The beginning

"Let's leave it at that! Whatever else there is can wait. I'm going to rest."

"Goodbye!"

Uchiha Yan knew nothing about any of that. He had only read things like The Secret of the Golden Flower. How could he possibly recite them from memory?

It was simply that he had a system. When the time came, he could get the text, waste a deduction opportunity, and copy it out for Taichi.

As for what Taichi would become after practicing it, or whether he lived or died, Yan couldn't be bothered to care.

Forget it! This is far enough for reforming the Hyuga Clan. I should reform the Uchiha first. I wonder whether Fugaku is ready.

Fugaku was already on the Land of Lightning's border. The men he led were all elites of the Uchiha Clan, most of whom had awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.

After reaching the border, Fugaku discovered that the situation was even more serious than he had imagined. The Land of Lightning did not seem to be probing them at all, but genuinely intended to invade Konoha now.

Moreover, word came from the direction of Kirigakure that its ninja were also mobilizing troops. The two sides seemed to have joined forces.

"Inabi, has any news come from the village? Have they decided who will command us?"

Inabi shook his head. "No word on the commander yet. Orochimaru rebelled, and neither Jiraiya nor Tsunade is around. I imagine it'll be either Danzo or Shikaku."

"Hopefully not Danzo. Otherwise, who knows how many Uchiha will die?"

"Huh?"

Inabi exclaimed in surprise. "Clan head, why do you think so too? Even Danzo wouldn't target the Uchiha during a major war, would he?"

"What do you mean, 'think so too'?"

"Here!"

Inabi took a letter from inside his clothes and handed it to Fugaku.

"Yan sent this from the Land of Rain. He thinks we can't let Danzo command the Uchiha. The Third Hokage doesn't want the Uchiha to earn too much military merit, but he's also afraid the Uchiha won't accept anyone else, so he'll keep agonizing over it.

"Yan wants us to cooperate. He plans to lure Danzo to Kirigakure and have Mitokado Homura command the war against Kumogakure."

Fugaku opened the letter and quickly scanned it, his eyes flashing.

"An excellent idea! Yan hasn't awakened his Sharingan yet, but he sees things more clearly than any of us.

"Inabi, find the Root ninja watching the Uchiha. When another letter comes from the clan, kill him as a Kumogakure spy."

"Heh heh heh! We've already found him. He's under our surveillance."

"Good!"

Fugaku did not want Danzo coming here at all. He had already offended Danzo on the Night of the Nine-Tails, and the Hokage election had pushed their relationship past any hope of reconciliation.

He was no fool, either. If he thought of backing down before Danzo now, Danzo would only devour him whole.

Uchiha Yan had pushed Fugaku into opposition to Danzo step by step. If the Uchiha wanted to avoid being wiped out by Konoha, they had to unite themselves first, then divide their enemies.

Joining forces with the Third Hokage against Danzo was the Uchiha's only chance.

As for rebellion, it had no chance of succeeding, even if Uchiha Fugaku possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.

The Third Hokage could shove the Nine-Tails out of Konoha with his staff. Wouldn't shoving Susanoo out be child's play? It wasn't the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. How could it have the power to destroy Konoha?

Even if they destroyed Konoha, could they escape endless pursuit by the entire Shinobi World? How many people had the Uchiha killed during the wars? Wouldn't those people's relatives want revenge? Kakashi had successfully received a Sharingan transplant. Wouldn't those people want Sharingan transplants too?

Uchiha Yan was no battle maniac, either. If something could be resolved through other means, he did not want to resolve it through war.

Before going to Amegakure, he had already been thinking of going to Kirigakure with Danzo. Only by entering the tiger's den could he catch its cubs.

Yet things had not gone as smoothly as he imagined. He had been back in the village for two days, and the Third Hokage still had not come to see him. That left him a little frustrated.

What's going on? Did Kakashi not tell the Third Hokage? Then wasn't my whole display of seeing through everything wasted?

