Absolute Power, the Shinobi World's Ultimate Secret!

"But!"

Lu Ming's tone carried a hint of mockery.

"But First Hokage Hashirama Senju's approach was fundamentally and gravely flawed!"

Those words rang in Itachi's ears.

He was criticizing the First Hokage, revered as the God of the Shinobi World?

If such words got out, they would be enough to bring the wrath of all Konoha down on him!

Yet Lu Ming did not care in the slightest. He had struck directly at Hashirama's fatal flaw.

"Hashirama Senju possessed Wood Release, enough to suppress an age of chaos. He could have used his absolute power to unify the Shinobi World and establish a vast empire governed by a single set of rules. But he was too naive!"

Lu Ming sneered as he condemned him.

"He actually naively believed that distributing the nine Tailed Beasts equally among the other four great shinobi villages would create something called a 'balance of power'!"

"He actually believed that bowing and begging at the Five Kage Summit would earn everyone's mutual understanding and bring about everlasting peace!"

"Absurdly foolish!"

Lu Ming shouted furiously.

"The only things he relied on were his personal martial power and his personal charisma."

"Peace maintained by one person's strength and some so-called 'balance' was so fragile that it couldn't withstand a single blow!"

"And what happened?"

"Once Hashirama Senju died, his deterrence vanished and the balance collapsed! The shinobi villages that had received the Tailed Beasts launched the First Shinobi World War!"

Lu Ming pressed his attack step by step, completely shattering Hashirama Senju's notion of peace.

"Without absolute control, without unified ironclad laws, so-called peace is nothing more than a period of recuperation between two wars!"

The hall was completely silent. Only Lu Ming's words echoed through it.

"True peace isn't compromise, charity, or that laughable balance!"

The black eyes in Lu Ming's gaze instantly transformed into a scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan, radiating boundless Kamui.

"True peace means establishing rules."

"It means possessing absolute power—power that makes no one and no force in the entire Shinobi World dare violate those rules!"

Itachi knelt on the ground and looked up at Lu Ming.

"No! That's impossible!"

Itachi rose to his feet and loudly retorted, "The First Hokage could never have been wrong!"

"He was the God of the Shinobi World, the founder of Konoha."

"He used Wood Release to bring the brutal Warring States era to an end, establish the first hidden-village system, and provide countless civilians and shinobi with a place of refuge!"

Itachi's chest heaved violently as he tried to defend the faith he had been taught since childhood.

"Throughout Konoha, and even throughout the entire Shinobi World, the First Hokage was a great man whom no one dared question."

"Lord Lu Ming, how can you deny his greatness so completely?"

Lu Ming looked at Itachi and laughed aloud.

"A great man? He ended the age of chaos?"

"Itachi, you're too naive. Your so-called end to the age of chaos is nothing but pretty words used by history books to whitewash peace!"

Lu Ming descended the steps and closed in on Itachi.

"You say he brought peace? Then let me ask you!"

Lu Ming raised his voice.

"The First Hokage bowed his head to every village, even kneeling and kowtowing at the Five Kage Summit, and handed the nine Tailed Beasts over to the other shinobi villages. What did that buy him?"

Itachi opened his mouth, only to find that he could not utter a single word.

"It bought him the fact that, in the mere several decades after his death, the Shinobi World erupted into three successive World Wars!"

Lu Ming pressed him relentlessly.

"In the First Shinobi World War, Second Hokage Tobirama Senju died in battle."

"In the Second Shinobi World War, Konoha's Three Legendary Ninja made their names, but countless civilians were displaced."

"In the Third Shinobi World War—the meat grinder you experienced firsthand—even your comrades and family members died horribly on the battlefield!"

"Countless lives were devastated, and countless families were torn apart!"

Lu Ming swept his sleeve aside and stared straight into Itachi's eyes.

"This was the peace that the so-called 'God of the Shinobi World' you spoke of bought with bowing his head and making compromises."

"The facts have proven that Hashirama Senju's so-called path to peace failed utterly!"

