Chapter 245: Chapter 245: The Uchiha's Return!
Three days later, Kakashi and Konoha's twelve clan leaders returned to the village in all haste, announcing to the entire populace: The Uchiha clan is coming back!
Hearing this news invigorated excitement and eager anticipation among the villagers.
The whole village then sprang into action making preparations to welcome the Uchiha.
At a small park in Konoha...
As usual the three kids met up here to play and pass time. But today Yakino seemed especially glum, silently hanging her head while swinging all by herself without a word.
Her father Chōza had died.
He perished by the Uchiha's hands for the village's sake, his body and soul forever buried at that place called the Mountain's Graveyard.
Yakino used to think her father a village hero.
Yet now Konoha's citizens were begging his murderers - the Uchiha Clan - to return and become their masters.
As for Chōza Akimichi, his sacrifice was easily forgotten.
How lamentable.
The young Yakino didn't understand this at all, much less accept it. The painful confusion left her incredibly distressed.
Seeing Yakino's low spirits, Shikamaru sighed and shook his head.
He had asked his father Shikaku about the full details. Apparently once the Uchiha came back, the occupying armies would be expelled alongside their imposed unequal treaties.
This signified the end of tribulations for villagers who would finally escape oppression and servitude. Konoha could regain its standing as the foremost of the Five Great Villages, its populace living in peace once more.
Additionally, there were whispers that Uchiha Dan would likely become the Sixth Hokage. This prompted Shikamaru to muse inwardly with some irony.
Back then Dan had briefly occupied the Hokage Attendant position, deemed a Hokage candidate. If only he had succeeded the Third smoothly by becoming Hokage from the start, so much chaos could have been averted later.
If they knew things would turn out this way, they should have just let Uchiha Dan be Hokage. What a total drag.
sigh...
Thinking so, Shikamaru sighed.
Unlike the depressed Yakino or ponderous Shikamaru, Chōji seemed rather carefree.
"Crunch crunch."
He sat amidst the grass noisily crunching on chips, focused solely on eating. Racing recklessly towards obesity with no way back.
Time flew by before the children realized.
Another week went past.
Konoha's welcome ceremonies were long prepared. Yet the Uchiha showed no sign of action still.
After awaiting daily in vain, anxiety and restlessness gradually overcame the villagers as they started worrying - Could the honorable Uchiha have changed their minds about coming?
Similarly, the occupying armies from abroad observed events closely. The Uchiha's return would signify Konoha changing hands. Their cozy days would end as they'd be driven out for sure.
Hence they secretly hoped the Uchiha would break their word and never set foot in Konoha, saving everyone the awkwardness.
Just when tensions peaked for many...
They've arrived!
Kakashi finally received word from the Uchiha Clan that they neared Konoha.
At the crack of dawn before daybreak, tens of thousands of villagers surged into streets like tidal waves. Some hung banners, others held flower bouquets, more waved mini flags emblazoned with the Uchiha crest.
Every road was packed on both sides. The clan heads and elite Jōnin accompanied Kakashi to the village gates, ready to welcome the Uchiha.
As the orient sun rose illuminating Konoha, hours trickled by.
Nearing noon, still no activity graced the village entrance. Only occasional breezes brought slight relief to restless crowds.
Tap tap tap. The pacing clan heads frequently peered towards the outer forest, creases marking their tense, sweat-drenched forms.
Where are they?
Just when anxiety peaked for all...
Boom boom boom! Deafening rumbles suddenly erupted from the woods ahead, seemingly an earthquake that caused the welcoming party to stumble and lurch wildly.
What was happening?
Once regaining balance, everyone squinted ahead in bewilderment and alarm.
Boom! An enormous metallic fortress emerged from underground like a slumbering prehistoric beast.
Towering over fifty meters high, its surface bristled with all manner of gun barrels and cannons glinting coldly under sunlight - an intimidating sight to behold.
At its base, compartment doors slowly opened.
Then...
A group garbed in high-collared dark blue robes marched forth confidently from within.
It was the Uchiha Clan.
