All of the genin's eyes were developing at high speed.
But among them, some of the older genin had already brought their bloodline limit right to the edge of breakthrough.
Tonight, in that state of utmost stillness and guarded emptiness, the sudden leap in spiritual power gave rise to ocular power that became the final kick needed to smash open the door of talent.
Perhaps that force was a little too strong.
It flattened out the differences between several genin, causing their breakthroughs to cluster together within the span of barely thirty seconds.
One pair of Sharingan after another awakened in succession.
The awakening brought with it a far greater amount of ocular power, as well as stronger chakra.
The newly awakened genin had no way to control this sudden increase in strength.
Without meaning to, they released surging ocular power.
And with several of them doing it together, the disturbance naturally multiplied many times over.
A number of genin who had not sunk deeply enough into the state were jolted awake.
At first, the awakened genin were confused.
Then they turned pale with shock.
Then they became wildly overjoyed.
And finally, they turned uncertain.
[The Sharingan actually broke through directly during cultivation?]
[Wasn't it supposed to awaken only after suffering the most tragic experience, by exchanging your most precious emotions for it?]
[I've been tricked!]
Within thirty seconds—
Inside the Ninjutsu and Tactics Study Group, among more than a hundred Uchiha genin whom the upper ranks of the clan had already judged incapable of ever awakening the Sharingan—
Five squad leaders and one ordinary member awakened the Sharingan one after another.
In truth, there were still at least six or seven more genin who had been stimulated enormously and had likewise reached the edge of opening their eyes.
After witnessing their companions awaken, they involuntarily gave rise to unwillingness born from disappointment in themselves—
And intense jealousy toward the success of others.
Driven by those fierce negative emotions, a great surge of cold Yin-attributed ocular power erupted from deep within their brains.
That sort of Yin-nature ocular power was precisely the "orthodox" source of awakening for the Uchiha clan.
And so their eyes began turning red as well.
They were just about to awaken too.
But Uchiha Yoru could not accept that outcome.
So he directly interrupted everyone's state of guarded stillness and emptiness, knocking them out of that spiritually heightened state at the root.
Once Uchiha Yoru pulled the rug out from under them like that, even if the Uchihas became even more disappointed and their emotions grew even more negative, their stimulated spiritual power still could not reach the threshold required for awakening.
And thus, the process of their eye-opening was aborted on the spot.
The whole thing happened extremely fast—
Almost instantaneously.
Even those six or seven genin themselves failed to notice the changes that had nearly happened.
Uchiha Yoru quietly let out a breath of relief.
Only he understood just how dangerous that situation had really been.
If six pairs of Sharingan awakened at once, the Uchiha clan would rejoice, the Third Hokage would mutter to himself, and Danzō would jump into a rage—
But all of that was still within the range his current strength could bear.
But if twelve or thirteen pairs of Sharingan awakened all at once—
Then the Third Hokage would definitely develop murderous intent.
The clan's internal factional struggles would also sharpen violently.
And the other ninja clans, who had originally been indifferent bystanders, would all be stimulated into changing from passersby into enemies.
At that point, aside from the lower-ranking Uchiha clansmen, Uchiha Yoru would effectively become the enemy of the entire village.
And after that, the situation would no longer be salvageable.
Not only that—
This kind of cold ocular power stimulated by negative emotions was almost certainly harmful.
While it could open someone's eyes, it would, in all likelihood, also alter their temperament—
Making them extreme in emotion, arrogant, irritable, biased, and prone to obsessing over dead ends.
Uchiha Yoru did not want underlings like that.
They were far too likely to ruin things.
Even though, under his interference, only six people awakened the Sharingan, that was still more than shocking enough.
The Uchiha clan currently had only a little over three hundred Sharingan-bearing ninjas alive.
But that was the accumulated result of nearly thirty years.
If one added the unfortunate ninjas who had died in battle, then in the past thirty years, the total number of Uchiha who had ever awakened the Sharingan was only a little over nine hundred.
That averaged out to only a bit more than thirty awakenings per year.
In reality, the timing of Sharingan awakenings was very unevenly distributed.
During the two ninja wars, more than eight hundred pairs of Sharingan had awakened, accounting for the overwhelming majority.
During peacetime, only a little over sixty pairs had awakened.
That averaged out to just six or seven pairs per year.
And tonight—
Six pairs had awakened in one go.
That was equivalent to an entire year's worth of awakenings.
The Sharingan was the pride of the Uchiha clan.
It was the strongest bloodline limit in the ninja world.
And it was also the greatest desire of every Uchiha ninja.
Uchiha Yoru had fulfilled the bold promise he had made to the study group's genin.
He had shown them a miracle.
A new page in the history of the Uchiha clan had truly been turned.
That miracle proved that under Uchiha Yoru's training method, even these Uchiha genin who had already been sentenced to failure could still awaken the Sharingan.
In fact, their awakening rate might even surpass that of elite ninjas.
The genin went completely mad.
They were utterly conquered by Uchiha Yoru.
Things like elders and the Clan Head were thrown entirely out of their minds.
