Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

That shouldn't be possible, right?

Bai silently raised his head, widened his eyes, and watched with Orochimaru as Susanoo battled the Eight-Tails in the distance. He quickly forgot his distracting thoughts and became fully focused on watching this thrilling battle!

······

"Nine times out of ten, it's a spy from the Cloud Ninja."

Hiashi Hyuga said.

"The Cloud Ninja?"

Zongxian remained noncommittal. He looked down at the somewhat blurred imprints on the snow, which indicated that someone had been lying in wait there. However, this 'person' was a shadow clone, because Hyuga Hiashi 'saw' the ordinary-looking man who had been squatting there turn into a wisp of white smoke.

It has to be said that the Second Hokage really knew how to cause trouble.

After the Shadow Clone Technique, a useful and relatively easy ninjutsu, became widely popular, ninja battles became more complex than before, with countless tricks and deceptions emerging!

"Since there are Cloud Ninja spies here, it seems that the Cloud Ninja's counterattack is faster than ours!" Zongxian cast his gaze into the distance.

The original Cloud Ninja in Kusatsu Mountain have been defeated and annihilated, so it's impossible for them to leave spies here to monitor the area, as that would be pointless unless Cloud Ninja reinforcements arrive on the battlefield first and they send spies to keep watch and see when Konoha's follow-up forces arrive... to prevent being caught off guard.

That makes sense!

only--

"Shisui, didn't you use Susanoo in this battle?"

Zongxian had some doubts. According to his prediction, it was unlikely that Shisui, with Samehada in hand, could easily overwhelm the Cloud Ninja with Susanoo. However, the Cloud Ninja certainly wouldn't easily surround Shisui and his group, let alone send out spies such a long distance...

Of course, Zongxian also understands that his ideas are somewhat far-fetched and contain many assumptions.

So in the end, he didn't say it.

Should we track them?

Hyuga Hiashi asked.

"Zhiwei, take some men and go check it out. If you can catch up with them, then take care of them. If... I mean if, if anything seems amiss, then don't act rashly. Just make sure you're safe and bring back the intelligence."

Zongxian had no doubts about Orochimaru.

What he was worried about was whether Obito Uchiha, this venomous snake who had lost his mind, was lurking around him. The troublesome aspect of Kamui was that there was still no good solution or way to prevent it. He could only be careful at all times and not let his guard down.

"Follow the order."

Aburame nodded slightly. He personally selected a Jonin from the Hyuga clan, a Jonin from the Yamanaka clan, and a Jonin from the Inuzuka clan. All of them were experts in tracking. The four of them formed a temporary team and followed the clues left by Haku.

The main force rested for about a minute before setting off again, quickly heading towards the Kusatsu Mountains, which were now in sight.

Zongxian charged ahead at the forefront.

If he weren't the commander of a large army, he would have already broken away from the main force and charged out alone. But he couldn't do that. His goal was the Sixth Hokage. The Hokage needs more than just fighting ability; many other aspects also need to be considered.

Especially since the Uchiha clan has a terrible reputation, Sogen couldn't act recklessly and further damage his and his clan's reputation.

He needs to demonstrate overwhelming force and dominance to this combined force of ninjas from various clans and commoners, imprinting awe and obedience in their minds, and then continuously nurturing them until they willingly accept his rule, whether as the commander of an army or the Sixth Hokage.

Not long after,

Everyone saw the Susanoo and the Eight-Tails blocking the way like mountains!

"boom!"

The roar of the explosion echoed across the sky.

The ground beneath our feet seemed to tremble!

"That is..."

Even though it wasn't the first time Hiashi Hyuga had seen Susanoo, he still couldn't help but tremble at the sight of the emerald green Susanoo battling the Eight-Tails. He wasn't the only one who felt the shock; to be precise, many people were so shocked that they forgot to breathe!

Even those veterans who survived World War III.

Faced with this familiar scene, they lost their composure and couldn't help but recall the madness of the night of the Nine-Tails' rampage. It was on that night that they lost the Fourth Hokage!

"What exactly is this?"

"Should we... join this battle?"

Panic ensued, but the ninjas' combat skills prevented them from scattering in disarray. Instead, they all turned their gazes toward their leader and the Jonin, anxiously awaiting orders.

What's going on up ahead?

Zongxian stopped in his tracks.

"It's... the Fourth Raikage, A! He's fighting Uchiha Fugaku...!" Hyuga Hiashi's eyes widened in astonishment. He shifted his attention from the emerald green Susanoo that was fighting the Eight-Tails, only to notice that Uchiha Fugaku had also awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan.

Fugaku Uchiha's Susanoo was only in its first stage, and its size was far less conspicuous than Shisui's Susanoo. To be precise, Sogen and the others couldn't even see Fugaku Uchiha's Susanoo.

but--

"Elder Fugaku?"

Zongxian raised an eyebrow, understanding dawning on him.

It seems that Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan has finally escaped the state of being both present and absent. As expected, as the former head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha did indeed have some trump cards!

"Besides Elder Fugaku, what's the situation?"

"...The main force of the Cloud Ninja is on the other side of Susanoo and the Eight-Tails. There are only about two hundred Cloud Ninja fighting against Elder Fugaku and the others. However, we have very few people participating in the battle, only thirty or forty... None of the Chunin have joined the battle!"

