Fugaku received a report from the clan members on the front lines.
Because of the Uchiha Clan's pride, they had taken on the toughest opponents.
Of the 1,000 clan members, only 712 remained, a casualty rate of nearly thirty percent.
Of the 1,000 clan members who had initially gone to war, 500 had been Jonin, 350 Chunin, and 150 Genin.
Now, 469 Jonin, 199 Chunin, and 44 Genin remained.
The highest-ranking member among the dead was Yunhai's deputy, Uchiha Rinka.
Every one of the remaining 712 clan members was wounded as well.
Even that was relatively good. The death toll among members of other clans was close to half.
Everyone in the meeting room fell silent.
The Elder was the first to compose himself. After all, he had lived through the Warring States period and had encountered even crueler things.
"Clan head, everyone, we must take care of their families."
"There's no need to wait until the war ends. Our clan should give some compensation to the families of those on the battlefield now. As for those who died..."
Fugaku frowned.
"Withhold the list of the dead for now. Give the same allowance to the families of everyone fighting, and leave the rest until the war is over."
Knowing that this was not the time to release that list, the Second Elder interrupted Fugaku.
Seeing that no one else objected, Fugaku tacitly agreed.
Because of Seiichi's arrival, the Uchiha Clan was now different from before. The clan was not short of money, at least not in the short term.
As such, no one present had any objection to giving allowances to the families of those fighting.
As word of the Uchiha Clan's actions spread through the village,
the Uchiha Clan's reputation improved just the tiniest little bit.
The result was dissatisfaction from the other ninja clans.
After all, every ninja clan had members fighting, but they did not have the Uchiha Clan's wealth.
So the better ones could only hand out a few things.
The less decent ones could only pretend they had seen nothing.
Especially the Hyuga Clan.
The Main Family normally did not even treat branch family members as human beings. How could they possibly hand anything out now?
None of this had anything to do with Seiichi.
He had been keeping track of the time all along.
Ever since the Third Shinobi World War broke out, he had been waiting.
Based on his memories and the current state of the war, he estimated that it would happen sometime soon.
With nothing much to do now, he still spent every day in the laboratory.
But he was no longer doing any research.
He mainly developed and practiced ninjutsu.
At last, Seiichi received the news he had long awaited-the Battle of Kannabi Bridge had begun.
With the fighting at the front at a stalemate, Konoha kept mobilizing large numbers of personnel to reinforce the front lines.
Compared to before, the village's defenses had become extremely thin. Now, only members of the Konoha Military Police Force could be seen patrolling the streets.
Seiichi knew his opportunity had arrived.
Under cover of night, Seiichi changed into a full set of clothing that covered him tightly.
His hair and palms were covered, and he even wore goggles over his eyes.
After confirming that not a single part of his body was exposed,
Seiichi left the laboratory like a phantom and headed toward Orochimaru's secret base.
Along the way, he first used the Transformation Technique, then the "Ordinary Villager" genjutsu he had developed himself, concealing his movements "perfectly."
Genjutsu: Ordinary Villager.
It was a special genjutsu Uchiha Seiichi had developed specifically for his own unique circumstances.
The principle behind this genjutsu was to cover his body in a layer of eye power-in other words, Yin Release spiritual energy.
This genjutsu did not require the caster to actively select a target. Instead, it was cast on the caster himself.
Anyone who saw the caster would be affected by the genjutsu.
Its effect was to make people ignore the caster, reducing his presence without limit.
After developing the new genjutsu, Seiichi had put it through a series of tests.
Even if the caster did things that ordinary people would find particularly bizarre, those who saw him would not care.
The technique even affected memories. Afterward, those affected by the genjutsu could not remember the caster's existence at all, and his figure would not appear in their memories either.
Of course, this genjutsu initially shared a weakness with most genjutsu. Any sensation of pain would allow the affected person to break free.
Seiichi's solution was extremely simple and blunt.
He ignored it!
You heard that right. He simply ignored this weakness.
That was because this genjutsu took effect as soon as someone saw the caster.
So, to Seiichi, it did not matter if you broke free. If you did not look at him, you would not be affected. If you looked at him again, you would fall under it again.
The only way to remain unaffected by the genjutsu was to have greater spiritual power than Seiichi.
At present, few people in Konoha could manage that.
Fugaku was the only person in the village Seiichi knew for certain could remain unaffected by the genjutsu.
The only uncertainty was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Everyone else was trash!
With this genjutsu as his safety net, and the village's defenses so thin,
Seiichi acted without the slightest hesitation.
No one paid any attention to his movements, and he reached his destination without trouble.
Standing at the entrance to Orochimaru's laboratory, Seiichi took a deep breath and silently prayed that everything would go smoothly.
After all, an opportunity with timing, location, and circumstances all on his side was truly rare.
Orochimaru's laboratory was not yet as dark and damp as it would become later.
There was just one problem: there were rather a lot of snakes...
Seiichi had been terrified of snakes in his previous life.
He was not afraid now, because he could not possibly fear a creature that posed no threat to him whatsoever.
Fortunately, his genjutsu worked on all creatures that possessed chakra.
Thank you, Orochimaru. There were no ordinary snakes here.
Seiichi quickly searched through the laboratory's rooms.
Strange ninjutsu? He would take them!
Research records? He would take them!
Logs of failed experiments? He would take them!
The Kusanagi Sword?!
In a box in one corner, Seiichi actually found the Kusanagi Sword that Sasuke had used in the original story, the one that could be imbued with lightning chakra.
All right. Since you belonged to an Uchiha in your previous life, come along with an Uchiha a little earlier in this one.
Better than sitting here gathering dust.
He packed it up and took it.
After searching the place, Seiichi had packed seven storage scrolls full of things.
But where were the all-important Hashirama cells? Orochimaru could not possibly have taken such a precious, important resource onto the battlefield.
Seiichi suddenly froze for a few seconds.
He thought of Orochimaru's habits.
Frowning, Seiichi turned to look at the room in the laboratory that contained nothing but snakes.
That room was full of snakes, and only snakes.
Among them was a white python, the largest of the lot. Its chakra fluctuations were the strongest of all the snakes.
With no other choice, he could only steel himself and return to that room.
Although Seiichi was no longer afraid of snakes, he had not come to enjoy dealing with such creatures up close.
He gently pushed open the door and looked at the densely packed snakes writhing and coiling around one another inside.
Seiichi felt his stomach churn.
He forcibly suppressed his discomfort.
He threw a cup he had casually picked up in another room at the white python.
Once the white python woke up,
Seiichi unleashed his Sharingan at full power, putting everything into casting genjutsu on the giant snake.
After a long struggle, the white python finally vomited.
He looked at the storage scrolls mixed into the mess of vomit on the floor.
He cast genjutsu again, forcing the white python back to sleep.
Before you continue