The two men facing off were startled.
After the explosion, everyone nearby had wanted to avoid trouble and had already moved away.
Now the sound had come from the direction of the corpse.
They both looked toward it almost simultaneously. It was the scroll—their shared target—that had made the noise.
Surprise and wariness showed on both their faces.
The seal on the scroll in the corpse's hand came undone. It unfurled, revealing its contents.
At first, all they could see were the three characters for "Uchiha." Once the seal broke, the seven large characters "Uchiha Clan Extermination Plan" appeared across the top of the scroll.
Meihuo Uchiha's pupils contracted. The words on the scroll had struck a nerve.
His black pupils faded, and three tomoe swirled in his red eyes.
He activated his Sharingan and instantly copied down the contents of the scroll.
Using the Sharingan's ability, he began reading, distilling the key points.
[Step One: Force Madara Uchiha, the Uchiha Clan's greatest strength, to leave.]
[Step Two: Use empty promises without offering any real benefits to keep taming the Uchiha Clan. Widen the rifts between the Uchiha Clan and the other clans. This includes the Military Police Force, the school, the hospital...]
[Step Three: Split the Uchiha Clan. Win some over and crush the rest. When a major crisis arises, make the Uchiha Clan the scapegoat...]
[Step Four: Self-destruction. The Uchiha Clan has always been full of emotionally extreme people. Disorder has broken out within the clan many times. Wait for the perfect moment, then let them tear each other apart.]
The more Meihuo Uchiha read, the more shaken he became.
At first, he had scoffed at it. But once he thought it through...
There were facts to support every piece of information recorded there.
In that moment, he realized the Uchiha Clan had reached a point where its very survival was at stake.
The third step mentioned in the report—splitting the clan—had already been carried out.
Was self-destruction all that awaited them?
Elsewhere.
Because he was farther away, Shinnosuke Sarutobi had only seen the large title. The moment he read those words, he knew this could not end peacefully.
This concerned the Uchiha Clan—and a matter of life and death.
No matter what, the Uchiha Clan had to act under the Anbu's supervision.
He had been taught since childhood that the Uchiha Clan was dangerous, and that no opportunity to suppress them should be passed up.
That only strengthened his resolve to take back the scroll. His gaze fixed on Meihuo Uchiha, growing more forceful and pressing.
"Meihuo Uchiha, are you going to defy the Anbu's orders?"
Shinnosuke Sarutobi used his authority as head of the Anbu to pressure him.
The tomoe in Meihuo Uchiha's eyes spun rapidly. Wasn't this familiar tactic exactly one of the methods described in the scroll's second step?
Using the greater good of prioritizing the village's interests to keep pressuring the Uchiha Clan.
"Tomoya! Shinichi! Activate your Sharingan! Copy it!"
Meihuo Uchiha had no intention of clashing head-on with Shinnosuke Sarutobi. Instead, he ordered the two Uchiha Clan shinobi behind him to copy the information from the scroll.
"Shinnosuke Sarutobi, make sure you keep that scroll safe for us!"
Meihuo Uchiha's voice was icy. He could hand over the scroll; its contents were the vital intelligence, and they had already copied them.
The scroll would serve its purpose best in the hands of Konoha's leadership.
He wanted to see what attitude Konoha's leaders truly held toward the Uchiha Clan.
Shinnosuke Sarutobi knitted his brows. Meihuo Uchiha's change of heart was beyond his expectations.
Based on what he knew of Meihuo Uchiha, he wouldn't have given in so easily.
There was only one possibility: the scroll contained a trap.
He was farther from the scroll than Meihuo Uchiha, and he lacked a Kekkei Genkai like the Sharingan. He had seen only the title.
He wanted to stop them, but it was already too late.
The other two Uchiha Clan shinobi had activated their Two-Tomoe Sharingan, which was more than enough to copy the information.
For a moment, he considered killing them, but after a brief assessment, he abandoned the idea.
Here, he wasn't confident he could kill all three Uchiha Clan elites.
At the same time, he realized this was a plot against the Sarutobi Clan.
How could a Kumogakure spy have appeared in the territory controlled by the Sarutobi Clan?
