Natsu stepped onto the rough black reef, loose stones shifting beneath his feet.
The hundreds of Night Owl Guards who had stood motionless dropped to one knee in perfect unison. Heads bowed, their fervent voices cut through the howling sea wind and rang across the island.
"Night Owl Guard! We greet Lord Natsu!"
Their voices rose together, weighty as a mountain and filled with reverence from the depths of their souls.
Natsu had built the Night Owl Guard and the Nightingale Guard with his own hands. They were the Uchiha Clan's sharpest fighting forces.
Every member was an elite chosen from thousands. Proud and rarely willing to bow to anyone, they gladly lowered their heads and obeyed Natsu.
Uchiha Fugaku stood at the front of the elders, watching his nephew amid the Night Owl Guard. Pride flickered in his eyes.
As Natsu's uncle by marriage, he had witnessed it all firsthand.
The other elders wore fervent expressions too, barely able to contain their excitement.
Not even ten years had passed.
Once, the Uchiha Clan had numbered only thirteen thousand, with three thousand ninja. Like a candle guttering in the wind, they had been trapped in the quagmire of the Ninja World.
Now the clan numbered over forty thousand. Twenty thousand were ninja, while the remaining twenty thousand were children under six—the seeds of the Uchiha's future.
They had swept through West Blue and become its undisputed rulers.
The Four Emperors, whom the world idolized, were nothing before the Uchiha now.
Faced with the Uchiha Clan's expansion, the World Government could only defend and retreat.
Even the renowned Marines seemed helpless against the Uchiha's immense strength.
Before long, they would turn their forces back toward the Ninja World and trample the land that had buried so many Uchiha.
Natsu stood quietly