Traveling through Naruto with Heroes of Might and Magic.

As for Kakashi, Anko, Iruka, and other close friends of Qingwu, they can get in.

However, after they came out, they remained completely silent about the situation in their territory and their attitude towards Qingwu.

When pressed for details, he simply repeated, "The captain has been fighting for years and has some unhealed injuries. He needs to rest and recuperate, so it's not convenient to disturb him!"

Hidden injury? Are you kidding me?

You have the ability to communicate with psychic slugs!

The third generation knew that it was just an excuse for Qingwu to avoid seeing outsiders and to ignore village affairs.

It was a silent alienation and resistance.

"Could it be..."

"Does this old man really have to lower himself and beg a young man?"

The Third Hokage seemed to be questioning himself in his heart, and each time, it brought a deeper sense of powerlessness and a trace of... regret that even he himself was unwilling to admit.

If Danzo's actions had been detected earlier and stopped more decisively back then?

If only I had trusted Qingwu a little more back then, and handled the situation more flexibly...

Would things have turned out differently if we had stayed this way?

Despite being the Shadow Guard captain whom he had "trained," their relationship had deteriorated to this extent.

Sometimes, the Third Hokage would think... weren't his three disciples also completely estranged from him?

Is it really my own problem?

However, there are no "what ifs" in life.

Just as the Konoha leadership was caught in an unprecedented dilemma and predicament...

Another undercurrent was quietly brewing within Konoha, behind the tightly closed gates of the Uchiha clan…

……

Uchiha clan territory, secret room.

The dim candlelight flickered, casting two figures sitting opposite each other onto the wall, creating swaying shadows.

One of them was Uchiha Setsuna, a representative of the radical faction of the Uchiha clan, an old man with a sinister face and eagle-like eyes.

He was dressed in traditional Uchiha attire, and his clenched fists and bulging veins on his forehead betrayed his inner turmoil.

Sitting opposite him was a mysterious man wearing an orange spiral mask.

Behind the single hole in the mask, a scarlet eye was silently watching Uchiha Setsuna, its gaze deep, as if it could see through the deepest secrets and fears in a person's heart.

"Master Madara..."

Uchiha Setsuna's voice trembled slightly with a hint of awe as he looked at the man who claimed to be "Uchiha Madara," who had been gone for a long time, his feelings extremely complicated.

At first, he didn't believe it either.

So in the first few encounters, I didn't take it to heart at all.

Until the opponent revealed the "Susanoo," which only the Uchiha Mangekyou Sharingan could use.

And after recounting some ancient secrets known only to the core members of the Uchiha clan... his doubts were gradually replaced by an emotion mixed with fervor and hope.

"Do you really believe... that Konoha and that Senju Seigo are joining forces against my Uchiha clan?"

"Shisui... he was really held hostage?"

Uchiha Setsuna asked in a hoarse voice, a question that had been gnawing at his heart like a venomous snake for the past two months.

With Danzo dead and the coup plot thwarted by Shisui's "betrayal" and an unexpected event, the Uchiha's situation within the village has become even more delicate and dangerous.

That coward Fugaku only knows how to cower in the air.

And that Senju Seigo brazenly detained Shisui, a genius of the Uchiha clan who appears only once in a century, under the guise of "treatment."

The Konoha leadership tacitly approved or even indirectly supported this!

How could this not make him suspect that this was another move by Konoha to eliminate the Uchiha?

"What are you still doubting, Sha Sha?"

The masked man's voice came through the mask, carrying a sense of profound weariness:

"You, who stayed in the village, know better than I how Konoha treated the Uchiha."

"Hmph, ever since Tobirama became the Second Hokage, suspicion, isolation, surveillance, suppression... has it ever stopped for a single day?"

"Danzo is just one of the most radical vicious dogs among them."

"Now that the vicious dog is dead, has the master's heart changed?"

"Senju Seigo, a descendant of the Senju clan, the inheritor of Wood Release, and the sharpest sword in Konoha today."

"Why did he appear at that exact moment? Why was he willing to break the rules to kill Danzo?"

"Is it really for the sake of so-called 'comradeship'?"

He sneered, the crimson light in his single eye flashing: "Perhaps there is, but more likely it's the Konoha higher-ups' orders... to eliminate dissidents."

Uchiha Setsuna opened his mouth to refute, but they had never doubted the relationship between Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi.

But since Lord Madara said so, is there some hidden reason behind it?