No! I can't wait any longer! Time to activate Plan B. I've already offended him anyway. What difference will doing it again make?

Uchiha Yan opened his door and stepped out. Before he had taken more than a couple of steps, he saw Uchiha Itachi approaching with Sasuke in his arms.

"Senior Yan, are you going out?"

"Yes! I have something to do. Aren't you supposed to be seeing Shisui around now?"

"Shisui graduated. He's already gone to the Land of Water's border with his teammates."

Uchiha Yan crouched in the corridor to tie his shoelaces.

"Itachi, don't copy Shisui and graduate early. At the Ninja Academy, you can properly put what you learn from books into practice. That way, you can gather righteous energy as quickly as possible, too.

"If you reach the battlefield early, what you gather won't be righteous energy, but resentment. That helps awaken the Sharingan, but it also affects your soul.

"Cultivate yourself, then set your family in order. Don't forget the sequence. As long as you are upright, like-minded companions will naturally follow you."

"Thank you, senior. I know what to do!"

"Study hard and improve every day! I'm off."

According to the story's timeline, Shisui would awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan at twelve or thirteen, which meant this war with the Land of Water lasted three years.

If Yan went to the Land of Water's border, he would inevitably have very few chances to return to Konoha over those three years.

During this time, he needed to correct this ever-so-filial son as much as possible.

After leaving Fugaku's house, Uchiha Yan went straight to Xiaren's home without stopping anywhere along the way.

Most of the Uchiha Clan's elites had gone to the battlefield, leaving only three to five jonin behind, partly to guard against Danzo and partly because the Konoha Military Police Force needed personnel too.

Knock, knock, knock!

"Come in!"

Pushing the door open, Uchiha Yan saw Xiaren and Jinyan sitting together, drinking and chatting.

"Yan, come have a drink."

"Sure!"

Uchiha Yan walked over and sat cross-legged on the living room's tatami, just as they were.

"What gives you two seniors the time to sit here drinking today?"

"Most of the village's ninja are out on missions. Leaving a few one-tomoe clansmen to look after the Police Force is enough.

"Yan, I heard Kakashi's Sharingan has reached three tomoe. Is that true?"

"Yes!"

Uchiha Yan nodded slightly. "Senior Obito had a Two-Tomoe Sharingan before he died. Kakashi's Sharingan has now advanced to three tomoe. That goes against common sense.

"I wonder if Kakashi has Uchiha blood, and that's why he was able to advance the Sharingan.

"But because his bloodline is thin, he couldn't awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan even after killing Senior Rin with his own hands."

"Hm?"

Jinyan looked at Yan in surprise. "How do you know about the Mangekyō Sharingan? I only learned about it from the clan head after awakening three tomoe myself.

"I meant to ask last time, but it kept slipping my mind."

"My parents told me. Ever since I was little, I've fallen into a genjutsu whenever I sleep. They told me inside the genjutsu."

"I forgot. Your father, Senior Tenmu, awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan before he died. Even if it only lasted a few minutes, he still awakened it."

Xiaren added gravely, "Yan, your father's eyes may be unusable because he put all his chakra into you. That could be why you fall into a genjutsu whenever you sleep.

"Now I'm wondering whether the Fourth Hokage was killed or wanted to die himself. Senior Kushina was bound to die after having her tailed beast extracted.

"The Fourth Hokage may well have been like your father. Neither wanted his wife to be all alone, so they willingly went to their deaths."

"I think so too. Senior Tenmu had eyes for no one but your mother. He wouldn't even pay attention to the clan head."

"Whatever happened doesn't matter anymore!"

Uchiha Yan poured himself a cup of sake. "I've already seen them in the genjutsu, and they've taught me a lot.

"Counting the time spent in genjutsu while I sleep, I've lived for over twenty years.

"Enough about that! I came today to ask you two seniors for help. It concerns the Uchiha Clan."

"We can help, but there's one condition!"