Naka Shrine
Uchiha Futada looked at the man standing before him and released a slow, helpless sigh.
He had never imagined—never, even in his wildest dreams—that things would end like this.
He had truly been forced off the stage by Hokuto.
Yet strangely, this ending wasn't entirely unacceptable.
Hokuto possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan. Under his leadership, the future of the Uchiha clan would undoubtedly blaze with brilliance.
"Clan Head."
Futada dropped to one knee and carefully produced a jade magatama carved from fine stone. It was the hereditary symbol of the Uchiha clan head, passed down through generations.
When Uchiha Madara left Konoha, he had not taken this relic with him—only his war fan.
"I will lead the Uchiha toward a brighter future," Hokuto said calmly as he accepted the heirloom.
No matter how dark the future became, it could never be worse than the original timeline—where the entire clan was annihilated by a so-called filial son, leaving only two or three survivors behind.
Just as Hokuto prepared to formally receive the clan's obeisance—
A frantic shout suddenly tore through the air.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!!!"
An ANBU shinobi wearing a fox mask rushed in at full speed, voice sharp with urgency.
"Lord Futada! Konoha's defensive barrier has been breached—an enemy has broken into the village!"
But halfway through his report, the fox-masked ANBU froze.
His voice trailed off.
…What kind of scene was this?
The Uchiha clan head kneeling before someone in public?
Futada rose to his feet and spoke evenly.
"I am no longer the head of the Uchiha clan. The current clan head is Lord Uchiha Hokuto."
The ANBU stared at Hokuto blankly.
His brain lagged behind the meaning of those words.
Several long seconds passed before he finally snapped back to reality and formally requested that Hokuto mobilize the Uchiha to assist in defending Konoha.
Enemy attack?
Hokuto blinked once, mildly confused—then recalled his earlier slash.
Ah.
So that's what he'd broken.
Most likely, it had been Konoha's barrier.
"Stand down the alert," Hokuto said casually. "The barrier was destroyed by the aftershock of one of my attacks."
...
The fox-masked ANBU almost thought he'd misheard.
Konoha's defensive barrier was no cheap construction. It was the combined masterpiece of sealing grandmaster Uzumaki Mito and research genius Senju Tobirama.
According to testing data, breaching it required continuous bombardment from more than a dozen jōnin—or a direct hit from an S-rank forbidden technique.
A casual swing? Residual shockwaves?
The ANBU didn't argue.
After receiving Hokuto's confirmation, he immediately withdrew to report.
The man before him was the newly appointed Uchiha clan head. Offending him offered no benefits—especially on Uchiha territory.
Caution was survival.
Before long, the truth was reported upward, and the farce Hokuto had unintentionally triggered was quickly suppressed.
But the aftermath didn't end there.
That single "casual" strike had created such a massive disturbance that the Senju, Hyūga, Ino–Shika–Chō, and many other clans had already armed themselves, preparing for a worst-case defense.
What kind of enemy could approach Konoha silently and shatter its barrier so effortlessly?
Combined with the recent news of the Second Hokage's death, unease spread rapidly.
Some even began to whisper whether Konoha itself was approaching collapse.
The major clans activated their intelligence networks at full speed.
It didn't take long before reports from the Uchiha clan reached every major clan leader's desk.
The shock rivaled an enemy army at the gates.
The Uchiha clan head had changed.
From Uchiha Futada—
To Uchiha Hokuto.
That alone was already seismic.
But the real bombshell was this:
Uchiha Hokuto had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Some clan heads had lived since Konoha's founding. They had personally witnessed Senju Hashirama's Wood Release and Uchiha Madara's Susanoo.
They had seen titans clash, every casual blow shaking the heavens and the earth.
It had been nothing short of divine warfare.
Now, the shadow of Madara's terror seemed ready to descend once more.
The Uchiha had produced a second Madara.
But the Senju—
Did not have a second Hashirama.
Konoha was about to change.
—
Senju Compound
Uzumaki Mito stared at the intelligence report in her hands, brows tightly drawn together.
When had the Uchiha produced such a monster?
Hokuto's identity, mission history, combat records, and known techniques were all laid out before her.
The more she read, the heavier her heart became.
Hokuto's life split cleanly into two phases.
Before Tobirama's death.
And after it.
While Tobirama had still been alive, Hokuto's records painted him as a textbook inheritor of the Will of Fire. His file even contained Tobirama's personal handwritten evaluation:
"Uchiha Hokuto — an anomaly among the Uchiha. One who transcends clan boundaries and devotes himself wholeheartedly to the village. Worthy of focused cultivation."
Those were Tobirama's own words.
Yet after Tobirama's death, Hokuto's behavior changed abruptly.
According to intelligence, he had even unleashed a high-powered technique directly into a crowd of clan members to intimidate them.
That wasn't bold.
That was madness.
And yet—if Hokuto truly possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, such behavior suddenly became… disturbingly understandable.
The real question was—
When had Hokuto actually changed?
If the shift had begun before Tobirama's death, then the implications were terrifying.
An Uchiha who had already awakened the Mangekyō, disguising himself as a loyal inheritor of the Will of Fire, deceiving Tobirama until his death—
Only then revealing his true face.
Such patience, combined with such power…
He would be even more dangerous than Uchiha Madara.
Madara had been overwhelmingly strong, but once he saw through something, he disdained subtlety. He crushed everything head-on with brute force. Anyone who opposed him was simply beaten into submission.
Hokuto was different.
Hokuto could endure.
Conceal.
Wait.
And strike only at the perfect moment.
Just like now.
Tobirama died—and Hokuto surfaced immediately.
Mito refused to believe that was coincidence.
Terrifying… this child cannot be allowed to grow unchecked.
Hokuto had already wasted no time overthrowing Futada to seize control of the Uchiha.
His next target didn't even require thinking.
The seat of the Third Hokage.
Who could possibly stop him?
Sarutobi Hiruzen?
Mito dismissed the idea instantly.
Her own son, Senju Tōma?
Unlikely. He had not inherited Hashirama's Wood Release.
Perhaps only by drawing upon the Nine-Tails could she suppress Hokuto directly.
But before that…
She could send Hiruzen to test the waters.
After all, Tobirama had entrusted his final will to him.
If Tobirama had chosen Hiruzen, then perhaps the boy truly possessed something she had yet to see.
Mito's eyes slowly hardened.
Let's find out.
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