Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

The Uchiha clan's ninja tool, the Uchiha Fan, which disappeared along with Uchiha Madara, is a clear and typical example. According to records, that ninja tool had the ability to deflect ninjutsu. Countless people died from this attack because they did not know its true nature. Even the clan's history records the glorious feat of a certain clan leader using this ninja tool to deflect a small Tailed Beast Ball launched by a Tailed Beast.

The power of top-tier ninja tools is evident from this.

"These are my spoils of war; I killed that...something."

Zongxian brandished Samehada in his hand. This ninja sword, which was very picky about its master, was as obedient as an arm in his hands. This was the power of "A knight never dies unarmed," which made it easy for him to subdue this unruly ninja sword.

"Such a trivial matter is not worth asking, is it? Chieftain, you should think about whether you are prepared to fight me personally, or send someone else to fight me. By the way, everyone, you can all come at me together. I don't mind being surrounded or fighting in shifts."

That contemptuous attitude stung the proud hearts of the tribesmen.

Especially the veteran Jonin, being provoked by a fifteen-year-old junior, their anger rose uncontrollably. Even though the clan leader had warned them beforehand not to act impulsively, the proud Uchiha clan was not so easily restrained.

"Kid, a powerful ninja tool can indeed be very useful, but relying too much on external tools is not always a good thing."

The one who stood up was a scraggly-bearded clansman who looked to be in his forties or fifties. He stood still without moving an inch, but activated his Sharingan. His three-tomoe scarlet eyes stared straight at him, meeting Zongxian's gaze directly.

"The Sharingan...that's what our clan...ah!!!"

The unfinished words turned into agonizing screams.

The clansman, who had been gesturing confidently, was now sweating profusely. His muscles were twitching slightly because of the pain he felt during the illusion. He had suffered a crushing defeat in his battle against Zongxian's illusion.

They both used the [Magic Shackles Technique] simultaneously.

This is one of the clan's favorite illusion techniques. In the mental world constructed by the practitioner, the captured person's limbs will feel as if wedges have been driven into them, and their freedom of movement will be completely lost. At the same time, they will also have the illusion of physical pain, exerting a powerful torture-like effect. Its high practicality has made this illusion technique a specialty of the Uchiha clan.

A clash of similar eye-based illusion techniques!

It naturally evolved into a contest of strength between those with stronger pupils, since this illusion technique itself is not known for its complex skills.

The result of the collision—

Zongxian was naturally the one who won decisively, even skipping the stalemate and overwhelmingly crushing the opponent's eye power, pinning this confident clansman to the spot, unable to move.

[Chapter 24 Establishing Authority (Seeking votes! Seeking investment!)]

Zongxian was determined to establish his authority.

Even if no one causes trouble, he is prepared to provoke trouble himself.

Even if he becomes the clan leader, it won't be of any use unless he subdues these unruly clansmen here. What he wants is a clan as obedient as Samehada, not the Uchiha who are outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant, who do things their own way and chase dogs instead of catching chickens.

"Chihaya, Arashiyama, and Shisui, don't interfere. This is my turn."

Zongxian stopped his companions from acting.

at this time,

We can't call for help.

He wanted to establish his own unique authority.

At this moment, Uchiha Genji stood up and, with the help of Uchiha Arashiyama, restrained Sogen's supporters. He then directed a group of people to move to the right side of the secret room, leaving the central space to Sogen and his clansmen who were indignant at Sogen's domineering and tyrannical behavior.

"Zongxian, what exactly are you trying to do? The position of clan leader..."

Fugaku Uchiha frowned deeply. The situation was completely out of his control, and this was not the situation he wanted to see.

He asked himself honestly whether he intended to use Zongxian as a puppet in public while secretly wielding power in the clan. His answer was naturally no. He just felt that Zongxian was too young and worried that his youthful impetuosity might lead him to make irreparable mistakes.

He genuinely wanted to help Zongxian, unless Zongxian was truly hopeless.

"boom!!"

The shuriken, thrown like a cannonball, flew across the short space, grazing the sideburns of Fugaku Uchiha and embedding itself deeply in the stone wall behind him. Large chunks of rock crumbled and rolled down due to the powerful impact, destroying the beautiful tengu mural.

Zongxian lowered his left hand, which had just thrown the shuriken, and his scarlet eyes turned to the clan leader.

"Chief, I think I've made myself very clear. I believe you lack sufficient ability and courage. Faced with the aggressive village, all you've done is tell the people to just endure it. You've made wrong decisions time and time again, and you bear an unshirkable responsibility for the clan's current state."

"So don't talk about stepping down. I'll take over this mess, but don't think that the mistakes you made in the past can be wiped clean."

"Uchiha Munen, do you know what you're saying?"

The Eighth Hokage of Uchiha stepped forward.

"I know!"

"Then you understand why the clan leader did all this for the sake of the clan..."

"Shut up! Are you deaf? Didn't you hear what I just said?"

Zongxian shouted sternly, his eyes cold.

Without any hesitation, he unleashed a [Magic Illusion: Shackles Technique], swiftly and decisively crushing the resistance of the Eighth Hokage of the Uchiha clan. This veteran Jonin, who held considerable prestige within the clan, lost all power to resist and was pinned to the spot.

"Yashiro!!"

"Uchiha Mugen, you little brat."

Seeing Uchiha Hachiro defeated immediately enraged several of his friends. The four veteran ninja, all around forty years old, attacked each other without prior agreement. Their years of tacit understanding allowed them to coordinate their attacks without needing to say a word.

In this narrow, enclosed space, it's not advisable to use wide-range offensive ninjutsu. Furthermore, with the example of Uchiha Hachimoku and Uchiha Kohei—the same unfortunate guy who was also pinned down by the [Shackles Technique]—it would be unwise to compete with Sogen in genjutsu.