From now on, if the Clan Head dared speak even half a word of opposition to the president, the genin would absolutely treat it as worthless farting.
And if Uchiha Yoru gave the order to attack, they would charge without the slightest hesitation and fight the Clan Head to the death.
The spies Uchiha Fugaku had inserted, as well as the spies planted by the other elders, were all conquered on the spot by Uchiha Yoru.
After witnessing six people awaken the Sharingan at the same time, they all decisively chose betrayal and confessed their respective missions to Uchiha Yoru in full.
After all—
Who could possibly have imagined that even the awakening of the Sharingan could be done in wholesale batches?
For someone from the Uchiha clan, the shock of that was simply too great.
There were seven genin in total who had been acting as spies for the upper ranks.
Filled with guilt and worry, they said, "President-sama, please allow us to withdraw from the study group."
"The study group is the hope and future of the Uchiha clan. It absolutely cannot be destroyed by the incompetent and greedy people at the top."
"Please trust us. Even if we die, we absolutely won't leak the study group's internal information!"
Listening to them, Uchiha Yoru only wanted to laugh.
These genin who had served as spies for the upper ranks, after turning their backs on that role, had instead become filled with extreme distrust and hostility toward those same superiors.
He raised a hand to stop their guessing and said, "There's no need to panic like this. The Ninjutsu and Tactics Study Group was established by the clan in the first place. No one is going to destroy it."
"But President-sama, the Clan Head and the elders will definitely covet the standing-stake cultivation method. They'll surely want to monopolize a cultivation method that promotes Sharingan awakening."
"Since I publicly taught all of you the knowledge of standing stake, I naturally never intended to keep it secret."
"If the Clan Head and the elders want it, then let them have it."
"…Huh?"
"What is there to worry about? If I'm willing to teach it openly, how are the Clan Head and the others supposed to monopolize it?"
"President-sama, aren't you worried about assassination?"
"My dear little brothers, how could you think so little of me, Uchiha Yoru? Am I really that weak in your hearts?"
"The most important thing, though, is that your judgment that the Clan Head is an enemy is mistaken."
"Of course the Clan Head and the elders have selfish motives. But they are also members of the Uchiha. They are part of our Uchiha clan—indeed, the most elite part of it. They sincerely hope for the Uchiha clan to flourish and grow strong."
"The relationship between me and the Clan Head, and between me and the elders, is not one of irreconcilable mortal enemies."
"It is competition within the clan over different directions and different methods."
"Believe me. Neither the Clan Head nor the elders would make the decision to kill their own clansmen."
[Of course, Uchiha Obito would do that. Uchiha Itachi would do it too. And to stop them from destroying the Uchiha clan, I, Uchiha Yoru, would do it as well.]
Uchiha Yoru's reasoning was persuasive.
More importantly, it was the exact sort of reasoning the Uchihas most wanted to accept.
So, just as expected, the genin were convinced.
He even smiled and said, "Besides, don't panic yet. Things may not be serious enough to the point where you need to withdraw."
"Tell me the details of your missions. Especially who assigned them to you, and who was present when you reported your results."
After carefully listening to the details of each spy's assignment, Uchiha Yoru shook his head.
"I understand now. Don't withdraw. And don't report upward anymore either. Let's wait and see what reaction the Clan Head and the elders have next."
"I don't believe they'll do the sort of thing that makes loved ones suffer while enemies rejoice. They are, after all, still the rulers of the Uchiha clan."
"Even if Clan Head Fugaku ignores the clan's fundamental interests and forcibly orders you all to withdraw, there's no need to panic. Leave what comes after to me."
"I'm not some lone orphan with no backing. I have your support, and I have Lord Nobuhiro's support. I'm not that easy to bully."
"And even if things truly go badly, all of you should still try to hold on as long as possible."
"Who knows? You might all awaken the Sharingan. If you worked so hard and yet failed to obtain the greatest possible result in the end, wouldn't that be a terrible pity?"
The spies were moved to tears and snot.
From that day on, they became Yoru's loyal little followers and completely cut off contact with their former superiors.
Something rather strange happened.
The fact that the upper ranks' spies had gone silent somehow attracted no notice at all.
It could only be said that the elders and the Clan Head truly did not care much about these "trash" genin.
As long as the children did not proactively appear before them, they simply did not remember that such genin even existed.
On top of that, various other "more important" affairs kept interfering.
Both Uchiha Fugaku and the elders had long since shifted their attention elsewhere, and had completely forgotten about the spies they had chosen on a whim from among the genin.
The morale within the study group had become extremely unified.
Combined with the elders' and Clan Head's indifference, something as shocking as six pairs of Sharingan awakening within thirty seconds after just three days of training somehow failed to reach the ears of the upper ranks for several whole days.
That silence from above allowed the genin in the study group to let the anxious weight in their hearts finally drop.
At the same time, it made them even more disappointed in the upper ranks, causing them to completely sever any emotional loyalty they still held.
A certain self-mocking phrase began circulating among the genin:
"The Clan Head and the elders really don't care about us at all."
The upper ranks had no idea that something huge had happened inside the study group.
But Uchiha Nobuhiro, who had been watching it all with maximum attention, naturally knew.
