A Great Clan Attends the Banquet, Shocking the Entire Crowd!

In the Uchiha District, the newly built luxurious mansion was brightly lit and festooned with decorations.

This massive completed structure covered an enormous area, fully displaying the heritage of a millennium-old prestigious clan. Red lanterns hung high overhead, illuminating the night sky.

Lu Ming stood in the center of the main hall with his hands behind his back, dressed in a black imperial robe, watching clan members bustle about around him.

"Clan Head!"

Uchiha Yashiro hurried over, holding a gift list in his hand.

"Isn't this celebration a little too extravagant?"

"Our Military Police Force has just undergone a major reshuffle, and we've also established the Civilian Police Office and Security Bureau. The clan's finances are already stretched thin."

Yashiro lowered his voice.

"This banquet will be held throughout the district for three days and three nights, with nothing but the finest ingredients and wines."

"Just tonight's meal alone will nearly empty our storehouses! Shouldn't we be spending a little more carefully?"

Lu Ming turned his head and smiled at Yashiro's pained expression.

"Yashiro, your perspective is still too narrow."

Lu Ming patted Yashiro on the shoulder.

"Do you think I'm holding this celebration for becoming clan head merely to show off?"

Yashiro froze and looked at Lu Ming in confusion.

"Isn't it to celebrate your formal assumption of power?"

"This concerns the Uchiha Clan's reputation, and even more so, our voice in Konoha!"

Lu Ming explained.

"The Konoha Leadership has just bowed under our military deterrence and withdrawn all their hidden agents."

"Now, all the major ninja clans are watching in secret, wanting to see whether the Uchiha are truly an awakened dragon or merely strong on the outside and weak within!"

Lu Ming spread his arms and looked around the opulent hall.

"If we act stingy at a time like this, unable even to host a proper celebration, what will they think?"

"They'll only think the Uchiha are grasshoppers after autumn, unable to jump for much longer!"

"We will use this grand occasion to flaunt our strength before all of Konoha and every great clan!"

Lu Ming's voice echoed through the hall.

"We will tell them plainly that the Uchiha Clan has confidence, wealth, and even more importantly, the strength to suppress everything."

"We will make them feel awe toward us from the moment they step through these doors."

Upon hearing this, Yashiro suddenly understood.

He slapped his thigh and straightened his back.

"I understand! Clan Head, you are wise!"

Yashiro nodded heavily.

"This is strategic deterrence. I'll arrange it right away and make the display as grand as possible. Even if we have to empty the storehouses, we must let those great clans see the Uchiha's heritage!"

Lu Ming nodded.

"Go. Money can be earned again. The Hundred Arts Pavilion will soon make the clan filthy rich."

"But today's crucial appearance, where we make our position clear, cannot afford even the slightest mistake!"

Night fell, and the celebration officially began.

Outside the Uchiha District, traffic streamed through the streets as voices filled the air.

The great clans of Konoha arrived one after another. Important figures rarely seen in ordinary times gathered before the Uchiha's vermilion gates.

"Oh, Shikaku, you came too."

Tsume Inuzuka, leader of the Inuzuka Clan, approached with an enormous ninja hound. She called out loudly to Shikaku Nara in the distance.

Shikaku Nara wore a loose kimono. He sighed and rubbed his brow.

"With such a huge spectacle, how could I not come?"

Shikaku lowered his voice.

"This new Uchiha clan head is a ruthless man who devours people without even leaving the bones behind."

"Even the Third Hokage and Danzo suffered badly at his hands. I heard he even overturned Root's underground base."

"If our clans dare refuse to show respect, we might not even know how we die in Konoha."

"Woof!"

The ninja hound beside Tsume Inuzuka gave a low growl, agreeing with Shikaku.

"That's true."

Tsume Inuzuka crossed her arms and clicked her tongue as she looked at the imposing Uchiha mansion.

"But the Uchiha have truly turned things around this time. I heard they even reorganized the Military Police Force and established some Security Bureau specifically to keep an eye on the leadership."

"That kind of nerve, that kind of resolve—only Lu Ming would dare!"

Nearby, Shibi Aburame, leader of the Aburame Clan, adjusted his dark sunglasses and remained silent as ever.

Yet his body beneath his trench coat was tense, and the Kikaichū in his pockets were stirring restlessly.

It was a warning from the insects after they sensed danger.

