Postwar Reckoning, Uchiha Fugaku's Submission

The raging sand above Wind Canyon gradually dispersed, and pale sunlight streamed through cracks in the cliff walls, illuminating this devastated battlefield.

Massive ravines crisscrossed the ground. Broken puppet parts and the corpses of Uchiha Police Force members lay mixed together in the mud. The air was thick with the stench of blood, along with the distinctive fresh scent of vegetation left behind by Wood Release.

Sosuke turned around and looked down from above at Uchiha Fugaku, who was slumped in the muddy water. His white haori remained spotless, without even a single crease, creating a stark contrast with Fugaku, who was drenched in blood and utterly disheveled.

Fugaku panted heavily. His three-tomoe Sharingan were bloodshot from chakra exhaustion, and two shocking trails of bloody tears even ran from the corners of his eyes. He raised his head and looked at this young man, gentle as jade yet as domineering as a god. Deep within him, the fortress known as "Uchiha pride" was collapsing with a deafening crash.

"What? Still haven't figured it out?" Sosuke strode forward, his boots splashing through the standing water with dull thuds. He stopped before Fugaku, the corner of his mouth curving into an undisguised sneer.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō sent you, their proud watchdog, to the western front not so you could win glory." Sosuke bent down slightly, his voice low, yet every word pierced the heart. "They wanted to use Hidden Sand's puppet masters' poisoned blades to bury you, along with the finest of your Uchiha clan, forever in the Land of Wind."

Fugaku's body jolted violently, his hands digging hard into the mud. Of course he was not stupid. The moment the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu ambushed them, he had realized it. The intelligence from the higher-ups had been entirely false. This was no small harassment force—it was Hidden Sand's full main army!

"If not for me, you would already be a cold corpse, and the Police Force you took such pride in would have been wiped out to the last man." Sosuke straightened, his eyes filled with absolute coldness. "Once word reaches Hidden Leaf, the Third Hokage will hypocritically hold a grand funeral for you, then naturally strip the Uchiha clan of its Police Force establishment. By then, with its elite and authority gone, what will the Uchiha clan use to withstand Root's assassinations?"

Fugaku's pupils contracted sharply, and cold sweat instantly drenched his back. The scene Sosuke described was far too real—so real that it suffocated him with fear.

"Y-you... what exactly do you want?" Fugaku's voice was terribly hoarse. None of the majesty he once possessed as the head of a great clan remained; there was only the panic of a beaten dog.

"Simple." Sosuke lightly swiped his long fingers through the air. An emerald-green wooden scroll grew from his palm and dropped into his hand. He casually tossed it at Fugaku's feet.

"Sign it."

With trembling hands, Fugaku picked up the scroll. After one glance, his face instantly turned as pale as paper.

It was an exceptionally harsh blood contract of master and servant. It explicitly stated that from this day onward, Uchiha Fugaku had to obey every command from Senju Sosuke without condition; the Uchiha Police Force would secretly become the Senju Clan's private army; and Fugaku himself had to surrender the highest access authority to the Uchiha clan's underground treasury and ninjutsu vault.

This was no alliance. It was clearly forcing the entire Uchiha clan to become the Senju Clan's dogs!

"Senju Sosuke! Don't push people too far!" Fugaku abruptly raised his head. His remaining pride made him grit his teeth and roar, "The Uchiha clan is one of the founding clans that established Hidden Leaf alongside the Senju clan! If I sign such a humiliating treaty, how could I face my ancestors after death?!"

"Ancestors?" Sosuke seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world and could not help but laugh softly. His eyelids lowered, and a chilling green gleam erupted in his eyes.

Buzz!

The terrifying pressure of his perfected Sage Body erupted without restraint. The surrounding air instantly became incomparably viscous, while the muddy water on the ground was violently forced outward by that invisible power.

Fugaku felt as though a mountain had smashed brutally onto his back. He let out a muffled groan as both knees crashed heavily into the ground, unable to even raise his head. His bones creaked under the unbearable pressure.

"You can't even protect your wife and child while you're alive, and you still dare talk to me about ancestors?" Sosuke walked before him and planted his boot directly on the back of Fugaku's hand, the one pinning down the scroll.

The pressure gradually increased.

Fugaku's face twisted in agony, but he clenched his teeth tightly.

"Madara Uchiha abandoned you long ago. The Uchiha clan of today is nothing more than a pack of trash smugly clinging to their incomplete Sharingan." Sosuke's voice was like one from an icy hell. "Today, I can beat the One-Tail Shukaku like a pet. Tomorrow, I can level your Uchiha clan grounds to the earth. I'm not asking you to sign. I'm granting you the mercy of staying alive."

Sosuke suddenly exerted force beneath his foot, crushing the finger bones in Fugaku's hand.

"Aah—!" Fugaku finally could not hold back his miserable scream.

"Sign, and the Uchiha clan can continue to barely survive. Refuse, and I'll crush your skull right now, then return to the village and take Mikoto for myself while wiping the Uchiha clan completely off Hidden Leaf's map." Sosuke looked down at him. "Choose, Clan Head."

