Meanwhile, in Konoha, the atmosphere was strangely peaceful.
It was as though the cataclysmic phenomenon that had occurred that day had merely been an illusion.
This reminded Uchiha Kei of something similar that had happened in his previous life.
One day during his middle-school years, the sky suddenly went dark at noon. It became so dark that even the sun disappeared.
Kei, being the sensitive sort, thought the end of the world was coming.
His classmates, however, didn’t seem particularly concerned. That was, at least, until one of the guys in the classroom suddenly shouted,
"Holy crap! If the sky’s like this, does that mean we don’t have to go to class?"
A few minutes later, the sky brightened again, and the cheering stopped.
The teacher merely gave a disdainful laugh and said, "It’s just a total solar eclipse. What’s there to make such a fuss about?"
That wasn’t the strange part.
The strange part was that many years later, when Kei attended a middle-school reunion and brought up the incident, not a single classmate remembered that such an astronomical phenomenon had ever occurred during their middle-school years.
But so what?
Kei had continued living a perfectly peaceful life afterward.
After all, something like that didn’t affect his monthly salary of 3,200 yuan.
It seemed that things were much the same now.
Once the incident had passed, the people of the Land of Fire still had to live their lives.
As long as they were alive, nothing mattered more than figuring out what they were going to eat for their next meal.
Thus, to the people of the Land of Fire, everything that had happened that day was nothing more than a spectacular natural phenomenon.
It didn’t change the fact that they still couldn’t afford land in Konoha.
But beneath the surface, the political turmoil among the upper echelons was terrifying.
First, Jiraiya made a high-profile return to the village.
Then Konoha held a grand welcoming ceremony for the return of Princess Tsunade.
The Uchiha Clan’s Military Police Force even came out to maintain order.
Then, a green-haired eternal Genin somehow skipped the Chūnin rank entirely and was promoted directly to Jōnin.
Not only that, he even joined the Jōnin Council, which consisted of thirty Elite Jōnin.
The Yellow Flash of Konoha, Minato Namikaze, accompanied by his wife, Kushina, began making appearances at the compounds of Konoha’s various clans.
This was despite the fact that Kushina was already pregnant.
Konoha’s Red Hot-Blooded Habanero also became widely known, and the identity of the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki was no longer a secret.
At the front lines, war broke out between Konoha and the Kirigakure forces.
The sudden outbreak of hostilities resulted in casualties for Konoha.
One of Shisui’s comrades and one of his fellow clan members were killed in the conflict.
This enraged Shisui.
He actually led the remnants of his unit in driving back the Kirigakure forces.
Kirigakure continued sending reinforcements to the front.
There were even rumors that the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had all arrived.
And yet, under such circumstances, Shisui Uchiha was instead recalled to Konoha.
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s mobilization of Konoha’s top combat power was anything but subtle.
It was a stark contrast to Hiruzen’s previous behavior.
At the same time, the price of Konoha’s soldier pills rose by 40%, while the price of ninja tools increased by 20%.
Several shops selling explosive tags were shut down for various reasons.
Large numbers of Sarutobi clan shinobi were deployed, taking up numerous guard and patrol posts throughout Konoha.
The entire village remained orderly and prosperous.
The spies from various factions hiding within Konoha were deeply alarmed.
Could that celestial phenomenon have been a new weapon developed by Konoha?
Is Konoha preparing to launch an offensive and unify the entire shinobi world?
No. This information has to be sent back to our hidden village immediately!
While the various countries and hidden villages were thrown into a state of panic over Konoha, the bitterness in Hiruzen Sarutobi’s heart was something no outsider could understand.
Just a few days earlier, he had been quietly consolidating Konoha’s forces, preparing to eliminate the Uchiha in one decisive strike while desperately trying to prevent Uchiha Kei from finding out.
Now he was openly flaunting Konoha’s strength.
He was deliberately making all of Konoha’s powerful shinobi appear in public.
He had even sent a pregnant woman out to stand as a symbol of Konoha’s strength.
