Cloud Village Envoy Delegation's Visit

When Itachi Uchiha opened his eyes again, they had already become Mangekyo Sharingan.

Within those Mangekyo Sharingan was a sinner who had endured countless hardships.

At that moment, Itachi Uchiha seemed like a completely different person, having become exceptionally mature.

"Itachi, are you still conscious?"

"After awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan, extreme emotions can easily cause drastic changes. You need to stay calm."

Uchiha Yansheng warned him, while also preparing himself for battle.

After opening his eyes, Itachi Uchiha seemed to have fallen into a daze. He gave no response even to Uchiha Yansheng's warning.

Just as Uchiha Yansheng began to suspect that the experiment had gone wrong, Itachi Uchiha suddenly said, "We were conducting an experiment to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan just now, right?"

"Uchiha... Sorry, the memories in my mind are a little confused. You are... Yansheng?"

As he spoke, Itachi Uchiha shook his head vigorously.

The expressions on Fugaku Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha's faces had shifted from delight to concern, but neither dared say anything, afraid they might affect Itachi Uchiha.

"Father... Shisui..."

"You're both alive. That's wonderful!"

"This time... I definitely will..."

With that, Itachi Uchiha collapsed headfirst to the ground and became completely unresponsive.

Fugaku Uchiha was startled and hurried over.

Across a distance of less than two meters, Fugaku Uchiha actually used the Body Flicker Technique, showing just how anxious he was.

"Don't worry. He's merely overexerted his mind."

"In those brief dozen or so minutes, Itachi Uchiha spent more than ten years in the illusion. With such an enormous flood of information, it was already fortunate that his brain hadn't burst."

Uchiha Yansheng stepped forward to examine him. He then removed a tiny bit of flesh and blood from Itachi Uchiha's eyeball, discovering traces of special chakra, which he extracted as well.

While he was at it, Uchiha Yansheng injected some of the cellular virus he had developed—the same kind he had previously injected into Kakashi's eye, except this was now an upgraded version.

It was better to keep the Mangekyo Sharingan he had created under his own control. It would be rather ridiculous if he were injured by something he had made himself.

"Alright. He'll probably remain unconscious for quite a while—several days or even more than ten days are possible—but he'll definitely wake up within a month."

"As for what will happen after he wakes up, I can't say."

"You know that most people who awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan undergo major personality changes. For someone like Itachi Uchiha, who awakened it through a special method, it's even harder to predict."

"So when the time comes, you need to keep a close eye on your eldest son."

After casually brushing them off with a few words, Uchiha Yansheng drove the three of them out. He needed to hurry and study that special chakra originating from the brain. This was chakra capable of awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan.

Time quietly passed, and in the blink of an eye, the day of the Cloud Village envoy delegation's visit arrived.

Since they were coming to sign an alliance treaty with Konoha Village, the Cloud Village members were no weaklings. Most of them were at the jonin level.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already guessed from Uchiha Yansheng that the Cloud Village delegation had come with ill intent, but he still put on an enthusiastic appearance. The Cloud Village envoys did the same.

The two sides had been hostile for a long time, yet at this moment, it was as though all their grudges had vanished.

The atmosphere in the village was also lively. These ordinary villagers were far removed from the world of shinobi and understood even less about the grudges between shinobi. They merely hoped for peace.

In truth, war had the least impact on Konoha Village's ordinary citizens, but that did not stop them from celebrating the coming peace.

As for the shinobi who had died in the war...

No one cared, including Konoha Village's shinobi. To shinobi, death had long become commonplace.

After spending the entire day listening to sanctimonious rhetoric, Uchiha Yansheng returned home in annoyance.

Wasting an entire day like that made him regret agreeing to Hiruzen Sarutobi's request.

Everything remained normal over the next two days. The Cloud Village representatives and Hiruzen Sarutobi argued at length over certain terms of the treaty.

It was not until the night of the third day that Uchiha Yansheng discovered through Zero-Two's malicious intent detection that two Cloud Village shinobi had left the residence where the delegation was staying.

Judging from their routes, one was clearly preparing to infiltrate the Uchiha Clan, while the other was preparing to infiltrate the Hyuga Clan.

The Cloud Village shinobi attempting to infiltrate the Uchiha Clan was quickly discovered and captured on the spot by a Uchiha Clan patrol squad.

For his own safety, Uchiha Yansheng not only kept Zero-Two's malicious intent detection active at all times, but also set up a barrier around the Uchiha Clan compound and arranged for several Three-Tomoe Sharingan jonin to patrol every day.

Under such circumstances, let alone a Cloud Village shinobi, even if the Fourth Raikage came personally, he would not be able to infiltrate the place.

There was no problem on the Uchiha side, but things were different with the Hyuga Clan.

Logically speaking, the Byakugan was more suited for reconnaissance than the Sharingan, so the clan's defenses should have been stronger.

Yet in reality, the Hyuga Clan rarely activated the Byakugan within Konoha Village. Within their own clan grounds, especially at night, activating the Byakugan was explicitly forbidden.

As for why... Naturally, it was because the Byakugan's voyeuristic abilities were simply too powerful.

Originally, Uchiha Yansheng had thought that after receiving Hiruzen Sarutobi's warning, the Hyuga Clan would be cautious these past few days. He had not expected them to let an opportunity slip through on the very first attempt.

Watching the little red dot on the light screen begin to retreat toward the outskirts of the village, Uchiha Yansheng smiled.

I thought I'd have to look for an opportunity. Who knew it would go so smoothly?

He created a Shadow Clone, picked up several cell collection devices, and headed in one direction.

Since the Uchiha Clan was located at the edge of Konoha Village, even though the Cloud Village shinobi had already been running for a while, Uchiha Yansheng effortlessly intercepted him halfway.

"Move aside, or I'll strangle her to death."

"I've already investigated this. She's from the Hyuga Clan..."

Before the Cloud Village shinobi could finish speaking, a genjutsu seized control of his body.

"With strength like that, who gave you such confidence?"

Uchiha Yansheng took Hinata Hyuga from the man's arms and found that she was unconscious. Without hesitation, he began collecting cells.

Before long, Uchiha Yansheng had collected all the materials he needed.

Losing this small amount of cells would have no effect whatsoever on Hinata Hyuga. The human body contained an enormous number of cells.

Looking at the Cloud Village shinobi controlled by his Sharingan, Uchiha Yansheng thought for a moment, then grabbed the man by the neck and dragged him toward the Cloud Village delegation's residence.

Scrape~ Scrape~

The sound of the Cloud Village shinobi's body dragging across the ground was especially conspicuous on Konoha Village's silent streets.