Undercurrents and the Shadow of the Clan Meeting

The afterglow of the setting sun dyed the eaves of the Uchiha Clan Compound bloodred. Uchiha Ling finished training with Hinata and headed back through the deepening dusk. He had just passed through the archway carved with the fan clan crest when an unusual heaviness hit him head-on.

At this hour in the past, there should have been plenty of clan members strolling and chatting on the streets of the compound, or guiding the younger generation in their training. Today, however, there were few pedestrians, and every one of them walked in a hurry, their faces dark. Even the occasional conversation was kept low, as if they were afraid of disturbing something. Invisible gunpowder smoke hung in the air, and even the evening wind carried a sharp chill.

Uchiha Ling slowed his steps, and Basic Aura Sensing unfolded soundlessly. Within eighty meters, chakra fluctuations were several times more active than usual, yet chaotic and disordered, filled with anxiety, anger, and unease. Several especially sharp chakras were nailed into key points throughout the compound like javelins—the patrols of the Military Police Force had been strengthened.

He passed by the training grounds and heard several young clan members talking heatedly.

"...They actually dared to detain our people!"

"They say they're investigating a conflict, but they're clearly making things difficult on purpose!"

"We can't endure this anymore! We have to let the village know the Uchiha have backbone!"

The voices stopped abruptly when they saw him. Those clan members glanced at him, their gazes complicated—there was recognition of him as a fellow Uchiha, and also distance toward him, an "outsider." Uchiha Ling nodded expressionlessly in greeting, but waves were already rising in his heart. The conflict had escalated. The radical sentiment within the clan was on the verge of going out of control.

After returning to his secluded little house, he bolted the door, but did not light a lamp. In the darkness, he sat cross-legged and pushed his perception to the limit. Countless fine threads of chakra converged from every direction toward the center of the compound. That was the direction of Naka Shrine—tonight, a clan meeting that would decide their fate would be held there.

At first, there was dead silence. It was like the suffocating calm before a storm.

Then the first thunderclap exploded.

A violent chakra fluctuation rose into the sky like beacon smoke, accompanied by countless startled auras. Even from so far away, Uchiha Ling could "hear" that soundless roar—it was fury and humiliation pushed to the extreme.

Immediately afterward, even more chakra was ignited. Like sparks dropped into boiling oil, intense emotions surged over through the resonance of chakra: unwilling roars, desperate arguments, fanatical shouts, icy pressure... They wove together into an invisible net, enveloping the entire compound and tightening until it was hard to breathe.

Cold sweat seeped from Uchiha Ling's temples. He "saw" the two largest chakras colliding fiercely. One side was like a suppressed volcano, scorching and dangerous. It should be the clan head, Fugaku. The other side was as cold as a blade, carrying a decisive edge. That was... Itachi.

Just then, on this battlefield of conscious perception, a weak, panicked aura was stumbling toward his direction. That aura was like a bird startled by the mere twang of a bowstring, carrying the smell of blood and fear on the verge of collapse.

Uchiha Ling abruptly opened his eyes.

Almost at the same time, staggering footsteps stopped outside the door, accompanied by the grating sound of fingernails scraping against the wooden door and suppressed sobs.

"Ling... Ling... save me..."

He flashed behind the door in an instant, a kunai sliding into his palm as he lowered his voice. "Who is it?"

"It's Taku... Uchiha Taku..." The voice outside the door was utterly broken. "They... they're going to kill me..."

Uchiha Ling's pupils shrank slightly, and he yanked the door open. A blood-soaked figure fell in and collapsed straight into his arms. It was Uchiha Taku, a branch-family child who, like him, had lost both parents, and had always been timid by nature. At this moment, his face was covered in blood, his left arm twisted at an unnatural angle, and only the most primal fear remained in his eyes.

"I heard... I heard it..." Uchiha Taku clutched his lapels tightly, as if grabbing the last straw, his words incoherent. "Coup... they decided to launch a coup... and there's cleansing... cleansing unstable seeds..."

Though he had prepared himself long ago, those two words still stabbed into Uchiha Ling's heart like icicles. He silently helped Taku onto the tatami, and pale-green medical chakra rose from his hands. Thanks to the knowledge from the Basic Medical Ninjutsu Manual and Shizune's guidance, he could perform emergency treatment. Chakra gently probed in, stopping the bleeding and stabilizing the injuries.

