Uchiha Clan Assembly! Rearming the Forces!

"Okay." He tightened his arms around her, pulling her back into his embrace, his chin resting on the top of her head. His voice was soft yet steady, like issuing an unalterable clan decree, "If this happens again, I will definitely take you with me."

The moment Quan's body went limp, as if a string that had been stretched for too long had finally been released. The fingers gripping his robes were clenched tightly, the knuckles turning white, but the trembling stopped.

The following morning, a rare sight indeed: a large number of people gathered in the side hall of the Naka Shrine.

Natsu leaned back in the chair at the head of the table, holding a piece of intelligence that had just been transmitted from various shipping routes in the West Blue. She lowered her eyes and scanned it quickly.

To his left, Fugaku held a cup of tea, with the graduation statistics sheet that the Clan Academy had just sent over spread out in front of him. His gaze lingered on several names marked "recommended to be included in the reserve of Shadow Guard ahead of schedule."

The Elder Setsuna down on the right, leisurely sipping his tea, his old face radiating the satisfaction of "I've finally made it through."

It's no wonder he looks like that.

A few days ago Fugaku, Yakumi, and the others were all working hard in Marineford. The administrative work of nearly a million people on Origin Island and the three guard islands for almost half a month fell entirely on the shoulders of Setsuna and a few retired old men.

The retired Elder' faces were black when he forcibly dragged them out of their homes.

Now that the main characters are back, Setsuna feels like the sky is bluer and the sea is wider, and even the iced tea in my hand that's been sitting for half an hour tastes exceptionally good.

Behind him, the six people— Uchiha Yakumi, Yaoyu, Yashiro, Taoho, and Tekka— were not so comfortable.

Each person had a thick stack of reports to process in front of them, and their faces were filled with misery.

Yashiro would occasionally glance up at the Setsuna in front of him, who was happily sipping his tea, his fingers clenching the edge of the report until they turned white. He muttered in a voice only those nearby could hear, "That old fox is definitely doing this on purpose."

Without even looking up, Yakumi replied, "Just accept it. We just got back."

Natsu ignored the undercurrents behind her.

His gaze lingered on the brief lines of text in the intelligence report: all branches of the Navy in the West Blue have completed their evacuation; numerous kingdoms and towns are in a state of panic; and reports have emerged of pirates taking advantage of the chaos to plunder some islands.

He remained silent for a moment, then gently placed the intelligence report on the corner of the table.

"Elder Setsuna." He raised his head, his tone shifting from casual to businesslike. Setsuna put down his teacup, his playful old man's smile vanishing completely.

"Organize manpower and send the clan's ninjas in batches to the three islands of Spirit Awakening, Sourceguard, and Hillguard to use Earth Release Ninjutsu to reclaim land from the sea and expand the area of all three islands."

The construction period is one year, and each island will eventually accommodate no less than two million people.

At the same time, recruitment was opened to civilians on the three islands to be responsible for infrastructure projects in the newly expanded areas.

"Within two years, the total population of the three islands must reach over four million."

Without asking any Setsuna questions, he simply replied, "Understood."

Natsu turned to Fugaku, her tone even more somber than before. "Clan Head Fugaku, it has been nearly two years since my Uchiha Clan left Konoha. What I promised back then, I have now fulfilled—the entire clan has endured."

He picked up the Clan Academy graduation statistics sheet in front of Fugaku, his fingertips lightly tracing over the long list of names. "From today onwards, reorganize all clan military institutions and redivide their structures."

The side hall fell silent for a moment after these words were spoken.

Fugaku slowly set down his teacup, his Mangekyō Sharingan swirling slightly in the morning light.

In the past two years, the Uchiha Clan has undergone tremendous changes.

Setsuna's initial estimate was indeed too conservative. Of the clan's 17,000 members, excluding 3,000 newborns, the remaining 14,000 had all joined the ranks of ninjas.

The 1,400 core clan members, who were originally ninjas, were at least Jonin level after being enhanced by the triple strengthening of their Haki, Chakra tempering, and Haki training, with the best among them having already reached the Elite Jonin Jonin.

The 12,000-plus clansmen who later became ninjas through training were at least at the Chunin level, and those with a little talent reached the threshold of Elite Chunin or Special Jonin.

To date, there are over seventy Kage Level ninjas, over four hundred Elite Jonin, Jonin.

Six pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan.

Fugaku was the first, the brothers Yaoyu and Yakumi opened their eyes at Marineford, Kei followed closely behind, Izumi opened his eyes for Natsu, and when Yashiro — Natsu mentioned this name, the corner of his mouth curled up almost imperceptibly.

That arrogant Uchiha awakened his Sharingan while fleeing.

At that time, Natsu was Steel Bone Kong, Yashiro's emotions were already pushed to the breaking point;

Later, Natsu recovered, and that energy was temporarily suppressed, but it had already reached its limit;

When the final, devastating ripple chased after everyone, the fear of being on the brink of death became the last straw, causing the Mangekyo Sharingan to explode.

After returning, he kept it a secret for several days because "the timing of opening his eyes was too embarrassing," until Fugaku personally asked him and he finally confessed with a dark face.

Natsu doesn't count.

This kid is a monster.

Fugaku underwent two transplants of Hashirama Cells and barely Complete Susanoo for less than half an hour, nearly collapsing from exhaustion when he finished the attack.

Natsu drove the whole thing like he was taking a stroll, drove for half a day without any problems, and in the end even ended up with a Susanoo-Clad Buddha.

Calling him a monster is an understatement.

It wasn't just the Uchiha clan's main force that saw its strength increase several times over in two years.

After more than half a year of downsizing, reorganization, and intensive training, the garrison forces of the three protected islands of Spirit Awakening, Sourceguard, and Hillguard were finally reduced to six thousand people.

This force, which originated from the ragtag armies of the three former kingdoms, is now far more powerful than it once was.

The most intuitive way to measure them is by the standards of the Marine Headquarters —there are 120 people comparable to the Navy Headquarters' captains, 260 to the lieutenant colonels, 720 to the majors, and the rest are at least lieutenants.

Ten of them were outstanding and even reached the threshold of Two-Color Haki, their strength steadily reaching the level of Rear Admiral.

In the New World, they would be no match for him; any one of Whitebeard's division Division Commander could easily crush the entire garrison several times over.

However, in the first half of the Grand Line, this force of six thousand men was enough to make most pirate crews avoid them.

And don't forget, their instructors are Jonin of the Uchiha, and Uchiha Gunbai flags fly over the sea areas they patrol.

For the pirates in the West Blue who took advantage of the navy's withdrawal to loot, the three islands of Spirit Awakening, Sourceguard, and Hillguard were merely the outer perimeter of the Uchiha's territory. But even this outer perimeter was already a nut they couldn't crack.

Apart from the outer defense forces, the Uchiha Clan's own strength has not actually undergone systematic reorganization in the past two years.

Ultimately, most of the clan members were not ninjas before this, so it was too early to talk about formal organization.

Now that the entire clan has adopted a policy of forbearance, reorganizing the military structure is no longer something to be discussed "later," but something that must be done.