Konoha.
The encirclement had begun.
Danzo had made all his preparations. He had surrounded the Hyuga, and he had surrounded the Uchiha.
He had allied himself with nearly every shinobi clan he could.
And he had offered enormous benefits as a show of sincerity.
This time, he had only one objective: wipe out the Uchiha!
He would erase this long-standing source of instability in Konoha once and for all!
"Teacher, in the end, I'll have to fulfill your will for you."
Amid the swaying shadows of the trees, Danzo leaned on his cane and gazed at the Uchiha Clan Compound ahead.
Dozens of Root operatives crouched in the trees like blades concealed in darkness. At Danzo's command, those blades would be drawn to sever the Uchiha's heads.
Atop Hokage Rock.
Space warped.
A man wearing a tiger-striped mask silently appeared.
Obito Uchiha.
He stood on the head of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi's stone likeness, gazing toward the two clan compounds in the distance.
The Uchiha and the Hyuga.
"Brilliant!"
"What a clever move, Danzo~"
"I never thought you had brains like that. What a surprise~"
At that moment,
Obito could roughly make out the situation at the Hyuga Clan Compound from his vantage point.
Dozens of shinobi surrounded the Hyuga Clan Compound. All the rest were clones...
In other words, the main force wasn't stationed at the Hyuga compound at all.
But when he looked at the Uchiha, there was a vast, dense mass of troops. Even standing atop Hokage Rock, Obito could feel their oppressive presence.
He had been wondering how Danzo could possibly have enough troops to move against both the Hyuga and the Uchiha at once.
So he was only holding the Hyuga in place?
"But... fooling the Hyuga with the Clone Technique? Will that really