[Ding! Sign-in target detected: Uchiha Taku.]

[Interaction level: rescue + trust entrusted (sought shelter in a crisis).]

[Sign-in rewards being distributed...]

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained: Chakra Refinement Technique (high-efficiency version)! (Refinement speed increased by 50%)]

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained: Physique Enhancement (pain tolerance)! (Pain tolerance significantly increased)]

[Congratulations, host, you have obtained: 150 system points!]

[Target detected to be in a state of extreme fear and entrustment. Hidden reward unlocked: Uchiha Clan History Fragment (knowledge infusion)!]

A chakra circulation route far more complex and efficient than the current method crashed into his mind, and the efficiency of every meridian's usage was raised to a whole new level! At the same time, a cool energy merged into every limb and bone, as if covering his nerves with a layer of tough membrane. The most precious gains, however, were those vast and ancient fragments of memory—about the origins of the Uchiha, the taboos of Izanagi and Izanami, the secrets of the Naka Shrine Stone Tablet, the possibility of the Sharingan evolving to its utmost limit... Though incomplete, they opened a corner of history's fog for him.

"What does cleansing mean?" Uchiha Ling asked in a low voice while using bandages to secure Taku's broken arm, his voice so calm he did not sound like a child.

Taku's teeth were chattering. "It means... people like us... insignificant... and maybe... disobedient..." He suddenly raised his head, his eyes full of desperate tears. "Ling, what should I do? They'll kill me! I just... I only heard it by accident..."

Looking at this peer struggling in a hopeless situation, Uchiha Ling felt a chill of shared doom rise in his heart. In the eyes of the higher-ups, orphans like them were nothing more than pawns that could be discarded at any time.

"Listen, Taku." He pressed down on the other boy's uninjured right shoulder, his gaze as steady as bedrock. "Tonight, you only fell out of a tree during training and broke your arm. You heard nothing and saw nothing. Remember that. Say that to anyone, including me."

His eyes carried a force that brooked no doubt, making the panicked Taku nod subconsciously.

"Tomorrow morning," Uchiha Ling lowered his voice, almost whispering, "go to the largest public training ground on the east side of the compound. They need people there to repair equipment. Stay where there are a lot of people. Don't be alone, don't take part in any discussions, until... the storm passes."

This was the only thing he could give him: an obscure guide toward survival. In the bloody night that was about to arrive, a place where people gathered might hold a faint sliver of hope.

He stuffed some medicine and dry rations into Taku's ninja tool pouch, carefully erased the bloodstains and smell inside the house, then waited until the night was at its deepest before sending Taku out through the rear window, watching his staggering figure disappear into the shadows.

After shutting the window tight, Uchiha Ling leaned against the cold wall and slowly slid down to sit on the floor.

The room was deathly still, with only the sound of his own heartbeat gradually calming. The clan meeting in the distance seemed to have ended. Those violent chakra fluctuations gradually subsided, but a deeper, colder sense of despair swept in like a cold wave, seeping into every inch of the compound.

He knew the verdict had already been handed down. The gears of fate had begun their final high-speed rotation, racing madly toward that destined, blood-soaked end.

"Coup... cleansing... Itachi Uchiha..."

He murmured those words, the knuckles of his clenched fists turning white, yet because of Physique Enhancement, he could not feel the pain. There was only an icy flame burning in his chest.

The pathways of the high-efficiency Chakra Refinement Technique circulated automatically within his body. The natural energy around him was drawn in and transformed with greater efficiency. The knowledge of the Sharingan control technique whirled in his mind, and the Asauchi deep within his consciousness let out a soft, yearning cry. Rewards from myriad worlds had given him potential, but time... there was too little time!

He stood up, walked to the center of the room, and began forming hand seals. Chakra surged at an unprecedented speed, like a river bursting through a dam, rapidly filling his meridians. A fifty percent increase in efficiency seemed so precious at this moment. He needed strength. He needed to grow stronger faster, strong enough to preserve his own life within this torrent of destruction, and even... seize that slim chance to change something!

Moonlight passed through the window lattice, stretching the young man's tall, lonely silhouette and casting it against the cold wall like a sharp blade about to leave its sheath.

The storm had arrived. He had no other choice but to advance against the wind.