At the forefront towered the two meter tall mountainous frame of Dan, the Uchiha emblem proudly blazoned upon his back.
"Welcome back honorable Uchihas!" Kakashi was first to react, shouting loudly.
"All hail the glorious Uchiha!"
The recovered clan heads echoed right after in unison, their overlapping voices resonating across Konoha's skies.
Swish! And with that, everyone uniformly knelt on one knee submitting fully to the Uchiha's supremacy.
"Seems like Konoha's been run quite ragged by Danzō and the outsiders to be so desperate for us Uchihas to return and pull them from the mire now," Tetsuhi remarked, tone tinged with slight mockery.
Beside him Itachi followed up. "In the past, Konoha citizens took their peaceful lives for granted. Our powerful clan was seen as nothing but a tumor needing to be excised from the village.
But they should understand the Uchiha clan's worth now."
"A new era led by us Uchiha begins," Fugaku concluded with a nod.
Dan remained silent, Mangekyō blazing open as he strode through Konoha's gates first. The Uchiha procession followed after him along the main street stretching from the entrance towards the Hokage mansion.
Crammed together on both sidewalks, countless eyes stared down the road unblinking until the Uchihas' forms came into view.
The expected resounding cheers never came. Instead an eerie silence pervaded amidst the amassed crowds. One by one their expressions shifted towards dread as uncontrollable trembling seized every limb.
Because...
The approaching Uchihas all emanated a detached iciness, carrying an overwhelming keep-your-distance aura.
Leading the group, Dan, Fugaku, Shisui, Itachi, Izumi, Tetsuhi along with Chiyoko - seven vastly different Mangekyō pairs swept over the packed masses with piercing scarlet gazes, sending chills down spines.
Behind marched the six controlled Jinchuriki, bestial aggression swirling from the Tailed Beasts within them. An extremely threatening pressure permeated the air.
Bringing up the rear were over a hundred Uchiha fighters, Sharingan blazing all around. An endless sea of red wherever one looked.
This was the Uchihas' fearsome might collectively, strong enough to decimate legions and bring even the Five Great Villages to heel. None could hope to match them.
The Uchiha Clan stood peerless upon the shinobi world.
In their wake lingered a suffocating pressure, seeming to freeze the very air and halt breaths. Only their uniform marching rhythm hammered relentlessly upon trembling hearts - doom, doom, doom...
Many had great difficulty forcing down gulps under the oppressive weight, cold beads of sweat lining cadaverously pale faces.
The sole outsider among them was Tsunade who watched the frozen and terrified villagers, myriad thoughts welling up inside.
In the past her grandfather had ruled through benevolence and universal compassion. Hashirama even made his clan members conceal identities, blending his lineage entirely into Konoha's greater whole.
Yet now the Uchiha reigned supreme apparently intent on walking a vastly different path of absolute authority. It seemed they would employ ruthless iron-fisted means in governing Konoha.
Only time could tell which approach proved superior in the end.
Ten minutes later...
The Uchihas arrived magnificently at the end of main street before the towering edifice that was Konoha's Hokage mansion. The structure symbolized the village's utmost power and authority, regarded as sacred in villagers' minds.
The sole flaw was its rather unsightly appearance akin to an inverted red garbage can.
Halting their advance, Dan gestured for the clan to stop. Then under many puzzled looks, he slowly raised a lone fist towards the Hokage building.
Without warning...
Boom! Dan's casual punch slammed heavily into the mansion wall. Spider web fissures instantly radiated outwards from the point of impact in all directions.
Crack crack crack! Expanding cracks traced from structure bottom right up to the roof peaks. Finally, accompanied by Konoha's shellshocked gasps...
Rumble! The entire Hokage mansion groaned thunderously as it collapsed into rubble within seconds, billowing plumes of dust and debris skyward.
"Cough cough cough!" Those who accidentally inhaled dirt erupted in fits of coughing while scrambling away in panic.
What was Lord Dan doing? Bewildered and fearful expressions marked the masses. They couldn't comprehend his actions at all.
Until the air cleared...
