Kakashi's Probe! Killing the Chicken to Warn the Monkeys!

"Shameless boasting!" the Anbu in the lead roared. The long blade in his hand carried a shrill whistle of wind as it cleaved straight toward Yuan's throat.

The other twenty-nine Anbu had perfect tacit understanding. Six of them flung out a sky full of shuriken, sealing off all of Yuan's escape routes, while the other twenty-plus rapidly formed hand seals. Multicolored chakra light instantly lit up the crossroads.

"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"

"Lightning Release: Earth Flow!"

Water and lightning mixed together, turning into a huge conductive net that swept madly along the ground toward Yuan. With this formation, forget jonin—even elite jonin would be paralyzed in an instant if they were the slightest bit careless, then hacked to death by a storm of blades.

But today, they had run into a monster who made no sense at all.

"Flashy junk." Yuan did not even lift an eyelid. His foot stamped hard on the bluestone slabs.

"Boom!"

The ground beneath his feet could not withstand that terrifying burst of force and collapsed with a crash. Shattered stones shot out in every direction like bullets. Yuan's figure dragged out a black afterimage where he stood, and he forcefully slammed straight through that net of lightning and water.

Kage-level chakra formed a visible layer of violent airflow over his body. The lightning that was powerful enough to paralyze nerves struck him, yet did not even raise the slightest spark.

The leading Anbu's long blade had just fallen when he realized the person before him was gone. Before he could react, a hand like an iron pincer had already clamped hard over his face.

"Your speed is too slow."

Yuan's voice sounded beside his ear, like a death warrant from hell. Immediately after, Yuan exerted force with one arm, directly lifting this Anbu, who weighed over a hundred jin, into the air and using him like a giant human baseball bat to smash viciously at the three Anbu charging in from the side.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The dull thuds of bodies colliding were accompanied by the sound of bones snapping. The four Anbu crashed together like bowling pins, smashing a huge dent into the metal roll-up door of a closed shop nearby. All of them collapsed limply to the ground, their fates unknown.

The remaining Anbu sucked in a cold breath, but years of training made them suppress their fear and continue lunging in to kill him.

Unfortunately, before absolute strength and extreme taijutsu, numbers meant nothing.

Yuan charged into the crowd and completely gave up on defense. His left leg swept out, kicking through two Anbu's calves like a horse-cleaving saber; his right hand formed a fist, wrapped in an ear-piercing sonic boom, and blasted into another Anbu's chest. That man's sternum instantly caved in, and his entire body flew more than ten meters like a kite with its string cut, only stopping after snapping a utility pole.

[Ding! Killed Root remnant ×1. Obtained green fragments ×10!]

[Ding! Heavily injured Root remnants ×5. Obtained green fragments ×30!]

[Berserk value continuing to surge...]

The system notifications jumped wildly in his mind. The more Yuan fought, the more excited he became, and the scarlet Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes spun faster and faster. Ten minutes. Only ten minutes.

The crossroads had completely turned into ruins. Blood and broken ninja tools covered the ground. Thirty elite Anbu sent by the higher-ups lay scattered everywhere, hands and feet broken, their wails joining into one continuous chorus.

The only person who could still barely stand was a chunin who had been hiding at the very back, casting ninjutsu. He leaned against the corner of a wall, half his mask shattered, his entire body trembling as he watched Yuan press closer step by step.

"You... you demon! Lord Third and the advisors will never let you off!" That Anbu pointed at Yuan with a trembling hand and cursed at the top of his lungs.

Yuan walked up to him and looked down at him from above. Before he could keep cursing out the next sentence, Yuan directly raised his foot and stomped heavily on his knee. With a crack, the entire leg bent backward.

"Ah—!" The scream tore through the sky.

Yuan reached out, grabbed his collar, and lifted him up, while his other hand clamped around his neck. "I've got a bad temper. I can't stand dogs barking. Who gave you the order to block me just now? That old bastard the Third, or those two old fossils of advisors?"

The Anbu was choked until his eyes rolled back, bloody foam spilling from his mouth, unable to say a word.

Yuan sneered and suddenly exerted force with his hand. "Crack." The sound of his neck bones breaking was exceptionally crisp. This Anbu, who had cursed the fiercest, died on the spot and was thrown to the ground like a pile of mud.

Yuan turned around, stepped through the blood covering the ground, and shouted at the surroundings, "Anyone else not convinced? Crawl out together!"

The surroundings were frighteningly quiet. The civilians hiding in houses far away had long since covered their ears in terror.

Just then, a breeze swept past the utility pole nearby. A man wearing a face mask, with short silver hair, silently appeared on it. His forehead protector sat askew, covering one eye, and he held a small orange-covered book in his hand, yet every muscle in his body was stretched taut.

"That was quite the commotion, Yuan." Kakashi Hatake stared down at the miserable scene below with his one eye, his tone carrying probing and vigilance. "You trampled the higher-ups' dignity underfoot. Do you really want to start a civil war in the village?"

Yuan raised his head, those Mangekyo Sharingan staring coldly at Kakashi. "Kakashi Hatake. I hadn't gone looking for you, but you delivered yourself to my door instead."

