The world was changing too fast, and many people still hadn't come to their senses. How had the honorable Third Hokage, Lord Sarutobi, suddenly turned into a missing-nin and even betrayed the Land of Fire?!
A sense of absurdity welled up in the hearts of the gathered shinobi. The next moment, a large number of Anbu operatives appeared, eyeing the surrounding shinobi with acute vigilance.
"Impossible! How could Lord Third ever attack the Daimyo, how could he betray the village?! What possible reason would Lord Third have to do such a thing?!"
At that moment, a shinobi fiercely loyal to the Third Hokage leaped forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, and instantly moved to rush over and help the Third.
"Halt! Are you committing treason? Betraying Konoha? From this moment on, Sarutobi Hiruzen is no longer the Hokage. He is a traitor and a missing-nin! Anyone who dares to help him is betraying Konoha, is betraying the Land of Fire!"
Seeing this scene, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire snapped in a harsh, commanding tone.
"That's right. Though I don't know what madness has seized that fellow Sarutobi, the fact that he has become a missing-nin is now undeniable. He has completely lost his mind!"
Beside him, Shimura Danzō nodded in agreement.
The shinobi looked at Danzō, and especially at the Daimyo. Those who felt little loyalty to the Third fell silent. Though they didn't know what had driven the Third mad, since the Daimyo himself acknowledged it, the Third had undeniably betrayed Konoha and the Land of Fire.
It seemed the political skies of Konoha were about to undergo a drastic change.
Some shinobi, suspecting that the Daimyo had been placed under mind control, quietly employed various techniques to observe the Daimyo, only to discover with profound sorrow not a single trace of foreign chakra, not the slightest anomaly. He was not being manipulated by Genjutsu; it was the unvarnished truth. What the Daimyo said was true.
Yet, there were still shinobi who refused to believe it. They felt there simply had to be some hidden truth behind all this.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible! Lord Third would never betray the Land of Fire! There has to be some hidden reason here, Lord Daimyo!"
Several shinobi dashed forward, dropping to their knees before the Daimyo.
"Hmph, a hidden reason? What hidden reason could there possibly be? If I hadn't been lucky, I would have been murdered by that brute Sarutobi right then and there—and you talk to me of a hidden reason!"
The Daimyo let out a contemptuous laugh. At that instant, several people broke away from the crowd, desperately intending to rescue the Third, only to be seized by the surrounding shinobi.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had completely lost the mandate of the people. Right now, he was a missing-nin, a traitor; he had lost all legitimacy to hold the position of Hokage.
There was no helping it. After all, the shinobi villages were merely military organizations of the nation, not the governing body of the state. A Kage might easily assassinate a Daimyo, but what good would that do? As long as they remained part of a nation, subject to the jurisdiction of even a nominal ruler—even if they could easily murder that nominal ruler—so long as that nominal ruler refused to recognize their status, they lost all legitimacy within that country.
No matter how powerful one was, without ruling the state and wielding actual governing authority, they were nothing more than a band of powerful bandits.
Especially now, when Sarutobi Hiruzen's strength was not enough to utterly crush Uchiha Brahman, this gave Brahman the opportunity to turn black into white—no, to set things right and reclaim the position that rightfully belonged to Uchiha Brahman all along.
***
Buzz—! The razor-sharp Chainsword sliced the Monkey King Enma staff cleanly into two pieces, its momentum unchecked as it continued straight toward Sarutobi Hiruzen. Seeing this, Sarutobi Hiruzen instantly leaped back, but it was already too late. The sharp edge of the Chainsword grazed Sarutobi Hiruzen's left arm, instantly shredding his limb into a bloody pulp of meat.
"How truly weak! Hahaha!"
Uchiha Brahman roared with laughter, then spun the Chainsword in his grip and slashed again toward Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Just as this strike threatened to engulf Sarutobi Hiruzen completely, several figures suddenly appeared. A few Anbu operatives threw themselves directly in front of Sarutobi Hiruzen, and like ripe watermelons, they were instantly torn to shreds by the whining chainsaw. Simultaneously, another figure grabbed Sarutobi Hiruzen's arm and dragged him away, then bolted like a madman toward the outskirts of the village.
"Oh?"
Seeing this, Uchiha Brahman tilted his head and watched that retreating figure.
"Uchiha Itachi, are you trying to betray Konoha?" Uchiha Brahman said in an icy tone, watching Itachi make a frantic escape while carrying Sarutobi Hiruzen.
"..."
Uchiha Itachi gritted his teeth in silence. Intelligent as he was, as early as yesterday he had sensed that something was deeply wrong. Now, his suspicions had indeed been confirmed: these people actually intended to subvert Konoha and shatter the unity of the village!
