Emergency Clan Assembly, Shisui Appears

Uchiha Clan Head's Residence.

In the spacious Japanese-style courtyard, the bamboo water fountain, filled to the brim, swung down heavily against a stone with a crisp clack.

Inside, the lighting was somewhat dim.

Fugaku Uchiha sat cross-legged in the seat of honor, holding a cup of hot tea, his brows tightly furrowed.

The clan's situation had been growing more chaotic by the day. The radicals' voices rose in wave after wave, leaving him, the clan head, struggling to breathe under the pressure.

"Father."

The sliding door was gently pushed open. Itachi Uchiha removed his shoes, entered the room respectfully, and sat properly on his knees before Fugaku.

Fugaku set down his teacup. Looking at his eldest son, who filled him with immense pride, his deeply furrowed brow eased slightly.

"Itachi, have Sasuke's enrollment procedures been completed?"

"They have. Sasuke was assigned to Class A."

Itachi reported.

"Good."

Fugaku nodded. Just as he was about to offer a few words of encouragement, he noticed that something was off about Itachi's expression.

A father knew his son best. He sensed that something was wrong.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

Itachi remained silent. Lu Ming's words to Sasuke on the street, as well as his departing figure as he turned away, surfaced in his mind.

"Father, we ran into Brother Lu Ming on the way back."

Itachi raised his head and looked directly at Fugaku.

At the mention of Lu Ming's name, Fugaku's fingers paused slightly.

"Lu Ming? What did he say to you?"

Fugaku's feelings toward Lu Ming were extremely complicated.

That young man held too much prestige within the clan. Even among some of the younger generation, Lu Ming's words carried more weight than those of Fugaku, their clan head.

"Brother Lu Ming helped Sasuke out of a difficult situation."

Itachi recounted everything that had happened on the street in full detail, then his tone grew solemn.

"However, Brother Lu Ming told Sasuke that he needed to use his strength to prove the Uchiha's power to all of Konoha, to prove that we are the undisputed number one clan."

"He also promised that if we took first place, he would give us specially made chakra weapons."

Fugaku listened, and the expression on his face froze.

"Father."

Itachi looked at Fugaku.

"Brother Lu Ming's words sounded like encouragement for the younger generation, but I sensed a dangerous aura from him."

"He... has radical ideas."

"I'm worried that he may have also sided with the radicals led by Yashiro and the others."

Bang!

Fugaku slammed his teacup heavily onto the low table, splashing tea everywhere.

The thing he feared most had finally happened.

"Lu Ming..."

Fugaku clenched his teeth as a sense of helplessness welled up inside him.

He understood the current situation all too well.

The Konoha Leadership's suppression of the Uchiha had already become blatant, while the village civilians were filled with resentment toward the Military Police Force.

The radicals in the clan clamored every day for a violent seizure of power, while he remained caught in the middle, desperately trying to maintain that fragile balance.

Fugaku knew very well how deep Konoha's foundations ran. ANBU, Root, the major shinobi clans—which of them could be taken lightly?

Once the Uchiha truly launched an armed coup—

It would be a dead end with no chance of survival. The entire clan would be dragged into the abyss of destruction.

The reason he had still been able to suppress the radicals was that they lacked any true top-tier powerhouse capable of shouldering the burden.

Yashiro, Inabi, and the others shouted loudly enough, but their strength was not enough to command the masses.

But Lu Ming was different.

He was the terrifying figure who had forced back the Third Tsuchikage with an S-rank Lightning Release on the battlefield. He was the lifesaver of countless Uchiha clansmen.

If Lu Ming truly tore off all pretenses, stepped forward to rally the radicals, and led them in rebellion, then the entire Uchiha Clan would spiral out of control. As clan head, Fugaku would not even retain the right to speak!

"We absolutely cannot let things reach that point..."

Fugaku gripped the fabric over his knees with both hands, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

Just as Fugaku's mind was in complete turmoil—

Whoosh!

A dark figure suddenly landed in the courtyard outside.

An Uchiha clansman dressed in a Military Police Force uniform dropped to one knee, his voice urgent.

"Clan Head! The First Elder has just issued an emergency notice!"

Fugaku's heart sank. A sense of foreboding enveloped him as he yanked open the door and stared at the clansman.

"A notice from the First Elder? What is it?"

"The First Elder has ordered all clansmen who have awakened the Sharingan to proceed to Naka Shrine!"

The clansman lowered his head, unable to hide the excitement in his voice.

"The First Elder said that a matter concerning the clan's survival has arisen, and a clan assembly must be convened!"

Fugaku was struck as if by lightning, freezing where he stood.

An emergency clan assembly, one that would determine the clan's survival—

And he, the clan head, had been the last to receive the notice!

Fugaku's breathing became hurried.

The First Elder had bypassed him and directly convened a clan assembly. Something earth-shattering must have happened.

"I understand. Prepare the carriage immediately."

Fugaku forcibly suppressed the shock in his heart and strode out of the room.

At the edge of Konoha, Naka Shrine.

This ancient shrine was hidden deep within a dense forest. It was the Uchiha Clan's forbidden ground and the ancestral site where the Uchiha ancestors were enshrined.

