Uchiha Guard Division.
Uchiha Shinsuke signed his name on a document.
Everything was in perfect order.
Suddenly, the System's alarm blared to life inside Shinsuke's mind.
[Warning! A clan-extermination-level threat targeting the Uchiha Clan has been detected!]
[Mission triggered: Reverse Fate — Prevent the Night of Clan Extermination!]
Here it comes.
Shinsuke set down his pen.
The curve at the corner of his mouth held not a trace of tension, but something closer to excitement.
He had been waiting for this day for a very long time.
From the moment he first crossed over here, dreading the night of clan extermination, to now actually looking forward to it — this was the change that came with a shift in power.
The Shinsuke of today had complete confidence in his ability to stop the so-called night of clan extermination and grind every last piece of trash that coveted the Uchiha into the dirt.
The System's luminous panel then unfolded before Shinsuke, lines of text listing out the incoming enemies in clear detail.
[Threat source locked: Uchiha Itachi (Mangekyō Sharingan)]
[Threat source locked: The Snake — Orochimaru (S-rank missing-nin)]
[Threat source locked: The Immortal — Kakuzu (S-rank missing-nin)]
[Potential highest threat source locked: Masked Man — Uchiha Obito (Mangekyō Sharingan, Space-Time Ninjutsu)]
Shinsuke's brow lifted ever so slightly.
He had not expected that because of his own interference, Danzō had actually gone and recruited both Orochimaru and Kakuzu.
Orochimaru.
Kakuzu.
Both were seasoned Kage-level powerhouses.
In the end, he had drawn in characters who had no business appearing here in the original story.
Even so, that was all they amounted to.
"A rabble of clay chickens and tile dogs, daring to dream of killing a god?"
Shinsuke rose from his seat and walked to the window.
"Pass my order."
"Assemble the Twelve Guards and Guard Division Vice-Captain Tekka at Training Ground One for an emergency muster."
"Within five minutes."
Training Ground One.
Yellow sand blanketed the ground beneath a blazing sun.
Led by Uchiha Kenji and Uchiha Shunichi, the Twelve Guards were already kneeling on one knee in silence, like twelve statues.
Beside them, Guard Division Vice-Captain Uchiha Tekka knelt on one knee as well, his expression grave.
An unusual heaviness hung in the air.
For the clan head to summon them by such urgent means, something significant enough to shake the entire clan must have occurred.
Shinsuke's figure appeared before everyone.
"All of you, rise."
All thirteen rose in unison.
"Three days from now, a war aimed at exterminating our Uchiha Clan will come."
Shinsuke's words instantly stirred a roaring tide within the hearts of the thirteen trusted subordinates.
Clan extermination.
Those two words caused the Twelve Guards and Tekka present to go cold-eyed in an instant.
Who would dare to come and exterminate the Uchiha Clan — what audacity.
An irrepressible killing intent rose from their bodies.
"Who is it!?"
Uchiha Tekka, as Vice-Captain of the Guard Division, was the first to demand sharply, his voice edged with absolute fury.
"Is it the higher-ups of Konoha? Is it that old dog Danzō!?"
"Among the participants are Danzō's Root."
"Along with three S-rank missing-nin."
"And one of our Uchiha Clan's own prodigies — Uchiha Itachi."
Each name caused the killing intent among those present to thicken by another degree.
The name "Uchiha Itachi" in particular filled them with a shame and fury that came from the very core of their being.
For a member of the Uchiha to betray his own clan was nothing short of a disgrace to the Uchiha name.
"That traitor!"
"How dare he betray the clan!"
Shinsuke raised his hand and pressed it lightly downward.
All the noise and fury vanished in an instant.
"I have not gathered you here to send you to your deaths."
Shinsuke's gaze swept slowly across every face.
"Your task is only one."
"Three days from now, when night falls, coordinate the entire Guard Division and escort the clan's elderly, women, and children into the underground shelter."
"Until the signal that the battle has ended is given, no one is permitted to leave."
"This is the highest order."
Uchiha Kenji, head of the Guard Division, understood the clan head's intention immediately.
Clear the battlefield.
He intended to... face every single enemy alone?
"Clan Head! This absolutely cannot be!"
Kenji could no longer remain calm and stepped forward urgently.
"The very reason the Twelve Guards exist is to serve as your sword and shield! Against enemies this formidable, we will stake our lives and fight at your side!"
"Fight at my side?"
Shinsuke smiled.
"Kenji, you have all misunderstood something."
"This is not an evenly matched war."
"To me, this is nothing more than a little after-dinner entertainment."
The moment those words fell, a pressure beyond all description, terrifying to an absolute extreme, erupted from within Shinsuke.
The thirteen elite jonin, the finest of the Uchiha Clan, found their bodies beginning to tremble beyond their control.
Their three-tomoe Sharingan spun wildly.
Their legs gave out.
Thud!
Thud!
Including Uchiha Kenji and Shunichi, all thirteen of the top-tier fighters, without a single exception, collapsed to their knees again in a sorry heap.
"Do you understand now?"
Shinsuke slowly withdrew that pressure.
The thirteen trusted subordinates gasped in great heaving breaths, their bodies already soaked through with cold sweat, as though they had just been pulled back from the very edge of drowning.
"We... understand."
Uchiha Kenji's voice trembled beyond suppression.
He finally grasped the meaning behind the clan head's words.
Yes.
Before power of that magnitude, so-called S-rank missing-nin were nothing more than lambs awaiting slaughter.
"Go and carry out your orders."
Shinsuke turned away, his back to all of them.
"Remember, protect our clanspeople."
"After I have finished clearing out the trash, I will personally go and bring them back to a new Uchiha."
"One that no one will ever dare to provoke again."
"Yes!"
Thirteen figures became thirteen fleeting shadows and disappeared from the training ground.
The entire training ground was left with only Shinsuke.
Now then, it was time to go have a proper discussion with the former clan head about the specific details.
As the only other top-tier combatant of the Uchiha aside from himself, Uchiha Fugaku could not be allowed to sit idle.
On the night of the clan extermination, there might even be a chance to witness a heartwarming father-and-son scene between Fugaku and Itachi.