Absolute Power, Hashirama's Mistake!

Inside the newly built Temple's main hall in the Uchiha District.

Eleven-year-old Itachi Uchiha wore a dark combat uniform, with a short blade hanging at his waist.

He entered the hall, walked to the center of the empty space, and dropped heavily to one knee.

"Clan Head!"

Itachi lowered his head, his voice trembling,

"On your orders, all Konoha Anbu and Root spies lurking around the outskirts of the Uchiha District withdrew this morning! Not a single one was left behind!"

Lu Ming, seated in the main position, nodded slightly.

Yesterday morning, Lu Ming had formally issued the counter-surveillance order.

As the captain of the Temple's Zero Squad,

Itachi had personally led his subordinates in carrying out the mission.

Recalling yesterday's scene, Itachi clenched his fists.

At the time, Konoha's Anbu and Root shinobi had been hiding as usual in the dense woods and blind spots beneath the high walls around the Uchiha District.

They had thought their disguises were flawless,

and continued monitoring the Uchiha's every move with an air of superiority.

An Anbu squad leader was crouched among the dense branches of a towering tree, holding a record scroll and preparing to note the Uchiha Military Police Force's shift-change schedule.

The instant he raised his brush, the surrounding air temperature suddenly plummeted.

"Who goes there?!"

The Anbu squad leader was horrified and turned to look.

At some point, several figures in dark combat uniforms had appeared around the tree where he was hiding, without making a sound.

Leading them was none other than eleven-year-old Itachi Uchiha.

Behind Itachi, the young elites of Zero Squad stood in a neat line.

Without a word, more than a dozen pairs of scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan lit up simultaneously in the shadowy woods!

Following Lu Ming's ironclad order—"Keep your eyes on the spies, lock down their presence, and only subdue them; do not hurt them"—Itachi and the members of Zero Squad had not even drawn their ninja blades.

They simply stood there in silence, staring at every Anbu with their scarlet eyes.

"Uh..."

The Anbu squad leader breathed rapidly, the mental pressure making it difficult for him to move.

He desperately tried to raise his hands and form seals, only to find his fingers stiff and completely unresponsive.

Under the gaze of more than a dozen Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he did not dare make the slightest move.

"The new Uchiha Clan Head has given an order."

Itachi looked at the sweating Anbu, his voice cold,

"The Uchiha District does not welcome uninvited guests. You have ten seconds. Get out of our sight."

Those who usually prided themselves

on being Konoha's elite Anbu and Root shinobi completely collapsed,

not daring to utter a single threat as they scrambled out of Uchiha territory.

This bloodless counter-surveillance operation successfully forced the Konoha Leadership to swallow its humiliation. They completely withdrew their surveillance and stopped their unreasonable suppression of the Uchiha!

When news of the Anbu's humiliating retreat reached the clan, the entire Uchiha Clan erupted in jubilation.

Countless clan members embraced and wept tears of joy in the streets.

How many years had it been? Ever since the Nine-Tails' Attack,

they had lived like prisoners in captivity, enduring the humiliation of being watched and treated with suspicion every day.

But today, they could finally breathe the air of freedom again!

The radicals who had once clamored for a bloody coup were now even more utterly awed by Lu Ming.

Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Yashiro stood before Naka Shrine, gazing at the deserted outskirts of the Uchiha District with tears of excitement in their eyes.

"Lord Lu Ming did it! He really did it!"

Inabi clenched his fists and roared,

"Without shedding a drop of blood or starting a civil war, he forced the Konoha Leadership to bow its head and retreat! This is true strength!"

"We were pitifully foolish before, actually thinking we could stage a coup through such a suicidal method."

Yashiro's face was filled with shame, but then extreme fervor erupted in his eyes,

"Only Lord Lu Ming can lead us to glory! He is the god of our Uchiha!"

Lu Ming's prestige within the clan was at its zenith, reaching its absolute peak,

and with facts as solid as iron,

he had perfectly fulfilled the promise he made in the Great Arena—to make the Uchiha great again.

Inside the Temple's main hall,

Lu Ming looked at Itachi and rose from his seat.

He did not lose himself in the joy of victory. Instead, his gaze passed through the hall's windows and reached toward the distant Konoha, and even the entire Shinobi World.

"Itachi."

Lu Ming's voice echoed through the hall, breaking the silence,

"You are only eleven years old, but your thinking and vision have long surpassed those old traditionalists in the clan. You even see farther ahead than Fugaku."

Itachi raised his head and listened respectfully.

"Let me ask you something."

Lu Ming looked directly into Itachi's eyes,

"In your opinion, what is the true root of the endless wars and suffering that have plagued the Shinobi World for centuries?"

Hearing this grand and profound question, Itachi was slightly stunned.

Images of being taken by his father to the battlefield of the Third Shinobi World War flashed through his mind.

The severed limbs scattered across the ground, the rivers stained red with blood,

the desperate cries of civilians who had lost their loved ones... Those painful memories

had always been his deepest nightmare, as well as the fundamental reason he hated war so intensely and longed for peace.

Itachi fell into deep thought.

After a moment, he raised his head, his eyes carrying a weariness beyond his years.

"Clan Head."

Itachi answered seriously,

"Hatred, interests, and ambition."

"Countries clash over fertile land and resources, giving rise to conflicts of interest."

"Shinobi slaughter one another for their respective villages, creating blood feuds that run deep."

"And the ambitions of those in high positions drag countless innocent people into the meat grinder of war. As long as these things exist, war will never end."

After hearing Itachi's answer, Lu Ming chuckled softly.

"You are right. Hatred, interests, and ambition are all weaknesses of human nature."

Lu Ming walked down the steps and came before Itachi,

"But you have only seen the surface. You have not seen through to the essence."

Itachi widened his eyes, his face full of confusion.

"Human nature cannot be eradicated. As long as people exist, the struggle for interests and the expansion of ambition will never stop."

Lu Ming's voice gradually rose,

"So trying to obtain peace through mutual understanding and the elimination of hatred is nothing more than a fool's dream!"

"There is only one way to truly put an end to all these wars!"

Lu Ming turned around and spread his arms,

"And that is—absolute power and absolute authority!"

"When one person, or one force, possesses absolute power capable of crushing everything and making everyone feel fear and despair, war will naturally stop."

"Because no one will dare resist, and no one will dare provoke a conflict!"

Itachi's heart shook violently.

Lu Ming ignored Itachi's shock and continued presenting his earth-shaking argument.

"Look at our history, Itachi."

Lu Ming pointed at the ancient Uchiha Clan crest on the hall's wall,

"During the Warring States Era, rival powers divided the land, and people died every day. How did it end?"

"It ended because the Uchiha and Senju, the two strongest clans, joined forces."

"The combination of those two pinnacle forces created absolute power capable of crushing every other shinobi clan."

"Before that invincible absolute power, the other clans had no choice but to submit! The age of chaos ended just like that!"

Itachi drew in a sharp breath.

The education he had received since childhood had all centered on the mutual understanding and tolerance of the Will of Fire, but Lu Ming's words directly pierced through those hypocritical appearances.