Dark Currents Stir in the Uchiha Clan District

Not a single coin from the massive funds raised by selling off their assets went into Konoha's banks. It had all been converted into hard currency and scarce supplies—

Enough compressed rations and fodder to feed the entire clan of over ten thousand for three years; enough medicine, antidotes, and hemostatic powder to fill half a room; hundreds of thousands of Explosive Tags, shuriken, and Kunai; and even high-purity chakra metal rarely seen in Konoha's own stores. Through the Summoning Jutsu contract passed down for generations between the Uchiha and the Ninja Cat Clan, everything was steadily delivered into the underground chambers of Naka Shrine under cover of night.

It wasn't just supplies.

The clan's inheritance, accumulated over a thousand years, had also been emptied out.

From a complete rubbing of the stone tablet left behind by the Sage of Six Paths to the secret jutsu notes of every past clan head; from training scrolls for the most basic Three-Body Technique to the complete inheritances of forbidden techniques like Izanagi and Izanami.

Even the ancestral tablets enshrined in the clan district's shrine had been carefully placed into specially made wooden boxes and sealed away in the deepest part of the underground chambers.

Other than the clan district and its houses, which could not be taken away, the Uchiha had left Konoha almost nothing.

Every member of the clan had long since been gathered back.

Everyone carrying out missions abroad, even the garrison stationed at the border of the Land of Rain, had withdrawn to the clan district under the pretext of "an ancestral ceremony, the whole clan returning home."

The elderly, weak, women, and children were quietly settled in the courtyards around Naka Shrine. The young and able-bodied ninja were split into two shifts. One worked day and night reinforcing three layers of sealing formations along the clan district's borders.

The other took turns patrolling. On the surface, they were maintaining order in the clan district ahead of the ceremony. In truth, they had already drilled every evacuation route and contingency plan more than ten times.

Behind all these surging undercurrents, Hiruzen Sarutobi's patience had long been worn to its limit in the top-floor office of the Hokage Building.

The office remained thick with smoke. Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu sat opposite him, their faces grim as ice. Shimura Danzō still stood in the shadows by the window, his lone eye beneath the bandages filled with barely restrained gloom and malice.

"Sarutobi! It's already been a month!" Utatane Koharu broke the silence first, her voice full of agitation. "The Uchiha have called back every member stationed outside. They stay holed up in their clan district every day, and Naka Shrine is sealed so tightly not even a bird can get in. How much longer are you going to put up with this?!"

"I said it long ago—they must be plotting rebellion!" Mitokado Homura took over, slamming his hand heavily onto the table. "If we don't act now, it'll be too late once they're fully prepared!"

"Hmph." Danzo stepped out of the shadows, his hoarse voice dripping with mockery. "Lord Hokage, you keep talking about the bigger picture and keeping the other ninja clans stable. But if we wait any longer, the Uchiha's blade will be at your throat."

The pipe in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand flickered in and out. His brows knotted tightly, yet in the end, he slowly shook his head.

"Wait a little longer."

He tapped the desk. Spread across it were the reports the Anbu delivered every day. "Fugaku has voluntarily handed over all authority of the Konoha Police Force to the Anbu. That means he has surrendered the only armed power in his hands.

"He also personally requested that we deploy Anbu to guard the four entrances of the Uchiha Clan District, claiming it was to prevent outsiders from disturbing the ceremony and to stop radicals within the clan from causing trouble."

He raised his eyes toward the three of them, his tone carrying a degree of certainty. "Our people have them surrounded on all sides. They've lost control of their forces. Even if the Uchiha wanted to rebel, what waves could they possibly make?"

He hadn't been unwary this past month.

But Fugaku's two moves had been far too unexpected.

Voluntarily surrendering power and requesting surveillance—he had effectively placed the Uchiha's very survival completely in Hiruzen's hands.

If they truly intended to rebel, who would do something as foolish as cutting off their own arms?

Besides, the Anbu's daily reports were crystal clear: the Uchiha's daily activities were limited to their clan district and Naka Shrine. There had been no large-scale gathering of ninja, no stockpiling of prohibited ninja tools, and no secret correspondence with other ninja clans or nations. Everything appeared to be nothing more than quiet preparations for an ancestral ceremony.

As time passed, the taut string in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart gradually loosened.

He even began to think that perhaps he and the higher-ups had simply been too nervous. Perhaps Fugaku was only using the ceremony as an excuse to unite the clan and suppress the momentum of those radicals.

But Danzo didn't see it that way.

He stared fixedly at Hiruzen Sarutobi, his lone eye brimming with hostility. "You're too naive! What kind of man is Fugaku? He's the Uchiha clan head—proud and arrogant his entire life. How could he bow his head so easily?

"There has to be something wrong! Especially Naka Shrine. My men have tried eight times, yet they couldn't even get near the gates. What exactly is going on inside? We know nothing!"

"Nothing?" Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned. "The Anbu have been watching them. The things going in and out every day are incense, candles, and offerings for the ceremony. What else could there be?"

"Offerings?" Danzo sneered. "Have you ever seen a ceremony that needed supplies transported into a shrine in the middle of the night with Summoning Jutsu? My men saw it with their own eyes—the Ninja Cat Clan's summoned beasts run into the Uchiha Clan District every night. Have you investigated what they're carrying inside?"

"Enough, Danzo."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression darkened. "Now isn't the time to create more trouble. The Uchiha have already yielded. If we keep pressing them step by step, we'll only truly force them into rebellion. Once their ceremony is over and everything has settled, we'll have plenty of time to investigate slowly."

He had served as Hokage for his entire life, and what he valued most was Konoha's stability.

The three Ninja World Wars had drained Konoha to its foundations. He absolutely could not completely fall out with the Uchiha, one of Konoha's founding clans, at a time like this and give the other four great nations an opportunity to exploit.

Watching him remain utterly unmoved, Danzo clenched his fists in anger. Veins bulged on the arm beneath his bandages. In the end, he snorted coldly, flicked his sleeve, and turned back into the shadows.

Meanwhile, in the underground chambers of Naka Shrine—the center of their dispute—Natsu was reviewing the supply list in his hands while Uchiha Kei stood beside him, quietly reporting their progress.

"Young Master, all the contracts for the assets have been signed. We've agreed with the daimyo's side to formally complete the handover in thirty days." Kei kept his voice low, his eyes filled with excitement.

"Everything that could be liquidated has been exchanged for supplies and gold. The chambers are nearly too full to hold it all. The clan's scrolls, secret techniques, and inheritances have all been inventoried and sealed away. Not a single item was missed."

"And the clan members?" Natsu set down the list and looked up.

"There are 13,621 people in the entire clan. Other than three households we truly couldn't contact, everyone else has returned to the clan district." Kei's tone grew increasingly certain. "More than ninety-five percent are willing to leave with us—far beyond the seventy percent minimum you originally set."