Akatsuki's intel about Obito was exposed on the black market.
The effect on the other ninja villages was relatively small.
But for the people of Konoha, the impact was huge.
Uchiha Obito's name was still engraved on the memorial stone. He had been a disciple of the Fourth Hokage, even one of the heroes of the Kannabi Bridge battle.
But now his identity had shifted; he might even be the instigator of the Nine-Tails Incident.
The murderer who killed the Fourth Hokage and his wife.
If that were true, then the Nine-Tails Incident would have nothing to do with the Uchiha clan in the village.
Danzo's suspicions and the decision to push the Uchiha to Konoha's outskirts would all be a grave injustice to the Uchiha.
But Rengoku didn't care about those things; he already knew all this intel.
When he planned before, he had made two contingency plans.
One contingency was that in the short term they couldn't find the Water of Life.
In that case he would lie low and wait for Tobi to stir up trouble, and continue harvesting the flock.
The other contingency was that in the short term they did obtain the Water of Life and could restore Nagato's body.
Then they would deal with Tobi and destroy Black Zetsu's mother-resurrection plan.
The most critical factor here was the number of strong people in the clan.
Only with the Water of Life would they have the greatest margin for error.
Because after succeeding the Uchiha clan leadership, Fugaku had told him.
Since the founding of the Uchiha, it wasn't that no one had discovered how to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
But the more extreme the stimulus, the easier it was for someone to collapse and die.
Most of the three-tomoe elites died from mental breakdown or physical collapse when forcing the Mangekyo to open.
The death rate reached ninety percent.
It wasn't that the Uchiha didn't want more Mangekyo, the attrition rate was just too high.
So Rengoku had to spare no effort to find the Water of Life and bring Nagato into the Uchiha.
All so that when clansmen forced the Mangekyo open, there would be some fault tolerance.
Now all the contingencies were ready.
They began testing the clansmen's soul strength to see roughly where each person's soul strength sat, whether they could withstand opening the Mangekyo.
Asking everyone to write wills wasn't because of that hypothetical dangerous mission.
It was to learn what mattered most emotionally to these clansmen.
Only by destroying those emotions could they trigger the Uchiha's greatest pain.
And thus produce the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Though the danger was real, Rengoku had prepared the contingencies.
When Rengoku had Kurama Yakumo test the clansmen, she wrote down a soul-strength value for each person.
This number was a metric Ido derived from invading each person's soul.
For example, an ordinary adult's soul power is 1.
Those with three-tomoe Sharingan generally had soul power of 1.5 or above.
As for Itachi and Fugaku, both were above 2.
As for Rengoku, he was above 4.
The larger the soul power, the less accurate Ido's measurements became.
After all, Ido could only affect people with weaker soul power.
Rengoku also wanted to find if there were anyone in the clan with naturally extraordinary soul strength like Tobi.
After all, in Uchiha history, only one person had leaped from two-tomoe directly to Mangekyo.
But in the past two days Ido had gone around the clan several times; members below three-tomoe were at most 1.2, 1.3.
From the test results, only Uchiha Jiyan's soul strength reached 1.9; others, even Uchiha Kiyan, were only around 1.8.
He even tested Shikaku, perhaps due to age, Shikaku's soul strength was somewhat lower, his vitality weaker.
It seemed increasing soul strength was extremely difficult, and after the body's peak it would decline.
Now he brought Kurama Yakumo to his own home, because there was one last person to test.
"I'm back," Rengoku called after opening the door.
"Brother!", Ryuri sat in a wheelchair and reached out her hand.
Rengoku beckoned to Kurama Yakumo behind him, then scooped his sister up.
"This is Kurama Yakumo I taught; this is Ryuri, my sister."
It was the first time Yakumo had seen Ryuri, she hadn't realized the principal had a chronically ill sister.
"Ryuri… hello, sis," By age, Ryuri was younger than Yakumo, but you couldn't tell from Ryuri's physical condition.
Ryuri looked at Yakumo curiously; she knew Rengoku was the academy principal, but this was the first time he'd brought a student home.
"Hello."
Kaori came out wearing an apron at that moment:
"The food's ready just as you came, your timing's exact."
She glanced at Yakumo following behind and looked at Rengoku in puzzlement.
Rengoku explained, "Yakumo will help me with an important experiment later; I brought her to grab a bite."
Ryuri's eyes flicked; she couldn't guess that Yakumo had come to test Kaori's soul strength.
"This is Kaori, also my family."
Rengoku gave Yakumo a look.
Yakumo bowed to Kaori, "Kaori-nee, hello. Sorry to trouble you."
"No trouble, just wash the dishes after," Kaori didn't say much, and quickly ushered them in.
While they ate, the atmosphere was a bit heavy. Kaori asked, "Rengoku, I saw all the clan elites have come back."
The elites meant the three-tomoe Sharingan people.
Rengoku paused with his chopsticks, "Yes, I recalled them."
"Is something going to happen soon?", Kaori asked worriedly.
She meant, is the clan going to war.
Rengoku smiled, "Not a war, there's a mission that needs some special talents."
"These elites have come for selection. I may be at Orochimaru's place for a while, don't wait for me at mealtime."
Hearing it wasn't war, Kaori relaxed.
"Then eat more, you might not get my cooking for days."
Rengoku glanced at Kaori, then at Ryuri.
"Don't worry, the clan is safe."
Kaori still felt something odd but couldn't put her finger on it.
They finished quickly; Kaori was cleaning dishes.
Yakumo said beside her, "Kaori-nee, have you had a headache recently?"
Kaori asked in confusion, "How did you know?"
Yakumo gave a sly smile, "That's my special ability."
"I can press a little and you'll feel much better."
"Really?", Kaori looked to Rengoku hesitantly.
Rengoku nodded slightly, "Try it."
Kaori sat beside Yakumo as instructed.
Yakumo pressed Kaori's temples with both hands; a cool sensation made Kaori instantly relax.
Not long, about ten seconds, Yakumo removed her hands.
"All done. Feeling better, Kaori-nee?"
Kaori shook her head, "Much more comfortable, thank you, Yakumo."
"You're welcome, Kaori-nee. Just happened to be here."
Yakumo smiled brightly; she was happy she could help with her ability.
She exchanged a look with Rengoku, who stood up, "Thanks for looking after the house. Yakumo and I are leaving."
Rengoku pinched Ryuri's cheek, "I'm off."
"Mm. Come back early, Onii-chan."
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