Uchiha Ascendant

"What... what did you say?!"

Danzo froze where he stood.

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura collapsed onto the sofa.

"Fugaku... awakened the Mangekyō?!"

Danzo staggered back two steps.

"Impossible! This is impossible! How could that weak, useless Fugaku awaken those cursed eyes?!"

"It's the truth," Hiruzen Sarutobi said again.

"Mitokado Homura was there as well. He personally witnessed the unique presence of Fugaku's Mangekyō and confirmed that it was real. That was a genuine Mangekyō Sharingan!"

Danzo said nothing after hearing Mitokado Homura's testimony.

"Mangekyō... Fugaku too..."

Danzo panted heavily.

Hiruzen Sarutobi rose to his feet and braced both hands against his desk.

"You think that's all there is to it?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi raised his voice.

"Right after Lu Ming left the Uchiha District and was taken into Root by your men, every Uchiha warrior in the clan armed themselves!"

"While Fugaku was reporting to me, he also delivered the Uchiha Clan's final bottom line!"

"What message?" Mitokado Homura pressed.

"The entire Uchiha Clan has already prepared for battle!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi roared.

"They made their position clear: if Konoha dares lay a hand on their new clan head, Lu Ming—even if he loses a single hair—the entire Uchiha Clan will make the Mangekyō wielders their core and wage all-out war against Konoha at any cost!"

All-out war!

Hiruzen Sarutobi walked around the desk and stopped before Danzo.

"Danzo, wake up. The Uchiha of today are no longer the Uchiha you remember!"

"Take a good look at their current strength!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi raised a finger.

"Uchiha Shisui, Fugaku Uchiha, and Lu Ming, who displayed godlike speed tonight."

"Three Mangekyō-level powerhouses! Aside from those three monsters, they have dozens of young Three Tomoe elites, along with the hundreds of Sharingan-wielding warriors in the entire Military Police Force!"

"They have been enduring all this time, and the strength they concealed is immense."

"What makes you think the Root forces in your hands can snuff them out in the cradle?!"

Faced with Hiruzen Sarutobi's barrage of questions, Danzo gritted his teeth.

"Even if they have three Mangekyō, Konoha has more than enough reserves!"

Danzo clutched the corner of his clothes as he retorted.

"We have Ino-Shika-Cho, the Hyuga clan, and tens of thousands of civilian shinobi! If the entire village mobilizes, I refuse to believe we can't bury them under sheer numbers!"

"Shut your mouth!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi cut him off.

"Do you still not understand?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed.

"The Uchiha Clan was one of the strongest clans of the Warring States Era."

"Back then, Madara Uchiha alone was enough to make the entire Shinobi World tremble!"

"And now? They possess three Mangekyō Sharingan at once, along with a host of Three Tomoe elites with terrifying potential."

"This lineup, this overall strength, will completely surpass their peak during the Warring States Era!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to look at the portraits of the First Hokage and Second Hokage hanging on the wall.

"And what about Konoha?"

"The Senju clan, which once firmly suppressed the Uchiha Clan, has now declined."

"Lord Hashirama, who possessed Wood Release and could suppress everything, has long since passed from this world!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared straight at Danzo.

"Konoha no longer has any power capable of contending with the Uchiha in their current state!"

Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura lowered their heads.

Danzo opened his mouth, then closed it again.

"If we rashly start a war at a time like this, Ino-Shika-Cho and the Hyuga clan will inevitably suffer devastating blows."

Hiruzen Sarutobi returned to his chair.

"The village will suffer losses it cannot bear. It may even be destroyed outright in the flames of war! The other four great shinobi villages will seize the chance to invade and divide us completely!"

"So put away those foolish schemes of yours."

Hiruzen Sarutobi slapped the desk.

"Danzo, in the name of the Third Hokage, I order you to withdraw every covert move you have made against the Uchiha! End all surveillance and suppression of them!"

"From this day forward, without my orders, neither you nor your Root may make any reckless move against the Uchiha! Any violation will be treated as treason against the village!"

Danzo stood where he was, staring at Hiruzen Sarutobi, his chest heaving.

"I... understand."

Danzo forced the words out through clenched teeth.

After everyone had left,

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sat in the Hokage's chair with a deep frown.

He drew on his pipe one puff after another, the smoke obscuring his face in shifting shadows.

Everything that had happened in Root's underground base earlier weighed on his chest, making it hard for him to breathe.

Three Mangekyō Sharingan!

Forty-three young Three Tomoe elites!

This force, enough to overturn Konoha, had thrown the veteran shinobi leader who had ruled the village for decades into disarray.

Whoosh!

A black shadow dropped to one knee before the desk, interrupting Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts.

The newcomer wore a dark, high-collared short-sleeved shirt and carried a short sword across his back. It was Uchiha Shisui, who had appeared at Root's underground base earlier.

"Lord Hokage, you summoned me urgently?" Shisui asked with his head lowered.

Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his pipe and waved a hand, signaling the ANBU guards hidden in the shadows to withdraw.

Once only the two of them remained in the room,

Hiruzen Sarutobi rose from his chair, walked around the desk, and came to Shisui.

He forced a smile onto his face, trying to use the warmth of old to close the distance between them.

"Shisui, get up. There are no outsiders here."

Hiruzen Sarutobi patted Shisui's shoulder, his tone troubled.

"What happened in Root tonight was far too sudden."

"Fugaku stepped down, and Lu Ming took over as the new clan head. It truly caught everyone off guard."

Hiruzen Sarutobi stared intently into Shisui's eyes, trying to find a hint of wavering in the Uchiha prodigy who had always leaned toward the village.

"You have always worked for peace between the village and the clan."

"Tell me, what exactly happened within the Uchiha Clan? What... is Lu Ming planning?"

Shisui straightened up.

He looked directly at the old man before him.

"Lord Hokage, since you have asked, then I will speak frankly."

Shisui's voice echoed through the empty office.

"At tonight's emergency clan meeting, Lord Lu Ming publicly impeached Clan Head Fugaku and has already begun carrying out sweeping reforms within the clan."

"Publicly impeached him?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyelid twitched.

"That's right."

Shisui nodded.

"Lord Lu Ming clearly pointed out that Clan Head Fugaku's past weakness and concessions were the main reason the clan had fallen into its current passive situation."

Shisui looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi's subtly changing expression and continued.

"Lord Lu Ming has declared to the entire clan that he firmly opposes the village's continued, unrestrained suppression and exclusion of the Uchiha."

"The Uchiha of the future will take a tougher stance and use strength to fight for the rights that belong to us!"

"Lord Lu Ming said that the Uchiha are not spineless cowards who only know how to seek peace."

"Dignity exists only upon the edge of a blade. Retreat will not buy peace; it will only make our enemies push their luck!"

Those words shook Hiruzen Sarutobi to the core.

"A tougher stance? Using strength to fight for their rights?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi sucked in a cold breath, his expression darkening. The thing he feared most had still come to pass. Lu Ming was nothing like Fugaku, the sort of compromiser who could be manipulated at will. He was a hardliner through and through.