Representatives of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans, along with the heads of the Inuzuka, Aburame, and other clans, had all arrived. They exchanged pleasantries outside the gates, but no one dared take that first step inside.

Just then—

"Look! That's..."

A startled cry rang out from the crowd, its pitch breaking.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice.

At the end of the street, two figures dressed in pure white kimono were approaching.

Walking in front was none other than the current head of the Hyuga clan, Hyuga Hiashi!

Half a step behind him was his younger brother, Hizashi Hyuga!

Whoosh—!

The entire crowd fell silent before erupting into cries of alarm!

"My God! Am I seeing this right? The Hyuga clan head came in person?!"

"How is that possible? Everyone in Konoha knows that, as the two greatest dojutsu clans, the Hyuga and Uchiha have always been like fire and water!"

"They've fought openly and covertly for so many years. Why would Lord Hiashi personally come to congratulate the Uchiha's new clan head?"

"Could he be here to cause trouble? No way. Today is Lord Lu Ming's home ground. Even with ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare!"

The representatives of the various clans looked at one another.

The feud between the Hyuga and Uchiha went back a long way.

Whenever members of the two clans encountered each other on the street, it was already restraint if they did not trade a few barbs.

Yet Hiashi had personally come to their door today. Everyone sensed that something unusual was afoot!

"It seems even the Hyuga clan has felt the pressure."

Shikaku Nara narrowed his eyes and calculated silently.

"Lu Ming's rise has completely shattered Konoha's balance of power."

Hyuga Hiashi remained expressionless, turning a deaf ear to the surrounding discussions.

With steady steps, he led Hizashi directly to the gates of the Uchiha mansion.

The Uchiha greeters froze for a moment when they saw Hiashi.

But remembering Lu Ming's instructions, they stepped forward and welcomed the guest inside.

Hiashi entered the Uchiha's newly constructed luxurious mansion.

The banquet hall glittered with gold and jade, while crystal chandeliers cast down their light.

The dining tables were piled with food, and serving girls moved busily among them.

But what truly drew Hiashi's attention was not the mansion's furnishings.

"Brother, look around..."

Hizashi Hyuga, following behind him, stopped and quietly pointed it out.

Hiashi looked around the banquet hall.

At every entrance and exit, around corridor corners, and at hidden sentry positions above, dozens of young Uchiha stood rigidly upright.

These young men were all around twenty years old!

They wore dark combat uniforms, their muscle definition faintly visible beneath the fabric.

Over their uniforms, they wore black cloaks, with two blood-red characters printed on the back—"Temple"!

They neither looked around nor whispered among themselves. They stood motionless where they were.

"This presence..."

Hiashi stopped walking.

As the head of the Hyuga clan, he had experienced countless battles between life and death. He possessed an acute instinct for the aura of the strong.

"Byakugan! Activate!"

Veins bulged at the corners of Hiashi's eyes as he activated the Hyuga clan's Kekkei Genkai.

Through the Byakugan's penetrating vision, he saw the meridian systems within these young men's bodies, as well as their immense chakra reserves!

"This... How is this possible!"

Hiashi roared inwardly, his breathing growing rapid.

Under the Byakugan's observation, he discovered that every one of these young men around twenty possessed astonishing amounts of chakra!

"All of them... all of them are at least elite Chunin?!"

Hiashi took half a step back.

Elite Chunin around twenty years old! There were dozens of them!

In any clan,

or even in all of Konoha, this was an incredibly powerful force.

For ordinary ninja, reaching Chunin level at that age was already considered genius-level talent!

What concerned Hiashi even more was the leader standing at the front of these youths, commanding the entire unit.

That was Tekka Uchiha!

Tekka stood with his arms crossed, sweeping his gaze across the hall.

Under Hiashi's Byakugan, the chakra fluctuations within Tekka's body

had condensed to an extraordinarily high degree. He was an elite Jonin!

"A twenty-year-old elite Jonin... a full, organized unit of elite fighters..."

Hiashi's body swayed, and cold sweat formed on his forehead.

He turned and exchanged a glance with Hizashi behind him.

Hizashi had clenched his fists as well.

He too had sensed the strength of these Temple youths.

The two brothers understood clearly that these youths wearing cloaks marked with blood-red characters were not like the Uchiha's formerly mediocre ordinary clan members.