Going All Out Against Uchiha Fugaku!

Danzo went rigid.

The words stabbed into his heart like a rusty knife.

I'm the Hokage! Those were the words Danzo could least bear to hear from anyone else.

He had spent his whole life fighting for that seat, doing countless dirty deeds that could never see the light of day.

And now Hiruzen Sarutobi had told him in four words: You're nothing. You aren't the Hokage. You don't get to decide. You can be sacrificed!

"You'll regret this," Danzo rasped, his voice barely audible. "Hiruzen, you'll regret this! I swear it!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not answer.

Gritting his teeth, Danzo turned and led his battered survivors away. They dragged their dead behind them and limped into the darkness.

More than thirty Root operatives had arrived. Nearly half were gone, and every survivor was wounded, looking as though they had been hauled out of a garbage heap.

Two Root ninja carried Yamanaka Fū's headless body. Another had wrapped his head in cloth and tucked it under one arm. He was Danzo's trusted aide, after all. They could not leave his corpse in the wilderness.

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Yongye. Without another word, he turned and left with the ANBU.

Before leaving, Might Guy looked back at Yongye. Beneath his thick brows, his eyes burned with fierce fighting spirit.

This young Uchiha's Eight Gates Release was stronger, faster, and tougher. It had stirred a fighting spirit in Guy unlike anything he had felt before!

The green figure followed at the rear of the ANBU squad and soon vanished into the night.

At the edge of the Uchiha Clan Compound, only the Uchiha remained, with Uchiha Yongye standing before them all.

The night wind swept past, thinning the smell of blood that hung over the ground.

"You..."

Uchiha Fugaku stepped forward slowly, his gaze fixed on Yongye's eyes. Their crimson glow had not quite faded; two Tomoe turned within them, brazen and arrogant.

Fugaku remembered Yongye's clan record clearly: mediocre talent, Sharingan not awakened.

And now—two Tomoe.

"So you did awaken the Sharingan."

Fugaku's voice was low, his feelings tangled. Hatred really was the source of an Uchiha's power! He had guessed right!

Yongye paused and glanced sideways at him, as if Fugaku were a stranger by the road asking nosy questions.

"What the hell is it to you?"

Shisui Uchiha had already come up beside Yongye.

His usual gentle smile was on his face, and his mouth was open, but before he could get the first syllable out, he heard that familiar "What the hell is it to you?"

Shisui jolted. He swallowed the words on his tongue and quietly took half a step back.

He was afraid. Not of Yongye's strength, but of hearing "What the hell is it to you, Sarutobi Shisui?" over and over again!

The words were so vicious that just remembering them made his skin crawl.

Forget it. Today's no time to talk. I'll try another day.

Beside them, Fugaku's expression darkened.

He was the head of the Uchiha Clan, yet a junior had just said "What the hell is it to you?" to his face, in front of so many clansmen!

What was left of his dignity and authority?

Fugaku's already stern face hardened like iron. A muscle twitched at the corner of his mouth, and his voice turned icy.

"It's only a Two-Tomoe Sharingan. What are you so arrogant about?"

Uchiha Yongye stopped.

He turned to face Fugaku, a mocking half-smile on his lips. For reasons Fugaku could not explain, that smile made his skin prickle.

"Right. You're right."

Yongye nodded, sounding utterly sincere. "I should change my surname—to Shimura Yongye, or Sarutobi Yongye. Then I'd have the right... to act arrogant toward you!"

Fugaku's pupils contracted sharply.

The words seared his most private wound like a red-hot brand!

He had named his younger son Sasuke to curry favor with the Third Hokage. When Danzo pressed him again and again, he yielded without showing a shred of backbone.

He had endured humiliation and swallowed every grievance. He told himself it was for the greater good, for the whole clan!

But now Uchiha Yongye had said, in front of everyone, that he would need to change his surname to Shimura or Sarutobi before he could act arrogant toward Fugaku. He had smeared shit across Fugaku's face in public!

[Ding—target Uchiha Fugaku has suffered a moderate mental breakdown!]

[Heart-piercing value reached the threshold—struck his weak spot: his fear of Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi. Reward: Intermediate Mystery Box ×1. Open it now?]

"Open it."

[Ding—Intermediate Mystery Box opened! Congratulations, host. Reward: Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere!]

Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere—Shimura Danzō's signature Wind Release Ninjutsu.

The user fired highly compressed Wind Release Chakra from his mouth as bulletlike blasts of air. They flew as fast as lightning and had astonishing penetrating power.

At its best, the technique could riddle an enemy like a honeycomb!

It dealt tremendous damage!

The next moment, knowledge of the Wind Release Ninjutsu appeared from nowhere in Uchiha Yongye's mind, imprinting itself as a permanent part of his memory.

Yongye glanced at Fugaku again, and his wicked grin grew even wider.

Looks like this turtle of a clan head needs more than Lord Hokage's tender care—the Five Release: Great Combo Technique. I'll have to arrange Shimura Danzō's special attention, Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere, for him too!

As Yongye's thoughts wandered, a cool, aloof figure stepped in front of him. Uchiha Itachi.

Itachi's face was still pale, and there was a slight awkwardness to the way he walked. The lingering ache in his crotch had yet to fade completely.

His eyes still held that uncomfortable, appraising look.

"Your Eight Gates Release," Itachi said gravely, "was faster and stronger than Might Guy's. That wasn't pure Taijutsu—you enhanced it with Lightning Release at the same time, didn't you?"

Yongye looked at Uchiha Itachi and sneered inwardly.

No surprise from the man who'll one day seal Impure World Reincarnation Nagato and subdue Orochimaru Kabuto. He's sharp enough to stumble right onto it.

What Yongye had used just now was Indestructible Golden Body, but Lightning Release Chakra Mode could indeed produce a similar effect.

That two-faced bastard is testing me on purpose!

"I, Chang Wei, don't know martial arts at all! I was just born strong!"

Yongye declared it loudly, putting on an award-worthy performance. Just like Chang Wei, he sounded as open and righteous as could be.

Everyone froze. None of them knew what "Chang Wei" was supposed to mean.

Yongye realized it too. The locals have no manners... No, they have no culture.

Without changing his expression, he corrected himself, his voice still loud and strong.

"I, Yongye, don't know Lightning Release at all! I was just born strong! Don't try to frame me!"

Now the others understood why Uchiha Itachi had asked. He suspected Uchiha Yongye was the killer skilled in Lightning Release and Fire Release!