Uchiha Yashiro gripped his kunai, fanatic fervor on his face.
As captain of the Konoha Military Police Force, this Body Flicker Technique thrust was a killing move he had honed through countless repetitions. No matter how strong Ren was, a stab to the heart when he was off guard would kill him!
"Ren, this is what you get for defying your superiors!" Yashiro roared.
But the fervor on Yashiro's face froze, then turned to horror.
The hand gripping his kunai had stabbed into empty air.
As everyone watched, ripples spread across the body of Ren, whose chest the kunai had seemingly pierced.
Whoosh—
Ren's body dissolved into countless black crows. With a chorus of caws, they vanished in midair!
"Genjutsu?!"
Yashiro was shaken to the core. He was an Elite Jonin with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, yet he had not noticed when Ren made his hand seals or cast the genjutsu!
"Yashiro, your Body Flicker Technique is too slow."
Ren's voice sounded beside Yashiro's ear.
Every hair on Yashiro's body stood on end. He tried to whip around.
But it was too late.
A hand emerged from empty space and came down on Yashiro's right shoulder.
BOOM!!!
Terrifying force, backed by chakra, poured through that hand!
Yashiro had no time to grunt before he was driven down, both knees slamming into the stone floor.
The bluestone cracked instantly. Spiderweb fractures spread outward, and fragments flew!
"Urgh—!"
Yashiro let out a pained growl and desperately tried to draw on his chakra to stand.
But the hand on his shoulder pinned him in place. He could not move so much as a finger!
Cold sweat poured from Yashiro's forehead and soaked his back.
Ren's real body appeared beside Yashiro. He looked down at the kneeling man, his eyes cold.
The entire room fell silent.
Everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
One move!
With just one move, without even using ninjutsu, Ren had pressed the captain of the Konoha Military Police Force, the Three-Tomoe Elite Jonin Uchiha Yashiro, to his knees with one hand. He had even cracked the floor!
That subtle genjutsu without hand seals and that overwhelming physical strength were frightening to behold!
"Captain Yashiro!"
After a brief silence, Uchiha Inabi was the first to react.
Seeing the leader of his faction forced to his knees in public, Inabi's eyes blazed with fury. His anger overwhelmed his reason.
"Let Captain Yashiro go!"
Inabi roared and drew the ninja blade from his back.
At the same time, more than a dozen senior members of the Military Police Force behind him drew their weapons and charged forward, surrounding Ren with murderous intent.
More than a dozen ninja blades pointed at Ren. Pairs of crimson Sharingan tracked his every move, as though their wielders would hack him to pieces at the slightest provocation.
Surrounded by more than a dozen elite fighters, Ren showed no panic. He did not even glance at the blades around him. Mockery crossed his face.
"Want to save your comrade? You?"
Ren's voice echoed through the cavernous basement.
As soon as Ren finished speaking, a fierce gust stirred the air throughout the basement of Naka Shrine.
Dozens of muffled sounds of rushing air came in rapid succession, merging into a deafening roar.
Figures in dark combat uniforms burst from every direction and every blind spot in the hall!
They moved with astonishing speed. In the blink of an eye, they had surrounded Inabi and the dozen or so senior Military Police Force members so tightly that there was no way out!
Forty-three people in all!
"Who are you?!"
Inabi turned pale with shock. Gripping his ninja blade, he looked around.
When he saw who had appeared around him, his breath stopped.
It was not just Inabi. Fugaku Uchiha in the seat of honor, the seven elders on the raised platform, and every Uchiha present drew a sharp breath, their scalps prickling.
All forty-three were young members Ren had trained under his command!
Each carried the hardened killing aura of someone who had been tested in battle.
Most terrifying of all was their strength.
The thirty on the outer ring had steady, concentrated chakra signatures. Every one of them was a genuine Elite Chunin!
The thirteen in the innermost ring, who held kunai directly against the vital points of Inabi and the others, had wildly surging chakra. They were genuine Elite Jonin!
"Sharingan... activate!"
Tekka Uchiha, at their head, gave a low command.
Voom—!!!
The next instant, a horrifying sight appeared, one no one there would ever forget.
In the dim basement, forty-three pairs of crimson eyes lit up at once.
Like forty-three blood-red lamps kindled in the darkness, they seemed to bathe the entire hall in red.
In every pair of eyes, three pitch-black tomoe spun, giving off a chilling aura!
Forty-three pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
And all forty-three were members of the younger generation, under twenty years old!
Their immense ocular power gathered into an almost tangible mental pressure that bore down on everyone present.
The basement of Naka Shrine went still.
Everyone's mind went completely blank.
The Sharingan was extraordinarily difficult to evolve. It required intense emotional upheaval and trials on the brink of death.
Before this, even counting Clan Leader Fugaku, the Elders Council, and the senior ranks of the Military Police Force, fewer than twenty members of the entire Uchiha Clan had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!
Fewer than twenty. That was the foundation that made the Uchiha Clan Konoha's foremost clan!
Yet now, Ren alone,
With only the young members he had trained under his command, Ren had brought forth forty-three Three-Tomoe elites!
What did that mean?