He raised his hand and pointed at the left eye Kakashi had covered with his forehead protector, his tone extremely arrogant. "Don't put on that lecturing senior act in front of me. That eye of yours was given to you by someone else, too. An outsider using our Uchiha eye—what right do you have to question me here? Get down here and talk!"

Kakashi's body stiffened. Yuan's words were like a knife stabbing directly into his weak spot. The image of Obito before his death flashed through his mind. The hand holding the book exerted slight force, but in the end, he sighed.

"I'm not here to fight you." Kakashi jumped down from the utility pole, keeping a safe distance. "I only wanted to remind you that the higher-ups won't just swallow this humiliation."

As soon as he finished speaking, a wave of orderly footsteps came from the other end of the street.

Dozens of fully armed regular Anbu escorted three people over. Walking at the very front was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, leaning on a cane. Although he had stepped down, he still wore the long robe that represented authority. Following beside him were the two senior advisors, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado.

Koharu looked at the Anbu maimed all over the ground, the wrinkles on her face bunching together as she harshly scolded, "Uchiha Yuan! You actually dared to kill Anbu in the village streets! Tsunade may shield you, but our elder council will not indulge you!"

The Third coughed twice. His cloudy eyes looked at Yuan as he adopted an earnest and sincere attitude. "Yuan, what happened with Danzo was the village's mistake. Tsunade has already issued a wanted order. But Root's organization cannot be thrown into chaos. I have already decided to appoint a new Anbu commander-in-chief to take over the remaining forces. Your actions these past few days have gone too far. Stop now."

Yuan looked at these three old bastards who were still putting on airs as higher-ups and suddenly burst into loud laughter.

"Hahahaha! Take over the remaining forces? Then keep doing those shameful things in the dark?" Yuan's laughter abruptly stopped, and his short blade instantly left its sheath. "You can't understand human speech, can you?"

He strode forward, red chakra burning around him like flames. "I gave Tsunade one month. But today, you came to me yourselves."

Yuan raised the tip of his blade and pointed it at the Third's nose. "First, the Old Uchiha Clan Compound will be completely managed by us. Any Anbu who steps inside dies. Second, hand over the full list of all Anbu who participated in the massacre and eye-digging six years ago, without missing a single name. Don't force me to peel off the skin of you old bastards and find it myself!"

Homura Mitokado shook with rage. "You... this is rebellion!"

"You won't give it?" Yuan did not hesitate at all. He kicked off the ground and charged straight at the Third, the short blade in his hand carrying the electric glow of Lightning Release as it cleaved mercilessly toward the Third's face.

He really dared to kill the higher-ups!

Kakashi was shocked. He had just been about to form seals to stop him when he realized Yuan was too fast. He could not catch up at all.

"Wait!" The Third's pupils shrank, and the cane in his hand slammed hard into the ground. "I agree!"

The blade stopped less than three inches above the Third's head. The violent Lightning Release glow directly sliced off several strands of the Third's white hair. The Third's back was already soaked with cold sweat. He was a politician, and he knew too well that the young man in front of him truly did not care about consequences. If he died here today, all power would be gone.

"The clan compound's control will be returned immediately. The list... tomorrow night, I will have someone deliver it to Tsunade." The Third gritted his teeth, squeezing out every word through the gaps between them.

Yuan put away his blade and swept a cold glance over them. "Remember what you said. Now get lost."

A bloody battle that had been on the verge of erupting ended with the higher-ups backing down under Yuan's pure violent pressure.

Two hours later. Old Uchiha Clan Compound.

Aunt Mihui had brought the clan members and already cleared out a row of abandoned houses around the square. Several young, strong men were using wooden boards to repair windows that let in the wind.

When Yuan returned to the clan compound, Mihui was directing people as they hung a sign in front of a large house. "This will be our school and infirmary from now on. The clan compound can't just be an empty shell of ruins. The living need a place where they can properly keep living." Mihui looked at Yuan, a gratified smile on her face.

Yuan nodded and tossed the money bag he had exchanged for at the black market onto the table. "Take it. Buy some good medicinal herbs and food. If there isn't enough money, I'll go get more."

He turned to look at Sasuke, who was sitting in the corner of the corridor, still silent. Yuan walked over and slapped the back of Sasuke's head, the force neither too heavy nor too light.

"Who are you putting on that bitter, hate-filled face for all day?" Yuan pulled over a chair and sat down. "If you want revenge, go get stronger. The tears and silence of the weak mean nothing. Even if there's fire in your heart, you'd better compress it into chakra for me and vent it on the battlefield."

Sasuke raised his head, stubborn light flickering in his black eyes. "I understand, Brother Yuan. The Chunin Exams are about to begin. I'll prove myself in the exams."

Just then.

[Ding! System warning!]

[Detected S-rank enemy chakra fluctuations at the edge of the Hidden Leaf Village. Aura locked: Orochimaru.]

In Yuan's mind, the system's red warning flashed wildly. He turned his head and, through the broken courtyard wall, saw a utility pole outside the street plastered with a long row of eye-catching notices for the joint hosting of the Chunin Exams.

The corners of Yuan's mouth slowly curled into a dangerous arc.

"Orochimaru, huh..." He stood up and stretched lazily, the bones in his body cracking. "The Chunin Exams really are a good time. I just happen to still be short on Kage-level fragments. A punching bag made of snakeskin should feel pretty good."