[Three Feet Before the Body (Gold): Within the rift of reality three feet before the user, a temporary domain is opened—one fully governed by the user's will.]
Three feet before the body?
A temporary domain?
Kai's brows knitted tightly.
The words themselves were crystal clear. Every term was easy to understand—put together, they even made sense.
But—
A rift of reality?
Did that mean a unique space, similar to Kamui?
He steadied his breathing and activated the trait, carefully sensing the changes around him.
Wuuum—
Deep into the night, moonlight flowed like water, gently draping over his body.
Yet the instant the trait activated—
The moonlight before his eyes… came alive.
It was no longer simply falling.
Instead, it felt like an extension of his own will.
A sensation—almost godlike—rose within him, as though the three feet of space around him existed solely to be shaped as he pleased.
With a mere thought—
Hua—!
The silvery moonlight flowing before him was kneaded and compressed by his raised hand.
In an instant, it condensed from a drifting veil into an egg-sized sphere of silver light, glowing softly.
It hovered quietly within three feet before Kai, slowly rotating.
Like a moon orbiting a planet, endlessly circling.
That once-cool glow now radiated a gentle warmth.
[Ding. Congratulations, Host has basked in sunlight for 1 minute. Chakra +1.]
"Sunlight? This is…"
Hearing the notification, Kai reached out and gently cupped the warm "little sun" in his palm.
Uncontainable joy exploded in his eyes.
He understood.
Within this absolute domain—Three Feet Before the Body—
he could forcibly condense and elevate moonlight, simulating the very essence of the sun.
And more than that—
Absolute control.
The light it emitted was no longer reflected moonlight, but true sunlight.
What did that mean?
It meant that from now on, twenty-four hours a day, he could bask in at least twenty-five hours of "sun."
It meant his daily chakra gain would skyrocket—from 840 points to over 1,400.
It meant—
One week of sunbathing could produce one Kakashi.
One year?
Fifty Kakashis.
The moment he realized this, Kai could no longer suppress his excitement.
He slowly raised a hand to his forehead, bent forward, shoulders trembling.
Then—
A grin stretched from the corner of his mouth all the way back toward his ears.
"Ha… hahaha—HAHAHAHA!!!"
"HAHAHAHA!"
The laughter echoed through the night—and startled awake the clan members Shisui had revived after Itachi's departure.
When the brutal truth was laid bare—
Especially to those high-ranking elders who had nearly suffocated to death in their sleep—
Rage exploded.
Particularly the elders.
As the ruling figures of the Uchiha clan, they had almost been killed by a mere child.
Their fury reached a breaking point.
"Clan Head! Uchiha Itachi—he dared to betray the clan?! He's trying to wipe out the Uchiha bloodline!"
"A conspiracy! This is absolutely that old fox Hokage's scheme—trying to make us slaughter each other!"
"Unforgivable! This cannot be tolerated! Clan Head, give the order—tonight we storm Konoha and charge the Hokage Tower!"
"That's right! Kill them! Kill them all! Kill that traitor Itachi!!"
Hundreds of Uchiha shinobi gathered in the shattered courtyard, eyes bloodshot, emotions boiling.
The terror of near-death stripped away their former restraint.
All that remained—
Was the need to vent their rage.
Kill.
Kill into Konoha.
Kill the Hokage.
Kill—Uchiha Itachi.
At the center of the crowd, Fugaku stood with his brow deeply furrowed.
The Hokage's sinister machinations filled him with fury—but reason told him clearly:
A coup was a dead end.
Yes, he was angry.
But he still didn't want to ignite an outright rebellion.
The clan might not know—
But how could he not?
"Of the ninety-three coups launched by the Uchiha throughout history… not a single one succeeded…"
His lips moved, but he didn't respond.
Instead, his gaze subconsciously shifted toward Kai, who was still holding his forehead and laughing.
He hoped his second son could offer a solution.
But—
When Fugaku saw the boy laughing so wildly, a wave of exhaustion washed over him.
His eldest son had defected, taken away by a mysterious man.
The clan was in an uproar—a mob of hotheaded brutes shouting for blood.
His youngest slept soundly through it all, oblivious.
