Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"The chakra of Uchiha Shisui, Hyuga Hiashi, and Hyuga Masahiro has decreased significantly compared to the beginning, but Uchiha Sogen's chakra is still at the same level as at the beginning. The Samehada sword is helping him replenish the chakra he has consumed. At present, it is still unclear how far the Samehada sword can go."

This mixed information made Ryoma Aburame frown.

really,

The most troublesome one is Uchiha Mugen.

Delaying tactics have little effect on Uchiha Sogen. If there were enough time, Aburame Ryoma would not mind making more sacrifices to buy time and gradually wear down Uchiha Sogen's will. The problem is that their time is very tight. This is not a desolate wilderness. This is Konoha.

Even if the Third Hokage personally intervenes to hold off the Hyuga clan, not all the families in the village are blind or deaf; sooner or later, someone will notice the situation here.

The battle must end before anyone notices.

"Changhe, Zhuli, prepare for action."

The urgency of time made it impossible for him to stay here and command the battle any longer. The reason why Aburame Ryoma was able to become the second-in-command of Root was not because he had outstanding management skills, but because he was strong enough. He was the strongest person in the entire Root organization.

"Make a move now? Isn't that a bit too early?"

The speaker was Masakazu Yamanaka, a teammate of Ryoma Aburame. He was proficient in all the spiritual magic of the Yamanaka clan and was considered the leader of all Yamanaka clan members in the Root organization. He had a son named Fu Yamanaka, who was also a member of Root, but did not participate in this operation and was left at Root's base.

"Now is the time. If we delay any longer, a troublemaker might appear."

Aburame Ryoma opened his arms, and a cloud of insects poured out from his sleeves.

As for his other teammate, a woman named 'Julie' without a surname, she picked up a paintbrush and began to paint on the unfolded white scroll. With just a few strokes, lifelike ink-wash animals appeared on the scroll.

Immediately, these ink-wash animals came to life, breaking free from the painting; tigers and leopards leaped to the ground, while eagles and falcons soared in the sky.

[Chapter 65: The Super Beast Imitation Painting (Seeking votes! Seeking investment!)]

Its lush roots truly live up to its name.

The roots, deeply embedded in the darkness, provide ample nutrients for the leaves standing on the ground, making this towering tree grow ever more prosperous and lush... Okay! That's nonsense. The roots buried in the darkness underground may have contributed to the tree, but more often than not, they draw nutrients from the tree to strengthen themselves.

The roots grow strong in the darkness, while the tall tree standing on the ground withers away.

In order to cultivate the development of 'Root', Danzo constantly extracted fresh blood from the Ninja Academy and took away talented children from various clans. He used cursed seals to stifle the uncertain future and prospects of these geniuses, turning them into obedient and useful hunting dogs under his command.

All he did, seemingly under the banner of the village's welfare, was in reality nothing more than devouring the village's flesh and blood for his own selfish desires.

Today,

Even after the roots hidden in the darkness changed their master, they still turned their spears on a part of the tree, beginning yet another act of self-harm.

Yes!

The conflict between the Uchiha clan and Root.

For Konoha, it was essentially nothing more than self-harm!

Of course, this may not necessarily be a bad thing. In Zongxian's view, if they could take this opportunity to wipe out the rotten roots hidden in the darkness, it would be a good thing for the Uchiha and the village. Otherwise, just killing Danzo would leave a feeling of incompleteness.

Only by eliminating the root cause can the problem be solved once and for all.

"Stop the water!"

Zongxian swung his sword, cutting through the enemies blocking his path, and arrived at Shisui's side.

"Zong Xian?"

"Enough with the nonsense, go protect the Hyuga clan leader. Do your best to save the Hyuga clan leader's life while ensuring your own safety. If it really comes to the worst, you can use Susanoo, but unless you encounter the person I mentioned, you are not allowed to reveal your eye technique."

Zongxian moved closer to Shisui and gave the order in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

According to its original design, the Kotoamatsukami eye technique required a long cooldown period after each use. However, Sogen used Samehada to restore his depleted eye power and repair his damaged eyes, allowing Shisui to use Kotoamatsukami again in a short time.

But if possible

Sogen didn't want Shisui to reveal Kotoamatsukami's abilities too early.

Kotoamatsukami's abilities are not omnipotent, but if used properly, they can indeed play a significant role.

"I understand."

Zhi Shui solemnly agreed.

He no longer asked unnecessary questions like before. Despite being just a Jonin of the Uchiha clan, he acted like a Hokage and clan leader. Fortunately, his mind hadn't completely hardened. Under the subtle influence of Sogen over the years and the impact of recent events, he was finally no longer so naive.

He didn't know what Zongxian was going to do.

All I need to know is to obey Zongxian's orders in times like these.

With Shisui's support, Hyuga Hiashi, who was already in dire straits, was given a chance to catch his breath.

And Zongxian,

He turned his gaze to the swarm of insects in the distant forest, which resembled a dark cloud.

Behind that massive swarm of insects, one could see Aburame Ryoma's chakra approaching. Judging from this formation, he was indeed being targeted for elimination. Sogen narrowed his eyes slightly, not offended, but rather a pleasant smile appeared on his face.

That's good too!

To catch the thief, first catch the king!

Now that Root has lost Danzo as its direct leader, if Aburame Ryoma is also killed, then Root will become a headless fly. Without a leader, no matter how fierce Root is, it is destined to become a scattered force, and it will be difficult to organize an effective resistance against Sogen.

"Let's use this to say hello!"

Zongxian watched the swarm of insects rapidly approaching from the sky and formed a 'Yin' mudra with his hands.

