The Uchiha Clan's Plan

Uchiha Shin retracted the kunai from beneath his armpit, the Three Tomoe in his eyes slowly fading away. A wave of exhaustion surged into his heart; he had spent a long time chasing those two elite jonin at the bandit stronghold, only to return here and slay another jonin. Even if the Flying Thunder God technique consumed little chakra, it was still a drain, and most importantly, the discomfort of shuttling back and forth through space was something his body, lacking long-term adaptation, found difficult to handle.

"Not bad, one-third of my chakra remains. That is the one good thing about the Uchiha clan; few other clans possess such vast chakra reserves."

Shin turned, glanced at the ruined house in the distance, and shook his head, preparing to rush back to the clan overnight. Uchiha Tadashi and the others had likely already met a grim fate.

Suddenly, the bushes beneath an ancient tree not far to his left trembled slightly. Shin's eyes instantly transformed into the Three Tomoe, his kunai back in his hand, and he hissed coldly, "Who's there? Come out!"

His left hand had already begun to quietly form a single-handed seal—it was the B-rank ninjutsu, Fire Style: Flame Slash!

"Don't attack, it's me!" A voice rang out. Shin was slightly stunned; the voice was so familiar.

A child about his own age jumped out from the bushes, wearing the same Uchiha robe. His face bore a slight resemblance to Shin's, and he appeared to be of a similar age. Of course, their temperaments were worlds apart; Shin possessed an inherent maturity that made people subconsciously ignore his age, while this boy, despite trying hard to act mature, still clearly displayed his childishness.

"Izuna? Why are you here?" Shin asked in surprise. He never expected that the person to emerge would be Uchiha Izuna.

After Uchiha Izuna came out, he gave an awkward smile. A dark shadow dropped from the treetops, also dressed in Uchiha clan attire, and nodded at Shin, saying, "Young Master Shin!"

Shin looked back and forth between the two, his eyes narrowing. He had an impression of this man—an elite jonin of the clan named Uchiha Keimei.

It was fine for others to appear here, and it was fine for Izuna and the others to be here, but it was highly suspicious for the two of them to appear at this specific time.

In an instant, his mind recalled the scene when Uchiha Tajima had handed him this mission, as well as the gloating look Uchiha Madara had worn on his face throughout the journey. Combined with the secret ninja who had appeared at the meeting that day, and now Izuna and Keimei before him, a certain explanation seemed to emerge.

Shin walked up to Izuna without a word, his face so gloomy it could drip water, and said in a stiff tone, "When I was fighting that Hyuga jonin, you were already there?"

It was the first time Izuna had seen Shin wear such an expression. A bead of cold sweat dripped down his forehead, and he swallowed hard before nodding.

Taking a deep breath, he asked again, "Where is Uchiha Madara?"

Izuna pointed into the distance.

Shin looked in the direction he pointed, which was exactly the bandit stronghold where he had just been. His expression darkened further. He took two deep breaths, forcing himself to remain calm, and said almost word for word, "You guys... came with me, didn't you!"

Cold sweat covered Izuna's forehead. Fearing that Shin would vent his anger on him, he said cautiously, "To be precise, we arrived an hour after you."

Bang!

An ancient tree behind Uchiha Izuna snapped in response. Shin calmly withdrew his fist, stood in silence for two seconds, and then suddenly erupted, snapping the kunai in his hand in half: "Damn it all to hell! Uchiha Madara, you're ruthless! How dare you scheme against me? If I don't get my revenge, my name isn't Lu!" He was so furious that his consciousness was blurred, causing him to blurt out his surname from his previous life.

Izuna asked weakly, "Don't we all have the surname Uchiha?"

Shin lowered his head abruptly, his eyes filled with such rage that Izuna shuddered and dared not say another word.

"When you see your brother, tell him I want a duel. The kind on the Life-Death Arena. I thought that someone who walks around with a 'Dragon Overlord' face every day would have some measure of grace, but who knew he was so petty? He deserves whatever happens to him in the future—damn it!"

Ever since Izuna pointed out that Madara was at the bandit stronghold, he had understood the whole story. The Uchiha clan had used him as bait and sold him out.

He had been suspicious when he first met Hyuga Tamamo; how could his uncle be so foolish as to send him on such a simple mission? Even if his uncle were truly slow-witted regarding schemes, the situation at the Fujiwara Mine was known to the entire Uchiha clan. Could it be that every single member of the clan was an idiot?

Even if the entire clan were composed of blockheads, the Uchiha intelligence system shouldn't have failed. If an elite jonin from another clan could infiltrate their doorstep and wreak havoc without them noticing, then the Uchiha shouldn't call themselves one of the two great clans of the Warring States period—they should just commit mass suicide, as the outcome would be predictable soon enough anyway.

Now it seemed that wasn't the case at all. It was likely that during the clan meeting, the secret report from the secret ninja contained not only news of the Hyuga-Senju alliance but also the detailed situation of the Fujiwara Mine.

And just as Hyuga Tamamo had said, if an Uchiha jonin had come, they would have encountered real bandits. The clan must have held that same concern, fearing that if they dispatched a jonin or elite jonin directly, the enemy would simply run away, so they happily sold him out instead.

When Hyuga Tamamo designed the ambush, she surely hadn't expected that she was the one being ambushed by the Uchiha clan. It was pathetic; both sides had been playing wits, each thinking they were clever, but now Shin realized they were both just a pair of clowns.

Shin could even imagine that, according to the original plan, someone should have come to support him after the enemy made their move, leading to a counter-encirclement. It was definitely that brat Uchiha Madara, holding a grudge because Shin had made him take the lead for five extra minutes last time, intentionally setting him up.

Of course, he certainly didn't intend to get him killed; he probably just wanted him to suffer a bit. He just hadn't expected Shin's performance to be so formidable—killing five chunin and escaping despite the enemy's trap. Even if he hadn't seen it, Shin could imagine the look of shock on Uchiha Madara's face, wide enough to swallow an egg.

Thinking of this, he felt slightly better and turned around, saying, "Back to the clan!"

Uchiha Izuna cast a reluctant glance toward the bandit stronghold; he still wanted to go and take a look, but sensing the thick murderous aura radiating from Shin, he decided to keep his mouth shut.

Just as they turned to head back to the clan, a burst of intense chakra suddenly erupted from the direction of Fujiwara Mountain. Even from this distance, Shin and the others could feel a distinct tremor, and the intensity of that chakra was the greatest Shin had ever felt in his life, far exceeding the level of an elite jonin.

Uchiha Keimei's expression changed, and he exclaimed, "This kind of chakra... a clan-head-level figure from the Hyuga has made a move! Could it be Hyuga Tenin? Did that old monster follow us secretly? Why wasn't this in the intelligence report!"

Shin was slightly stunned, only then realizing that "clan-head-level" meant Kage-level. His expression shifted. He had a vague impression of Hyuga Tenin, as if he had been mentioned in the original story, though never in detail.

He didn't know how many people Madara had brought. If it really was Hyuga Tenin, they might still be in danger. A flicker of worry stirred in Shin's heart.

Just then, a streak of fire cut across the sky, heading toward Fujiwara Mountain at high speed. A human figure could be vaguely seen within the flames.

"Clan Leader?" Uchiha Keimei exclaimed again.

As the fire fell into that area, the entire earth began to shake with the impact as the center, the tremors several times stronger than before, as if an earthquake had occurred.

Shin looked toward the bandit stronghold at Fujiwara Mountain in astonishment. This was the first time since his transmigration that he had felt the battle of a Kage-level powerhouse; it was truly earth-shattering.