Numb with Surprise

Uchiha Clan Compound, shrine hall.

Zhengye's words fell like a bomb, and everyone present went silent.

Everyone stared at Zhengye in shock. They had never expected that he had come to force the clan head from his position!

Fugaku abruptly rose to his feet, his eyes boring into Zhengye. The corner of his eye twitched, and veins bulged on his neck.

"Bastard!"

"Though you deserve credit for persuading Itachi to return, that does not give you the right to act recklessly!"

"You want me to step down? You are not qualified!"

Time was short, and Zhengye had no intention of arguing with Fugaku. After all, in the Uchiha Clan, the strongest fist was the truth!

Clang!

With a piercing scrape, Zhengye drew his blade and pointed it at Fugaku.

"The Uchiha need a new voice. Uchiha Fugaku, you are old. You are no longer fit to be clan head!"

Fugaku's face darkened. "Zhengye! Have you lost your mind?!"

The people around them erupted in an uproar. They had seen radicals before, but never one this radical!

He was directly challenging the clan head!

Faced with this, Fugaku naturally could not back down in the slightest.

"Good. You actually dare challenge me!"

Zhengye pushed off the ground and shot toward Fugaku like lightning. "Too much talk!"

Against someone who dared challenge his authority, he decided to defeat him swiftly and decisively.

Only then could he uphold the dignity of the clan head!

Fugaku snorted coldly and stared straight into Zhengye's eyes as his ocular power suddenly erupted!

The surrounding clansmen were all elites. They immediately sensed a surging wave of ocular power shooting toward Zhengye.

"It is the clan head's genjutsu!"

"Looks like Zhengye is going to suffer!"

"Did he really think the clan head was someone he could challenge?"

Although Fugaku could be somewhat indecisive, his personal strength was far from lacking.

He had earned the title "Wicked-Eyed Fugaku" during the Third Shinobi World War, which proved that he specialized in genjutsu.

With his ocular power surging forth like this, anyone unprepared would naturally be unable to defend against it.

But Zhengye was different. He had come prepared to display his strength.

Facing Fugaku's genjutsu, he directly unleashed his full power.

Mangekyō Sharingan—activate!

Before everyone's eyes, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan instantly split apart, transforming into three diamond-shaped patterns.

The exploding ocular power crashed head-on into Fugaku's.

Fugaku felt as though his mind had slammed into a mountain wall.

Step... step... His head spun, and he could not help taking a step back.

"M-Mangekyō Sharingan?!" The surrounding people cried out in shock!

It was not over yet!

"Susanoo!" Zhengye shouted, chakra and ocular power mingling as they erupted violently.

The chakra rapidly took shape, forming a gray skeleton around his body!

It reached out and grabbed at Fugaku!

It really was the Mangekyō Sharingan!

Fugaku was both shocked and furious!

But at a time like this, he absolutely could not let Susanoo seize him in its hand!

Whoosh!

Equally surging chakra and ocular power burst violently from Fugaku's body.

A purple-black Susanoo instantly took form!

Clang!

A dull collision rang out as the two Susanoo smashed head-on into each other!

Surging chakra spilled outward, throwing every clansman nearby to the ground.

"Susanoo?!"

"The clan head has the Mangekyō Sharingan too?!"

Fugaku stared fixedly at Zhengye. Once the shock and anger in his eyes faded, delight appeared on his face.

"Good, good, good! I never expected you to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"I forgive your disrespect!"

"And I will add another seat among the clan elders!"

Zhengye stepped back, but did not dismiss his Susanoo.

"Uchiha Fugaku, I already said it. Today, you must relinquish the position of clan head!"

Fugaku frowned and snorted angrily.

"Zhengye, do you think awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan makes you qualified to become clan head?!"

"Look around the clan. How many people do you think would support you?!"

Everyone present was an Uchiha elite, each commanding at least five to ten squads. They looked back and forth.

In the end, they still turned their gazes toward Fugaku.

After all, if both sides possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, they were still more willing to support Fugaku, the old clan head.

After a brief silence, two young clansmen stepped behind Zhengye.

One was called Dongyou, the other Junxia. Both were pillars of the radical faction and had long despised Fugaku's conservatism.

Their thinking was simple. Zhengye had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan at such a young age, so his future was surely limitless.

Even if he failed to become clan head today, supporting him early would make them ministers who had backed a future ruler.

Zhengye nodded at them, then waved toward Itachi and the others.

"What if you add them?"

As soon as his words fell, Inabi was the first to respond. He glared fiercely at Fugaku, and rage rose within him as he looked at that face still filled with pride and dignity!

"Step down, Fugaku! You are utterly unworthy of being clan head!"

Even more surging, violent chakra and ocular power burst forth.

The Three-Tomoe Sharingan in Inabi's eyes instantly split into three intersecting rings.

A fiery-red Susanoo skeleton burst out from his body!

The surrounding clansmen widened their eyes, and some even rose unconsciously to their feet.

"Susanoo... Inabi has awakened the Mangekyō too?!"

Fugaku's pupils shrank slightly as he looked at Inabi in disbelief.

Inabi had reached the Three-Tomoe Sharingan long ago, but he had still been some distance from the top Uchiha. Fugaku had never expected him to awaken the Mangekyō without a word!

However...

The surprises Zhengye brought him tonight did not end there.

Two equally surging waves of chakra erupted from Itachi and Shisui behind Zhengye.

Orange-red and emerald-green Susanoo appeared around Itachi and Shisui as well.

"My god... Itachi and Shisui both have the Mangekyō!"

Everyone present had been shocked numb. There had been too many surprises in one day; it all felt like a dream.

"Fugaku, do you still want to fight?"

Fugaku's pupils contracted violently.

Four.

Four Susanoo.

His gaze moved from Zhengye to Inabi, then to Itachi and Shisui—each Mangekyō pattern flickered with an ominous light beneath the candle flames.

He only had one.

After a long silence.

Fugaku slowly closed his eyes, and the purple-black chakra of his Susanoo dissipated into the air.

When he opened them again, the fighting spirit in his eyes was gone, leaving only exhaustion and unwillingness.

"...What do you want?"

Zhengye and the other three also withdrew their Susanoo at the same time.

Yet the lingering chakra fluctuations continued to churn through the shrine hall.

Itachi raised his head and looked at his father, who was still forcing himself to hold on. The last trace of hesitation in his heart vanished.

"Father, step down."

Itachi, who had just been admitting his mistakes, now stood firmly at Zhengye's side.

Shisui's tone was gentle, but he was utterly serious. "Lord Fugaku, you are not suited to be clan head. Please step down."

Fugaku fell silent. He did not know what had happened. Even Shisui, who had always respected him most, had joined the ranks forcing him from office.

He let out a breath, with no time to rejoice over their awakening of the Mangekyō.

His voice came out somewhat strained. "Zhengye, what do you want?"

"Do you intend to stage a violent coup?!"

Before this, Fugaku had not worried about such a thing at all. No matter how strong the Uchiha were, they could at most fight three or four opponents alone.

But after awakening Susanoo, their strength underwent a qualitative transformation.

With several Mangekyō Sharingan users like this, their odds of successfully attacking Konoha would be very high.

"A violent coup? Do you want the women and children of the clan to be buried with us?"

Zhengye's gaze swept across every clansman present.

"What I want is not war, but survival. The greatest victory at the smallest cost."