The battlefield was filled with uncertainty at every moment.
In just a short time, Uchiha Yuan's team had already encountered three waves of Mist Ninjas.
Fortunately, since all of them were sensory-type ninjas, they managed to detect the enemy in advance and avoid battle as much as possible.
But not every conflict could be avoided.
Just before dawn, Uchiha Yuan's team ran into a Mist Ninja squad.
That squad clearly had sensory ninjas too. They detected Yuan's team, and realizing that neither side could escape, the two sides clashed.
The Mist squad had six members—two more than Yuan's group. Their team included four chunin and two genin.
Yuan and Hyuga Asana, under Yamanaka Kagetsu's support, each fought one chunin. Shibi Aburame handled the remaining enemies.
Yuan faced a ninjutsu-type ninja who specialized in Water Release.
The moment they faced off, Yuan didn't hold back. He formed hand seals and unleashed an enhanced Great Fireball Technique at the Mist ninja.
This Mist ninja clearly had experience fighting the Uchiha—he was very familiar with their "greeting" technique.
As Yuan began forming seals, the Mist ninja did the same. As Yuan's fireball roared forth, a wall of water rose to meet it.
Great Fireball vs. Water Formation Wall—a classic clash repeated countless times.
"Szzz—!" With a loud hiss, steam erupted into the air, obscuring vision all around.
The Mist ninja immediately used the Hidden Mist Technique, mixing his chakra into the steam to try to completely blind Yuan's Sharingan.
Yuan hadn't expected this move, but it didn't bother him much—because he had the Mind's Eye of Insight.
He activated the Mind's Eye and instantly locked onto the Mist ninja trying to sneak through the mist.
Activating his Sharingan, Yuan used the Body Flicker Technique, leaping directly to the Mist ninja's position.
Seeing Yuan appear out of nowhere, the Mist ninja's face twisted in shock. Under the Hidden Mist Technique, Yuan shouldn't have been able to locate him.
And even if Yuan had charged forward, the rapid movement should've stirred the mist enough for the Mist ninja to detect.
Panicking, the Mist ninja attempted to use the Body Flicker to gain distance.
But Yuan was faster. He used Body Flicker again and appeared in front of the Mist ninja before he even landed.
As the saying goes: "Of all martial arts, speed is king." How did Minato Namikaze dominate the Third Great Ninja War? Through speed.
This time, Yuan gave the Mist ninja no chance. He activated a genjutsu—Naraku Seeing Technique—enhanced by the Sharingan.
The Mist ninja froze instantly, eyes going vacant.
Yuan showed no mercy and slit his throat with a kunai.
As the Mist ninja died, Yuan noticed that, once again, he had gained one attribute point.
"So it's true—killing adds attribute points! This war is a golden opportunity to grow stronger!
If everything goes as expected, this war will last four or five more years. If I use this time well, I should be able to reach Kage-level strength—and awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
With that kind of power, I might even be able to compete with Uchiha Fugaku for the clan leader position." Yuan thought to himself.
After much reflection, Yuan had made two key decisions.
First: under no circumstances would he allow the Uchiha clan to be wiped out.
Second: he would help Hyuga Asana remove the Caged Bird Seal.
To achieve these, both strength and political power were essential.
Starting with the first—preventing the Uchiha Massacre.
In Yuan's view, there were three root causes behind the massacre.
The first—and most fundamental—was internal division within the Uchiha themselves.
They weren't united.
This division wasn't about personal grudges; rather, it stemmed from class conflict.
Not all Uchiha were ninjas—some couldn't become shinobi. Between the ninja and non-ninja clansmen, a natural class divide existed.
Of course, the ninja didn't go out of their way to bully the non-ninjas. On the contrary, many Uchiha ninjas actually took good care of them. But that disparity existed nonetheless.
Even unintended displays of "superiority" by the ninja could spark resentment—what you might call class envy.
And among the ninja, there was another divide—those who had awakened the Sharingan and those who hadn't.
You could see this clearly in how Obito was treated before he awakened his Sharingan.
Then there was the broader divide between two major factions: the hawkish pro-war faction, and the dovish peace faction.
These two sides were constantly at odds—short of actual fighting, they did everything else to undermine each other. And everyone in the clan was forced to pick a side.
All of this made unity nearly impossible. With no cohesion, how could the Uchiha resist Konoha?
The second factor was the Uchiha-run Police Force, which had become notorious.
After the Third Ninja War, due to a lack of personnel, most Uchiha had been reassigned to the First Division. The other divisions began recruiting ninja from other clans and even civilians.
But make no mistake—the Uchiha still held control over the whole organization.
Who the divisions targeted, who they arrested—those decisions still came from the Uchiha.
The Police Force held tremendous power—even the Konoha prison was under their jurisdiction. There was practically no one who could limit them.
As a result, the Police Force acted recklessly, leading to numerous false arrests and miscarriages of justice. Victims had no place to appeal their grievances—and so all the resentment was directed at the Uchiha.
Their reputation within the village sank lower and lower.
The third factor was the propaganda campaign by Konoha's high-level leadership.
The Uchiha had already made a lot of enemies due to their Police Force duties. And the ones controlling the narrative were Konoha's upper echelon.
With their deliberate manipulation, public opinion turned against the Uchiha completely—making them a clan hated by nearly everyone.
Caught between internal discord and external pressure, the Uchiha were under immense strain.
More and more of them became restless, wanting change—but not knowing how to achieve it. In the end, all they could do was attempt a coup.
But a single clan could never hope to overthrow Konoha.
Especially with someone like Uchiha Fugaku as their leader at the time.