"Chun and Genin, stand by!"

Zongxian turned around and gave orders to the group of Jonin following behind him, "Yasui, you will command the remaining Chunin and Genin. Hiashi, you will select a group of Jonin to support Elder Fugaku."

"So, what are you planning to do, Hokage-sama?"

"I?"

In response to Nara Shizuku's question, Sogen smiled and said, "I'm going to help Shisui. If I'm lucky, I might get to eat grilled octopus!"

[Chapter 191: Venerable Huang Gen (Seeking monthly votes! Seeking subscriptions!)]

That's not right!

This was completely different from what he had expected. Of course, he understood that Konoha was not easy to deal with, otherwise he would not have brought a huge force of 6,000 men to provide support. It was precisely because he knew the strength of Konoha that he went all out and played all the cards he could.

However, in the end, the reality seemed to be even worse than he had imagined.

Ai was extremely anxious.

His younger brother, Killer Bee, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, was entangled by Shisui Uchiha, and his army was also cut off on the other side and could not be used. His own battle was also not going well. Fugaku Uchiha, who did not seem to be very impressive, was stubbornly giving him a headache. He had given his all, but he still could not see the light of victory.

What made him even more anxious was that his subordinates were also unable to break the deadlock. Despite it being roughly a four-on-one or five-on-one situation, they were unable to end the battle and it seemed as if they were being held back by the Konoha ninjas.

This feeling of unease reached its peak when hope shouted, "Konoha's reinforcements have arrived!"

"Crack!!"

The sound of thunder echoed across the land.

Ai's figure once again slipped out of Fugaku Uchiha's sight. However, Fugaku Uchiha was not too flustered. After fighting for a while, he had a general understanding of the Fourth Raikage's fighting style. Like the deceased Third Raikage, the Fourth Raikage had brought the Cloud Ninja's ninjutsu to its extreme!

The core can be summed up in two words: speed and ferocity!

Besides, there's no need to worry about A having any other strange methods. Just take appropriate precautions against these two points. Of course, this doesn't mean A's attacks are harmless. His speed is so fast that even Fugaku Uchiha's Mangekyou Sharingan can hardly catch it, so he dares not be careless for even a moment!

and also,

Aina's ferocious attacks had shattered Susanoo's defenses several times...

[Lightning Release: Heavy Flow Storm]

Fugaku Uchiha's eyes widened as A appeared on his left. His elbow strike, crackling with lightning, once again shattered the illusory ribs of the Susanoo. However, the shattered Susanoo successfully bought Fugaku a little time.

He quickly moved backward, narrowly avoiding the attack coming from the right.

Unlike space-time techniques, A's movement speed is purely extreme, so fast that even the Sharingan cannot detect his movement trajectory. However, this also presents a small problem: inflexibility in turning. The extreme speed makes it difficult for A to change direction while moving.

He had to stop and then change direction.

This interrupted his offensive. Unlike the relentless attacks of the Space-Time Technique that left people breathless, and unlike his inexperienced younger son who was easily defeated in the future, Uchiha Fugaku was indeed a veteran of countless battles. His extremely rich combat experience allowed him to seize A's opening and successfully hold off the Raikage on his own.

only,

Seeing that he had missed another chance to defeat Fugaku Uchiha, A shouted loudly.

"Troy!"

Fugaku Uchiha's heart skipped a beat as he felt a gust of wind from behind his head. His shattered Susanoo would take two seconds to reappear, so he could only lunge forward and roll away to dodge the huge, square-shaped shuriken.

His eye twitched.

A shuriken that big could probably cleave a person in two, right?

however,

Just as he thought the attack was over and quickly stood up to deal with the Fourth Raikage's pursuit, the square-shaped shuriken that had already flown over his body suddenly spun back and arrived in front of Uchiha Fugaku in the blink of an eye.

At this moment,

Susanoo hasn't recovered yet!

Fugaku Uchiha's mind went blank. He couldn't understand what was going on. Why could a shuriken fly back like this? Even the shuriken throwing technique of their Uchiha clan changed direction by having the shuriken collide with the kunai in the air. There were signs to follow, not something completely illogical like this!

Am I going to die?

Just as this thought surfaced in his blank mind, another unexpected event occurred.

【Eight Trigrams - Empty Palm】

The shockwave that came out of nowhere knocked away the giant shuriken that was about to reach Fugaku Uchiha, saving Fugaku from the brink of death. Fugaku wasted no time and turned his head to look in the direction from which the shuriken had originally come.

He saw a Cloud Ninja holding two identical square shuriken in his hand.

Seemingly caught off guard by the missed, the Cloud Ninja named Troy couldn't help but look up. Then... his gaze met that of Uchiha Fugaku in mid-air. Realizing he had made a basic mistake, Troy instinctively lowered his head.

however,

Too late!

Having just narrowly escaped death, Fugaku Uchiha held nothing back. His crimson eyes gleamed with an eerie light. Worried that ordinary genjutsu wouldn't be effective against these elite Cloud Ninja, he directly used the Mangekyou Sharingan's eye technique, which he had never shown in public before!

Its name is—

【Huang Gen Zun】