"I already have a teacher."
Uchiha Shingen refused without a second thought.
"Is that so?!"
Setsuna Uchiha sighed, a trace of regret showing on his old face.
"What a pity. All the countless things I've left behind, all my secret techniques, will have to go into the grave with me..."
"Wait, an inheritance?!"
Hearing there might be something in it for him, Uchiha Shingen was tempted.
As a former leading figure in the Uchiha Clan, Setsuna Uchiha must have left behind quite a bit. Uchiha Shingen was also somewhat interested in his secret techniques.
More importantly, he truly wanted to know just what a Mangekyō Sharingan technique could do!
Besides, the old man probably wouldn't mind too much, right?!
At worst, he'd just have to cough up a few more of his best ideas!
After a struggle, Uchiha Shingen gritted his teeth and said,
"I accept!"
"Let me hear you call me teacher."
The familiar words from Setsuna Uchiha made Uchiha Shingen's mouth twitch. The words slipped out before he could stop them.
"Heh. Old geezer!"
"You brat!"
Setsuna Uchiha laughed and scolded him.
This had been his main reason for attending the Clan Meeting that night.
As for the clan's various affairs, Fugaku Uchiha, as clan head, had already handled them well enough. There was no need to overcomplicate things.
Seeing that Uchiha Shingen had more or less agreed, he looked at Fugaku.
"Any objections, clan head?"
"None."
Fugaku Uchiha shook his head slightly. After giving Setsuna a long look, he turned and left with Shisui.
Inside the dim hall,
only Uchiha Shingen and Setsuna remained.
Most of the lights had gone out during the earlier clash, leaving only one oil lamp still burning.
The flame flickered gently in the breeze blowing into the room, and the shadows swayed with it.
Setsuna Uchiha turned his wheelchair away from Uchiha Shingen and slowly began to speak.
"As Fugaku said earlier, a Mangekyō Sharingan technique is every Uchiha ninja's greatest secret. My technique is called Virudhaka!"
As he spoke,
Setsuna Uchiha reached into his robes, took out a Kunai, and held it between his fingers. Then he activated his Mangekyō Sharingan once more.
His cold ocular power enveloped Uchiha Shingen again, but now Shingen's gaze was fixed entirely on the Kunai in Setsuna's hand.
Setsuna Uchiha lightly tossed the Kunai. It shot several meters forward, then suddenly stopped in midair.
No—not stopped. Its speed had simply slowed to the point where it was almost motionless.
Uchiha Shingen curbed his curiosity and watched in silence.
Setsuna Uchiha casually tossed out one Kunai after another.
The Kunai spread out in a fan several meters in front of him, hanging motionless in the air.
When Setsuna Uchiha threw the last Kunai, all the Kunai that had been suspended in midair suddenly sped forward as if they'd received an order!
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, the Kunai pierced through the distant wall.
Uchiha Shingen looked toward the holes. With the Sharingan's vision, he could even see the ancient trees pierced beyond the dozens of walls.
The sheer destructive power left him stunned.
But what truly unnerved him was the way the Kunai had stopped, then suddenly accelerated!
"What did you figure out?"
Setsuna Uchiha spoke without warning. After thinking for a moment, Uchiha Shingen answered,
"Does Virudhaka let you control the speed of the Kunai?"
"Yes, but that's not the whole story."
Setsuna Uchiha nodded, then shook his head.
"It's time."
"To be precise, Virudhaka is a space-time eye technique. It can distort the flow of time within a certain area."
"The sudden acceleration and deceleration happen because the flow of time around the Kunai has been altered."
"Of course,"
"This ability can also affect my own body, but the more the flow of time is distorted, the greater the strain on my body."
"..."
Uchiha Shingen opened his mouth, unable to find anything to say.
He'd thought Mangekyō techniques were just overpowered, but what Setsuna Uchiha had just shown him couldn't be described as merely overpowered.
This was downright absurd!
The shock Virudhaka gave Uchiha Shingen was no less than the Susanoo had.
Once this ability was activated, it practically guaranteed him the initiative in battle.
In close combat, an ability that could instantly boost his speed could practically end a normal fight on the spot.
"What's the limit?"
Uchiha Shingen couldn't help swallowing.
"When I first awakened it, my body wasn't in the condition it is now. At most...I could probably change it by a factor of five."
"Old geezer, let's make a deal."
"Hm?!"
"Before you die of old age, give me those eyes. I'm dying to get my hands on this ability!"
"You ungrateful disciple!"
A sudden roar from Setsuna Uchiha erupted inside Naka Shrine. The crows watching from the woods were startled awake and scattered in a panic.
A few feathers drifted down from the sky and landed on Orochimaru's shoulder. He brushed them away.
"Captain, nearly all the Uchiha Clan's ninja have left Naka Shrine. Only Uchiha Shingen and Setsuna Uchiha remain inside."
"Wait!"
"Uchiha Shingen's pushing Setsuna Uchiha's wheelchair out now, too."
"It looks like the Uchiha Clan Meeting ended tonight without any clashes. That's a stroke of luck, all things considered."
"Mm."
Orochimaru answered softly, his gaze passing through the leaves ahead to Uchiha Shingen in the distance.
As one of the Sannin and one of the defining figures of Konoha in this era, his sensory abilities far surpassed those of the ninja present.
Even with the barrier concealing it, the commotion inside Naka Shrine had been enough to fool the Anbu Ninja there—but not Orochimaru.
"What were those two chakra signatures just now? They were so deeply unsettling."
"Is there something extraordinary hidden inside Naka Shrine? Or does the Sharingan have powers we don't know about?"
"Interesting!"
Orochimaru licked his lips. His crimson tongue, paired with his unnaturally pale skin, made him seem exceptionally sinister. Even one glance at him made the Anbu Ninja beside him uneasy.
"I've suddenly grown more interested in Jiraiya's student."
"Let's pull out, too."
"Compile an account of what happened at Naka Shrine and write an investigation report for the old man."
"Never mind."
"I'll go see him myself."
"I might as well find out whether I can get anything useful out of him."
"After all, he's lived from that era to the present. He even experienced the days when the Uchiha and Senju contended for supremacy."
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
The branches swayed, and a few leaves drifted gently to the ground.
The Anbu Ninja hidden there scattered like birds and beasts.
At the same time,
inside the Root base, Danzo sat at the head of the room, waiting for the outcome of the Uchiha Clan Meeting.
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