Itachi staggered back two steps, his face as pale as paper.

"Peace has never been negotiated through groveling."

Lu Ming turned around and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Peace is fought for! It is enforced through the deterrence of absolute power!"

"Only when you possess absolute power capable of flattening the entire Shinobi World and making everyone feel fear will war truly stop. Only 'nuclear peace' can end war!"

Lu Ming turned his head. The Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes radiated a heart-pounding crimson glow.

"This is precisely what I did to the Uchiha Clan."

Lu Ming spread his hands.

"You saw it yourself. I didn't go kneel beneath the Hokage Building and beg. I didn't go lecture Danzo about the Will of Fire."

"I merely displayed three Mangekyō Sharingan and forty-three elite Three Tomoe users!"

"I used absolute strength to force the Third Hokage to bow his head and compromise, and to force Root to withdraw all its surveillance!"

Lu Ming walked up to Itachi and patted him on the shoulder.

"I ended the Konoha Leadership's years-long oppression of us. What did I rely on?"

"Mutual understanding? No. They were afraid! They were terrified!"

Cold sweat slid down Itachi's forehead.

Last night, in the underground Root base, the Third Hokage had apologized to Lu Ming in front of everyone. This morning, ANBU shinobi had fled before Zero Squad.

"Absolute power..."

Itachi muttered to himself.

He raised his head and looked at Lu Ming.

"Lord Lu Ming, I understand your philosophy now."

Itachi forcibly suppressed the turmoil in his heart.

"But even if our Uchiha Clan possesses great power now, there are still four great shinobi villages and countless powerful figures throughout the Shinobi World."

Itachi voiced the greatest question in his heart.

"Can the power of our Uchiha Clan alone really rule the entire Shinobi World and establish the absolute rules you speak of?"

"An entire clan's power alone?"

Hearing Itachi's question, Lu Ming threw his head back and laughed.

"Itachi, your horizons are still confined by this tiny Konoha Village."

Lu Ming restrained his laughter.

"Do you really think our Uchiha Clan is nothing more than one of Konoha's founding clans?"

Itachi froze.

"Isn't it?"

"Today, I'll let you witness the true ultimate secret of this world!"

Lu Ming turned around and formed hand seals.

"Vmmm—!"

The bluestone floor in the center of the Temple's hall split apart to both sides, and a stone tablet rose from below.

"This stone tablet records the most ancient origins of our Uchiha Clan."

Lu Ming pointed at the writing on the tablet.

"In the distant ancient past, the Shinobi World had no so-called hidden villages. Even the concept of chakra had yet to become widespread."

"At that time, there was a great being known as the 'Sage of Six Paths.' His true name was Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki!"

"The Sage of Six Paths?!" Itachi cried out in shock.

"That's right. The Sage of Six Paths."

Looking at the stunned Itachi, Lu Ming revealed a shocking secret powerful enough to overturn the entire Shinobi World's understanding.

"The ancestor of our Uchiha Clan was none other than the Sage of Six Paths' eldest son, Indra!"

"What?!" Itachi's legs went weak, and he nearly collapsed onto the floor.

His eyes widened as he stared fixedly at the ancient stone tablet, his mind completely short-circuiting.

"That's not all."

Lu Ming continued, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"The ancestor of the Senju clan, including the First Hokage Hashirama Senju whom you revere as a god, was the Sage of Six Paths' younger son, Asura!"

"The Uchiha and Senju clans share the same origin! What flows through our veins is the bloodline of the legendary Sage of Six Paths!"

"That is why only the Uchiha and Senju clans possess the terrifying power to look down upon the entire Shinobi World."

"That is why only the Sharingan and Wood Release can easily suppress the Tailed Beasts, which the world regards as natural disasters!"

Lu Ming spread his arms wide.

"Because those Tailed Beasts were pets created by the Sage of Six Paths himself! And we are the descendants of a god!"

Itachi stood rooted to the spot.

The Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, Indra, Asura...