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Chapter 80 is out on patreon
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Uchiha Xuan retrieved the kunai from under the corpse's armpit. The three tomoe in his eyes slowly faded, and a wave of exhaustion washed over him. He had been playing cat-and-mouse with two Elite Jōnin at the bandit stronghold for a long time, and then came back here to kill another Jōnin. Even though the Flying Thunder God Jutsu consumed relatively little Chakra, it still had a cost. More importantly, the discomfort of repeatedly traversing space was hard for a body not yet acclimated to bear.
"Not bad. I still have a third of my Chakra left. The Uchiha clan is great for this; few clans can match our Chakra reserves."
Xuan turned around, glanced at the destroyed house in the distance, shook his head, and prepared to rush back to the clan overnight. Uchiha Masa and the others had likely already met a tragic end.
Suddenly, a bush under an old tree not far to his left trembled slightly. Xuan's eyes instantly morphed back into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan. A kunai appeared in his hand as he said coldly, "Who's there? Come out!"
His left hand began forming seals one-handedly in secret. It was the B-Rank Ninjutsu, Fire Style: Fire Flame Slash!
"Don't attack, it's me!" A voice rang out. Xuan paused slightly. The voice was very familiar.
A child about his age jumped out of the bushes. He wore the same Uchiha robes and had a face that somewhat resembled Xuan's. He looked to be around the same age, too. Of course, their temperaments were worlds apart. Xuan naturally possessed a mature aura that made people subconsciously ignore his age, while this boy, although trying hard to act mature, clearly radiated childishness.
"Izuna? What are you doing here?" Xuan exclaimed in surprise. He never expected Uchiha Izuna to be the one popping out.
After Izuna appeared, he smiled awkwardly at Xuan. A black shadow dropped down from the treetops. Also dressed in Uchiha attire, the figure nodded to Xuan. "Young Master Xuan!"
Xuan looked back and forth between the two, his eyes narrowing involuntarily. He recognized this man—an Elite Jōnin of the clan named Uchiha Kageaki.
It wouldn't be strange for someone else to appear here. It wouldn't be strange for Izuna and Kageaki to be together. But for the two of them to appear here, at this time... that was highly problematic.
In a flash, his mind replayed the scene of Uchiha Tajima assigning him this mission, followed by Madara looking at him with a gloating expression along the way. Combining that with the Shadow Guard who appeared at the meeting, and now Izuna standing before him... a certain explanation began to form.
Xuan walked up to Izuna, his expression composed but his face dark enough to drip water. His tone was stiff as he asked, "Were you here when I fought that Hyuga Jōnin?"
Seeing Xuan with such an expression for the first time, a drop of cold sweat trickled down Izuna's forehead. He swallowed and nodded.
Taking a deep breath, Xuan asked again, "Where is Uchiha Madara?"
Izuna pointed into the distance.
Xuan followed his finger. It pointed exactly toward the bandit stronghold he had just come from. His face darkened another shade. He took two deep breaths, forcing himself to stay calm, and said almost word by word, "You... came... with me... right?"
Cold sweat covered Izuna's forehead. Afraid Xuan would vent his anger on him, he said carefully, "Accurately speaking, we were an hour behind you."
Bang!
An ancient tree behind Uchiha Izuna snapped in half. Xuan calmly retracted his fist. After two seconds of silence, he exploded. He crushed the kunai in his hand.
"F*ck his mother! Uchiha Madara, you're ruthless! You actually dared to plot against me? If I don't get revenge for this, my surname isn't Lu!" He was so angry his consciousness blurred, and he even blurted out his surname from his previous life.
Izuna asked weakly, "Aren't we all named Uchiha?"
Xuan suddenly looked down, his eyes filled with such rage that Izuna shuddered and didn't dare say another word.
"When you see your brother, tell him I want to duel him. The kind on the life-and-death stage! I thought that with his 'arrogant dragon' face every day, he'd have some magnanimity.
