Once the Akayama Clan learned that Rasa had uncovered their sale of village intelligence to Kirigakure, only two paths remained before them.
Run.
Or fight.
There was no such thing as giving up some benefits and expecting Rasa to let bygones be bygones.
Even if Rasa personally promised that, the Akayama Clan would never believe him.
Silence fell over the room.
This was a decision that would determine the future fate of the Akayama Clan. It had to be treated with extreme caution.
One clan member raised a question.
"Clan Head-sama, if we choose to kill Rasa... what are our odds?"
A smile spread across Akayama Tsuchiha's face.
"That is precisely why I gathered you all here in the middle of the night."
"Tonight is the perfect opportunity."
"Rasa is currently meeting in secret with that female Uchiha prisoner somewhere hidden inside the village. He has no ANBU at his side. He is alone."
The news stunned the crowd.
"Rasa is secretly meeting with a female Uchiha?"
"So that's the kind of person he is."
"I was wondering why, when several ninja clans requested that female Uchiha, Rasa refused every single time. So he wanted to keep her for himself."
"That bastard is a lust-crazed dog. Sunagakure is in this state, and he still has time to think about things like this."
"He already has wives. He already has children. He even has two wives, and still he does this? How can he face them? His character has rotted to the core."
Most of those present were filled with contempt for Rasa.
One younger ninja spoke up.
"Do you think when he refused to sell Pakura before, it wasn't because he didn't want to betray a comrade? Maybe he simply had his eye on her too. Maybe lust clouded his mind."
The moment those words were spoken, many others nodded in agreement.
"That's entirely possible. His attitude before wasn't like this at all."
"To be that lustful... what a disaster for Sunagakure."
"We really did choose a terrible Kazekage."
"But luckily for us, the village chose exactly this kind of Kazekage. Otherwise, the Akayama Clan would never have gotten such a good opportunity tonight—a Kazekage all alone…"
Akayama Tsuchiha swept his gaze across the hall.
"So. It seems everyone thinks the same as I do."
"Our Akayama Clan never wronged him. Yet now Rasa wants to move against us and has forgotten the support we gave him."
"In that case, we have no choice but to strike first."
"Tonight, every able-bodied shinobi of the Akayama Clan will mobilize."
"Tonight, we kill Rasa."
"Tonight, we seize the Kazekage seat."
As he spoke, the smile on Akayama Tsuchiha's face grew wider.
"Sunagakure's situation has only just begun to improve. If we take the village now, the timing could not be better."
A middle-aged ninja raised his hand.
"Clan Head-sama, what about Pakura?"
"Once we succeed tonight, we'll issue an operation order in Rasa's name and send it to her. Then we'll leak the intelligence to Kirigakure and use their hands to kill her."
Akayama Tsuchiha said coldly, "As for the others tied to Rasa—if time allows, we kill them all tonight."
"As for that female Uchiha, we can keep her alive. Let her marry into the Akayama Clan and add Sharingan blood to our line."
"There's no time to waste. Move out."
Hundreds of elite Akayama shinobi quietly departed from the compound.
They headed toward the edge of the village.
Because that was where Rasa was.
The intelligence had been gathered personally by Akayama Clan members. It would not be wrong.
And Akayama Tsuchiha had even deliberately sent ninja ahead of time to investigate the area.
They had confirmed that there was no one else nearby—only Rasa and a single female Uchiha.
The female Uchiha's strength could be ignored.
And in Akayama Tsuchiha's opinion, she might not even be willing to help Rasa in the first place.
That was why he had decisively launched this operation.
Even if the whole thing looked a little too convenient, under the pressure of their betrayal already being exposed, Akayama Tsuchiha simply did not have the luxury of careful deliberation anymore.
And besides—even if it was a trap, with no one else present but Rasa alone, he still believed the Akayama Clan would win no matter what.
Rasa's strength was what it was.
So what if he had obtained a giant summon?
With so many Akayama ninja present, if that giant summon dared appear, the clan would simply kill it too.
"One hundred percent victory."
After serious thought, Akayama Tsuchiha reached that conclusion.
"Either this is a trap, in which case the one who designed it—Rasa—is an idiot."
"Or Rasa is simply a lust-addled fool."
"No matter which it is, the Akayama Clan wins."
Before long, hundreds of Akayama ninja arrived at the training ground.
The moon hung bright in the sparse night sky.
Soft insect calls rose here and there.
"So this is where Rasa's having his secret meeting with the female Uchiha?"
"He sure knows how to pick a place. So remote. Afraid someone might see?"
"If he's that afraid, then why do it at all?"
One young Akayama shinobi sneered.
"Doesn't matter. It's given our Akayama Clan the perfect chance."
"Tonight will be our clan's rise to fame."
"After tonight, the Akayama Clan will shake the entire shinobi world."
More than a dozen scouts quickly returned to Akayama Tsuchiha's side.
"Clan Head-sama, we investigated the area. There are no signs of traps."
Akayama Tsuchiha nodded.
"In that case... we go in."
At the same moment—
Inside the building, Rasa saw the Akayama Clan drawing close.
One of his eyes vanished from its socket and rose high into the air, looking down over the area below.
It was the Eye of Detection.
"So many came?"
"Ninety percent of their shinobi, probably."
"How cautious."
"But it won't make much difference. Whether more Akayama people come or fewer... it's all the same."
The Akayama shinobi began to enter.
One figure after another.
From all four directions, they surrounded the entire abandoned training ground, sealing it off so tightly that there was not a single gap.
Then, in the next instant, Akayama Tsuchiha gave the order.
"Kill!"
At once, the Akayama ninja nearest the wooden training room began weaving hand seals.
A flood of ninjutsu and ninja tools poured toward it as though chakra cost nothing and weapons were free.
What the Akayama Clan failed to notice was that while they were attacking Rasa, the sandy ground a little farther out had begun to surge violently.
"Sand Soldiers Manifestation!"
"Three hundred!"
At the same time, Rasa controlled a great mass of gold dust to wrap around himself and Uchiha Hanatsuki, forming a sphere.
Then the sphere shot upward.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/Inkveil_