Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

“Shisui, use Kotoamatsukami to modify his will.”

Zongxian tapped his finger on the table and slowly said, "The reason the Kirigakure envoy attacked Fujika is that their spies discovered information about the strained relationship between the Third Hokage and the Uchiha clan. The Kirigakure ninja plan to use war to intimidate Konoha and force the Third Hokage to deal with the Uchiha clan..."

"Zong Xian?"

Zhi Shui stared wide-eyed, dumbfounded.

"What's the problem?"

"that······"

"If you're worried about your eye power being depleted, I have a way to help you recover it." While resolving Yakumo's problems, Sogen's mastery of Yin and Yang Release was also deepening day by day. With Samehada's help, it wasn't impossible for him to help Shisui recover his depleted eye power!

Shisui was utterly astonished.

Replenishing the Mangekyou Sharingan's ocular power... Is that even possible? No, that's not the point. He doesn't care about the ocular power consumption. He'd give his life for the village and his clan.

The problem lies in doing this kind of thing—

"Using Kotoamatsukami to modify—no, to forge—the will of the Kirigakure ninja... Sogen, what exactly do you want to...?"

"I've said this more than once. My clan and the Third Hokage are destined to be unable to coexist peacefully. Therefore, in order for the village and clan to live in harmony, Konoha needs a new Hokage. And before that... the Third Hokage needs to step down."

"Of course, stepping down is just a pretext; the best outcome is death!"

Zongxian silently added in his mind that as long as the Third Hokage lived, he would be an ever-present threat to the Uchiha. However, the Third Hokage could not die at the hands of the Uchiha. No matter how many shady things the Third Hokage did in private, the fact that he was the successor recognized by the First and Second Hokage and the longest-serving Hokage of Konoha could never be changed.

No matter what mistakes this Hokage made,

Those who have stained their skin with the blood of the Hokage are destined to be unforgivable by the village.

Orochimaru dared to do that because he was a lone wolf, independent and self-sufficient. He didn't care about being branded or infamous, as long as it didn't interfere with his research. What did it matter if he was seen as a villain who wanted to destroy the world? Even during the Seventh Hokage's era, Orochimaru, who had made great contributions in the Fourth Shinobi World War, was still under surveillance by the Anbu…

Unless they are prepared to completely break with the village, the Uchiha clan must not shed the blood of the Hokage!

Otherwise, the successor Kage would keep an eye on the Uchiha clan, and no Hokage would like a group of his own people who had killed a Hokage in the past.

but,

Just because the Uchiha clan cannot be killed doesn't mean that others cannot be killed!

It's just using someone else to do the dirty work.

"Even so... even so, how could the Kirigakure's ideas affect the change of Hokage?" Shisui had also learned to be smart. Instead of saying that doing so was too shameless, he pointed out the loopholes. The Third Hokage could easily deny everything and simply say that it was a Kirigakure's scheme to sow discord, which would be enough to render Sogen's actions useless.

"So, the reason why the Mist Ninja are so confident that this will succeed is because they know that the Cloud Ninja have also extorted Konoha once. The younger brother of the Hyuga clan leader was killed by the Third Hokage and given to the Cloud Ninja as an apology gift. So, it is only natural that the Mist Ninja would take the head of Shisui, the master of Body Flicker, while retrieving the Greatsword Samehada, right?"

Zongxian spoke softly with a kind smile on his face.

However, to Zhi Shui, that smile was truly frightening. He subconsciously reached out and touched his neck, only to feel a chill.

[Chapter 54 Farewell to the Gods (Seeking votes! Seeking investment!)]

Shisui is not stupid.

With a little thought, it becomes clear why Sogen did this: he wanted to provoke the Hyuga clan and create a rift between the Third Hokage and the Hyuga clan... But will this succeed? The Hyuga clan didn't resist two years ago, so why would they break with the Third Hokage now?

and--

"Sōgen, Hyuga Hizashi committed suicide, didn't he?"

"Hey... This is the first time I've seen Shisui talk so much nonsense. Do you care whether Hyuga Hizashi committed suicide or was murdered? That's completely unimportant, okay?"

Zongxian was so angry he laughed.

Shisui's personality... is really troublesome!

If it weren't for the fact that they were friends, he would have gouged out his own eyes to see if he could use the "Knight's Unyielding Strength" on himself! Anyway, the Sharingan is just a plug-in; even Madara Uchiha, his ancestor, used Obito's Mangekyou Sharingan...

Of course, this is not the right way.

Your own eyes are the best. Instead of obsessing over eye-swapping tactics, it's better to study how to awaken the Rinnegan. The Mangekyou Sharingan is ultimately inferior to the Rinnegan in terms of rank. Kotoamatsukami may seem powerful, but it might not be effective against the Rinnegan at all.

Putting aside the Rinnegan, even with the Mangekyou Sharingan, Sogen felt that Kotoamatsukami might not be able to permanently change one's will; at most, it would only cause a short-term distortion...

He gathered the scattered thoughts in his mind and continued to explain in detail:

"The most important thing about doing this is to make the Hyuga clan and all the other clans realize that the Third Hokage is old and no longer the ninja hero he once was. Under the Third Hokage's leadership, Konoha is degenerating into a sucker that can be easily extorted. You may think that using such methods is shameless, but the fact is that the Third Hokage did choose to bow down in the face of the threat from the Cloud Ninja."

"If you don't do this, what are you going to do as the clan head when the Third Hokage decides to have the Uchiha hand over a corpse to appease the Kirigakure ninja? Find a clansman to kill?"

Zongxian stood up from his chair, walked to the sofa, approached Zhishui, and questioned him:

"If I choose to start a war, will you again try to stop me from clashing with the village? Shisui, it's time to make a firm decision. Either firmly support me and believe that I can unite the clan and the village, instead of questioning my decisions time and time again, or you can make another choice... Don't you want to know what my eye technique is? You can try it yourself!"

