A person needs to settle down eventually.
Only after spending a period of peaceful, introspective time organizing and reflecting upon themselves can they ultimately become someone both gentle and strong.
At this moment, Uchiha Kei’s left eye had awakened to a Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
That already satisfied the conditions necessary for him to control the power of the yōkai.
Using Tenjō Tenkoku to unleash a limited version of the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons was absolutely within his capabilities.
Strictly speaking, however, Kei’s left eye wasn’t really a Two-Tomoe Sharingan.
It was a One-Tomoe Sharingan.
When Azusa performed surgery on Uchiha Kei, she had implanted a Three-Tomoe red eye into him, intending to experiment with the differences between the red eyes and the Sharingan.
The result was that Kei’s left eye absorbed the power of the Three-Tomoe red eye, ultimately producing its current state.
Kei’s surgery had been a tremendous success.
One could even say it had been perfect.
Unfortunately, his right eye was still useless.
No.
It would be more accurate to call it a money pit.
Simply opening the eye consumed chakra.
No one knew what the eye intended to do by absorbing so much power of prayer.
The worst part was that those prayers would naturally drift toward it on their own, yet this greedy eye actually used chakra to amplify the efficiency of its absorption.
It was simply too greedy.
Uchiha Kei clenched his fist and felt the surging energy coursing through his body.
The power granted to him by the artificial Zero-Tails was astonishing.
At this moment, he almost felt as though all he needed to do was shout once and he could transform into a Super Saiyan.
"Oboro! All I want is to become the kind of irresponsible person who gets stronger and stronger. Why is that so difficult?!"
Uchiha Kei had been enjoying his leisurely days for quite some time.
The fundamental reason he had been unwilling to get out of bed was that there simply hadn’t been anything he needed to worry about.
The Third Hokage might be jumping around like crazy, but once the Four Nations invaded the Land of Fire, all of Hiruzen’s schemes would become a joke.
The mere Four-Nation Allied Forces would become the unbearable burden of the Third Hokage of Konoha—the so-called shinobi hero and strongest man in the shinobi world—Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The conflict that Hiruzen still regarded as a friendly spar between the Five Kage based on their tacit understanding would end up far exceeding his expectations.
Ultimately, it would bring an end to his political career for the time being.
Upon being addressed, Uchiha Oboro hurriedly chewed the dried fruit in her mouth and swallowed it.
She then patted the crumbs from her hands and smiled until her eyes narrowed into little crescents.
"Because you’re already a gentle person, Lord Kei!"
"Gentle?!"
The moment Uchiha Kei heard that word, he whipped his head around.
Seeing Oboro return to her usual hamster-like appearance as she continued eating, Kei became furious.
That little girl had actually seen through his disguise!
She knew that in his previous life, he had been a warm-hearted man—a hopeless simp!
Impossible.
Absolutely impossible.
Just one sentence from the girl had completely broken through Kei’s defenses.
Dissatisfied, Uchiha Kei activated his cursed-seal state, energy gathering in the palm of his hand.
With a single strike, his fist seemed capable of changing the color of the heavens.
That’s right.
After merging the bloodline of the Jūgo Clan with that of the Kaguya Clan, Uchiha Kei had actually awakened Kekkei Mōra.
"Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack!"
Using the power of Sage Mode to shake the heavens, this was an all-out offensive and defensive strike with absolutely no mercy!
Every punch was a killing blow.
There wasn’t even enough of an opening for a mouse to escape!
"Me? Gentle? Have you ever seen a fist the size of a sandbag, Oboro?!"
Kei swung his fists and hammered the sky.
Seeing Oboro visibly shaken by his technique, he became satisfied.
Hmph.
Now she knew to be afraid, didn’t she?
He was vicious!
He definitely wasn’t a simp!
But the next second, that fearless little girl spoke with genuine admiration:
"Wow! The fireworks are so beautiful~"
Uchiha Kei’s attempt to demonstrate his ferocity had failed.
He suddenly felt exhausted.
Getting out of bed had been completely unnecessary.
After finally reaching a state in which his consciousness remained awake while his body could sleep indefinitely, wouldn’t it have been better to rest for a few more days?
Why did he have to worry about this troublesome bunch?
Actually, Uchiha Kei only needed to sit back and watch events unfold.
The inexorable wheel of history would crush the Third Hokage for him.
All he needed to do was make sure Hiruzen could never recover.
There was absolutely no need to go to such great lengths.
In a foul mood, Kei began circulating his chakra and formed the hand seals for the Summoning Technique.
His enormous chakra caused the surrounding air to tremble.
