Back then, he still felt that the 'Clan Chief acted for the sake of the Family.' Thinking about it now, his father was that frog being boiled to death in lukewarm water!
"To us, Konoha is that pot of lukewarm water." Shine's voice suddenly grew sharp, and his Three-Tomoe Sharingan flashed in his eyes for a brief moment. "They give us 'Jonin quotas,' assign us 'border patrol' missions, and even have Hiruzen Sarutobi personally present me with a 'War Merit Certificate'—what are these? They are sugar-coated pills, they are narcotics!"
He slammed his hand onto the stone table, the force making the teacups jump. "Fugaku suppresses our protests and pushes you forward as cannon fodder while the Konoha High Command pretends not to see. You bleed at the borders while the Moderate Faction receives rewards in the Village."
"Your children are mocked at the Ninja Academy, told that 'Uchiha eyes are evil things,' and that old fossil Yakushi even says 'one must learn to endure'—is this your so-called 'consideration for the big picture'?!"
"Right now, Konoha is still 'painting a pie' for you, and the water hasn't even reached its boiling point yet. Do you already feel the pain?"
Shine's gaze fell upon Tekka, his lips curling into a cold, mocking sneer. "When they completely tear off the mask and slap the label of 'clan traitor' on us, just as they did to Uchiha Kagami back then, do you think your Three-Tomoe eyes can defeat the assassination squads of the Root Organization? Or do you think Fugaku will lead the neutral faction to save you?"
Tekka's body stiffened abruptly, the anger on his face completely fading away, replaced by a deep-seated fear.
He remembered ten years ago, when Elder Kagami's direct kin were suddenly executed by Danzo on charges of 'colluding with the enemy.' Fugaku remained silent throughout, not offering even a single word of defense.
At the time, he thought 'Elder Kagami's kin were truly in the wrong.' Only now did he understand that it was Konoha 'testing the blade' against the Uchiha!
"I don't know what Elder Setsuna told you." Shine stood up, his black cloak snapping in the wind as he walked step by step into the center of the crowd, his gaze sweeping over every face. "But I will tell you clearly today: The Uchiha of the past were wolves that made the Ninja World tremble with fear! But Konoha has fed us scraps and bones for decades, feeding us until we became dogs that only know how to wag their tails and beg for mercy!"
"The Inuzuka clan is willing to be Konoha's lapdogs; that is their choice!" Shine's voice carried a power that pierced the soul. "But we are Uchiha! We are the descendants of the Six Paths Sage!"
"I want Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, and everyone who looks down on us to know—a wolf is always a wolf. Even if kept in a cage for ten years, its fangs have never rusted!"
"I will take the blood of the Konoha High Command to wash away the shame of being 'Uchiha lapdogs'!" Shine suddenly raised his hand, pointing toward the sky. "You either follow me, trample the Hokage Office, and let the Uchiha clan crest hang once more at the summit of the Ninja World;"
"Or you continue being that frog in lukewarm water, waiting to be boiled to death by Konoha, then thrown into a mass grave without even a headstone to your name!"
Before his voice had even faded, Setsuna had already dropped to one knee, his aged voice carrying a fanatical roar: "This subordinate, Setsuna, is willing to follow Lord Shine to the death!"
Tekka trembled all over, the last trace of hesitation on his face completely vanishing. He suddenly drew his ninja sword, the tip stabbing into the ground as he knelt on one knee, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan burning crimson in his eyes. "This subordinate, Tekka, is willing to go through fire and water for my Lord!"
"We are willing to follow my Lord!" Nearly two hundred Ninjas knelt on one knee simultaneously, their black figures spreading across the courtyard, their scarlet Sharingan forming a sea of red.
Their roars shook the wisteria petals, causing them to rustle and fall. The wolfish nature and bloodlust suppressed for ten years were completely awakened at this moment—following this youth, even if it meant death, was far more dignified than being a frog in lukewarm water!
Shine stood in the center of the crowd, looking at the crimson tide before him, his lips curling into a cold smile.
He knew that from this moment on, the entire Radical Faction of the Uchiha had become the sharpest blade in his hand—and this blade was about to strike at the heart of Konoha.
The night was as dark as ink, dyeing this secondary forest on the border of the Land of Fire into an impenetrable gloom.
Tall oak trees interlaced their branches, obscuring the faint light of the stars and moon; only the wind occasionally passing through the gaps in the forest rustled the fallen leaves on the ground.
Uchiha Shine stood in a clearing in the forest, his black clan robes blending into the night, with only those eyes that had once ignited the Mangekyo piercing through the darkness with a sharp light.
Aka and En stood guard on either side of the clearing, their toes lightly tapping the ground as they silently circled the area to investigate.
Aka pressed his palm to the ground, his Chakra spreading out like a fine spiderweb, covering a hundred-meter radius—this was a sensory technique he had honed on the battlefield, capable of capturing even the slightest Chakra residue left by Earth Release.
En climbed a nearby oak tree, crouching on a branch thirty feet high, his Sharingan quietly activated. His scarlet tomoe swept over every shadow in the forest, not even missing a venomous snake hidden under the decaying leaves.
"My Lord, there are no living people within a hundred meters, and no tracking marks from the Anbu underground." Aka's voice came from the ground, kept extremely low, carrying the certainty of a completed investigation.
En also leaped down from the tree, landing as lightly as a feather, and nodded slightly to Shine, indicating no abnormalities from above.
Shine gave a soft 'mm' and rubbed his fingertips—the sensation of that assassination half a month ago seemed to linger in his palm. The warmth of Sarutobi Koga's blood splashing onto the clan crest, the resentment of the Root Organization Jonin before his death, and the weight of those six corpses being buried in a mass grave.
It was precisely that battle to the death that had allowed him to accumulate 2,300 summoning points, enough to support an 'all-in' style summoning.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about saving some summoning points for emergencies, but when his fingers brushed against the simple map of the Land of Whirlpools base in his sleeve, the thought was completely settled—
The base where Xiu was stationed was short on capable hands. The Ninjas of the Radical Faction needed to stay in Konoha to execute the Internal Purging Plan, and the old subordinates of his father and the other four uncles had to be integrated in secret. Only the summoned Ninjas were absolutely loyal 'hidden pieces' that could be safely sent out.
Rather than letting the summoning points sit idle, it was better to immediately convert them into combat power and send them to the Land of Whirlpools to be honed into sharp blades.
"System, summon four Chunin and three Genin." Shine's voice rang out in the silent forest, not loud, but carrying an unquestionable command.
As soon as he finished speaking, a faint blue Chakra glow appeared in his palm. This glow gradually rose into the air, condensing into a half-meter square Void Realm rift in the center of the clearing. The energy overflowing from the rift carried a purity that did not belong to the Ninja World, swirling the surrounding fallen leaves into small whirlpools.
Aka and En subconsciously gripped the ninja swords at their waists, their Sharingan alertly locking onto the rift.
The light within the rift suddenly intensified, and seven figures slowly stepped out from the Void Realm, their footsteps steady and silent as they landed...
Advance chapter available on pãtrêon Got1808