And he had been carrying secret Konoha intelligence that even Shinnosuke didn't know about.
"I'll keep it safe. In a while, the Hokage will explain things to you in person!"
Shinnosuke Sarutobi was even more curious about the scroll's contents. The title alone was horrifying.
No matter what, the Uchiha Clan was an ancient clan with a thousand-year legacy, and one of the shinobi clans that had founded Konoha.
Could they really be wiped out so easily?
"Let's go!"
Meihuo Uchiha gave the order and led his clansmen away.
The intelligence in the scroll had to be taken back, and they needed to discuss how to respond.
If the scroll was telling the truth, the clan was already facing a serious crisis.
He felt even more hatred for those who betrayed their own.
Only after they had left did Shinnosuke Sarutobi approach the corpse.
Before he even touched the scroll, its contents had already been etched into his mind.
"Damn!"
Only then did Shinnosuke Sarutobi understand why Meihuo Uchiha had changed so drastically!
This intelligence was a bomb!
And he had personally snatched it back!
He picked up the scroll and headed toward the Sarutobi Clan, not the Hokage Office.
Anbu soon arrived to clean up after the explosion.
But the real fallout had only just begun.
In the distance, Shinichi Hyuga saw through the layers of obstacles and watched the clash between Shinnosuke Sarutobi and Meihuo Uchiha.
"Good! The dog's master showed up. That's no different from the dog showing up itself."
The Uchiha Clan's upheaval would give him enough time to persuade the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.
The power structure of this world had made him see the weaknesses in Konoha.
The conflict between the Daimyo and the Kage had always existed.
The village and the country were an awkward patchwork.
That was exactly the loophole Shinichi Hyuga could exploit.
Within the Uchiha Clan.
The Uchiha Clan's compound still occupied a central position in Konoha, rather than some remote corner where even walking through the main gate cost a soldier pill.
The sound of arguments rang out from the Uchiha Clan's meeting room.
The Hawk Faction and the Dove Faction were both discussing the intelligence Meihuo Uchiha had brought back.
In the end, they agreed that whether or not it was true,
the events described in it were already happening. The pressure Konoha had placed on their clan had been laid bare.
At last, they reached a consensus.
They would gather the clan members and protect themselves.
One order after another went out, summoning Uchiha Clan shinobi from missions throughout the Ninja World.
Once everything had settled,
Shisui Uchiha of the Dog Faction finally arrived.
This time, the Uchiha Clan no longer treated him as they had before.
Instead, they regarded him with suspicion. Some even saw him as a potential enemy.
According to the intelligence, Shisui Uchiha might be the one who would wipe out the Uchiha Clan.
He was also the Third's dog.
Fugaku Uchiha was hiding in the shadows, still relieved that Shisui Uchiha was drawing the fire.
Otherwise, he would have been the dog!
The Sarutobi Clan.
After seeing his foolish son snatch back a bomb,
the Third was shocked by the contents of the scroll.
Wasn't this exactly what he was doing?
He quickly dragged Shinnosuke Sarutobi with him to the Hokage Office.
With Minato Namikaze there to take the heat as Hokage, why should he charge into the fray?
After reading the intelligence, Minato Namikaze was terribly troubled.
He summoned the elders to discuss the matter.
Everyone knew in their hearts that although the intelligence came from a questionable source, the plan it described was feasible and already being implemented.
They were also wary of the Uchiha Clan's unusual movements.
At that moment, Minato Namikaze took the initiative and proposed speaking with Fugaku Uchiha.
In the shadows, Shinichi Hyuga pieced together how the whole incident had unfolded.
He also sold the intelligence about the Uchiha Clan Extermination Plan to the Bounty Office.
A new rumor began to replace the one about the Hyuga Clan in Konoha.
Everything had gone as expected.
He looked down on the Uchiha Clan. They knew the blade was already at their throats, yet they didn't even dare to resist.
The Uchiha Clan knew only how to protest, but took no concrete action.
At the same time, Shinichi Hyuga received an invitation from the Fourth Hokage to attend what they called a high-level meeting.
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