Chapter 75: The Uchiha Clan Meeting

Chapter 75: Chapter 75: The Uchiha Clan Meeting

Inside a damp cavern somewhere in the Land of Rain.

Drip...

A droplet of water struck the rock, producing a crisp sound.

At that moment, two enormous pitcher-plant leaves slowly rose from beneath the ground. Between the leaves appeared a bizarre face, half white and half black.

The masked man sitting inside the cavern glanced over and casually asked, "Zetsu, huh? How’s the situation?"

The strange man called Zetsu, whose lower body was still submerged underground, replied, "They’ve already started peace negotiations. Things turned out completely different from what you expected."

The masked man fell silent for a moment before asking, "Why did Kumogakure slow down its offensive?"

At the beginning of the surprise attack, Kumogakure had advanced with overwhelming momentum, nearly breaking through Konoha’s frontal defenses.

Everyone watching the conflict—including the masked man—had assumed Kumogakure would press its advantage in one decisive push and rapidly advance toward Konoha Village.

Yet no one had expected Kumogakure, despite clearly holding the upper hand, to suddenly slow down its offensive.

The situation, which had seemed so straightforward, instantly became shrouded in uncertainty.

Zetsu shook his head. "I’m not sure either."

Keeping watch over all the battlefields within the Land of Fire had already left Zetsu stretched thin, so he simply hadn’t been able to spare any attention for battles taking place outside its borders.

The masked man sounded somewhat irritated. "Kumogakure is wasting a perfect opportunity!"

Zetsu thought back for a moment before replying, "Maybe something happened in their rear lines. During the few weeks before they withdrew from the Land of Fire, their deployments were a little strange. Even the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki left the front lines and hurried back to the rear."

The masked man waved a hand dismissively. "Forget it."

He had no intention of digging any deeper into the matter.

As far as he was concerned, whether it was Konoha or Kumogakure, they were nothing more than pieces on a board for him to use. And since they were merely pieces he could manipulate at will, there was no reason to place too much hope in them.

Zetsu asked bluntly, "What do we do next?"

The masked man chuckled. "From this conflict with Kumogakure, it’s clear that the village has completely lost its trust in the Uchiha. We should start with them and further undermine the village’s strength."

"What do you need me to do?"

"Find me a suitable member of the Uchiha clan."

After a brief pause, the masked man’s tone grew increasingly sinister.

"I need a useful pawn—one that can stir up the conflict between the Uchiha and the village..."

Konoha Village, Uchiha Clan District.

Knock, knock, knock...

A rapid series of knocks sounded from outside the courtyard.

Shisui, who had only recently returned home, had no choice but to drag his exhausted body over and open the courtyard gate.

The moment he opened it, Itachi’s small figure appeared before him.

Itachi’s face lit up. "Brother Shisui, you’re finally back!"

The Uchiha clan knew that Shisui had been sent on a secret mission.

In fact, many members of the clan believed that the Third Hokage was using his position to settle a personal grudge, deliberately sending Shisui on such a dangerous mission in hopes of eliminating the Uchiha clan’s number-one genius.

That was why Itachi had been so worried about Shisui’s safety.

Smiling, Shisui led Itachi inside.

After they sat down, Shisui briefly told him about Team Eleven’s latest mission before smiling and saying, "Don’t worry. Our Team Eleven has Kagami-senpai with us. We’re not going to run into anything we can’t handle."

Hearing that Team Eleven had caused such an uproar inside the Land of Lightning, Itachi’s face filled with curiosity. "Brother Shisui, does that mean Kumogakure slowed down its offensive because of you guys?"

Konoha had also been puzzled by Kumogakure’s unusual behavior.

All sorts of speculation and probing had continued without pause. It wasn’t until Konoha finally confirmed that something really had gone wrong in Kumogakure’s rear lines that the Third Hokage personally led his forces in an attack against Kumogakure’s surprise-attack force, driving them out of the Land of Fire in one decisive offensive.

Shisui nodded with a smile.

Whenever he recalled the astonished expression on the Third Hokage’s face after hearing Team Eleven’s report, he couldn’t help but feel immensely satisfied.

There was no doubt about it. After returning to the village and piecing together all the available intelligence, Team Eleven quickly reached a conclusion.

It was precisely because of their harassment behind Kumogakure’s lines that the Kumo’s surprise-attack force had been forced to slow its offensive, buying Konoha precious time to catch its breath.

After chatting for a while, Itachi suddenly grew serious. "Brother Shisui, look!"

As he spoke, Itachi’s eyes suddenly turned red, and two tomoe slowly emerged within each pupil.

Shisui’s face lit up. "You awakened your Sharingan?!"

Itachi nodded. "I awakened it on the battlefield last week."

"You went to the battlefield?"

Itachi replied, "I graduated early."

Just then, a figure landed in the courtyard outside Shisui’s house and called out, "Shisui, the clan head is holding a clan meeting at the main residence. Everyone’s waiting for you!"

The smile on Shisui’s face instantly froze, and his expression darkened.

Upon arriving at the main residence, Shisui swept his gaze over everyone gathered inside.

Inside the room, Clan Head Uchiha Fugaku sat upright in the center with his arms folded across his chest. Gathered around him were the elites of the Uchiha Police Force—more than a dozen of them, every single one a jōnin.

Seeing this, Shisui’s heart tightened.

Even ordinary special jōnin within the clan weren’t qualified to attend this meeting. He could already more or less guess what they were here to discuss.

"Clan Head."

After greeting Fugaku, Shisui silently took a seat in a corner.

Fugaku glanced at him and nodded.

With Shisui’s arrival, the Uchiha clan meeting officially began.

Before long, one of the elite Uchiha jōnin from the Police Force spoke up. "Captain, I’ve received reliable information. The village lost more than thirty jōnin in this conflict alone. The Hyuga, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame, Inuzuka, and several other ninja clans all lost jōnin in battle. As for the number of chūnin and genin casualties, there are simply too many to count."

As he spoke, the elite Uchiha jōnin rose to his feet, his expression growing increasingly excited.

"After suffering losses this severe, the Third still agreed to peace negotiations. A lot of people in the village are dissatisfied. This is an opportunity for us!"

Another elite Uchiha jōnin calmly added, "I’ve also heard that the ANBU directly under the Hokage suffered considerable losses this time. The forces under the Third’s command have been weakened yet again."

The moment he finished speaking, the Uchiha gathered in the room all turned their gazes toward Shisui, who was sitting silently in the corner.

At present, Shisui was the only member of the entire Uchiha clan who had joined the ANBU. As a result, if the Uchiha wanted reliable information about what was really happening within the ANBU, Shisui was their only source.

Seeing everyone turn to look at him, Shisui felt both irritated and helpless. Left with no choice, he gave them a perfunctory answer.

"I don’t know much. I think they lost about three ANBU squads."

The Uchiha in the room immediately became excited upon hearing this.

One of them stood and addressed Fugaku. "Captain, the time has come. The position of Hokage should have belonged to the Uchiha in the first place!"

"That’s right, Captain! It’s time to make our move!"

As the atmosphere grew increasingly heated, the Uchiha members of the Police Force rose to their feet one after another.

Clan Head Fugaku, however, remained seated firmly in place, his arms still folded across his chest.

His gaze swept across the assembled clansmen before finally settling on Shisui.

"Shisui, what do you think?"