Only Lord Third's Will of Fire could lead the village toward greater strength, not this guy who had suddenly popped out of nowhere and somehow managed to control both the Daimyo and Lord Danzō.
Was this some hidden power of the clan?
Damn it, he never expected that things would end up like this, never expected the clan to be hiding such a formidable power. But such actions were completely unacceptable. These people understood nothing of the Will of Fire; without Lord Third, the village would surely fall apart, and when that happened, the Land of Fire would inevitably be invaded by other nations.
A profound fury surged within Uchiha Itachi. He felt that the members of the Uchiha clan were truly beyond reason. Did they really have to resort to a coup? And to actually control someone as noble as the Daimyo—it was sheer blasphemy against the natural order! Why couldn't they just try to coexist peacefully with the village?
"Want to run? How amusing!"
Watching Uchiha Itachi flee with Sarutobi Hiruzen, Uchiha Brahman raised the Chainsword in his hand and slashed it forward. A massive blade of energy erupted through the air, swallowing both of their bodies whole.
"Escaped, did they?"
At last, Uchiha Brahman looked out over the empty sky and chuckled. Merely a pair of ants; if they ran, they ran.
"Now, it is time for me to reign over my Konoha!"
Uchiha Brahman manipulated Susanoo to turn around, gazing indifferently at the distant shinobi.
"We pay our respects to Lord Brahman!"
The Daimyo and Danzō stood before Uchiha Brahman, speaking with the utmost reverence.
"From this day forward, Lord Brahman is the new Hokage. Who is in favor, and who is against?"
The Daimyo of the Land of Fire turned his head to look at the shinobi behind him.
"This old man is in favor. Sarutobi Hiruzen went far too far, actually daring to launch an assault on the Daimyo. If Lord Brahman had not intervened, I shudder to think what might have happened. I believe that Lord Brahman alone is qualified to assume the position of the new Hokage, and only the great Lord Brahman can lead Konoha once more toward glory!"
Shimura Danzō nodded, then looked respectfully at Uchiha Brahman.
"I am not—"
A shinobi raised his hand. The next instant, a figure materialized directly in front of the shinobi, driving a fist straight into his chest. In an instant, his bones shattered completely, and his limp body collapsed helplessly to the ground.
"Starting today, I am the new Hokage! Who is in favor, and who is against?"
Uchiha Brahman glared with his crimson eyes, sweeping his gaze across the assembled shinobi as he spoke in a gentle tone.
Chapter 8. The Inherently Evil Uchiha
Seeing this, some of the shinobi present instantly boiled with rage, glaring fiercely at Uchiha Brahman. However, after Uchiha Brahman beat a few of the more prominent troublemakers to within an inch of their lives, those shinobi fell silent.
Although there had been no discussion or election whatsoever, Uchiha Brahman becoming the Hokage was now a settled fact. Who could blame them when they were no match for Uchiha Brahman?
***
The Land of Waves, deep within a subterranean base on a remote island.
A group of figures in white lab coats moved back and forth constantly, conducting various experiments.
Every single one of these figures in lab coats shared the exact same face—the identical face of Uchiha Brahman.
That's right, these were all Shadow Clones of Uchiha Brahman.
Back in Year 53 of Konoha, Uchiha Brahman had controlled Gato of the Land of Waves, forcing him to provide funds for his research. As for the research project itself, it naturally revolved around something wonderful:
The Seed of Blessing.
After blessing a living creature, all of that creature's descendants would become dependents of Uchiha Brahman. He was deeply fascinated by this phenomenon, because the natural growth cycle of humans was simply too long.
If he wanted to convert humanity into his dependents entirely on his own, it would require a vast, agonizingly long span of time.
So, was there a method to convert these adorable humans into his dependents—into his nourishment—much more easily? This was precisely what Uchiha Brahman was currently exploring.
He extracted the genes of various dependents, then knocked out and modified those genes before embedding them into the genetic code of other living organisms. By doing so, he observed whether the fused genes of dependents and non-dependents would still result in creatures loyal to him as dependents.
Logically speaking, it should be possible, because many of his current dependents were acquired precisely through his non-dependent creatures mating with a paternal or maternal specimen.
The final result was self-evident: by now, he had successfully figured out the precise degree of genetic integrity required to infect a non-dependent creature and transform it into his dependent.
Using this as a starting point, Uchiha Brahman began researching a genetic serum capable of reorganizing non-dependent genes and turning them into his dependents.
And now, after years of research—
"Hahaha, hahahaha!!!"
