Barging into the Clan Meeting!

Boom—

The echo crashed through the vast hall and lingered for a long time.

Dust churned wildly in the beams of sunlight.

The shrine hall, once dim, was now dazzlingly bright.

Dozens of figures kneeling on cushions turned at the same time. Dozens of pairs of red eyes, like ghostly flames, locked dead onto the backlit figure at the door.

Killing intent.

Killing intent so tangible it instantly filled every inch of space.

"Who's there?!"

A furious shout rang out.

A black shadow shot out from the darkness on the left.

Fast.

It came with a shriek that tore through the air.

It was Inabi Uchiha, the elite jonin in charge of security for the clan meeting.

Cold light flashed.

A kunai stopped precisely in front of Xuan Shi's throat.

The blade's tip was only a millimeter from his skin.

He could even feel the chill radiating from the metal, raising a layer of goose bumps along his neck.

"Anyone who intrudes on the clan meeting is to be executed by clan law!"

Inabi's hand was very steady.

He stared at Xuan Shi, the three tomoe in his eyes slowly rotating, sealing off every path of retreat.

If Xuan Shi dared move so much as a finger, this kunai would cut through his windpipe.

The hall was utterly silent.

Every gaze focused on that blade.

Xuan Shi did not move.

He did not even blink.

His eyelids lowered, he looked at Inabi's taut face, then glanced at the kunai laid across his neck.

Too slow.

After experiencing Obito's despair-inducing Kamui, and Itachi's Body Flicker Technique, where he could not even see the movement.

Inabi's speed was like watching a slow-motion replay.

"October twenty-fifth."

Xuan Shi's lips parted lightly, and he spoke a date.

His voice was not loud, flat as if he were reciting a dish from a menu.

"What?" Inabi froze for a moment, and the kunai in his hand instinctively pushed half an inch forward, piercing Xuan Shi's skin.

Beads of blood seeped out.

"I said."

Xuan Shi ignored the sting at his neck, his gaze passing over Inabi's shoulder to look straight at the man kneeling in the main seat at the front of the hall.

"The date you set for the coup is October twenty-fifth. The night of the full moon. Codename: 'Bloodless Surrender.'"

Clang!

At the main seat, a teacup overturned on the table.

Scalding tea spilled down, dripping onto the tatami and sending up white steam.

Uchiha Fugaku shot to his feet.

This clan head, always known for his composure, now had the muscles in his face twitching violently.

In those dignified eyes, his pupils had shrunk to pinpricks.

"Stop!"

Fugaku let out a sharp shout.

The wave of sound shook the paper windows of the hall.

Inabi's hand froze.

He turned back to look at the clan head in disbelief, then looked again at the expressionless young man before him.

October twenty-fifth?

That was top secret.

That was the highest-level secret that had just been finalized ten minutes ago in this sealed hall by several core elders, before they had even had time to put anything in writing.

Aside from the dozens of people present, no outsider could possibly know.

Deathly silence.

This silence was even more complete than before.

Even the sound of breathing vanished.

Everyone's expression changed. From anger to terror, then to deep suspicion.

An ordinary chunin of the Police Force.

A marginal figure who did not even have the qualifications to enter this place.

How did he know?

Was there a bug here?

Or... among the higher-ups present, was there a traitor?

"Stand down."

Fugaku squeezed two words through his teeth.

Inabi gritted his teeth and unwillingly withdrew the kunai, retreating to the side. But the vigilance in his eyes did not disappear. Instead, it grew even thicker.

Xuan Shi lifted his hand and wiped away the trace of blood on his neck with his thumb.

He stepped forward and walked into the hall.

His leather boots struck the hundred-year-old wooden floor, making dull, steady taps.

He walked past clan members wearing all kinds of expressions.

Some were wiping away sweat, some had their hands pressed to their sword hilts, and some had flickering gazes, not daring to look at him.

A panorama of human nature.

These were the elites of the Uchiha Clan.

They bared their fangs and brandished their claws before the village, yet before a true crisis, they panicked like rats.

"Xuan Shi."

A gloomy voice sounded from the right.

Yashiro Uchiha.

Deputy captain of the Police Force, leader of the radicals, and also the man who had locked Xuan Shi in solitary confinement in his previous life.

Yashiro stood and blocked Xuan Shi's path.

His long, narrow eyes narrowed into slits, dangerous light flickering within them.

"Explain yourself."

Yashiro's knuckles cracked as he clenched his fingers. "Who told you? Was it the Anbu? Or... Itachi Uchiha?"