If we exclude ninjutsu and genjutsu, then only taijutsu is available.

"Whoosh whoosh!!!"

Shuriken and kunai rained down like a sudden storm.

"Using shurikenjutsu? Don't forget I have Sharingan too, guys."

Zongxian clearly saw the steel wires coated with non-reflective paint attached to the shuriken and kunai. With a slight flick of his wrist, Samehada swelled up, and the sharp spikes stood up. With a light swing to the left and right, he swept away all the shuriken and kunai, not giving the steel wires a chance to get close.

"Uchiha Style: Gale Sword".

"Uchiha Style: Sword Leap Flame".

The attacks from both the front and the back came one after another. It was clear that the shuriken attack was just a smokescreen to cover the attacks of the other two. Of course, if Zongxian was careless and did not notice the steel wire on the shuriken, the smokescreen would turn into a real attack.

"Samehada - Breath-Eating Slash".

Zongxian reacted extremely quickly.

Everyone here has struggled to survive on the battlefield. Perhaps these four uncles have more combat experience, but Zongxian is not necessarily going to lose to them. The title of "Flame Demon" was established by stepping on the corpses of hundreds of elite Mist Ninja.

He wielded Samehada, which was already almost as tall as a person, and suddenly stretched to nearly twice its original length. It struck the two swords with incredible speed and power, and the heavy impact and the brief weakness caused by the absorption of chakra forced the two back.

"Samehada: Chain Slash!"

Having withstood the combined attack of the four, Zongxian's counterattack arrived in an instant.

The hilt of Samehada instantly stretched and snaked out.

The Samehada, covered in spikes, suddenly opened its blood-red maw and bit down hard on the clansmen who hadn't managed to retreat far enough. Before they could even use Substitution Jutsu or Body Flicker Jutsu, everyone overlooked, or couldn't understand, that this was a living sword with its own will. The changing blade wasn't a characteristic of this ninja tool, but rather because it was, strictly speaking, a living being.

The tribesmen bitten by the shark's skin screamed in agony.

Chakra was ruthlessly plundered.

The other three wanted to rush forward to help, but Zongxian used a teleportation technique and was already close to another person. In this split second, their eyes met instinctively. As the uncle secretly cursed in his heart, he didn't hesitate to use another [Magic Illusion: Shackles Technique] on him.

Two of the four were reduced in the blink of an eye.

This was even after Zong Xian restrained himself from killing them. Everyone understood one thing: unless you have an absolute advantage, it is several times or even ten times more difficult to capture someone alive than to kill them. Yet Zong Xian managed to capture both of them alive while under siege.

This move instantly deterred many clansmen who wanted to help.

The clansmen weren't blind; at a time like this, they had already activated their Sharingan and could clearly see the conflict between Sogen and the four veteran Jonin of the clan.

Therefore, I deeply felt the power and terror of Zongxian.

Logically speaking, these four veteran Jonin from the same clan, who all possess the three-tomoe Sharingan and are Jonin themselves, have been around for decades longer than Sogen. Even if Sogen is a genius, it shouldn't be such a one-sided victory. Yet, Sogen has so decisively defeated both of them in succession.

For this,

There is only one answer.

The power of [Flame Demon] lies not only in his renowned Fire Release technique, which is famous among the Mist Ninja, and his taijutsu, which decisively defeated two Jonin of his clan, but also in his genjutsu, which has now subdued three veteran Jonin... He is proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, and can be said to have no weaknesses.

Even Zhishui, who had retreated to the right side of the secret room, was starting to have some doubts.

"That Zongxian guy... really didn't activate his kaleidoscope?"

[Chapter 25. An Exquisitely Beautiful Fire Release Technique (Seeking votes! Seeking investment!)]

He couldn't be sure of the truth.

According to his own experience, there is a fundamental sublimation of the eye power between the Mangekyou Sharingan and the Sharingan. Although it is not to the point of overturning the past, the difference between the two is quite obvious. As long as the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan is used in front of others, even without using the unique techniques, the eye power alone will still be detected.

Just now, Zongxian used illusion techniques to defeat several clansmen, which Shisui clearly saw with his Sharingan, and he did not detect any unusual fluctuations in his eye power.

only,

Normally speaking, there shouldn't be such a big difference between the three-tomoe Sharingan, right? How exactly did Sogen's eye power grow to the point where he could crush other three-tomoe Sharingan members while in the three-tomoe state?

The inexplicable problem left Shisui deeply perplexed.

At this moment,

The battle continues.

The Uchiha are an arrogant clan. Their pride does not allow them to make choices such as admitting defeat or surrendering. Even if they know that the odds of winning are slim, they will fight to the very last moment!

Earth Release: Rock Pillar Spear!

"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique".

Witnessing their friends' crushing defeat, the remaining two did not give up hope and act recklessly. After learning from their friends' failures and witnessing the power of Samehada, the ninja sword, they changed their strategy again, abandoning taijutsu in favor of ninjutsu, and desperately seeking that sliver of a chance to win.

Fortunately, both of them were still relatively clear-headed.

They did not actually use powerful ninjutsu such as [Great Fire Annihilation] that could alter the terrain.

"Ninjutsu?"

A happy smile appeared on Zongxian's face.

Of the three major systems of ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu, his greatest skill is not actually genjutsu or taijutsu, but ninjutsu. His innate skill called [Magic Release (Flame)] has made his mastery of fire release techniques so profound that it has reached the limit of what is possible. Otherwise, he would not have the nickname [Flame Demon]!

"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique".

Zongxian forms the 'Yin' mudra with one hand.