Suddenly, one of Uchiha Brahman's Shadow Clones burst into wild laughter as he stared down at the golden syringe in his hand.
"It's a success! Hahaha! I've finally succeeded!"
Laughing maniacally, the Shadow Clone clutched the syringe and walked over to an adjacent prison cell, inside of which were locked criminals hauled in from various nations.
"Gah! Stay away from me!"
Inside the cage, a criminal stared at Uchiha Brahman approaching him, so terrified that he lost control of his bowels and bladder. Sitting on the floor in a state of horror and utter despair, he began screaming wildly.
"Hahaha, my child, rest easy. I won't hurt you. Come, partake in the blessing! Hahaha!"
The Shadow Clone laughed heartily as he drove the needle straight into the criminal's body.
The moment the injection went in, the look of terror on the criminal's face reached its absolute peak.
During this period, countless people had already perished in the experiments of these madmen.
He had witnessed with his own eyes how some individuals, after being injected with the serum, seemed fine at first, only for time to reveal the horror: either they were reduced to drooling imbeciles, or they went completely insane. Many others suffered immediate tissue necrosis, their bodies rotting and melting away until they were nothing more than a pool of putrid flesh and sludge.
These people were demons! They were madmen! Monsters!
"Child, wait patiently. A magnificent transformation is taking place. This is a historic event, for the happiness of mankind, for the future of the world! Hahaha!"
Uchiha Brahman looked down at the criminal, smiling happily.
This was the supreme wisdom of the great Brahman!
With that, the Shadow Clone was dispelled.
Back in Konoha, inside the Hokage's office.
The jonin of Konoha had just been introduced to Uchiha Brahman—someone they had never laid eyes on before, someone whose very existence they had been entirely unaware of. Though many shinobi felt immense reluctance in their hearts to accept Uchiha Brahman as Hokage, what alternative did they have?
Even the Daimyo stood behind him. If you refused to recognize him, you were a missing-nin, a traitor to the Land of Fire! Uchiha Brahman could execute you legitimately, without a single soul finding fault with it.
Unless they possessed the power to defeat and kill Uchiha Brahman, any act of resistance was an outrageous rebellion—illegal and utterly unrecognized.
"Splendid!"
Inside the office, Uchiha Brahman, seated in the chair, abruptly snapped his eyes open. He had already received the message from his Shadow Clone: the blessing serum had entered its final phase, and soon, he would bring happiness and beauty to this world.
Brahman, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra.
He would bestow advanced class consciousness upon this world. In this world, he alone would be the Brahman; he was Brahma, he was the heavens!
***
"Aah!"
Deep within a forest, two figures lay sprawled upon the ground.
One figure was missing both legs, while the other had lost an arm.
These were none other than Uchiha Itachi and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
At the very last moment, the two of them had finally managed to escape Konoha, but Itachi had paid the heavy price of both his legs, reduced to a legless cripple.
"Itachi, are you alright?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly pushed himself up from the ground, clutching his severed, bleeding shoulder.
"Lord Third, what on earth is going on here?"
Enduring the agonizing pain of his severed legs, Uchiha Itachi asked with forced calmness. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes had already undergone a profound transformation, evolving into the Mangekyou Sharingan.
"The Daimyo, and Danzō as well—they've all been placed under mind control by that Uchiha Brahman! Itachi, do you know Uchiha Brahman?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen said in a deep, grim voice. Given his understanding of Danzō, how could that old bastard ever willingly kneel and bow before anyone—especially when the object of that subservience was an Uchiha, a member of the clan he detested most?!
If that wasn't being controlled, what was it? The inherently evil Uchiha!
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned his head, casting a glance at Uchiha Itachi as he sighed inwardly. The Uchiha clan did contain good people after all, pity there were so few of them. If only everyone in the Uchiha clan were like Itachi—possessing a clear understanding of the greater good and knowing what the Will of Fire truly meant.
Shortly after, Sarutobi Hiruzen and Uchiha Itachi departed from the area, seeking out a secluded spot to treat their wounds.
***
The news of Konoha's change in Kage spread rapidly across the entire Shinobi World. Every major shinobi village learned how Sarutobi Hiruzen had become a missing-nin after attempting to assassinate and murder the Daimyo, only to be stopped by a young member of the Uchiha clan who had saved the Daimyo and subsequently ascended to the position of the new Hokage.
Uchiha Brahman—that was the name of the new Hokage. A previously unknown youth, a boy who had been nothing more than a fishmonger in Konoha.
There was something fishy going on here. The Kages of the major hidden villages stared at the dossiers on Uchiha Brahman, beginning to devise ways to investigate his secrets...