Uchiha

The atmosphere grew strange. The young elite clansmen looked at Uchiha Sasaki with worshipful eyes. Worshipping the strong was in the Uchiha Clan's nature. Of course, they did not worship traitors, no matter how strong they were.

Unlike the others' admiring gazes, Uchiha Fugaku looked at Uchiha Sasaki with a complicated expression. Ever since Sasaki had instantly killed the elite ninja under his command...

Fugaku's expression had become uncertain, because he had thought of a possibility. Itachi really might be the one who had betrayed the clan. After all, Uchiha Itachi was Fugaku's son.

But as his father, he had never truly understood his eldest son.

Combined with Uchiha Itachi's recent unusual behavior and his wavering between the village and the clan, he was very likely the one reporting the Uchiha Clan's rebellion to Konoha.

If he considered it solely from the perspective of the clan head, he might have discovered it long ago. But Uchiha Itachi had another identity: Fugaku's biological son.

Although Fugaku always maintained the appearance of a strict father before Sasuke and Itachi, cold and stern, that did not mean he did not care about his children.

"Ahem. Uchiha Kai brought this upon himself. He actually launched an attack first, so it can be considered betrayal of the clan." With a light remark, the Grand Elder brushed aside the death of an elite clansman.

But he was also deeply shocked by the Mangekyo Sharingan's power. And if what Sasaki said was true, then this rebellion would likely spell disaster for the Uchiha Clan.

This was not the time for internal conflict.

"Clan Head, I understand how you feel right now, but please put the clan's interests first. One of Uchiha Shisui's eyes was taken by Danzo, the leader of Konoha's Root, while the other was taken by Uchiha Itachi. Danzo, who is preparing to strike against our Uchiha Clan, is one of them. His goal is our Uchiha Clan's eyes—the Sharingan."

"Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan possesses the most terrifying ability I know of so far. It is called—Heavenly Hand Power. It is one of the ultimate genjutsu, capable of completely influencing a person's thoughts."

Everyone present sucked in a breath. To completely influence someone's thoughts—what a terrifying ability. And who was Danzo? The Root of Konoha's Anbu, with a vast number of elite ninja under his command. The Uchiha Clan had originally calculated that he would not intervene, which was why they dared to act. But if he joined in as well, then the Uchiha Clan truly faced grim odds.

"Is the Mangekyo Sharingan really that powerful?" one of the Uchiha elders asked tremblingly, though he already had the answer in his heart. Everything Sasaki had done just now had explained it perfectly.

Who would have thought that Uchiha Itachi, a fellow member of the Uchiha Clan, would turn out to be a traitor? And he possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan. More importantly, Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan was in Danzo and Itachi's hands.

The Uchiha Clan's Mangekyo was about to turn its blade upon its own people.

"Yes. And Itachi's Mangekyo abilities are even stronger than mine. After all, one of my abilities merely lets me see the past. And besides those people in the open, there is someone else watching our Uchiha Clan with greedy eyes."

"Who?"

"I don't know. But in the images of the past that I saw, he also possessed the Sharingan—the Mangekyo Sharingan." Sasaki concealed the fact that Uchiha Obito called himself Madara.

After all, if he said it aloud, almost no one would believe that Uchiha Madara, once the strongest of the Uchiha Clan, intended to destroy the Uchiha Clan.

"Another... Mangekyo. Could it be... could it be that heaven truly wishes to destroy our Uchiha Clan?" By this point, although Sasaki had no evidence, most of the elites present had already believed what he said.

It was truly ironic that the ultimate evolution of their Bloodline Limit—the Mangekyo Sharingan—apart from Sasaki, wanted to wipe out the Uchiha Clan. And Sasaki, the only one standing with the clan, was merely a puppet.

The Uchiha—an arrogant and tragic clan.

All that remained was time and a covert investigation to confirm it.

"None of you may reveal anything discussed at tonight's gathering to anyone, including the other clansmen! This concerns our clan's survival! Do not let it spread!" At the end of the gathering, the Grand Elder repeatedly emphasized this. Once they confirmed that Sasaki's information was true, everything Sasaki had done tonight would make him a hero who had saved the Uchiha Clan. They had no choice but to take it seriously; this truly concerned the Uchiha Clan's survival.

At the same time, in a valley not far from Konoha, a man who looked like a pitcher plant reported to a masked man.

Although the Uchiha Clan had set up a barrier, it could not stop Zetsu, who had merged with the earth, from gathering intelligence. As long as Zetsu wished it, there was nothing happening above this earth that he could not know. Of course, that referred to Black Zetsu, the incarnation of the earth, but White Zetsu's intelligence-gathering ability could not be underestimated either.