This is the power of reputation; with the return of Madara Uchiha, who possesses the Mangekyou Sharingan, anything he says is believable.

"you do not believe?"

The masked man looked at him and said indifferently, "What if I said... this is a favor that Konoha did for Senju Seigo?"

"Danzo offended him. Given the choice between a promising young Senju genius and an elderly Shimura Danzo, which would you choose?"

"By doing Senju Seigo a favor, we can firmly bind him to Konoha's war machine. As for Uchiha Shisui..."

"Although I don't know what his Mangekyou Sharingan ability is, with eyes like that, wouldn't Konoha, or rather Senju Seigo, have any ideas?"

"By controlling Shisui, we can weaken the Uchiha clan, study the secrets of the Mangekyou Sharingan, and even... perhaps one day in the future, it could become a powerful tool against the Uchiha clan."

"Ha...isn't this a brilliant plan that kills several birds with one stone?"

The masked man's words were incredibly seductive, but Uchiha Setsuna didn't have time to think about them carefully, feeling that every word hit the nail on the head.

His body trembled slightly.

The masked man's words were like a venomous seed, falling into his already suspicious and resentful heart.

The key is... he knows what Shisui's kaleidoscope ability is.

Kotoamatsukami... If that ability were used against the Uchiha clan, what would the outcome be...?

Fear! Yes, Uchiha Setsuna felt fear just thinking about it.

Yes, Lord Madara is right. It's all too coincidental, and it's exactly in line with Konoha's usual style!

Danzo had just made a move against Shisui when Senju Seigo "coincidentally" appeared?

Killing Danzo and taking Shisui away, the Konoha leadership not only didn't pursue the matter, but instead appeased a criminal who killed an official?

And then... they turned a blind eye to the Uchiha's situation?

What else could this be but a conspiracy?

"But, Lord Madara, what should we do?"

A ruthless glint flashed in Uchiha Setsuna's eyes, along with a desperate madness:

"Fugaku is indecisive, and his clansmen... are filled with anxiety. Although Konoha is under immense external pressure, if we launch an attack now, I'm afraid..."

He lacked confidence; without Shi Shui's eyes, he had no confidence to stage a coup.

"A rebellion? A coup? No, that's the most foolish thing to do." The masked man slowly shook his head, his voice deep and seductive:

"What the Uchiha clan needs now is a... opportunity, an opportunity for everyone, including those clan members who are still wavering, to see the true face of Konoha."

"A spark... that can ignite the fire in the hearts of the Uchiha, reunite the clan, and make them fight for survival and dignity."

"Mars?" Uchiha Setsuna asked urgently.

Although... even though he believed that the person in front of him was the "immortal" Uchiha Madara, he actually had doubts in his heart.

After all... to put it bluntly, when Madara Uchiha wanted to leave, none of his clansmen followed him.

He had wondered... if Madara Uchiha had returned to take revenge and would use a conspiracy to send all his clansmen into the fire.

At the same time, he was desperate to grab onto Madara Uchiha's "thigh" as if it were a lifeline.

Because... in his eyes, the Uchiha clan had no future.

Instead of doing that, let's take a gamble and go for it!

Besides... probably not, right? Madara Uchiha... after all, he's an Uchiha!

"Go and demand their return!" the masked man simply said.

"You want him? You want Shisui from Senju Seigo?" Uchiha was momentarily stunned.

After the incident, he did suggest going to demand the people back, but at the time, the clansmen were in a state of panic because the coup had failed and no one dared to provoke the village.

At this time...

"That's right, in the name of the Uchiha clan, we will formally and publicly demand the return of Uchiha Shisui from Senju Seigo."

The masked man said:

"He is an Uchiha ninja, and should be cared for by the Uchiha... or rather, have his future decided by them. Hmph, why should he be detained by an outsider, a descendant of the Senju who has an old grudge against the Uchiha?"

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Setsuna became even more convinced that the person in front of him was Uchiha Madara.

The hatred for the Senju people was palpable in his words.

Of course, what he didn't know was that the masked man simply disliked Senju Seigo.

"This is not a provocation, but an attempt to uphold the dignity and rights of the family."

The masked man's voice was inflammatory:

"If Senju Seigo refuses, or even... is rude, wouldn't that prove he has something to hide, and that Konoha and he are plotting something against him?"

"At that time, will Fugaku be able to suppress the anger of his clansmen? Will those neutral clansmen still harbor unrealistic fantasies about Konoha?"