And the only son who had brought him some comfort—
Was now… acting up again.
Just as Fugaku hesitated, locked in inner turmoil—
The hawkish Third Elder's eyes flared with sharp light.
The chance is here.
"Clan Head!"
The Third Elder strode forward, his booming voice cutting through the chaos.
"Itachi's betrayal is already a fact! Konoha's blade is hanging over our heads!"
"If we don't act now, are we supposed to wait until they slaughter the Uchiha like pigs and dogs?!"
Behind him, his loyalists roared in unison:
"Act! We must act!"
Seeing this, even the dovish elders could only sigh in despair.
"Clan Head… the survival of the Uchiha will be decided tonight…"
The Third Elder's heart surged with joy.
Even the doves had fallen silent—victory was at hand.
He stepped closer, nearly face-to-face with Fugaku, his voice dripping with naked coercion.
"Fugaku. Circumstances force our hand."
"Tonight's coup—you agree, and we follow you."
"You refuse…"
He suddenly straightened, voice rising sharply.
"Then we'll choose a clan head who can lead us to slaughter our way out!"
"This coup—whether you want it or not—it's happening!"
Fugaku's brow tightened even further.
So deep it looked like a ravine—
a mosquito could fall in and never escape.
He understood perfectly.
Either he led the coup—
Or the clan dragged him along with it.
Same outcome.
Very different process.
"Clan Head, you don't have time to hesitate!"
The Third Elder was drunk on the feeling of being at the center of attention, already envisioning his glorious future atop the clan.
He cleared his throat, preparing to deliver the final verdict.
"I say you've truly grown senile!"
"Since you're so indecisive, don't blame me—"
BANG!
Before he could finish—
A massive fist, wrapped in crimson chakra, smashed brutally into the Third Elder's face.
Crack!
A bone-shattering sound rang out.
The Third Elder didn't even have time to scream before his body turned into a blurred shadow, sent flying.
Boom!
He crashed straight into the ruins of the courtyard wall.
Every jaw dropped.
Especially when they saw the young boy standing before Fugaku—
Not a single word could be spoken.
"Cough—cough… You dare ambush me? Fugaku, you really—"
The Third Elder crawled out of the rubble, face twisted in agony.
But the moment he looked up and saw Kai—
It felt as though an invisible hand seized his throat.
Because one had.
Blood-red Nine-Tails chakra surged violently, forming a gigantic chakra hand in an instant.
It clenched around the Third Elder in the rubble—
Like gripping a baby chick.
"N–No… Kai! What are you doing?! I'm a clan elder!!" he shrieked in terror.
BANG!
The chakra hand swung him like a rag doll and slammed him into the hard ground before everyone.
Rubble exploded.
BANG!!
A shallow crater formed.
BANG!!!
Deeper.
Again and again, he was smashed into the earth.
In moments, the once-burly, sharp-eyed old man had been driven straight into the ground—
Leaving only his head exposed.
"Kai! Don't think you can act recklessly just because you're the clan head's second son!"
"Always yapping—today I'll teach you a lesson for Fugaku!"
Only now did the surrounding Uchiha finally react.
More than twenty shinobi charged forward—
The Third Elder's direct subordinates.
But they rushed in fast—
And fell even faster.
Bang bang bang!
That enormous crimson chakra palm came down like an unscalable mountain, slapping them all into the ground.
In the blink of an eye, more than twenty bodies were planted neatly into the earth around the Third Elder.
Heads exposed. Nothing else.
Dead silence.
Absolute silence.
Hundreds of clan members stood frozen.
For the first time—
They truly looked at this second son of the clan head.
Many were seeing this ten-year-old boy for the first time.
Strong.
Unfathomably strong.
So strong that not a single one of them dared even think about resisting.
Kai slowly flicked his hand, as if he had merely brushed away some dust.
To pacify the outside, one must first pacify the inside.
And the Uchiha's innate flaws—if left unchecked—would only give rise to another Itachi.
After a brief pause, he spoke plainly.
"From this moment on, the Uchiha clan answers to me."
He paused, his indifferent gaze sweeping across the crowd.
"Who agrees?"
A beat.
"And who—objects?"
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