Stirrings on All Sides

Konoha.

"Another Uchiha has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan?"

Koharu Utatane, who had hurried over, cried out in alarm. Her gaze instantly focused on Hiruzen Sarutobi, Konoha's Hokage.

For a long time, Konoha's upper ranks had kept the Uchiha Clan confined to the police force, reducing the number sent to the battlefield in order to control the number of Sharingan.

It had been the same in the original story. Only because the Third Shinobi War had left them so desperately short of manpower had they sent the Uchiha to the front. Then Shisui Uchiha awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and even the Third Hokage had been dumbfounded when he blew himself up.

"This was my mistake," Hiruzen Sarutobi said bluntly.

"I never expected Uchiha Makoto, at such a young age, to already be capable of effortlessly reshaping the terrain. He possesses a third of Madara Uchiha's former bearing."

"Enough, Hiruzen! There's no use thinking about that now. The key is that we cannot allow the Uchiha Clan to continue developing like this!"

Koharu Utatane's gaze turned resolute.

"The Uchiha's strength will only bring disaster and destruction to Konoha!"

"But against a Susanoo of this level, there's nothing we can do."

Homura Mitokado's face was grave as he pointed at the report and asked, "Now that the Uchiha Clan has produced such a Mangekyō Sharingan, how should we handle this?"

"Their power is beyond our reach! If we faced them head-on, we wouldn't even be worthy of fighting them!"

The emergence of a new Kage-level powerhouse was extremely important to Konoha.

It did not merely mean that Konoha's military strength had increased.

It also meant more candidates for Hokage, providing stronger security for Konoha's future. They would not have to fear Konoha falling apart or even being left leaderless if the current Hokage died suddenly.

But why did it have to be an Uchiha?

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep pull from his pipe, his lowered eyes glancing toward Shimura Danzō, who stood nearby in restless agitation, as he soothed him.

"Seal off the news!"

"I am still the Hokage! Within the village, the Uchiha Clan does not yet have the power to defy everything!"

"The situation is still unclear. Do not act rashly. Especially you, Danzo!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi warned.

At that moment, Danzo's single eye, which had been worried about Konoha's future, suddenly widened as he retorted, "How can you slander me out of thin air!"

"Do your job. I'll handle the rest myself."

Hiruzen Sarutobi said.

Deep down, Hiruzen Sarutobi was still extremely unsettled by Uchiha Makoto.

After all, not long ago, he had left the man hanging, intending to take a bite out of him.

Now, he was facing a ruthless figure capable of rivaling Madara Uchiha, backed by a powerful ninja clan with a thousand-year legacy...

Present-day Konoha no longer had the Senju brothers to match them.

The gap in strength was too great, unless...

Forget it. He would test the waters first.

Hiruzen Sarutobi pressed down the Hokage's hat, his thoughts unknowable.

Meanwhile, unlike Konoha's concerns, the other ninja villages faced a more straightforward question—who was Uchiha Makoto?

"As expected of the Uchiha, a clan renowned for its geniuses. Even under repeated suppression by Konoha's upper ranks, such a powerhouse was still born."

"The Uchiha of old are returning!"

The Third Raikage looked at the secret report obtained from Konoha, his expression dark.

"The Uchiha are not Senju Hashirama. Our Cloud Village must grow stronger, or we'll only be at the mercy of others."

Still, he wondered whether the Uchiha's Susanoo was tougher, or his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

But none of that mattered right now. What mattered was what the other nations would do.

"Go! Send this to that old bastard Ōnoki. We can't bear this burden alone!"

"Yes, Lord Raikage."

Stone Village.

Unlike Konoha's bewildered helplessness after receiving the intelligence, Cloud Village's aggressiveness, the Sand ninja who were still busy searching for the Third Kazekage and had no time to spare, or the Third Mizukage, whose eyes flashed red as he vigorously pushed the Blood Mist Policy.

The Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, fell into prolonged silence after receiving intelligence from Konoha.

Unlike Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others, he only knew of Madara Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan. He did not know how much the strength of Mangekyō Sharingan users could vary.

Especially that Susanoo in the report, identical to Madara Uchiha's from back then—his fear of Madara was about to act up!

"Lord Tsuchikage..."

At that moment, seeing his father's despondent helplessness, Kitsuchi could no longer hold back and cautiously asked what they should do next.

What should they do?

Hearing his words, Ōnoki was asking himself the same thing.

Fight?

Could they win?

Or simply... surrender?

Ōnoki snorted coldly. He was not someone who would surrender without doing anything!

Damn Uchiha!

Ōnoki tossed out the report and struck it with a Dust Release attack, reducing it to ashes before turning to order.

"Kitsuchi, go recall the jinchūriki. I'll give you only three months. They must return within three months! If there are any problems, I'll handle them!"

Ōnoki was still at an acceptable age, in the prime of his life.

But his temper was also among the worst, resulting in an extremely poor relationship with the village's two jinchūriki—especially Rōshi, the Four-Tails jinchūriki, whose temper was equally explosive.

Their clashes, like needle against wheat awn, with neither willing to yield, meant that the two jinchūriki often traveled outside to train and rarely spent time in Stone Village.

But now was no time to dwell on such matters.

Ōnoki looked up at the sky.

Lord Mu, can we win?

To be honest, Ōnoki had no confidence in defeating an Uchiha on Madara Uchiha's level.

All of the Third Kage who had once basked in the afterglow of those two understood—this man named Uchiha Makoto was absolutely not someone a single village or clan could resist.

But he glanced at Akatsuchi and Kitsuchi behind him.

Hmph!

Even if he died, he would splash blood all over him!

In less than half a day, the major ninja villages, which had leaked intelligence to one another, had mostly made preparations in advance. To varying degrees, they had also begun considering an alliance—at least until Uchiha Makoto was dead.

Though the situation would undergo changes, it would ultimately develop into the form the masterminds needed.

As undercurrents surged through the major ninja villages, other forces began their own actions as well.

Before long, Uchiha Makoto's portrait appeared on the black market with an enormous bounty of over ten million ryō.

Unlike usual, this time the reward was for information on Madara Uchiha and high-definition footage of Uchiha Makoto's Susanoo fighting Mōryō, rather than his head.

Unfortunately, a certain unknown green-eyed rogue ninja from Waterfall Village, the future financial number one of the ninja world, was recruited before he could set his sights on his future boss.

Meanwhile, inside a cave in the Land of Grass that no one could detect...

"A complete-body Susanoo?"

Madara Uchiha looked at the enormous figure in the report and muttered to himself.

For a moment, he could not help reminiscing about the past—his days in the Uchiha Clan, the eyes he and his brother once possessed...

"Using Susanoo so willfully, how much longer will your eyes be able to see?"

"After experiencing despair and darkness, after coming to understand the cruelty of war, will you become a loyal supporter of the Eye of the Moon Plan as well, Uchiha... Makoto?"

The cave was quite dim, yet the crimson glow flowing from the spinning Sharingan was exceptionally dazzling.