Dead silence.
A suffocating silence shrouded the plaza before the Uchiha Shrine.
Fragments of golden Susanoo drifted slowly through the air like the last embers, fading away as they reflected faces frozen in shock, horror, and even shattered faith.
Fugaku Uchiha, once their strongest warrior, a man who had awakened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan and even summoned the godlike power of Susanoo... had lost. He had lost utterly, decisively, and so completely... that it inspired despair.
The Susanoo that could withstand an army of thousands had proved as fragile as paper before that incomparably condensed, violently scorching torrent of dark-red lava. It had shattered in a single blow!
Everyone's gaze unconsciously turned toward the figure at the center of the plaza, filled with indescribable fear and reverence.
The terrifying lava chakra around Kyohaku Uchiha had already receded, leaving only lingering heat in the air and hardened lava traces scattered across the ravaged ground. He stood there quietly, his breathing steady, as though that earth-shaking strike had merely been a casual gesture. Only his slowly rotating Four-Tomoe Sharingan still emitted a cold, eerie glow as it calmly swept over the crowd.
Wherever his gaze fell, whether on the Jonin who had been dissatisfied moments ago, the experienced elders, or the ordinary clansmen, they instinctively avoided his eyes and deeply lowered their ever-proud heads.
Strength.
This was the absolute deterrence brought by absolute strength.
All doubts, all defiance, all pride seemed laughable and feeble before that strike which had shattered Susanoo.
No one knew who was the first to drop to one knee and lower his head.
Then came the second, the third...
Like falling dominoes, more and more people followed.
In the end, every member of the Uchiha Clan in the plaza, whether willing or forced by that irresistible pressure, bowed