Who knew he was so petty? He deserves everything coming to him in the future! F*ck!"
The moment Izuna pointed out that Madara was at the bandit stronghold, Xuan understood everything.
The Uchiha clan had sold him out, using him as bait.
When he first met Hyuga Tamamo, he had been confused. How could his uncle be foolish enough to send him into such an obvious trap? Even if his uncle was slow on the uptake regarding conspiracies, the situation at the Fujiwara Mines was common knowledge among the Uchiha. Was the entire clan full of idiots?
Fine, even if every single clansman was a brainless brute, the Uchiha intelligence network shouldn't be that incompetent. If enemy Elite Jōnin could infiltrate right to their doorstep and stir up trouble without being detected, then the Uchiha had no right to call themselves one of the two Great Clans of the Warring States. They might as well commit mass suicide. Their eventual demise would be predictable anyway.
Now it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
That secret report delivered by the Shadow Guard during the clan meeting likely contained more than just news of the Hyuga becoming vassals to the Senju. It probably included detailed intelligence on the Fujiwara Mines as well.
Just as Hyuga Tamamo had said, if a standard Uchiha Jōnin had come, they would have only encountered real bandits. The clan likely shared this concern. Afraid that sending a Jōnin or Elite Jōnin would scare the enemy away, they happily sold him out instead.
When Hyuga Tamamo plotted to surround and kill him, she definitely hadn't expected that she was actually the one being targeted by the Uchiha's encirclement. The two of them had pitted their wits against each other, both thinking they were brilliant, only for Xuan to realize now that they were just a pair of clowns.
Xuan could even imagine the original plan: reinforcements were supposed to arrive the moment the enemy made their move, creating a counter-encirclement.
It was definitely that brat Uchiha Madara. He must have held a grudge over Xuan making him hold the line for five extra minutes last time and deliberately delayed the rescue to screw him over.
Of course, Madara certainly didn't intend for him to die; he just wanted Xuan to suffer a bit. He never expected Xuan's performance to be so mighty—forcefully killing five Chūnin and escaping the enemy's trap unscathed. Even without seeing it, Xuan could imagine Madara's shocked expression, jaw dropped wide enough to swallow a whole egg.
Thinking of this made him feel a little better. He turned around and said, "Let's go back to the clan!"
Uchiha Izuna looked reluctantly toward the distant bandit stronghold. He still really wanted to go see what was happening, but sensing the intense killing intent radiating from Xuan, he decided to obediently keep his mouth shut.
Just as they turned to leave, a massive surge of Chakra erupted from the direction of Fujiwara Mountain. Even from this distance, they could feel the ground trembling distinctly.
The intensity of that Chakra was unlike anything Xuan had ever felt—it far exceeded the level of an Elite Jōnin.
Uchiha Kageaki's face changed dramatically as he exclaimed, "This Chakra... a Hyuga Clan Head-level figure has made a move! Could it be Hyuga Ten'nin? Did that old guy sneak along too? Why wasn't this in the intelligence report?!"
Xuan paused for a moment before realizing that "Clan Head-level" meant Kage-level. His expression changed involuntarily. He had a vague impression of Hyuga Ten'nin; the character was mentioned in the original story, but without much detail.
I don't know how many people Madara brought with him. If it really is Hyuga Ten'nin, they might be in danger.
A trace of worry rose in Xuan's heart.
Just then, a streak of fire cut across the horizon, speeding toward Fujiwara Mountain. Vaguely, a figure could be seen within the flames.
"Clan Head?!" Uchiha Kageaki exclaimed again.
As the fiery light crashed down, the entire earth trembled with that point as the epicenter. The shaking was several times more intense than before, resembling a major earthquake.
Xuan stared in astonishment toward the bandit stronghold at Fujiwara Mountain. This was the first time since his transmigration that he had sensed a battle between Kage-level powerhouses.
It was truly earth-shattering.