Kumogakure Delegation Visits

When Itachi Uchiha opened his eyes again, they had already transformed into the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Within those Mangekyō Sharingan lay a sinner who had endured countless hardships.

At that moment, Itachi Uchiha seemed like a completely different person, becoming extraordinarily mature.

"Itachi, are you still conscious?"

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

Uchiha Ensei 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 Ensei's warning.

Just as Uchiha Ensei began to wonder whether something had gone wrong with the experiment, Itachi Uchiha suddenly said, "We were conducting an experiment to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan just now, weren't we?"

"Uchiha... Sorry, the memories in my head are a little muddled. You are... Ensei?"

As he spoke, Itachi Uchiha shook his head hard.

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

"Father... Shisui..."

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

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

Before he could finish, Itachi Uchiha collapsed headfirst to the floor, completely unresponsive.

Fugaku Uchiha was startled and hurried over.

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

"Don't worry. His mental energy has simply been overexerted."

"In those brief dozen or so minutes, Itachi Uchiha spent more than ten years in the illusion. It was fortunate enough that such a massive flood of information hadn't blown his brain apart."

Uchiha Ensei stepped forward to inspect him, then took a tiny amount of flesh and blood from Itachi Uchiha's eyeball. He found some residual special chakra and extracted that as well.

At the same time, Uchiha Ensei injected some cell virus he had developed himself—the same type he had previously injected into Kakashi's eye, except this was now an upgraded version.

It was better for the Mangekyō Sharingan he had created himself to remain under his control. If he got hurt by something he had made, that would be rather ridiculous.

"All right. He'll probably be unconscious for a long time—several days or even over ten days is possible—but he'll definitely wake up within a month."

"As for what will happen after he wakes up, I'm not too sure."

"You know as well as I do that most people who awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan undergo major personality changes. Since Itachi Uchiha awakened his through a special method, he'll be 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 Ensei 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 Mangekyō Sharingan.

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

Since they were coming to sign an alliance treaty with Konoha, the members Kumogakure had sent this time were all fairly strong. The vast majority were at Jonin level.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already guessed from Uchiha Ensei that Kumogakure had come with ill intentions, but he still acted extremely welcoming. Kumogakure's delegation did the same.

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

The atmosphere in the village was lively as well. These ordinary villagers were far removed from the world of ninja and knew even less about the hatred between them. They merely hoped for peace.

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

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

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

After spending an entire day listening to empty formalities, Uchiha Ensei returned home in irritation.

He had wasted an entire day like this. He was beginning to regret agreeing to Hiruzen Sarutobi's request.

The next two days passed as usual. Kumogakure's people and Hiruzen Sarutobi argued for a long time over certain terms of the treaty.

It was not until the third night that Uchiha Ensei discovered through Zero-Two's malicious intent detection that two Kumogakure ninja had left the lodgings where the delegation was staying.

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

The Kumogakure ninja planning to infiltrate the Uchiha Clan was quickly discovered and captured on the spot by an Uchiha Clan patrol squad.

For his own safety, Uchiha Ensei not only kept Zero-Two's malicious intent detection active at all times, but had 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 Kumogakure ninja, even if the Fourth Raikage came personally, he would not be able to infiltrate the place.

Things were fine on the Uchiha side, but the Hyuga Clan was different.

Logically speaking, the Byakugan was better suited for detection than the Sharingan, so their internal defenses should have been tighter.

But in reality, the Hyuga Clan rarely activated the Byakugan within Konoha. It was even explicitly forbidden to activate it within their own clan grounds, especially at night.

As for why... naturally, it was because the Byakugan's ability to spy on others was simply too powerful.

Originally, Uchiha Ensei had thought that after receiving Hiruzen Sarutobi's warning, the Hyuga Clan would be more cautious these past few days. He had not expected their enemy to find an opening on the first attempt.

Watching the small red dot on the light screen begin to retreat toward the outskirts of the village, Uchiha Ensei revealed a faint smile.

I thought I'd have to find an opportunity. I didn't expect it to go this smoothly.

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

Since the Uchiha Clan was located near the edge of Konoha, even though the Kumogakure ninja had already been running for some time, Uchiha Ensei easily 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 Kumogakure ninja could finish, a genjutsu took control of his body.

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

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

Very quickly, Uchiha Ensei finished gathering the materials he needed.

Losing such a tiny number of cells would not affect Hinata Hyuga in the slightest. The human body contained an enormous number of cells.

Looking at the Kumogakure ninja under the control of his Sharingan, Uchiha Ensei thought for a moment, grabbed the man by the neck, and dragged him toward where Kumogakure's delegation was staying.

Scrape~ Scrape~

The sound of the Kumogakure ninja's body dragging across the ground was especially conspicuous on Konoha's silent streets.