"Admit it! You can't stand Hiruzen Sarutobi's hypocrisy!"

"Admit it! You can't stand Shimura Danzō's evil deeds even more!"

"This can't go on. We have to stand up and oppose Hiruzen Sarutobi's evil rule!"

"We will make Konoha shine once more with the ideals of the First and the reason of the Second Hokage!"

"We will make Konoha great again!"

Uchiha Itachi leaped to his feet. "Make Konoha great again!"

Uchiha Shisui raised his arm and shouted, "Make Konoha great again!"

Just a little more. He was so close!

Yamanaka Chujiu took a deep breath and shouted to all the children, "We are Konoha's hope, its future, and the heirs to the First's great work!"

"We will prevail!!"

The spirit of ownership he instilled finally ignited the children's enthusiasm. They all jumped to their feet, embracing one another and cheering.

Threads of faith took shape, and wisps of faith energy flowed toward him.

Yamanaka Chujiu gasped for breath. He had crossed the threshold of his limits.