Raising both hands again in a seal, Dan calmly pressed a palm to the ground, channeling his chakra as the Wellspring of Life into the earth.
Yet another earthshaking rumble. Before Konoha's awestruck eyes, endless wooden pillars burst forth rapidly from underneath. In the blink of an eye upon the ruins rose a magnificently splendid, nine-tiered watchtower.
Towering and majestic, each successive floor was set back at a fixed indentation culminating in nine total levels almost sixty meters in height.
The designated functions for every floor included mission halls, conference chambers, armories, archives, lounges, observation decks and more.
Ornamented doors and flaming windows accompanied by exquisite decorations.
Sweeping eaves and covered corridors atop golden roof tiles glimmered brilliantly under sunlight, conferring a dazzling splendor. Most striking of all stood the iconic Uchiha crest emblazoned proudly upon the front façade.
No matter where in Konoha, one could spot the magnificent watchtower and crest from afar. Just as the view from its heights allowed effortless surveillance over all village activity.
Beneath the crest stretched a giant plaque.
Whoosh! With a leap, Dan rose into midair. Under countless gazes he drew boldly atop the plaque with his own chakra - three majestic characters forming "Tenshukaku".*
[*TL note: 天守阁, lit. Heavenly Guard Tower]
Next, he produced the lengthy petition signed by nearly two hundred thousand Konoha denizens, deliberately placing it under the plaque for all to see. This blood pact would serve as an eternal reminder that the village populace themselves had begged and requested Uchiha rule.
With everything settled, Dan turned to face the masses. Hands clasped behind his back, he gazed down impassively upon the anthill below that was Konoha's dumbstruck throngs.
A passing breeze set his robes fluttering elegantly like an immortal transcending the mundane world. Bathed under the golden sunlight, Dan resembled at this moment a sovereign deity presiding over the world.
Thump! From within the multitude someone took the initiative to suddenly kneel, kowtowing deeply towards Dan.
One by one individuals followed like cascading dominoes - two...three...a hundred...a thousand...until tens of thousands of shinobi and villagers all prostrated as one before Dan's overseeing eyes atop the Tenshukaku, a spectacle unprecedented in Konoha's history.
Even the famed God of Shinobi Hashirama paled in comparison to Dan's sheer magnificence then and commanding aura that compelled such mass obeisance.
Over ten myriad gazes peered upwards apprehensively towards the man at Heaven Guard Tower's pinnacle, minds anxious yet expecting the unknown future ahead. Would a renewed Konoha emerge, or had they invited greater disaster instead?
No one could foretell.
From his lofty vantage Dan surveyed all beneath him. In their eyes he caught glimpses of fear, apprehension, alarm and above all, insecurity tinged with confusion at what was to come.
What a mess this village had become. Looks like some heavy tidying up was required.
Half an hour later...
At the former Uchiha district now occupied by Iwagakure troops, the Stone shinobi scrambled in hasty preparations to depart. The Uchihas' return naturally meant no more place for these outsiders.
Rather than await expulsion, they wisely chose to pack up and withdraw without being told, preserving some face and dignity.
Yet just as the Stone forces readied to leave...
Tetsuhi and Chiyoko unexpectedly materialized within the Iwa camp. They quickly located the local commander - Jōnin Bun'ya.
"What instructions do you have for us?" Bun'ya nervously asked the pair of Uchiha emissaries.
Despite Bun'ya's own towering physique akin to a small boulder, no confidence swelled inside when faced with Tetsuhi and Chiyoko.
After all, not only were they Uchiha elites but Uchiha Mangekyō wielders to boot. Even Bun'ya's own Tsuchikage would have to tread carefully before them, nevermind a mere senior Jōnin like himself.
Without further ado Tetsuhi unceremoniously presented a list, coldly instructing:
"Hand over everyone named here before your forces scram from Konoha. None can be missing."
Bun'ya barely suppressed his fury over Tetsuhi's arrogance and insolence. Yet he still forced himself to comply in the end as his shaking hands accepted the list. One cursory scan already changed his complexion.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone