After the Uchiha clan learned that the Senju and Uzumaki clans were forming a marriage alliance, they decisively took the initiative to strike.
Taking advantage of the wedding, the Uchiha joined forces with the Hagoromo clan and attacked the Senju.
The two clans once again pushed the war to a new peak.
It continued for ten years.
Senju Mio's fiance, whom she had never even met, died in this war.
Originally, Mio's fiance had been on an island, but Uchiha Katsu secretly contacted the underground bounty exchange and placed a reward for Mio's fiance's head.
The bounty exchange was also terrifyingly efficient and simply got the job done.
The marriage alliance between the Senju and Uzumaki clans was forced to end.
But this move by the Uchiha enraged the Senju.
In the past, the Senju had always attacked the Uchiha unhurriedly. Now their assaults became fierce.
The Uchiha clan was defeated, just as expected.
However, in this war, Uchiha Katsu relied on his military achievements to successfully rise in rank and became part of the Uchiha's upper combat leadership.
On the other side, Senju Mio could only give up marrying far away into the Uzumaki clan and instead became one of the Senju's combat forces.
But the relationship between the two of them was already very difficult to repair.
———
After ten years of war, the smoke of battle had not brought the Uchiha clan any chance to breathe. Instead, under the shadow of defeat, they slowly slid step by step into a deeper abyss.
The wooden houses in the clan territory were worn and mottled. The grass and trees in the training grounds had withered and died.
The Sharingan ninja who had once been the pride of the clan now mostly carried injuries and disabilities left by the war.
They curled up in the corners of the clan grounds, and some had even developed lasting aftereffects.
And in Uchiha Katsu's view, the root of all this had never been the strength of the Senju, but the complete stupidity and incompetence of the Uchiha leadership.
Inside the elders' hall.
Several white-haired, long-bearded Uchiha elders sat together. War reports describing their defeats were scattered across the table, yet their discussion never once touched on how to revive the clan.
"The Hagoromo clan is truly treacherous! They fled first on the battlefield and pushed our Uchiha into danger!"
"In my opinion, we should reduce the supply of resources to the lower-ranking clansmen and concentrate everything on the elders' personal guards. Only then can the clan's foundation be preserved!"
"That Uchiha Katsu is only arrogant because of his military achievements. If he hadn't privately placed a bounty on a member of the Uzumaki clan and completely angered the Senju, how would our clan have fallen to such a state!"
Shifting blame, selfishness, and short-sightedness filled the hall like a rotten stench.
Bang!
Uchiha Katsu pushed open the doors of the hall and strode inside.
After ten years of war, he was no longer the young man who had gone mad for love.
He wore dark armor stained by countless battles. At his waist hung a katana tempered in the blood of Senju ninja.
His figure stood straight like a pine tree, and a cold killing aura from years on the battlefield surrounded him.
His scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan opened calmly. The three tomoe slowly rotated. Just a casual glance was enough to make the arguing elders fall silent instantly.
"Uchiha Katsu, who allowed you to barge into the elders' hall?"
The great elder slammed the table and stood up, his voice harsh, though the fear in his eyes could not be hidden.
The current Uchiha Katsu was the clan's most distinguished warrior, holding command over half of the clan's elite. His prestige had long surpassed these old men who only talked about war on paper.
Uchiha Katsu did not bow.
He simply stood in the middle of the hall, his gaze sweeping across the aged and decaying faces before him. His voice was cold.
"I came to end the Uchiha clan's decline."
"Impudent!"
The second elder shouted angrily. "Decisions about the clan are made by the council of elders. You are nothing but a warrior. How dare you speak about clan affairs?"
"A warrior?"
Uchiha Katsu gave a faint laugh.
"For ten years of war, you fought over power and benefits while ignoring the lives of your clansmen. That is cruelty."
"After defeat, you did not dare face the pressure of the Senju. Instead you exploited the lower clansmen and blamed those with merit. That is incompetence!"
Uchiha Katsu stepped forward again and again. His chakra surged like a tidal wave through the entire hall, shaking the elders until their bodies swayed.
"Because fools like you hold power, the Uchiha clan has fallen from a great clan of the ninja world into a beaten dog crushed by the Senju!
"Our clansmen are bleeding, starving, and sinking into despair, yet all you think about is protecting your own power and comfort!"
"You... you are betraying the clan!"
"You think we don't want the Uchiha to prosper?"
"We have no choice! The situation is already lost!"
The great elder, furious and flustered, shouted toward the guards outside the hall.
"Men! Seize this traitor!"
The doors of the hall opened.
But the ones who rushed in were not the elders' guards. Instead, a uniform line of armored Uchiha ninja entered, their eyes firm and resolute.
They were all Uchiha Katsu's loyal followers, warriors who had fought beside him through ten years of bloody battles.
They were young and eager to move forward.
They had long been dissatisfied with the rule of the elders.
"The council of elders no longer deserves to lead the Uchiha."
Uchiha Katsu raised his hand. His katana slowly slid from its sheath. The blade reflected the crimson light of his Sharingan, eerie and resolute.
"Today, I, Uchiha Katsu, launch a coup."
"I abolish the rotten council of elders and overthrow this foolish leadership!"
"From now on, I will lead the Uchiha clan out of despair and toward its peak!"
"The coup begins. I, Uchiha Katsu, take control of the council of elders!"
The elders were terrified and tried to resist. But in the face of Uchiha Katsu's Sharingan genjutsu and the overwhelming combat power around him, all struggle was meaningless.
In only a few moments, the resistance in the hall was completely suppressed.
These elders had already declined in strength. Whether they could even stand tall in the morning was questionable, let alone fight without preparation…
The once high and mighty Uchiha elders were all bound and collapsed helplessly on the ground.
"You're nothing special after all. And yet your ancestors once followed Uchiha Izuna. If Uchiha Izuna saw you now, he probably wouldn't be able to keep the lid on his coffin…"
Uchiha Katsu walked up to the main seat of the elders' hall and turned around to sit down.
His dark armor was covered in fine dust. The crimson glow of the Sharingan illuminated the dim hall.
His Sharingan gaze passed through the wooden building and looked outside.
He saw the bleak clan grounds and the confused Uchiha clansmen standing beyond the hall.
There was no joy of seizing power in Uchiha Katsu's eyes, only a determination as solid as stone.
He had once been an orphan of the Uchiha and had viewed the clan as nothing more than a cold prison.
But during ten years of war, he watched his clansmen fall one by one on the battlefield. He watched the Uchiha move step by step toward destruction. That indifference had long been shattered.
What he wanted was never power, but change.
To change this rotten clan. To change this fate of being slaughtered at will. To make the Uchiha truly become a powerful clan that its members could rely on and that could stand firmly in the ninja world.
On this day, Uchiha Katsu launched a coup, completely crushing the Uchiha council of elders and officially rising to the position of clan leader.
At this moment, history changed greatly…
After rising to power, Uchiha Katsu began reforms both inside and outside the clan.
He actively made peace with surrounding ninja clans, encouraged Uchiha births, gave subsidies to Uchiha orphans, and cooperated with civilian forces…
Uchiha Katsu, "The subsidies for orphans must be distributed on time."
———
[On The Senju Side]
Senju Mio entered the council of elders and became the youngest elder.
In the same year, the Senju clan leader died of illness. Because of disputes over power, the Senju did not establish a new clan leader.