Survival or destruction—there was no need to think about such a choice.

After witnessing Deep Forest Emergence reshape the terrain in an instant, after witnessing divine power capable of draining a tailed beast's essence barehanded, Fugaku's mental defenses had already been completely shattered.

Trembling, he raised his other uninjured hand, bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood, and pressed it onto the contract formation at the bottom of the scroll.

A flash of blood-red light appeared, and the scroll transformed into a streak of light that disappeared into Sosuke's palm.

"A wise choice." Sosuke removed his foot, and the chill in his eyes instantly faded, restoring his gentle, jade-like appearance.

But he did not stop there. Sosuke suddenly crouched down, held his right hand together like a blade, and stabbed toward Fugaku's left chest with lightning speed.

Squelch!

Fugaku had no time to react. A sharp pain tore through his chest. Sosuke's two fingers pierced through his flesh and stopped at the edge of his beating heart.

"Lord Sosuke... you..." Fugaku was terrified.

"Relax. It's just a little insurance." A wisp of incomparably pure Yang Release chakra overflowed from Sosuke's fingertips, forming a tiny wooden curse seal that he directly implanted onto Fugaku's heart valve.

"This Wood Release curse seal will normally nourish your body with Yang Release and help heal your hidden injuries. But if even the slightest thought of betraying me enters your mind..." Sosuke withdrew his fingers, and not even a drop of blood had stained his fair skin. "It will instantly take root and sprout, twisting your heart into a lump of pulp."

Fugaku clutched his chest, feeling the strange warmth within his heart, and felt as if he had fallen into an abyss. He knew that from this moment onward, his life—and even the life of the entire Uchiha clan—was completely in this man's grasp.

"This subordinate... understands." Fugaku lowered his proud head, pressing his forehead into the muddy water as he performed an exceedingly humble gesture of submission.

Sosuke stood up, took out a handkerchief from his robes, and leisurely wiped his hands before casually tossing it onto Fugaku's head.

"Gather up whoever remains of your Uchiha. Tell them I risked my life using a forbidden technique to drive back Hidden Sand. As for Shukaku and Wood Release, anyone who leaks even half a word will be executed without mercy."

Sosuke turned to look in Hidden Leaf's direction, ambition churning in his deep eyes.

"Rest for half a day, then return in triumph. It's time to bring good news to our Hokage."

Three days later, Hidden Leaf Village, Hokage Building.

Inside the spacious Hokage's office, the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, dressed in his Hokage robes, sat behind his broad desk, puffing steadily on his pipe. Thick smoke obscured his age-spotted face, making it flicker in and out of view.

Shimura Danzō stood by the window with his cane, his sole remaining eye coldly watching the bustling street below.

"By my calculations, the battle report from the western front should arrive today." Danzō spoke coldly. "That old woman Chiyo may be troublesome, but dealing with a Senju brat whose chakra pathways are completely ruined and a group of Uchiha stripped of their heavy firepower should be effortless."

"Danzō, make sure it's clean." Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled a ring of smoke, his tone carrying a hint of hypocritical regret. "Sosuke is, after all, the Senju Clan's last male descendant. If he dies in battle, Tsunade will likely make quite a scene. We must insist that Hidden Sand was to blame."

"Hmph. For Hidden Leaf's stability, certain sacrifices are necessary." Danzō snorted disdainfully. "Once Sosuke dies, the Senju Clan's inheritance and that Uchiha girl will lose all protection. I will personally take over the Senju Clan Grounds."

Just as the two plotted how to divide the spoils after the war—

Bang!

The office door was violently pushed open. A ninja wearing an ANBU mask stumbled and crawled inside, holding high a bloodstained red emergency scroll.

"Lord Hokage! The western front... an eight-hundred-mile urgent battle report from the western front!" The ANBU ninja's voice had even changed pitch from extreme excitement and terror.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned, a sudden sense of foreboding rising in his heart. He put down his pipe and said gravely, "What are you panicking for? Read it!"

The ANBU ninja opened the scroll with trembling hands, swallowed, and announced loudly, "Three days ago, our forces were ambushed by Hidden Sand's main army in Wind Canyon! Enemy commander Chiyo released the One-Tail Shukaku and deployed the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu!"

Hearing this, a smug sneer appeared on Danzō's lips. Shukaku combined with the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu—there would not even be ashes left of that Senju brat.

Yet the ANBU ninja's next words struck the two like thunder from the nine heavens.

"Advisor Senju Sosuke broke through in battle, unleashing his life-or-death potential. By himself, he shattered the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu and severely wounded the One-Tail Shukaku head-on! Chiyo fled with grave injuries, and Hidden Sand's main force collapsed across the entire front!"

"Advisor Sosuke is currently leading the remaining troops, escorting Hidden Sand prisoners, and returning to the village in triumph!"

The office fell into deathly silence.

Clatter.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand suddenly trembled, and the beloved pipe that had accompanied him for decades slipped from his grasp, crashing heavily onto the solid wooden desk. Scorching tobacco and sparks scattered out, burning the freshly drafted "Senju Sosuke Death-in-Battle Compensation Notice" on the desktop.