"This was the content of the Uchiha Clan's gathering. Who would have thought that in just a few years, members of the Uchiha Clan would awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan one after another? What are you going to do, Obito?" Zetsu said with a teasing smile.

"I told you, call me Uchiha Madara. He is merely a little bug that has just awakened the Mangekyo. There is no need to pay attention to him. Besides, one of his Mangekyo abilities only allows him to see the past. The plan remains unchanged. When the time comes, I will personally erase him."

"Uchiha, I will personally make you disappear from this world. A clan so full of Resentment should never have existed in this world."

Over the following days, the entire Uchiha Clan and even all of Konoha Village remained unusually calm. The calm was so complete that it was frightening, like the stillness before a storm.

The Uchiha Clan later held two more brief meetings. Their conclusion was simple: they had, in a sense, confirmed that Konoha would strike at the Uchiha Clan before the clan could turn the situation around.

And Uchiha Itachi's various actions had all but confirmed that he was the traitor. It was only because Fugaku was the clan head that everyone tacitly avoided speaking of it.

But when it truly came to a moment concerning the Uchiha Clan's survival, if Fugaku, as clan head, tried to stop them, he would be the first one eliminated.

"Clan Head, please think this over carefully. This concerns the Uchiha Clan's survival. Please cast aside your personal feelings." More than one clansman who had been present that day had offered Fugaku this advice.

"I understand. You may leave." Fugaku gave the same reply every time. The son who had once made him proud had now become a traitor to the clan.

No one knew how conflicted Fugaku was. On one side was his son, and on the other was the clan. Fugaku was usually a strict father, but who knew how deeply he actually cared for his children?

Leaving aside Fugaku, the Uchiha Clan's leader, even the other higher-ups of the Uchiha Clan had begun to split. They were now divided into two factions. One faction, led by the Uchiha elders, advocated defending the Uchiha Clan's honor and fighting Konoha to the death.

The other faction was led by the Uchiha Clan's rising star, Uchiha Sasaki, and consisted of the Uchiha's young elites. This faction advocated retreating in order to advance, preserving the clan's strength and rebuilding later.

It was hard to imagine that the older faction, which generally favored stability, would be so aggressive, while the hot-blooded prime-aged faction would be so cautious.

It had to be said that after displaying his strength that day, Uchiha Sasaki had become the leader of the Uchiha's younger generation. He easily gathered the Uchiha Clan's young elites around him because he was strong, and the Uchiha revered strength. Moreover, he had uncovered Konoha's plot to strike against the Uchiha and the clan traitor through his own efforts.

But this was also part of Meruem's plan. If they wanted to split the Uchiha Clan apart, displaying strength was unavoidable.

Otherwise, merely being an elder's son and holding the title of third among the Uchiha's young elites would not have attracted many followers. Things were different now. Uchiha Shisui, one of the Uchiha Clan's two great experts, was dead or alive unknown. Uchiha Itachi was a traitor to the clan. And Uchiha Sasaki had awakened the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan. With such gains in prestige, gathering elites was simple.

Of course, it was not as if no one had wanted to strike first and kill Itachi. But after witnessing Sasaki's Sharingan, they abandoned that thought.

Even Sasaki had personally said that his Mangekyo was slightly inferior to Itachi's. Would anyone else not simply be throwing away their lives?

Not to mention anything else, five Uchiha elites who had awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan had formally sworn loyalty to Sasaki. Five might not seem like many, but there were not many Uchiha clansmen in the entire clan who had awakened the Three Tomoe Sharingan. And these were only those who had sworn loyalty, not including Uchiha Sasaki's followers.

It was laughable. With a great enemy at their doorstep, the entire Uchiha Clan had now almost split into four factions. First was the elder faction, with the most people and the greatest strength, though it had very few young members. Second was the young elite faction led by Sasaki, second in both numbers and strength. Third was the neutral faction, made up mostly of ordinary clansmen who had awakened the Sharingan or Uchiha civilians who did not know the truth. They had the most people, but few who could fight. Finally came the clan head's faction. Though Fugaku was the clan head, he was ultimately only one branch of the higher-ups. Ranking fourth was already quite good, and that was only because Fugaku had managed his people well.

With things already so tense, Itachi had long noticed that something was wrong within the clan. He was not foolish; on the contrary, he was a supreme genius. But what could he do even if he saw it? Fight? He feared nothing. Without awakening the Mangekyo, no one was even qualified to fight him.

It was not only Itachi who noticed. Danzo—or rather, the Third Hokage—had also detected something.

But at this point, whether they knew or not no longer mattered. The only pity was that they could not catch the Uchiha Clan completely off guard. They would merely shed more blood and pay a greater price.

Everyone was now waiting, waiting for an opportunity to make their move.--------------------------

P.S. Please vote as usual, mwah!