"Akatsuki, huh."
Inside the Clan Holy Land, Uchiha Gen'yō listened to Shisui's report, his gaze calm and utterly unruffled.
It was as though that organization of S-rank missing-nin, whose very name terrified the entire shinobi world, was nothing more than an insignificant name to him.
His attention was now focused entirely on something else.
"Has everyone finished purifying their bloodline?"
He directed the question at Uchiha Yashiro, who was responsible for compiling the figures.
"Reporting, Lord Gen'yō!"
Yashiro's face was flushed with excitement. He held a thick report in his hands, and even his voice trembled slightly.
"All one thousand one hundred and twelve clan members have completed the baptism in the Spring of Rebirth!"
"According to our preliminary figures, everyone's chakra reserves have increased by over thirty percent on average!"
"Three hundred genin broke through and advanced straight to chunin as a result!"
"Eighty-five chunin successfully advanced to jonin!"
"More importantly, over a hundred young clan members who had already reached their limits successfully awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!"
"The number of jonin in our Uchiha Clan has now surpassed three hundred for the first time in history!"
"We are now truly the number one clan in the shinobi world!"
Amplified by chakra, Yashiro's words reached every clan member's ears clearly!
Boom!
The entire holy land plaza erupted once again!
Everyone excitedly felt the power surging within them. Their faces shone with unprecedented confidence and pride!
Three hundred jonin!
What did that mean?
It meant that the elite fighting force they now possessed rivaled that of any of the Five Great Shinobi Villages!
It might even surpass them!
"This... have we Uchiha really become this powerful?"
Even Fugaku felt dizzy when he heard those figures, as though he were dreaming.
All of this had happened within a single hour!
And the one who had brought about all these changes was the man standing before them all with that composed expression!
In an instant, the fanatical faith in every clan member's gaze as they looked at Gen'yō rose to yet another level!
"Very good."
Uchiha Gen'yō nodded in satisfaction.
This was exactly the result he wanted.
Only with sufficient strength would they be qualified to speak to Iwagakure as equals and have the confidence to face every challenge the future held!
"Now that our foundation is laid, it's time we set off."
Gen'yō swept his gaze across the crowd, his voice turning serious.
"The observer Shisui discovered just now served as a warning."
"We may be inside the holy land, but that doesn't mean we can rest easy."
"The jackals outside have already caught our scent."
"We must leave for the Land of Earth immediately! We need to form an alliance with Iwagakure before they can react!"
"But, Lord Gen'yō."
An elder raised a question.
"How are we to leave the Land of Fire?"
"Although Konoha has suffered heavy losses, their borders must be covered with their lookouts and barriers."
"Over a thousand of us moving together would make far too large a target. There's no way we could cross the entire Land of Fire unnoticed without alerting anyone."
The question instantly cooled the crowd's surging excitement.
Indeed.
They were now like children parading through the streets carrying a mountain of gold. Though their strength had increased enormously, exposure would still bring endless trouble.
"Who said we'd be moving together?"
At those words, Uchiha Gen'yō once again revealed that mysterious smile that put everyone at ease.
He raised his head toward the holy land's false sky, as though looking at a gigantic map.
The windmill-shuriken-shaped Mangekyo in his left eye began to turn slowly.
An unfathomable spatial power silently spread outward from him, enveloping the entire Clan Holy Land!
"Since walking is too slow, we'll fly there."
"What? Fly there?"
Everyone froze.
"Steady yourselves."
Uchiha Gen'yō offered no further explanation, only that quiet reminder.
The next second, he abruptly closed his left eye!
"Kamui! Amenominaka!"
Though he had borrowed the name, the underlying principle was entirely different!
This was his own exclusive, enormous-scale spatial transportation technique, developed by combining the characteristics of Dual Kamui!
The windmill-shaped Mangekyo in his left eye spun madly, silently locking onto a spatial coordinate far away in the real world!
That coordinate was located in an uninhabited mountain range on the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth!
Coordinate locked!
Immediately afterward, the triangular-throwing-star-shaped Mangekyo in his right eye activated as well!
A gigantic spatial vortex silently emerged, centered on the entire Clan Holy Land!
"This is..."
Every Uchiha inside the holy land felt a powerful yet gentle suction!
The scenery before their eyes began to twist and blur!
It was as though the entire world had been stuffed into a spinning kaleidoscope!
Yet there was not the slightest pain or discomfort throughout the process.
They even felt as though they had become the purest chakra particles, embarking on a wondrous journey through space and time.
The sensation lasted less than three seconds.
When the scenery before their eyes became clear again, everyone was stunned!
They were no longer in that holy land filled with birdsong and fragrant flowers!
They now stood amid an endless stretch of towering mountains!
The air here was dry and biting. The mountains bore the yellowish-brown color unique to the Land of Earth!
They could even see a few Iwagakure-style watchtowers in the distance!
In just three seconds, they had crossed thousands of kilometers! They had traveled straight from the heart of the Land of Fire to the border of the Land of Earth!
"Gulp."
Fugaku swallowed with difficulty. With the look of someone gazing upon a god, he stared at the figure standing with his hands behind his back, the hem of his clothes fluttering slightly in the mountain wind.
He finally understood why Gen'yō had dared to say earlier that even if Ōnoki tried anything, he could take the entire clan away at any time.
With such an unfathomable ability to teleport over a thousand people across vast distances, where in the entire shinobi world couldn't he go?
Those damned barriers! Those so-called blockade lines! Before such absolute spatial power, they were nothing but a joke!
"Farewell, cage."
Uchiha Gen'yō turned back for one last look in Konoha's direction, without the slightest trace of attachment in his eyes.
From now on, the sea was wide enough for fish to leap, and the sky high enough for birds to fly!
"Gen'yō, we may have escaped."
Fugaku walked up beside him and looked at the unfamiliar land in the distance, his voice carrying a hint of concern about the unknown.
"But over in Iwagakure, will that stubborn old Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, really accept us?"
"After all, we and Iwagakure are sworn enemies with decades of blood feuds between us."
"Accept us?"
Uchiha Gen'yō gave a disdainful snort.
He slowly drew from inside his clothes the pitch-black scroll he had retrieved from the deepest part of the Uchiha ancestral shrine, which emanated an ominous aura.
"Uncle Fugaku, don't worry."
"Once Ōnoki sees the welcoming gift I've prepared for him..."
A devilish smile curled Gen'yō's lips.
"Forget merely accepting us."
"I wouldn't be surprised if he dropped to his knees, clung to my leg, and begged us to become the overlords of their Iwagakure."
"What do you think? Will he like this scroll recording all of Shimura Danzō's dirty history, along with the list of spies Root has planted in the major shinobi villages?"