At this point, Uchiha Kei didn’t dare claim that he was overwhelmingly powerful.
But he no longer needed Oboro to protect him at close range.
"Hmph. You little girl who doesn’t understand anything."
After saying that, Kei turned around and leaped onto the enormous snake he had summoned.
"Ōtabuchi, let’s go!"
He didn’t even care whether Oboro could keep up.
The order for wartime mobilization had been issued.
With Kei’s command, Nanga Shrine—an area that had appeared peaceful and tranquil—instantly transformed into a war machine.
Two hundred Uchiha.
Nearly three thousand red-eyed warriors.
And another two thousand ordinary students from the Shinobi Academy.
All fully equipped and ready for battle.
A signal rose into the sky.
Far away in the Land of Rivers, Gen’nosuke sensed it as well.
Nearly two thousand shinobi from the Land of Rivers and more than four thousand Sunagakure shinobi formed an Allied Force, their spearhead pointed directly toward the Land of Fire.
Gen’nosuke, representing the Land of Rivers, and Pakura, representing Sunagakure, formed the allied command.
With Uchiha Kogorō controlling their logistical supplies and constantly driving them forward, the allied forces boarded the route toward the battlefield at Konoha.
The Konoha Crush Plan had been brought forward by more than a decade.
After Uchiha Kei left, Oboro immediately followed.
She even tripped Kei’s two bodyguards, Johnny and Joseph, with her foot, successfully securing herself the position of Lord Kei’s personal attendant.
After jumping onto the giant snake, Ōtabuchi, Oboro even tried bribing the monster with snacks.
The enormous serpent that everyone feared actually looked deeply moved by the girl’s gesture.
In reality, Ōtabuchi was internally collapsing.
I can’t do anything. I absolutely can’t.
Her eyes are terrifying!
The White Snake Sage had warned him:
Don’t provoke this girl.
If she became angry and erased him from existence, then he would become someone who had never existed in the first place.
Not even the memories other people had of him would remain.
Oboro, of course, knew none of this.
The adorable little girl had unknowingly earned a fearsome reputation throughout the Three Great Sacred Lands, to the point where she was practically a nightmare capable of making children cry.
Even if she knew, she probably wouldn’t care.
The only things she cared about were staying near Kei and getting some delicious food.
Oboro had lost both her parents at a young age and lacked a father’s affection.
Staying beside Lord Kei gave her a strange sense of security, as though there was someone she could rely upon.
It was different from being with Gen’nosuke.
Gen’nosuke made her heart race and her cheeks flush.
Lord Kei, on the other hand, gave her the confidence to do whatever she wanted.
He gave her the freedom to act without restraint.
Perhaps it was similar to Anko’s relationship with Orochimaru.
Of course, the most important reason was that Lord Kei had plenty of delicious food.
His subordinates constantly brought him delicacies, and if Lord Kei didn’t eat them, they would go to waste.
That would simply be too tragic.
Sitting atop the giant snake and traveling at the front of the army, Uchiha Kei paid no attention to the struggles among his subordinates over who would get the best position.
"Pass down the order."
"Before the sun sets, this battle must end in victory!"
This battle would be fought fair and square.
That was the reason Uchiha Kei had gotten out of bed despite being perfectly capable of continuing to pretend to be dead.
Because he didn’t like what Gen had done.
Everything Gen had done had been for Kei’s sake.
But it had also reminded Kei of an unpleasant memory from the history of his former homeland.
It had happened during the transition between summer and autumn.
A group of soldiers had acted independently and launched an invasion under an excuse so ridiculous that it was almost laughable.
When two countries went to war, if you thought the other side was weak and simply wanted to attack them, then just attack.
Why humiliate them with such a ridiculous excuse?
Kei didn’t want to fight that way.
If they were going to fight, then they should fight openly and honorably.
Besides, it wasn’t as though they couldn’t win.
"I, Uchiha Kei, would also like to weigh the mettle of the spokesman for the Will of Fire!"
"Oboro, you know something?"
"When someone is ruthless, they don’t talk much. When someone talks too much, they’re usually not ruthless."
"I used to shout about war all the time, but in reality, I was nothing more than a helpless weakling."
"How could that be? With us here, Lord Kei, you’re the strongest!"
"That’s right!"
The fully empowered Kei was brimming with confidence.
He was now so confident that he no longer needed to argue with anyone.
Today, this little weakling had finally been released from the greenhouse.
He would use his strength to announce his return to the shinobi world!
Of course, there was one prerequisite.
Madara had better not take him too seriously!
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