If it was Itachi, that meant the clan head's eldest son had completely betrayed the family.

That was a bomb powerful enough to blow up the entire clan.

All gazes converged once more.

Xuan Shi stopped.

He looked at Yashiro, the corners of his mouth curving into a mocking arc.

"Does who told me matter?"

Xuan Shi spread his hands and looked around. "What matters is that the secrecy measures you're so proud of, this so-called 'flawless' plan of yours, look to others like a naked clown."

"You!" Yashiro flew into a rage.

"You can't even guard the shrine doors. Even a chunin like me could kick them open and walk in."

Xuan Shi cut him off, his voice abruptly rising. "And with that kind of competence, you still want to kidnap the Hokage? Still want to control the Nine-Tails? What a joke!"

"How dare you!"

An elder with a head of white hair slammed the table and rose, his beard trembling wildly. "Ignorant brat! Is the power of the Uchiha something you can fathom? As long as we activate our Sharingan, controlling the Nine-Tails will be effortless! The Third is old, Danzo is sinister, but in the face of absolute power, plots and schemes are useless!"

"Power?"

Xuan Shi turned and looked at that elder.

"Could this so-called power of yours bring Shisui back?"

The air instantly froze.

Shisui.

That name was like a thorn stabbing into the nerves of everyone present.

"Shisui was an accident!" the elder argued, his face flushed. "He was..."

"He had his eye gouged out by Danzo and was driven to jump into the river and kill himself!"

Xuan Shi suddenly roared.

His voice exploded through the hall, making everyone's eardrums ache.

"This is the absolute power you're talking about? This is the uselessness of schemes you're talking about?"

"The strongest genjutsu ninja, the clan's trump card, was slaughtered like a dog! Not only did you not avenge him, you shut yourselves in here and dream your impossible dreams!"

Xuan Shi pressed closer step by step, his finger almost jabbing the elder in the nose.

"Wake up!"

"The real blade is already at your throats! They're already sharpening their knives, and you're still discussing how to divide the meat!"

"How is this a coup meeting?"

"This is clearly a suicide note written for the Uchiha Clan!"

"Shut up!!!"

Yashiro could no longer hold back.

Being pointed at and cursed in public by a junior, this humiliation felt worse than death to him.

Boom!

Chakra erupted.

Yashiro's figure instantly disappeared.

The next second, he appeared in front of Xuan Shi, his right hand forming a claw. With a wind that tore the air, it shot straight for Xuan Shi's face.

He had killing intent.

The surrounding clan members did not stop him.

Fugaku did not speak either.

In their eyes, Xuan Shi had already gone mad. If a madman died, then so be it.

A fierce wind rushed toward his face.

It tossed Xuan Shi's bangs into disorder.

He looked at the claw rapidly enlarging in his field of vision.

Just like in his previous life.

Arrogant, violent, unable to listen to a single word of truth.

This was the sickness of the Uchiha.

It had to be treated.

And it required strong medicine.

Xuan Shi did not dodge.

He stood where he was, letting Yashiro's attack close in.

But deep in his consciousness.

That sleeping black speck of light was awakened.

It was the reel of memories he had traded for with Akane's life and the blood of the entire clan in his previous life.

It was the ticket to hell.

"System."

"Play."

Buzz—

An indescribably cold aura exploded from Xuan Shi's body.

This aura was not about the quantity of chakra.

It was about quality.

It was pure Yin Release power, the ultimate spiritual energy.

The temperature inside the hall instantly dropped to freezing.

All the candle flames went out in that instant.

Darkness descended.

Yashiro's movements stiffened.

His claw stopped three inches in front of Xuan Shi's face and could not advance another inch.

Because his body was trembling.

It was the instinctive fear of a living creature.

He saw a pair of eyes.

In the darkness, Xuan Shi suddenly opened his eyes.

His originally black pupils were gone.

In their place was a churning sea of blood.

And above that sea of blood, a black gear pattern rotating counterclockwise was slowly turning.

Click.

Click.

It was like a countdown for every person present.

"Since you won't listen."

Xuan Shi's voice rang out in the darkness.

It did not sound human.

It was more like the whisper of an evil ghost that had crawled up from the depths of hell.

"Since you put such blind faith in the power of eyes."

"Then open your damn eyes wide."

"And take a good look."

Boom!

A psychic storm swept across the entire place.

Every Uchiha clansman who had activated the Sharingan felt, in that instant, as if their optic nerves had been forcibly seized.

Images.

Countless blood-red images, carrying a scalding heat, were violently shoved into their brains.

"Look... at the hell three days from now!"