Looking down at his fervent clansmen, Ren maintained his commanding bearing while his consciousness sank into his mind.
The Mangekyō Sharingan gave him confidence, but the Super Family System was his greatest trump card.
Ren had bound the system when he became the Uchiha Clan Head. By increasing the family's fortune points, he could raise its level, and each upgrade brought rewards.
The system panel showed that raising the family from LV1 to LV2 required 1,000 fortune points.
He watched his clansmen cheering in the inner hall and felt the awe of Konoha's powerful clans and leadership beyond it.
Ren knew the time was ripe.
The instant he focused on the system panel, a mechanical voice sounded in his mind.
[Ding! The host has successfully held the Clan Head ceremony, inspiring shock and awe in the Konoha Leadership and the major clans. The family's reputation beyond the clan has reached its peak!] [Ding! The host has publicly revealed the bloodline of the Descendants of the Sage of Six Paths and declared the ultimate goal of dominating the Shinobi World. Morale throughout the Uchiha Clan has soared, and the family's unity and ambition have reached their limits!] [Family fortune points are surging!] [Fortune points +100!] [Fortune points +300!] [Fortune points +500!]
Ren watched the number climb on the system panel.
The fortune-point progress bar broke through its threshold!
[Current family fortune points have exceeded 1,000!] [Upgrade requirements met!] [Congratulations, host! The Uchiha Family has successfully upgraded to LV2!]
With that announcement, golden light flared in Ren's mind.
The system announced his rewards!
[LV2-exclusive rewards unlocked: Basic Alchemy and the Basic Bloodline Tempering Elixir Recipe!]
Ren hurried to read the reward details.
[Basic Bloodline Tempering Elixir Recipe: Use Basic Alchemy to combine specific medicinal ingredients and refine a Bloodline Tempering Elixir. After consumption, it forcibly purges impurities from the body and purifies the bloodline of the Uchiha Clan!] [Effects: Improves the user's Chakra quality and physical strength, breaks through ocular-power bottlenecks, and drives the evolution of the Sharingan! Helps those at the peak of Three Tomoe touch the threshold of the Mangekyō Sharingan!]
Ren stared at the words on the panel, his hands curling into fists.
"The Bloodline Tempering Elixir... It can actually purify a bloodline directly!"
The Uchiha Clan was gifted,
but awakening and evolving the Sharingan required exacting conditions and intense emotional trauma.
That was why, despite the clan's numbers, so few elites awakened Three Tomoe. A Mangekyō appeared perhaps once in a century.
But now they had the Bloodline Tempering Elixir!
"If I can produce this elixir in large quantities, I can force breakthroughs for clansmen stuck at One Tomoe or Two Tomoe!"
Ren gripped the elixir recipe tighter.
"I might even raise the bloodline concentration of those forty-three Three Tomoe elites in the Temple and lay the groundwork for the family to produce Mangekyō Sharingan users in numbers!"
It was a trump card that could overturn the balance of power in the Shinobi World.
With the Bloodline Tempering Elixir,
no one could stop the Uchiha Clan's rise. It would become Ren's ace in his bid to rule the Shinobi World!
Meanwhile, far away in Kirigakure in the Land of Water,
the sky hung dark, thick fog shrouded the village, and the air reeked of blood.
Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage, had just launched another purge in the village.
Blood had stained Kirigakure's waterways dark red. Severed limbs and the bodies of Kirigakure Ninja floated on the surface.
The Kekkei Genkai families that had tried to resist the Blood Mist Village's policies had been slaughtered in a single night.
Deep within Kirigakure, in a secret chamber,
a man in a tiger-striped mask and black robe stood in the shadows.
He was Obito Uchiha, secretly controlled by Madara Uchiha's will and Black Zetsu.
Obito gazed out at Kirigakure.
The ground beside Obito rippled like water.
A figure, half black and half white and shaped like a pitcher plant, emerged from beneath the floor.
It was the combined form of White Zetsu and Black Zetsu.
"Obito, something has changed in Konoha," White Zetsu said, baring a mouthful of sharp teeth.
Obito did not turn around.
"Changed? Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo are probably playing their tedious political games again."
Obito gave a cold snort.
"As long as the Nine-Tails remains within our plans, Konoha can turn itself upside down and still be nothing more than a slightly larger nest of ants."
White Zetsu shook his head.
"No, no. This time it isn't the Konoha Leadership. It's your Uchiha Clan."
"That coward Fugaku Uchiha has formally stepped down as Clan Head. The new Clan Head is a sixteen-year-old kid named Uchiha Ren."
At that, Obito turned around.
"A sixteen-year-old kid became Clan Head?"
"The Uchiha Clan really has fallen if it needs a child to keep up appearances. A family like that should have been wiped from the Shinobi World long ago."
As Obito saw it, the Uchiha were now sheep penned in by the Konoha Leadership. They could cause no real trouble.
What White Zetsu said next caught Obito off guard.
"You shouldn't underestimate this sixteen-year-old kid."
"Just last night, Uchiha Ren, Shisui Uchiha, and Fugaku Uchiha—the man you wrote off as incapable of doing anything..."
White Zetsu paused before dropping the bombshell.
"All three of them awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
Obito froze.
"What did you say?!"
The Sharingan beneath Obito's mask widened.
He took half a step back. "Three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan?! How is that possible?!"
Obito's thoughts descended into chaos.
What did the Mangekyō Sharingan represent?
It was the legendary divine eye of the Uchiha Clan, a power awakened only through pain and despair.
As Obito had understood it,
no one else in the Uchiha Clan could ever reach that power.
Fugaku Uchiha least of all. The Clan Head knew only how to compromise and yield.
To Obito, Fugaku was a forgotten failure. How could he have awakened the Mangekyō?
And then there was Ren, an unknown sixteen-year-old kid!
The Uchiha had produced three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan at once!
That terrifying strength shattered everything Obito thought he knew about the Uchiha Clan.
"And that's not all."
Seeing Obito utterly stunned, White Zetsu pressed on.
"This newly appointed Ren was arrogant beyond belief."
"In front of the entire Konoha Leadership and all the major clans, he openly declared that the Uchiha and Senju were both Descendants of the legendary Sage of Six Paths!"
At the words "Descendants of the Sage of Six Paths," Obito snorted.
"Ignorant brat."
Obito forced down his shock, though his voice remained scornful.
"To intimidate the Konoha Leadership, he even invoked a myth like the Sage of Six Paths to make himself look important."
"Does he think a lie like that will frighten everyone off?"
Before you continue