It meant the power in Ren's hands had surpassed the combined conventional fighting strength of the entire Uchiha Family!
This formidable force, appearing out of nowhere, was enough to sweep aside any shinobi clan in Konoha!
"This... how is this possible...?"
The grand elder's hand shook around his cane. His clouded old eyes were full of shock.
"Forty-three pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan... all of them under twenty... Even during the Warring States Era, at the height of the family's power, we never had a proportion like this!"
After a brief silence, the clanspeople in the hall erupted.
"My god, Tekka and the others have all awakened the Three Tomoe."
"How did Lord Ren do it? Even if he saved them on the battlefield, that couldn't make every one of them evolve to the Three Tomoe!"
"Could it be... could Lord Ren have a top-secret method to force the Sharingan to evolve?!"
As soon as that possibility was raised,
Everyone's breathing grew heavy. They looked at Ren with fervor and awe.
If Ren truly had a way to produce Three-Tomoe Sharingan users in numbers, it would not be long before the Uchiha Clan dominated the Shinobi World!
Fugaku Uchiha sat pale-faced in the seat of honor, staring at those forty-three pairs of cold Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
At last, he understood why Ren had called this emergency clan meeting today, and why he had moved to impeach him in public.
This power was the source of Ren's overwhelming confidence.
In the face of such strength, the authority and prestige he held as Clan Leader were a joke that could be punctured with a touch.
"Lord Ren, give the order, and we'll execute these insubordinate traitors where they stand!"
The kunai in Tekka Uchiha's hand was already pressed against Inabi's neck. If Ren nodded, Tekka would slit his throat without hesitation.
Inabi and the others stood surrounded, sweat covering their heads. Their hands trembled around their blades, and they did not dare make a move.
"Stand down."
Ren withdrew his hand from Yashiro's shoulder, his expression indifferent.
Swish!
The forty-three young elites sheathed their weapons in perfect unison without a word and stepped back half a pace. But their forty-three pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan remained fixed on the Military Police Force members.
Ren looked at Yashiro, who sat slumped on the ground, drenched in cold sweat. Then he glanced at Inabi and the others, still shaken and uncertain, and said,
"Naka Shrine is sacred ground where we honor our ancestors. Drawing weapons during a clan meeting is a breach of decorum.
"Yashiro, as captain of the Konoha Military Police Force, do you not even understand that much?"
The rebuke, delivered with the authority of a leader, left Yashiro red-faced and unable to say a word in his defense.
"Inabi, you and the others stand down as well!"
At Fugaku's order, Inabi and the others looked as though they had been granted a reprieve. They hurriedly sheathed their ninja blades and slunk back behind him.
Fugaku rose from the seat of honor and walked straight up to Ren.
Their eyes met.
On one side stood the current Clan Leader, who had endured in silence for years. On the other stood a peerless genius commanding terrifying power.
"Ren, the strength you've shown today has surpassed all our expectations."
Fugaku stared into Ren's eyes, anger and resentment held tight beneath his words.
"But the Uchiha Clan cannot be ruled by force alone.
"You called a clan meeting without my approval and even declared in public that you would impeach me. Fine. I'll give you that chance!"
Fugaku raised his voice, letting it ring through the basement.
"If you want to impeach me, you must give every clansperson here and the Elders Council a concrete reason they can accept!
"Otherwise, no matter how strong you are, you won't win their support!"
"A concrete reason?"
Ren gave a cold laugh.
He faced Fugaku, his gaze sharp, and advanced on him step by step.
"Fugaku, you've worked tirelessly for the family over the years. I won't deny that."
Ren's voice rang with conviction.
"But you are weak to the core!"
Fugaku was about to speak, but Ren cut him off.
"You lack resolve! Your will wavers at every turn!"
Pointing straight at Fugaku's nose, Ren denounced him before the entire clan.
"After the Nine-Tails Night, the Konoha Leadership suspected us without a shred of evidence and forced us to relocate our clan compound. You gave in.
"ANBU watch our compound around the clock, and you allow it.
"The villagers complain constantly about the Military Police Force, and all you've done is tell us to endure it."
Ren's questions came like a storm, driving Fugaku back again and again.
"You think your concessions will earn the leadership's trust? Wrong! Dead wrong!
"Your weakness only makes Danzo and the Third Hokage think the Uchiha can be pushed around!"
Ren turned, spread his arms, and faced the stunned clanspeople. Then he dropped a revelation that shook them all.
"Are you still dreaming of peace? Open your eyes and look at the situation we're in.
"The leadership's patience with us is gone. The blade has long been at our throats.
"With Fugaku's weakness, he cannot lead the Uchiha through this unprecedented threat of extermination."
Extermination!
At that word, a bone-chilling cold seemed to sweep through the basement. Everyone's eyes widened in fear.
"Nonsense!"
Several of Fugaku's staunch supporters behind him could hold back no longer. They stepped forward and shouted their objections.
"What threat of extermination? That's blatant fearmongering! Why would Konoha attack us?"
Inabi pointed at Ren and roared until his voice cracked.
"Ren, you made up this horrifying lie because you want to seize power by force!"
Before you continue