Sister Izumi's Determent

Hearing this, almost no one beneath the platform believed him.

"What a joke! How could the clan head possibly be hiding a Mangekyō Sharingan?"

"Has that brat gone crazy?"

"He's so young, yet he dares to spout such nonsense!"

Doubt surged through the crowd like a tidal wave. The Uchiha were an emotional people by nature.

Several hot-blooded young clansmen even stood up, glaring furiously.

They had already felt that ocular power, though they couldn't say exactly how strong it was.

But one thing was clear to them.

In a one-on-one fight, they'd definitely be taken down in an instant by that frail girl on the platform.

Seeing this, Uchiha Ao merely squeezed Sister Izumi's hand gently, his expression helpless. Sister Izumi immediately understood.

Even without her little brother saying a word, she'd wanted to do it herself. Those people had actually dared to speak to her brother in that tone. If she didn't teach them a lesson, did they think her Mangekyō was just for show?

Several genjutsu techniques fell upon the arrogant clansmen who had been shouting.

In the blink of an eye, their eyes glazed over.

"Hmph. No one gets to meddle in my little brother's affairs!" Sister Izumi fixed a frigid stare on the clansmen trapped in the genjutsu.

If she hadn't been worried about disrupting her brother's plan, she would have made them suffer through three days and nights of genjutsu.

The clansmen affected by the genjutsu stood rooted to the spot, their eyes vacant. One moment they giggled foolishly; the next, they muttered to themselves. Their ridiculous behavior lent an absurd note to the tense atmosphere.

One of the elders on the platform tried to speak, but another elder beside him stopped him.

"Why are you stopping me?" the elder protested, displeased. "They're just a couple of youngsters, yet they dare to behave so outrageously at a clan meeting!"

The white-haired elder restraining him stared gravely, his wrinkled hand clenched tight. "Hmph. Do you want to experience the Mangekyō's ocular power for yourself?"

The elder he'd stopped was immediately at a loss for words. His face flushed as he tried to retort, but when he met Sister Izumi's cold, piercing gaze, the words in his throat turned into an unwilling grunt.

The murmurs inside the shrine gradually died down. Only the clansmen caught in the genjutsu continued to fumble absently with their clothes, humming an ancient, off-key tune.

"Quiet!" Fugaku decided it was time for him to step in. He gestured, and several clansmen came forward. "Take them away first."

They met Uchiha Izumi's gaze and nervously carried the affected men off.

Uchiha Ao didn't stop Sister Izumi. After all, he'd only wanted to put the others in their place; he hadn't actually wanted to take their lives.

"Sorry for the trouble, Clan Head Fugaku." Uchiha Ao turned toward Fugaku.

"I underestimated you." Fugaku gave Uchiha Ao a complicated look.

He hadn't expected the boy he'd taught ninjutsu to just a few days ago to have such ability.

After a moment of silence, he slowly raised his head. Candlelight flickered in his eyes, then a crimson glow suddenly blazed to life—the blood-red pattern unique to the Mangekyō Sharingan spun in his pupils. Dark red chakra poured from his body like a tangible substance, gathering behind him into the skeletal outline of a Susanoo. Its enormous form cast the entire shrine ceiling in blood-red light.

The clansmen drew in sharp breaths, one after another. The young ninja who still harbored doubts stared wide-eyed.

"Fugaku, I never imagined you'd kept this hidden for so long!" The white-haired elder leaned on his dragon-headed cane and slowly walked to the center of the platform. He reached for the Susanoo's bones, but the moment his callused palm touched the apparition, he recoiled from the scorching chakra.

Staring at his slightly trembling hand, he suddenly burst into laughter. "Good! Excellent!"

This was the happiest day of his life. Two members of their clan had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan in one day.

And one of them was still so young. His future was bright!

His back suddenly straightened. His cloudy eyes swept over the crowd, and his voice was hoarse but each word rang clear. "I've lived through most of my life. I've seen the Uchiha at their height, and I've seen the predicament we're in now."

He paused and struck his cane hard against the ground, sending dust fluttering from the flagstones. "But today, the day our clan rises has finally come!"

"You're impressive," he said to Uchiha Izumi.

But Uchiha Izumi didn't indulge him. She merely took her little brother's hand and drew him behind her.

Uchiha Setsuna's expression stiffened for a moment, but he had weathered plenty of storms in his time and quickly recovered.

Uchiha Setsuna tapped his cane lightly, a meaningful smile playing on his lips. "The way you're protecting your little brother reminds me of Lord Madara in the old days."

His cloudy gaze passed over Ao behind Uchiha Izumi as he paced slowly with his cane. "Lord Madara was just like that back then. He wouldn't allow anyone to hurt Izuna, not even a little."

Feeling the old man's gaze on him, Uchiha Ao found it a little disgusting.

Shisui had told him about this man before. He was one of the elders who supported their side.

But he was a true hawk. He'd sacrifice anything for the Uchiha Clan, so Ao had to be careful around him.

"Heh." Uchiha Setsuna noticed their resistance, stopped, and returned to his seat.

"Say whatever you came to say today. We old men won't stand in your way anymore."

The other elders nodded, agreeing with Setsuna.

They belonged to different factions, but now the Mangekyō had appeared—and there were two of them.

As men who'd lived through Madara's era, they understood the power of the Mangekyō.

It was the power of a god!

Uchiha Ao took a deep breath and slowly walked to the edge of the platform, his gaze sweeping over every face below, some shocked, others wary.

The flames leaping in the brazier stretched his shadow long, wavering across the mottled walls.

"Clansmen," he said. His voice wasn't particularly loud, but it carried clearly to everyone in the room. "Konoha was founded jointly by the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan."

"During the First's time, the Uchiha were Konoha's protectors and a legend in the Shinobi World! We should have been respected and trusted by the villagers."

"But what about now? The villagers of Konoha see us as evil. They shun us, despise us, and even wish they could wipe us out."

The Uchiha below grew grim at his words, their eyes filled with resentment and indignation.

"The Senju Clan, once so powerful, has now fallen into decline, while the Sarutobi Clan has taken the Hokage's seat!"

"Everyone, can't you see?"

"If we don't change, sooner or later we'll end up just like the Senju Clan!"

"Before the First died, he personally acknowledged that Lord Madara had the power to protect Konoha! But after Senju Tobirama succeeded him, he used the 'Bloodline Threat Theory' to push us out of the center of power. The Military Police Force is nothing but a cage meant to deceive us!"

A nameless Uchiha clansman in the crowd asked, "Then what should we do? Are you saying we should go to war with Konoha?"

"We're not going to war. We're taking back the dignity that belongs to us!"