"What... what kind of monster is that?!"
Shikaku Nara's legs went weak. He stared at the two half-formed demon gods towering dozens of meters high, his mind blank.
The Ninja Dog beside Tsume Inuzuka, normally so fierce,
lay unconscious in the rubble, its eyes rolled back. Shibi Aburame stumbled backward.
"Chakra made solid... They can shape Chakra into an indestructible demon god?!"
Veins bulged at the corners of Hyuga Hiashi's eyes.
Through his penetrating vision,
he saw that the Chakra within Fugaku and Shisui had grown to a scale he could not begin to comprehend.
Compared with those two Susanoo, the Hyuga clan's Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven and Eight Trigrams Palm were nothing.
No one in the banquet hall spoke.
Konoha's highest authorities—the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two advisers—stood rooted to the spot.
Ren stood at the head of the hall,
looked down at the clan leaders and Konoha Leadership, and laughed.
He had made his point.
"Everyone."
Ren's voice, amplified by surging Chakra, rose above the roar of the Susanoo.
"Did you always think the Uchiha Clan was merely one of Konoha's founding clans?"
Everyone raised their heads to look at Ren.
"Did you think the Uchiha stood alongside the Senju only because we made a name for ourselves in the Warring States Era?"
Ren looked down at them.
"Wrong! Utterly wrong!"
Ren spread his arms and revealed to his clan and Konoha's great families a secret that could overturn everything the Shinobi World thought it knew.
"The Uchiha Clan is a divine shinobi clan with a thousand-year legacy!"
"Our ancestor was Indra Ōtsutsuki."
"And the ancestor of the Senju clan—the clan of the First, Hashirama, whom you revere as a god—was Asura Ōtsutsuki!"
Ren's voice rose to a peak and rang through the sky.
"Indra and Asura were brothers, born of the same blood."
"And their father was the legendary being who founded Ninshū and opened the way for the entire Shinobi World: the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki!"
His words threw the banquet hall into an uproar.
"The Sage of Six Paths?!"
Hyuga Hiashi was the first to react. He cried out,
"That mythical figure from ancient legend who founded Ninshū?! How could that be possible?"
"Descendants of the Sage of Six Paths? The Uchiha and Senju were brothers?!"
Shikaku Nara stood frozen.
The clan leaders around him exchanged stunned looks.
Ren did not stop. He continued, his voice ringing out.
"Before the Sage of Six Paths died, he divided his power between his two sons!"
Ren pointed at the two Susanoo radiating destruction in the hall.
"His eldest son, Indra, inherited his eyes. That is the origin of the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan."
"His younger son, Asura, inherited his body. That is the source of the Senju clan's Wood Release and immense vitality!"
"The Uchiha's Sharingan and the Senju's Wood Release are no ordinary Kekkei Genkai. They are powers inherited directly from the Six Paths!"
Ren clenched his fist and swept his gaze across the Konoha Leadership.
"But look at the Senju clan now! To 'become part of the village,' they abandoned their name and their glory. They have withered away so completely that they cannot produce a single worthy successor!"
"Look across the Shinobi World today!"
Ren raised his head, his Mangekyō Sharingan gleaming red.
"Only the Uchiha Clan has kept its bloodline pure."
"Only the Uchiha still bear the supreme honor of being Descendants of the Sage of Six Paths!"
The entire banquet hall fell silent for more than ten seconds!
Then the Uchiha clanspeople erupted in cheers!
"Descendants of the Sage of Six Paths! We are descendants of a god!"
"Long live the Uchiha! Long live the Clan Leader!"
"Return to the summit of the Shinobi World! Restore the glory of the Six Paths!"
Outside, the Uchiha clanspeople shouted at the tops of their lungs.
How many years had it been?
The Konoha Leadership had suppressed them, and ANBU had watched their every move.
Now Ren had not only shown them the invincible might of three Mangekyō wielders, but also given them a noble identity above the rest of the Shinobi World!
Descendants of the Sage of Six Paths!
That pride filled the Uchiha clanspeople with fervor.
Every eye turned to Ren at the head of the hall.
At a word from Ren, they would dare wage war against the entire Shinobi World!
The Konoha clan leaders present had been utterly overwhelmed by the depth of the Uchiha Bloodline.
Hyuga Hiashi lowered his head, bitterness written across his face.
At last, he understood why the Byakugan had always been overshadowed by the Sharingan. The Uchiha had inherited the eyes of the god who created the world!
Shikaku Nara, Tsume Inuzuka, and the others said nothing.
They understood all too clearly that the Uchiha, with three Mangekyō wielders, command of the Temple Formation, and the Six Paths Bloodline,
had left the ranks of Konoha's great clans far behind
and become a colossus that even the village had to look up to!
The stirring celebration came to an end amid the Uchiha clanspeople's fervent cheers and the clan leaders' profound awe.
Late that night.
Inside the Hokage Office on the top floor of the Hokage Building.
The atmosphere was so oppressive it seemed ready to freeze.
Bang!
Utatane Koharu slammed her palm onto the desk and roared,
"Shameless! Utterly shameless!"
"That Uchiha Ren dragged a mythical figure like the Sage of Six Paths into his family tree just to elevate himself and intimidate the great clans! Why didn't he claim to be the Sage of Six Paths reincarnated?!"
Mitokado Homura, seated on the sofa, chimed in.
"Hmph. He made up some fanciful myth to win people over. That's all."
"The Uchiha Clan is evil by nature. No one is better at using tricks like that to sway people."
"Descendants of the Sage of Six Paths? What an absurd joke!"
Faced with the two advisers' anger, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at them.
"Adviser Koharu, Adviser Homura, it isn't as simple as you think."
"Ren may not have made it all up."
"The Uchiha's Sharingan and the Senju's Wood Release possess power far beyond anything ordinary."
"If we trace them back to the origins of Ninshū, a blood connection to the Sage of Six Paths makes perfect sense."
"But!"
Mitokado Homura's brows were knitted just as tightly.
"If all of this is true, then Ren's decision to announce his ancestry in public is deeply strange."
"Strange? Minato, what do you mean?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his head and looked toward the young Fourth Hokage.
Mitokado Homura walked to the desk and braced both hands on it, his expression grave.
"According to the ancient texts, the Sage of Six Paths possessed the legendary eyes that govern life and death: the Rinnegan."
Mitokado Homura pointed out the flaw.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan is immensely powerful. It can even manifest a demon god like Susanoo."
"But compared with the legendary Rinnegan, it still falls short by an uncrossable gulf!"
"Ren is exceptionally clever and deeply calculating."
"If he knows his clan's eyes have yet to reach the Sage of Six Paths' ultimate realm, why would he make such a spectacle of revealing their bloodline to the world?"
Mitokado Homura's voice was full of concern.
"Apart from satisfying a moment's vanity, he gains nothing from this. All he's done is invite the entire Shinobi World to covet the Uchiha Bloodline!"
At Mitokado Homura's analysis, Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze shifted.
He tapped the pipe in his hand against the ashtray.
"Mitokado Homura is right."
Hiruzen Sarutobi rose and paced the office with his hands behind his back.
"Shinobi have always survived by concealing their strength. Their trump cards must remain hidden until the very end."
"Even if the Uchiha truly possess the Six Paths Bloodline, they should have kept it secret!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi stopped and turned toward the Uchiha District beyond the window.
"By exposing both his trump cards and his bloodline to the world, Ren has violated the most basic principles of a shinobi."
"All he'll bring upon the Uchiha is endless scrutiny and greed from across the Shinobi World."
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