As he spoke,

His right hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

Shisui, sitting on the sofa, looked up at Zongxian, whose eyes were bloodshot.

After a silence of more than ten seconds between their eyes,

He turned his head away and said in a muffled voice:

"Zongxian, don't let me down!"

"Since you've made up your mind, then hurry up. You only have one minute. I need to see results in one minute. I'm going to deal with the spies outside. If I don't see what I want in one minute..."

Shisui was his friend and possessed the Mangekyou Sharingan, so Sogen could tolerate a certain degree of his annoyance. However, precisely because they were friends, he would never allow his friend to make the wrong choice. The rise of the Uchiha clan required the combined efforts of many people.

As the ancients said: "A single flower does not make spring, but when a hundred flowers bloom, spring arrives!"

If the Uchiha clan wants to rise again, it's not enough for Sogen to stand out alone!

Therefore,

If Shisui has truly gone astray, even if it requires a bit of violence, Sogen will correct him.

After delivering his ultimatum-like words, Zongxian turned around, walked to the window, opened it, and leaped out, stopping the approaching ANBU from entering the police department and pinning them to the rooftop of a nearby building.

"Minister Uchiha!"

The ANBU member wearing a dog-face mask knelt on one knee. "The Hokage has ordered that you take the Mist Ninja messenger to the Hokage Building."

"I understand, I'll be there as soon as possible."

Zongxian said expressionlessly, and when he noticed that the Anbu were kneeling on the ground and not leaving, he frowned. "Didn't you understand what I said? You can go back and report to the Hokage that I will be there soon."

The ANBU member trembled slightly, but ultimately didn't dare to say anything more in front of Zongxian, and silently got up and left.

When Zongxian returned to the office, Shisui was wiping the bloodstains from the corner of his eyes with tissues. There were also several tissues stained with blood in the trash can. It was clear that using Kotoamatsukami had taken a heavy toll on Shisui. Not to mention his listless state of mind, the amount of blood loss alone was enough to tell the story.

Zongxian reached out and picked up the Mist Ninja, who was like mud that could be kneaded at will. He pried open her eyelids and projected his eye power... just like Shisui had done before, hypnotizing, interrogating, and torturing the Mist Ninja's memories.

"...Intimidating Konoha with war...Imitating the past success of the Cloud Ninja...Demanding the Greatsword Samehada and the head of Uchiha Shisui...Not bad! There's not a single flaw."

Zongxian released his hand.

Mist Ninja fell to the floor again.

"Well done!"

Zongxian praised Shisui.

For this,

Shisui forced a bitter smile. If he hadn't been forced by Sogen, he wouldn't have wanted to use Kotoamatsukami at all. In his opinion, this power was absolutely terrible. Rather than modifying someone else's will, it would be more satisfying to kill the enemy!

"One more thing, Shisui, remember not to let your blood or hair get out unnecessarily in the future. It's best to burn it!"

As they were speaking,

Zongxian flicked his hand, and a ball of flame fell into the trash can, burning all the trash inside to ashes. In the blink of an eye, only a pile of ashes remained in the ceramic trash can, but the trash can itself was completely unharmed. Shisui marveled at this extremely exquisite fire jutsu.

"Sōken has really taken Fire Release techniques to a whole new level!"

Shisui secretly pondered whether he should also calm down and focus on his cultivation for a while.

"Shisui, get ready. Take this guy with you. We're going to the Hokage Building."

Zongxian gave the instructions.

Zhi Shui walked over and picked up the large piece of human-shaped trash.

"and many more!"

Zongxuan carried Samehada to Shisui's side and took the hilt of Samehada from Shisui's hand. "Hold on tight."

Samehada obediently channeled its refined spiritual and physical energy into Shisui's body. Shisui quickly and clearly felt the faint warmth emanating from his eyes; the physical energy repaired his damaged eyeballs, and the spiritual energy replenished his depleted pupil power…

In less than three minutes, Shisui felt that all the eye power he had just lost had been restored, including the eye power he had used to test Kotoamatsukami and Susanoo.

"Zongxian, this is..."

"Remember to keep this a secret; I don't want too many people to know about it."

Zongxian said softly, "Don't forget that unknown Uchiha during the Nine-Tails' rampage. Compared to the Third Hokage and the others, that was the greatest risk to our clan."

[Chapter 55: Howling Barks (Happy Children's Day everyone! (●'?'●))]

The night of the Nine-Tailed Fox's rampage,

An unknown powerful member of the Uchiha clan manipulated the Nine-Tails, causing chaos. Due to a combination of factors, the young Fourth Hokage was killed, and the Uchiha clan entered a five-year winter. It was not until recently, when Sogen took over and defeated Danzo, that the clan saw the dawn of spring.

Speaking of this,

Shisui also frowned.

The Uchiha clan has been searching for clues about this mysterious Uchiha for the past five years, but to this day, they have found nothing and cannot even be sure if there really is such a mysterious Uchiha who is out there!

"Zongxian, have you discovered something?"

"That's right!"

Zongxian nodded. "Although we haven't figured out that guy's true identity yet, we can confirm that he has awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan just like us, and his eye technique is a rather strange space-time type. If you encounter him in the future, be very careful. Use Kotoamatsukami if you have the chance. I don't want to hear about your death anytime soon."

"Space? Space-time ninjutsu?"

"That's right!"

"I never imagined... that it actually exists!"

A murderous glint appeared in Shisui's eyes. It was because of that sneaky fellow that the Fourth Hokage died, creating an irreparable rift between the family and the village... He was a very gentle person, but it was when such a good-tempered person lost his temper that he was the most terrifying!