Normally, its gates remained tightly shut.

No one besides the clan head was permitted to step inside.

Only when a major clan assembly concerning the family's fate was convened would Naka Shrine open its doors.

The shrine's underground chamber was an extremely spacious secret meeting hall.

Back then, relying on his terrifying strength that had dominated an era, Madara Uchiha had imposed a dictatorship within the Uchiha.

After Madara defected from Konoha, the Uchiha Clan carried out sweeping reforms to its internal power structure in order to prevent another overbearing clan head from dragging the entire family into the abyss.

The clan head's authority was drastically weakened, and major clan decisions had to be discussed and decided jointly by the Elders Council and the clan assembly.

By Fugaku's generation, his position as clan head had become a stifling one.

Without Madara's overwhelming strength to suppress everything, he could only rely on his steady style and the prestige he had built over the years.

The true power had long since been carved up by those several shrewd elders.

Figures moved along the stone steps leading to Naka Shrine's underground chamber.

Large groups of Uchiha clansmen were arriving from every direction.

"Sharingan, activate!"

At the shrine entrance, two clansmen responsible for security coldly watched every person who arrived.

To enter Naka Shrine's underground chamber and participate in this clan assembly that would decide the family's fate, there was only one qualification—awakening the Sharingan!

Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!

The arriving clansmen said nothing. One after another, they closed their eyes. When they opened them again, their once black-and-white eyes had turned scarlet.

One tomoe, two tomoe, three tomoe... pairs of Sharingan radiating cold ocular power lit up one after another in the night.

Only after confirming their identities did the guards allow them into the underground chamber.

The underground chamber was enormous.

More than a hundred Uchiha elites with awakened Sharingan had already gathered there.

All kinds of discussions rose and fell through the crowd, and the entire hall felt so oppressive it was hard to breathe.

"What exactly happened? Why did the First Elder suddenly convene a clan assembly?"

An Uchiha clansman with a Two Tomoe Sharingan lowered his voice, his face full of confusion.

"Isn't that obvious?"

Uchiha Yashiro stood in the center of the crowd, the Three Tomoe in his eyes spinning madly as he waved his fist with fanatical fervor.

"The Elders Council must have finally had enough of the leadership's oppression and is preparing to order an attack on the Hokage Building! The time for the Uchiha's counterattack has come!"

"That's right. They treat us like watchdogs every day. I've had enough of it."

Uchiha Inabi loudly echoed him, one hand already resting on the hilt of his ninja blade.

"As long as the First Elder gives the order, I'll go cut down that old bastard Danzo tonight!"

The radical clansmen were fired up, each of them rubbing their hands together, itching to rush out and start slaughtering people at once.

Meanwhile, the conservative clansmen in the corner were all pale-faced.

"Have you lost your minds? Attacking the leadership? That's treason!"

An older clansman pointed at Yashiro and cursed him out.

"You'll get the entire Uchiha Clan killed! Once war begins, the village's ANBU and Root will surround us."

"Cowards! It's because spineless people like you exist that the leadership dares to shit all over our heads!"

Yashiro cursed back.

Neither side was willing to yield. Their argument grew louder and louder until the entire underground chamber descended into chaos.

Everyone was wildly guessing the real reason behind this meeting.

But whether they were radicals or conservatives, they all understood one thing—after tonight, the Uchiha Clan's world would change.

Step. Step. Step.

At that moment, steady footsteps sounded from the stone stairs at the underground chamber's entrance.

The previously noisy underground chamber fell silent.

Everyone turned their heads. More than a hundred pairs of scarlet Sharingan stared in unison toward the entrance.

"Is the First Elder here?"

"Or is it the clan head?"

Everyone silently speculated.

However, when that figure fully descended the stone steps and entered their line of sight, everyone in the hall involuntarily sucked in a breath.

The person who approached was neither the First Elder nor Fugaku Uchiha.

It was a young man wearing a dark, high-collared short-sleeved shirt, with a short sword strapped to his back.

Uchiha Shisui!

The moment they recognized him, uncontrollable cries of surprise erupted from the crowd.

"Shisui?! How could it be him!"

"My god, Body Flicker Shisui actually came to the clan assembly?"

"Hasn't he always been indifferent to the clan's internal power struggles and rarely set foot in Naka Shrine? Why is he here today?!"

Yashiro, Inabi, and the others exchanged looks, the fanaticism in their eyes turning to shock.

That was Uchiha Shisui.

Looking across the entire Uchiha Clan—

Other than the powerful Lu Ming, Shisui was the undisputed pinnacle of combat strength!

Not only did he possess the Body Flicker Technique that was renowned throughout the Shinobi World, he was also one of the few top-tier powerhouses who had awakened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan!

A major figure like him, who normally carried out only the village's highest-level classified missions and could not even be summoned by the clan head, had unexpectedly appeared at the clan assembly today!

Shisui ignored the gazes around him and walked expressionlessly into the underground chamber. With every step he took—

The terrifying pressure radiating from him made the surrounding clansmen instinctively retreat half a step, forcibly opening a path through the packed crowd.

Seeing Shisui's cold expression, every Uchiha clansman present finally understood that what would happen tonight was a hundred times more terrifying than they had imagined!