Almost all fire-style techniques end with the 'Tiger' seal, but in the hands of Zongxian, all the fire-style techniques he mastered were simplified with simple hand seals. He only needed a simple 'Tiger' seal to be able to perform various fire-style techniques at will.

even,

For Sogen, forming hand seals for Fire Release techniques is not a necessary action.

However, he has not yet encountered an enemy who can force him to abandon hand seals to fight. The more trump cards he has, the better. Even this small and inconspicuous ability to release fire jutsu without hand seals has been deliberately hidden by him, and it may come in handy at some time.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation".

This is Zongxian's most frequently used fire jutsu.

It was favored by Zongxian because of its powerful destructive force and wide attack range.

He unleashed a torrent of blazing flames, the scale of a tsunami, engulfing the grass and trees ahead, as well as the swarm of insects that pressed in like a dark cloud. Estimated to be tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of insects survived less than a breath in this howling, hellish inferno before being completely vaporized…

and many more,

"evaporation?"

Zongxian noticed something was wrong.

Even the smallest insect has flesh. After the meager body fluids are evaporated, the massive number of insect corpses should burn violently, rather than being completely evaporated, as if these insects were made entirely of water.

water?

As Zongxian recalled the dark swarm of insects, a guess suddenly popped into his mind!

"Ninja Art: Mind Disruption Technique!"

The sudden attack came from the sky.

The soaring black eagle carried two figures on its back. Taking advantage of the moment when Zongxian was burning the insect swarm, the one who launched the attack was none other than the middle-aged man standing on the eagle's back. Spiritual energy that was difficult to see with the naked eye was struck down from the sky and fell straight towards Zongxian.

Unfortunately, because of the heat emanating from the sea of ​​fire, the giant eagle flew too high, so it took Yamanaka Masakazu's attack a little while to cross that distance and reach above Zongxian's head. To be honest, that was a very impressive move; ordinary members of the Yamanaka clan couldn't attack from that distance.

However skilled you are, it's useless if you can't hit the target.

Having already glimpsed the vague trajectory of the spiritual energy with his Sharingan, Zongxian easily dodged it with a flash. However, the giant eagle in the sky carried more than one person, and attacks came one after another like a storm. In an instant, countless black birds swooped down from the sky and flew rapidly towards Zongxian.

"go."

The shuriken was thrown.

The bird was shattered, turning into jet-black ink that fell down.

"Ink! Super Beast Imitation Painting? This thing..." Zong Xuan pondered for two seconds, trying to figure out the nature of the birds while parrying them with his sword. He quickly made a judgment, "It should be considered a Yang Release secret technique, right?"

He sensed refined Yang Release chakra within these ink birds.

Moreover, by giving life to the physical form, even if it is only a brief and illusory life, this secret technique, to be honest, subtly touches upon the true essence of Yang Escape Technique.

It was only with Samehada's help that Sogen was able to comprehend the power of Yin Release and Yang Release, and thus distinguish the characteristics of Yin Release and Yang Release chakra. Otherwise, whether it was Byakugan or Sharingan, he could only see the chakra that filled the Ink Bird's body.

"Gen really has a lot of talented people!"

Zongxian looked up at the giant black eagle soaring in the sky.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head.

Sogen had a deep understanding of the obscurity and difficulty of Yin Release and Yang Release techniques when he was studying them. Yin Release techniques were a little better, as the Sharingan was originally a symbol of Yin Release power, and the best proof was that he had awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan with Samehada's help.

Yang Escape was a bit of a headache for Zongxian.

Although he devoted more of his energy to the study of Yin Release techniques, he lacked avenues for researching Yang Release techniques. He could only collect some medical ninjutsu to study, but these medical ninjutsu were not particularly profound. To this day, his research on Yang Release techniques has only reached the level of unleashing a certain degree of physical strength to stop the bleeding of wounds.

He considered 'borrowing' the Akimichi clan's secret techniques for research, but the Akimichi clan's Yang Release techniques were related to 'eating,' and it was impossible to achieve any results without a large enough individual. It wouldn't be worthwhile to make enemies with the Akimichi clan for this.

after all,

The history of the three families of pig, deer, and butterfly being closely allied can be traced back three hundred years. To offend one of them is to offend the whole family.

Zongxian isn't afraid of trouble from the Ino, Deer, and Butterfly families, provided he can get something commensurate with the trouble.

"Super Beast Imitation Painting, it's actually a Yang Release secret technique! Looks like my luck is pretty good!"

As Zongxian ran through the forest, dodging attacks from the sky, he had already made up his mind to capture his target alive. He absolutely had to get his hands on the secret technique of Super Beast Imitation Painting. What he cared about was not the ability of Super Beast Imitation Painting. Even if he mastered Super Beast Imitation Painting, it would just be another skill for him.

By comparison,

This secret technique, with its exploration and application of Yang Release power, particularly intrigued Zongxian.

"Flying so high!! It looks like Susanoo is necessary..."

Before Zongxian could finish speaking, a sharp pain from his feet made him look down and see countless insects leaping up from the grass. The insects, which had been dormant, suddenly became active, climbing onto Zongxian's feet and gnawing at his flesh as they burrowed into his body.

This is a trap!

Zongxian realized that he had unknowingly fallen into a trap, and the attack from the air was just to lure him into this pre-laid trap.

Insects, being small creatures, need to unleash their chakra when moving, making them difficult to evade the Sharingan's detection. However, when they are still and their chakra is extremely weak, they are difficult to detect by the Sharingan or other chakra-dependent sensory methods.

This can be described as a carefully woven trap targeting Zongxian!

"Secret Technique: Insect Jade!"