During those thirty seconds in which six genin awakened the Sharingan at once, old man Nobuhiro had been hiding at the edge of the training ground and had personally witnessed that miracle—one so shocking that any Uchiha who saw it would be left speechless.
The old man was incomparably excited.
He no longer had the slightest worry for the future of the Uchiha clan.
And as for his own eye in having discovered and chosen Uchiha Yoru—
He was incomparably proud of it.
He had no more regrets left in life.
From now on, all that remained was to eat well, drink well, keep his body healthy, and provide the greatest possible support to Uchiha Yoru.
…
Five days later, Uchiha Yashiro mentioned in his routine report that Uchiha Yoru had made major changes to the training curriculum. Formation training had been removed, while physical training had increased greatly.
Uchiha Fugaku glanced over the report and could not help sneering.
"Training ninjas with formation drills—what nonsense. At least he had the sense to correct himself in time. That's not too hopeless."
But when he wanted to learn the details, he discovered that the spy he had arranged had failed to report back on schedule.
That made Uchiha Fugaku a little angry.
Then, even more awkwardly, Fugaku discovered that he couldn't actually remember the spy's name.
Nor did he know how to contact that genin.
From the very start, he had never arranged any method of communication.
A spy personally arranged by the Uchiha Clan Head—a ninja from his own clan, one he himself had selected—had become completely cut off simply because Fugaku had failed to contact him first.
It was truly embarrassing.
But Fugaku's frustration and disappointment didn't even have time to ferment.
An even greater flood of more "important" matters came crashing in, leaving him unable to cope.
Very quickly, he forgot the matter altogether.
The six elders were more or less in the same state.
They felt deeply ashamed that they could make such a mistake while arranging spies.
With unspoken agreement, they all stopped bringing up the topic of the study group, hoping this embarrassing and muddle-headed incident would quietly disappear as soon as possible.
But not every elder was this muddled or careless.
Uchiha Yūichirō was the representative of the neutral faction within the Uchiha clan.
By nature, he was cautious and suspicious, and highly skilled at reading people's hearts.
No one had disappeared from the study group.
Yet his spy had cut contact.
From that alone, Elder Yūichirō concluded that the spy himself had voluntarily severed ties—
And had defected to Uchiha Yoru.
Uchiha Yoru, despite having awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, was still only a chūnin without roots or foundation.
What exactly had he used to make a spy betray his superior and turn to him instead?
What in the world had happened inside this Ninjutsu and Tactics Study Group?
Uchiha Yūichirō's curiosity toward Uchiha Yoru and the study group reached an entirely new level.
But just as he began to launch new moves of his own—
Uchiha Nobuhiro blocked his door.
The moment he saw an eighty-something old man blocking the entrance, Uchiha Yūichirō's eyelids twitched wildly.
Then the pain in his bruised eye socket made him hiss involuntarily.
When people got old, their recovery simply could not keep up.
The black eye old man Nobuhiro had given him a few days ago still hadn't fully faded.
That night, when he had been beaten, there had still been more than thirty jōnin watching, and Nobuhiro had not been able to truly cut loose.
Besides, there had been five other old guys present to share the beating.
But this time?
This was just him, alone, being blocked in his own house.
Scared.jpg
But the old bastard was a genuine elder.
By the time Uchiha Yūichirō had been born, Uchiha Nobuhiro had already been chopping people alongside old Clan Head Shimada for over twenty years.
Now that such a senior had come in person, what could Yūichirō as a junior do?
He could only grit his teeth and receive him.
Tea and snacks were served up.
As white steam rose lazily into the air, the two old men sat facing one another in silence for a long time.
In Japanese culture, the first one to speak was the loser.
But Uchiha Nobuhiro had long since retired.
Uchiha Yūichirō, however, still had many matters to deal with.
In the end, he admitted defeat first and cautiously asked, "Uncle Nobuhiro, what have you come to see me about?"
Uchiha Nobuhiro looked at Yūichirō's injury and grinned.
"I want you to shut up about Yoru."
"I would nev—"
"Don't talk bullshit with your eyes open. I know you sent people to gather information."
"I already chased those people off for you."
"As for the matter itself, I'll tell you right now."
Uchiha Yūichirō bowed respectfully.
"Please speak."
"Last night…"
As Uchiha Nobuhiro recounted what had happened, Uchiha Yūichirō's eyes widened more and more.
He seemed to lose all sense of the pain in his bruised socket.
When he heard that six genin had awakened the one-tomoe Sharingan last night, Uchiha Yūichirō abruptly shot to his feet, paying no attention at all to the fact that he had overturned the teacup on the table.
The rich green tea splashed everywhere.
"This is true?"
"It's true. I was watching right there."
Uchiha Nobuhiro's voice grew somewhat dreamy.
"It really is hard to believe…"
"That brat Uchiha Yoru said he would let the genin witness 'the history of the Uchiha'…"
"And it turned out to be real…"
Uchiha Yūichirō's face was full of shock.
So agitated that he couldn't even sit, he paced back and forth inside the tea room, muttering over and over:
"Inconceivable…"
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