Emotions Ran High, Awakening the Mangekyō!

"Cough, cough!"

Hearing this, Fugaku hurriedly came back to his senses and coughed several times in succession.

If he did not step forward now, Uchiha Genya would probably completely sideline him.

Genya glanced at Fugaku, whose eyes flashed with sharpness, then continued after a brief pause:

"The person who has already emerged is our clan head! Uchiha Fugaku!"

"I believe he will take action and lead our Uchiha clan to reclaim the glory that belongs to us!"

The moment his words fell, the entire clan grounds erupted.

Applause and cheers rang out from every direction.

Amid Genya's stirring speech, everyone fixed their eager gazes on Uchiha Fugaku.

At that moment, nearly everyone present believed that Genya was Fugaku's plant. Things Fugaku could not conveniently say had to be spoken by a young, powerful Uchiha instead!

Even Shisui thought so.

Shisui looked worriedly at Fugaku on the platform, feeling that he had underestimated this usually taciturn clan head.

"Clan Head..."

Had everything before been an act? Why did he choose this moment to reveal his sharp fangs?

Shisui thought of his Mangekyō's ability and began to hesitate. Did he need to use Kotoamatsukami to alter the clan head's will?

If this continued, he could already see the future of an Uchiha coup.

Fugaku stared at Genya with a livid expression. If he still failed to realize that he had been set up, then he truly had been clan head for nothing.

But he had never expected Uchiha Genya to declare at the very end that he was the great leader of the Uchiha.

Even someone as composed as Fugaku had felt a flicker of pride in that instant.

But he quickly realized that everything tonight had surely been planned long ago.

Fortunately, Fugaku naturally had a long face. Even with his expression turned livid, others merely took it as a sign of sternness.

The entire crowd was still cheering, and the Uchiha had now been twisted into a single rope.

As long as Fugaku raised his arm and called out, they would charge straight into the Hokage's office building, seize Sarutobi Hiruzen's seat, drape Fugaku in the Hokage's robes, and then submit a memorial to the Daimyo.

After becoming Hokage, the first thing they would do was use Shimura Danzō to consecrate the banner.

Fugaku raised both hands and slowly pressed them downward.

Sure enough, the voices throughout Naka Shrine were suppressed along with that motion.

Honestly, it felt pretty good.

At previous clan meetings, he had merely served as a decorative figurehead, listening to the hawks and doves argue back and forth.

Today, he had finally experienced what the dignity of a clan head felt like.

Fugaku put on a show of coughing, then addressed all the Uchiha clansmen:

"Everything discussed at today's clan meeting is confidential. No one is to reveal it. After returning home, all of you will forget everything you just saw and heard."

Rather than feeling disappointed after hearing this, every Uchiha became even more fired up.

Strict secrecy—the clan head was clearly preparing to do something huge!

Only Shisui grew even more worried, and the thought from earlier became stronger.

The Uchiha were already close to being unable to restrain themselves. He had no idea what to do.

He also wondered whether the Third Hokage had any good solution.

Fugaku's guess was actually correct. Everything just now had been Genya's own carefully staged performance, meant to drag Fugaku into the mess.

Genya understood Fugaku's character: weak and without principles.

Under his leadership, the Uchiha would only be carved up bit by bit with a dull knife before walking toward the cliff of clan extermination.

In Genya's view, at least half the blame for the Uchiha clan's destruction in the original story belonged on Fugaku's head.

Even if Fugaku had stood up and resisted at the final moment, the Uchiha clan would not have been reduced to a single survivor. At the very least, some embers could have remained.

Because Fugaku had no opinions of his own and only knew how to compromise in everything.

Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others knew of Fugaku's weak nature, which was why they constantly applied pressure and tested the Uchiha's bottom line step by step.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others had overlooked one extremely important thing.

The fact that they could exploit Fugaku's personality also meant that others could exploit it as well.

Genya had not yet grown strong enough and urgently needed someone to stand in front and draw the fire.

Especially Shisui. Though his permanent Kotoamatsukami could only be used once every ten years, its effect was simply too insidious.

Permanently changing a person's mind outright—what difference was there between that and completely erasing their original personality?

Although Shisui was not as extreme as Itachi, he still stood on Sarutobi Hiruzen's side, so Genya had to guard against him.

It was precisely because of Shisui's existence that Genya had to ensure that, whenever he stirred up trouble, he kept himself out of everyone else's sight.

At the very least, someone had to draw the fire.

As for the system mission, he did not truly want to become clan head. He only needed prestige that surpassed the clan head's.

Fugaku was an excellent target, and he also had the easiest personality to manipulate.

Genya could easily guess what Fugaku was thinking.

"Genya, you..."

After suppressing the crowd, Fugaku frowned deeply at Genya and was just about to rebuke him for acting on his own initiative.

But the moment Genya turned around, Fugaku's next words caught completely in his throat.

Because Genya's Sharingan had not yet been deactivated, and the three Tomoe in his eyes were still spinning wildly.

Under that high-speed rotation, the three Tomoe actually showed signs of merging into one.

A trail of bloody tears even began to flow from the corner of Genya's eye!

This situation was not particularly rare. When an Uchiha awakened their eyes, or when they were stimulated and their ocular power rose, awakening more Tomoe, such phenomena would appear.

But Fugaku remembered that Genya had only recently awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. If it evolved further...

Realizing Genya's current state, Fugaku could not help taking a deep breath.

"...Come to my office after the clan meeting ends."

In the end, Fugaku merely said this in an even tone.

Fortunately, Genya was facing the platform, and the clansmen's attention had almost entirely been drawn to Fugaku.

Aside from Fugaku and several Elders, almost no one noticed the abnormality in Genya's eyes.

Without changing expression, Genya wiped away the bloody tears at the corner of his eye, and the Tomoe in his eyes slowly faded.

Perhaps he had become so carried away while speaking that even he had started to believe his own words.

Or perhaps his surging emotions had fully absorbed the power of Yin Release.

Just now, in a burst of emotion, Genya had directly awakened the Sharingan's higher form beyond the Three-Tomoe—the Mangekyō!