Evening. In a relatively remote, dense forest within Konoha Village stood an old, somewhat dilapidated building. This was the secret gathering place of the Uchiha clan. The Naka Shrine.
In the main assembly hall of the Naka Shrine, Uchiha Misuke, dressed in traditional Uchiha clan attire, currently stood quietly in the center of the spacious room.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh~
The sound of air being cut twice echoed consecutively through the stillness as two figures, also clad in Uchiha attire, appeared one after another in the hall. It was Shisui and Itachi.
"You're not too slow," hearing the sounds behind her, Uchiha Misuke turned around. Looking at Shisui and Itachi, a faint, rare smile touched her lips as she spoke. At that moment, a gust of cold winter wind swept into the room, gently lifting a strand of her dark hair from her temple and brushing it delicately against the corner of her mouth.
Seeing this, both Shisui and Itachi were momentarily stunned. Uchiha Misuke, who was usually so cold and aloof, suddenly displayed such a soft and beautiful side, leaving both young men quite captivated by the unexpected sight.
After a brief moment of distraction, Shisui was the first to recover. He glanced around the hall and then asked, "Where's... he?"
Uchiha Misuke said, "Wait a moment." As she spoke, she took a kunai from within her robes and threw it directly onto the wooden floorboards. This was a specially made kunai, engraved with a unique and intricate seal formula.
Swoosh~
The instant the kunai landed with a soft thud, a figure flashed into existence above it, and Tatsuya's form appeared within the Naka Shrine.
"The Flying Thunder God Technique!" Watching this instantaneous arrival, Shisui and Itachi exclaimed in unison, their voices filled with undisguised astonishment. They recognized it at a glance—the legendary space-time ninjutsu that had shone so brilliantly and devastatingly in the hands of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. Both of them had personally witnessed the incredible power and utility of this jutsu before.
Now that Tatsuya had suddenly demonstrated such a high-level skill, how could they not be utterly astonished? Looking at Tatsuya, even Shisui, despite his usually calm and composed demeanor, couldn't help but show a complicated mixture of emotions on his face. He had personally watched Tatsuya progress, step by painstaking step, to where he was now in just a few short, impactful years. Previously, Shisui had always been regarded by his clan and the village as a once-in-a-generation genius.
Although Shisui had never allowed himself to become arrogant about it, he had certainly felt a quiet sense of happiness and personal satisfaction in his abilities. For a long time, Shisui had never doubted this perception of himself. Within the Uchiha clan, the only one he considered his peer, another prodigious talent, was Itachi.
But Tatsuya's rapid, almost meteoric rise had completely shattered this established dynamic. Now, the power gap between himself and Tatsuya seemed to have widened significantly. Facing Tatsuya, Shisui knew with a heavy heart that unless he resorted to using his Mangekyo Sharingan's ultimate ability, Kotoamatsukami, he would have absolutely no chance of victory.
Beside them, Itachi's expression was one of profound surprise, yet also tinged with a clear undercurrent of happiness. Because he already harbored suspicions about Tatsuya's true, hidden identity, his estimation of Tatsuya's actual strength had already been raised even higher in his mind.
"Heh heh, just a parlor trick!" Having shown off his impressive skills in front of these two renowned Uchiha geniuses, Shisui and Itachi, Tatsuya felt a little smug and said with a playful grin.
"Everyone's here now. If you have something important to say, then hurry up and say it." Looking at the slightly cocky Tatsuya, Uchiha Misuke pursed her lips and interrupted him coolly, her earlier softness vanishing.
Hearing this, the smile on Tatsuya's face faltered slightly. He glanced at Uchiha Misuke—the same woman who had almost cried out of worry for him earlier that day but was now putting on a cool, indifferent, and thoroughly capable facade—and felt rather speechless. This woman really took the cool, beautiful, and competent 'onee-san' persona to the absolute extreme.
His smile vanishing completely, Tatsuya didn't speak immediately. Instead, he took out a sealing scroll from his pouch and retrieved an item from within it. It was a pristine white robe with elegant gold trim. This was precisely the standard uniform worn by members of the Divine Court when appearing publicly.
Looking at the robe held in Tatsuya's hand, the expressions on the three Uchiha's faces were markedly varied. Itachi's was calm and unreadable, a knowing glint flashed in Uchiha Misuke's eyes, while Shisui looked completely and utterly astonished.