He was practically screaming at Uchiha Kei to notice them.
This shift in the balance between offense and defense was precisely what demonstrated how completely the balance of power had been reversed.
Hiruzen no longer had the luxury of worrying about how badly his actions might be misunderstood by the other hidden villages.
What puzzled him was that despite being this conspicuous, Uchiha Kei still showed absolutely no reaction.
Instead, it was Uchiha Fugaku, the clan head, who had been running around everywhere.
How could Fugaku still not understand?
He could no longer determine the direction of the Uchiha Clan.
Uchiha Kei had already become the spiritual leader of the clan.
Hiruzen felt that if he were Fugaku, this was precisely the moment when he should not be publicly supporting Uchiha Kei.
Pledging allegiance to the Hokage was the better choice.
The more Hiruzen thought about it, the more plausible the idea seemed.
Perhaps Fugaku was the key breakthrough point.
Until he figured out exactly what Uchiha Kei had done at the Naka Shrine to create such an enormous disturbance, Hiruzen had to suppress him with Konoha’s overwhelming strength.
He couldn’t allow Kei to gain the upper hand.
So what if he had four Susanoo?
Konoha wasn’t incapable of producing eight Kage-level combatants.
As for the goal of exterminating the Uchiha, that had already become a thing of the past.
If Hiruzen actually had the strength to accomplish it, would he still be agonizing over it like this?
Thinking about it made Hiruzen furious.
Orochimaru, that ungrateful disciple!
Hiruzen had practically raised him from nothing, yet when it mattered most, Orochimaru had let him down.
Hiruzen hadn’t even pursued the matter of Orochimaru’s long association with the Uchiha.
And yet Orochimaru hadn’t provided him with a single useful piece of information.
What an ungrateful bastard.
But what could Hiruzen do to Orochimaru right now?
Hiruzen had evidence of his disciple’s human experimentation.
But Uchiha Kei also possessed evidence of Danzō’s human experimentation.
If Hiruzen launched a purge against Orochimaru, Kei would undoubtedly do the same to Danzō.
Should he sacrifice Orochimaru in exchange for Danzō?
Hiruzen still hadn’t made up his mind.
Danzō was still extremely useful.
Unfortunately, from the moment four Susanoo rose above the Naka Shrine, the initiative had ceased to belong to Hiruzen.
All he could do now was hold the cards in his hand tightly, hope that Uchiha Kei made the first move, and then respond accordingly.
The power Uchiha Kei had displayed was already comparable to Hashirama Senju himself.
Hiruzen needed the power to slay a god.
But Hiruzen didn’t know that the Uchiha Kei he feared so much was currently living an even more miserable life.
Hidden behind the statue at the Naka Shrine, Kei was barely surviving by relying on Oboro and Danjō to supply him with chakra.
He was terrified that Hiruzen might suddenly lose his mind, gather a massive force, and come looking for a fight.
Until he resolved his current condition, Kei was far more cautious than Hiruzen.
He gathered the forces under his control and allowed the shinobi, Missing-nin, and civilians living around the Naka Shrine to organize themselves into self-defense groups.
If anything happened, he could push these shinobi to the front lines and buy himself enough time to escape.
And, at the critical moment, he could have Oboro sacrifice one eye to activate Satsuma Jambudvīpa.
Kei had already rejected that idea.
It wasn’t that Kei was afraid of the Third Hokage.
He was simply wary of Shisui.
Until he knew whether Shisui had told the Third Hokage everything he knew about his ocular abilities, Kei needed to remain cautious.
He didn’t want to gamble on whether Kotoamatsukami or the Ideological Seal was stronger.
If something went wrong, Shisui could potentially give the Hokage faction two additional powerful combatants while depriving Kei’s side of two.
The advantage they had only just gained would disappear once again.
Perhaps he should encourage Danzō to do something.
After all, this whole mess had originally been his doing.
Sometimes, Kei had to admit—
Danzō was still very useful.
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