This Ninja Blade was incredibly useful.
Forged from Chakra Metal, it had helped him immensely during this time.
The Indestructible property let him use it without holding back.
No matter how roughly he poured chakra into it, the blade silently endured.
Even if it was damaged, a little blood was enough to restore it.
He planned to keep strengthening the weapon!
The stronger the weapon, the stronger he would become!
He sorted out his thoughts and focused.
[Thunderbolt Attachment (Blue)], [Chakra Mimicry (Blue)], and [Chakra Absorption and Integration (Blue)] trembled slightly.
Three streaks of blue light slid out from the panel and slowly flowed into the Ninja Blade in his hand.
The blade shuddered.
Then a deep blue light emanated from it!
Once the light faded, the Katana-style Ninja Blade looked much the same as before.
But jagged patterns resembling lightning had appeared along its blade.
Uchiha Yuzhen raised the Ninja Blade, and chakra gathered toward it. "Let's see what's changed!"
Crack—crack!
After two sharp sounds, a mass of condensed chakra gathered around the blade.
"Is this Hiramekarei's ability?" Yuzhen wondered as he swung the Ninja Blade.
With the swing, he blasted a massive crater into the ground ahead.
"It really inherited Hiramekarei's chakra materialization! Then the next change..."
The Ninja Blade changed naturally in response to Uchiha Yuzhen's thoughts!
Riiip—!
As if empowered by the Super Multi-Size Technique, the Ninja Blade grew larger and longer.
Under Yuzhen's steady flow of chakra, it became a five-meter-long great blade.
He could tell it could grow even larger.
But then he wouldn't be able to hold it.
"I've tested Hiramekarei's ability. Next..."
The blade moved as he wished.
A crackling sound of electricity rang out from the Ninja Blade.
When Uchiha Yuzhen saw the flashes of lightning dancing along it, he knew...
His Ninja Blade had inherited the full power of Kiba, the Thunder Sword.
"As for Samehada's chakra absorption, I don't have anything to test it on right now. I'll leave that for later."
After taking stock of what he had gained, Uchiha Yuzhen immediately got to his feet.
He wanted to return to Konoha and study the changes to his Affixes and Ninja Blade more closely.
Then he set off.
Traveling at a faster pace, he reached Konoha Gate two days later.
After politely greeting the Military Police Force members guarding the gate, Uchiha Yuzhen headed toward the Hokage Building.
As he walked, he couldn't help reflecting.
He hadn't expected the Uchiha to hold the rights to guard Konoha Gate.
The Uchiha Military Police Force really was no simple department!
When he watched the anime based on the original story, he had thought the Uchiha—one of the two clans that founded the village—had been treated terribly.
But after being reborn as an Uchiha, he had learned...
Just what kind of beast the Military Police Force was.
The Hokage's world was based on a manga from Japan.
Naturally, it had inherited some aspects of Japan's worldview.
By the same logic...
Konoha's Military Police Force was equivalent to Tokyo's police force.
And everyone knew just how much power that system held.
That was when Uchiha Yuzhen understood...
Why the entire village hated and ostracized the Uchiha!
Konoha's share of the pie was only so big.
The Uchiha held so much power and refused to share it.
Of course the higher-ups and other ninja clans would target them.
They occupied the heart of Konoha and only did business among themselves.
What were they thinking, building a village within the village?!
But now, he had enough strength.
And Shimura Danzō had taught him a lesson this time.
The lesson had shown him that sometimes, you needed a little power too.
Otherwise, even if you were strong, refusing to flip the table could leave you utterly miserable.
As a loyal member of the Hokage Lineage, flipping the table was out of the question.
He couldn't do that. He was the legitimate successor, after all.
So he had his eye on the Military Police Force's power.
And to claim that power, he first had to be an Uchiha.
As luck would have it, he was one.
But being an Uchiha wasn't enough. He also needed strength.
As luck would have it, his Mangekyō Sharingan was proof of strength to the Uchiha!
And as if that weren't enough, he also wanted to "swallow up" Uchiha Setsuna's faction within the clan.
There was no helping it...
He had a good relationship with Fugaku.
Meanwhile, he had a poor relationship with the old Uchiha Setsuna.
Setsuna was also part of the Hawk Faction, and his relationship with Yuzhen's Hokage-aligned faction was hardly any better.
Sarutobi Hiruzen would surely be glad if Yuzhen took Setsuna down.
The reason was simple!
Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't known as a Hokage for his strength.
He was known for his political achievements.
In Uchiha Yuzhen's eyes, those achievements weren't all that impressive.
But for a system of ninja villages that had only existed for a few decades, they were still respectable.
After all, you couldn't expect mercenaries who had once lived and worked according to their clans to have much foresight.
As a Hokage with "political achievements," Sarutobi Hiruzen would surely be delighted to see his own student's descendants take control of part of the Military Police Force's power.
The Military Police Force had always been the Uchiha's private domain, and the village had never been able to interfere.
If Yuzhen, as one of Hiruzen's student's descendants, took over some of that power, the Hokage would gain a stronger hold over Konoha.
Given Sarutobi Hiruzen's desire to control Konoha, there was no reason for him to stop Yuzhen.
After weighing it all, Uchiha Yuzhen entered the Hokage Building.
He had already decided to bring it up when he reported on the mission and claimed his reward.
Guided by a member of the Hokage Building staff, Uchiha Yuzhen appeared before Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Lord Hokage!" Uchiha Yuzhen bowed to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"Stand up, Yuzhen-kun." Sarutobi Hiruzen set down his pipe with a smile. "You're my student Jiraiya's grandstudent. There's no need for such formality between us."
"Thank you, Lord Hokage." Uchiha Yuzhen followed his lead and raised his head.
Then he took a scroll from his robes. "This is a more detailed report on Kirigakure's attack."
This report was why he had returned.
The earlier impeachment report had included some details.
But its main purpose had been the impeachment of Danzō.
This report went into greater detail about the battle.
It contained both his perspective and the Intelligence Division's account, pieced together from the enemy's minds.
"Good. I'll review this scroll carefully." Sarutobi Hiruzen accepted it, then gestured toward a chair in the office. "Yuzhen-kun, take a seat and wait for a moment."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
Sarutobi Hiruzen carefully read the report.
The more he read, the more baffled he became.
Even the earlier, brief report had seemed unbelievable to him.
But this scroll, which recounted events from the perspectives of Uchiha Yuzhen and the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, left him even more astonished.
"Tell me, kid. In this account, was that inexplicable 'luck' of yours the power of your Mangekyō Sharingan?"
At that, Uchiha Yuzhen replied in a low voice:
"That's my Dojutsu. It's a Genjutsu that makes them see illusions they can't break free from."
"Since I remained clear-headed, I could kill them without trouble. That's why it looked like I had such 'good luck.'"
That was a lie.
How could he possibly reveal his Dojutsu?
Calling it a Genjutsu was enough.
After all, those guys had failed in such absurd ways.
Genjutsu was a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Hearing Yuzhen's explanation...
"Genjutsu, huh? That's a fine Dojutsu." Sarutobi Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief. "As for your reward for this incident, what would you like?"
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