"This is…" Shisui began, his voice hesitant as he pointed at the robe in Tatsuya's hand.
Tatsuya shrugged. "As you can see, this is the attire of the Divine Court. And I am its leader."
The moment Tatsuya's words fell, Shisui's body jolted again, his eyes widening. Leader of the Divine Court? This identity of Tatsuya's completely surpassed his wildest imagination. However, after a brief moment of intense shock, a look of deep contemplation, followed by dawning realization, quickly spread across Shisui's face.
In that instant, Shisui rapidly made connections in his mind: Yoshida Jin, Ansei Hall, Yakugakure, and the circumstances surrounding the ambushes on Uchiha Yashiro, Uchiha Yasumasa, and Uchiha Hiroomi some time ago. All these disparate incidents and entities indeed seemed to have a tangible connection to Tatsuya. Once he linked them all together, the complex puzzle pieces instantly fell into place, making perfect sense.
After a brief, heavy silence, Shisui took a deep breath. He glanced at the composed faces of Itachi and Uchiha Misuke, then a wry, almost resigned smile touched his lips as he asked, "What do you intend to achieve by revealing your identity to us like this?"
Tatsuya smiled faintly. "Even if I didn't say anything, you all probably would have guessed some of it already. Besides, I never intended to hide this from you. In fact, I also have some things I need your help with."
Hearing this, Shisui couldn't help but glance at Itachi and Uchiha Misuke again, his expression questioning.
Itachi picked up the conversational thread. "Brother Tatsuya, are you asking us to join the Divine Court as well?"
Tatsuya nodded affirmatively. "That's right. I am planning to have you join the Divine Court. After joining, I won't require you to do anything particularly special or demanding—just to lend a hand occasionally at critical moments. Once or twice will be more than enough."
Hearing Tatsuya's words, both Itachi and Uchiha Misuke's expressions flickered with a hint of intrigue. Shisui, however, frowned deeply and said, "Tatsuya, we are all Konoha ninja. Why did you feel the need to create Yakugakure and the Divine Court, these organizations outside the village structure? What exactly are you trying to do?"
Tatsuya replied, his voice steady, "Because Konoha's interior, its system, is already rotten to the core. The resistance to making any meaningful changes from within is far too great. To save the ninja world, I can only rely on external forces."
"Save the ninja world?" When Tatsuya uttered these words, all three of them were completely bewildered. They didn't understand why Tatsuya, whom they knew as a fellow Konoha shinobi, would say something so grand, so audacious, as "save the ninja world."
Looking at their puzzled expressions, Tatsuya spoke slowly and gravely, his voice resonating with conviction, "The reason you're puzzled is that you don't yet understand Akatsuki's true, terrifying objective. Actually, several years ago, during a mission to escort Doctor Shinno to the Land of Wind, I happened to stumble upon a fragment of Akatsuki's insane, world-altering plan. They are actually preparing to capture all nine Tailed Beasts of the ninja world."
"At that time," Tatsuya continued, "I mistakenly believed they merely wanted to use the immense power of the Tailed Beasts to forcibly unify the ninja world under their rule. But this recent trip to the Moon allowed me to uncover their even deeper, more insidious objective. Akatsuki's leader is a man named Nagato, and he possesses the legendary Sage's eyes—the Rinnegan."
"The reason they want to capture the nine Tailed Beasts," Tatsuya explained, his tone somber, "is to use the empty husk of the Ten-Tails—the Gedo Statue—to absorb the chakra of all nine beasts, and then, through that process, revive the Ten-Tails itself. Once the Ten-Tails is successfully revived, Nagato, with his Rinnegan, can become the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki."
"The Ten-Tails Jinchuriki possesses a very unique and terrifying ability: they can awaken a third eye, the Rinne Sharingan. By using the Rinne Sharingan's incredible power, they can project their ocular energy onto the Moon to activate the Infinite Tsukuyomi. According to the information left behind by the Otsutsuki clan on the Moon, the Infinite Tsukuyomi is an incredibly wide-ranging, all-encompassing genjutsu that can place every single living being in the ninja world into a perpetual dream state. In this dream world, everyone's deepest desires and wishes can be fulfilled, but the price for this illusory happiness is to fall into an eternal, unending slumber."
Tatsuya's grave words fell, and the ancient assembly hall of the Naka Shrine was plunged into a profound, chilling silence.