Having lost one Sharingan, Uchiha Mei's strength was greatly reduced.
After Uchiha Oto awakened her Three-Tomoe Sharingan a few months ago, her strength was already comparable to Uchiha Mei's, let alone Uchiha En and Uchiha Aya.
Ultimately, the Uchiha Clan respects strength. In the Third Squad, there were two people stronger than Uchiha Mei, and two or three whose strength was equal to his. His position as Squad Leader was definitely unstable.
Even if there were no objections within the Third Squad, other high-ranking members of the Uchiha Clan would pressure him to give up the position.
Therefore, Uchiha Mei had actually been considering stepping down and passing the position to a more capable person for a while.
Uchiha Mei's initial choice was undoubtedly Uchiha Aya.
But Uchiha Aya was genuinely uninterested in the matter and kept deflecting it.
Today, she outright pushed Uchiha En forward.
Reminded by Uchiha Aya, Uchiha Mei also felt that Uchiha En's conditions in all aspects were quite suitable to become the leader of the Third Squad.
The only potential issue was probably Uchiha En's age and seniority.
But again, the Uchiha Clan respects strength, and age and seniority are not issues in the face of absolute power.
Uchiha En is only 13 years old this year, yet his strength ranks among the top five in the entire Uchiha Clan, making him more than qualified to serve as the leader of the Third Squad.
The next day, Uchiha Mei personally brought Uchiha En to find Orochimaru and request leave.
Orochimaru looked slightly surprised upon learning that Uchiha En would be returning to the Village in place of Uchiha Mei.
Orochimaru, being the disciple of the Third Hokage, was very familiar with the power structure of the Uchiha Clan.
Uchiha Mei was the leader of the Third Squad, and since the Uchiha Clan was discussing the matter of Uchiha Obito's Sharingan, he, as the leader, certainly needed to return.
Now, Uchiha Mei was having Uchiha En return to the Village instead of him. This signified that Uchiha Mei had chosen Uchiha En to take over the position of Third Squad Leader.
After observing Uchiha En with interest for a moment, Orochimaru approved Uchiha Mei's request for leave.
Afterward, Uchiha En said goodbye to Asana and Yamanaka Teruzuki before leaving the Konoha Camp in the Land of Bears.
After leaving the camp and walking a short distance, Uchiha En performed hand signs and summoned Lightning.
After more than half a year of growth, Lightning had completely absorbed the Dragon Vein Chakra.
Its wingspan now approached two meters, and the feathers on its body had completely molted into silver-gray.
Its current size was sufficient to carry an adult while flying in the air.
Uchiha En leaped onto Lightning's back, and Lightning flapped its wings, flying steadily into the air.
Aside from carrying people, Lightning was now proficient in using Wind Blades and could release small-scale Wind Release Ninjutsu without hand signs, such as spitting out Great Breakthrough and Consecutive Great Breakthrough.
At the same time, it could now use Lightning Release Chakra. Although it couldn't perform Lightning Release Ninjutsu, Lightning could use the Lightning Release Chakra to stimulate its cells to increase flying speed, or attach Lightning Release Chakra to its claws to boost attack power and paralyze prey.
Lightning was now a highly qualified flying Summoned Beast.
Flying was certainly faster than running by himself, especially since Lightning could use Lightning Release Chakra to stimulate its cells and increase its speed.
Uchiha En only took a few hours to travel from the Konoha Camp in the Land of Bears to the Village.
However, Uchiha En was not in a hurry to return to the Village and instead had Lightning land near the Village.
During this time, Uchiha En discovered that Lightning's intelligence was comparable to a normal human's. After becoming a Summoned Beast, Lightning could emit some human sounds but had never managed to learn how to speak.
Uchiha En had tried teaching it how to vocalize, but Lightning was clearly uninterested in that aspect.
Compared to learning how to speak, Lightning preferred honing its Ninjutsu.
Uchiha En planned to stay near Konoha for two days and use the opportunity to teach Lightning the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, which was very suitable for it.
If possible, Uchiha En also wanted to try his best to teach Lightning how to speak, as communication would be much easier once it could converse with people.
Just as Uchiha En expected, Lightning was very interested in the Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Uchiha En seized the opportunity to negotiate a condition: if Lightning wanted to learn the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, it first had to learn human language.
For the sake of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Lightning had no choice but to start imitating some of Uchiha En's pronunciations.
Two days passed quickly. Lightning was already able to say some intermittent and incoherent sentences.
Uchiha En felt that this progress was quite good, as learning to speak was not something that could be achieved overnight.
Afterward, Uchiha En taught Lightning the Lightning Release Chakra Mode as promised.
This technique also required long-term practice.
Uchiha En didn't have time to constantly supervise Lightning. After explaining the cultivation methods in detail, he returned to the Village.
As Uchiha En lined up to enter the Village, he clearly sensed that the surrounding atmosphere was somewhat unusual.
When the Konoha villagers saw a member of the Uchiha Clan queuing, many of their expressions were strange.
"I heard Kakashi transplanted a Sharingan, the Uchiha Clan's Bloodline Limit. Are so many Uchiha members returning recently because of this?" a villager behind Uchiha En whispered.
"Probably! Kakashi is in big trouble this time."
"Since Kakashi transplanted a Sharingan from the Uchiha Clan, it's only right that the Uchiha Clan wants it back, isn't it?"
"But Kakashi is a hero of the Kannabi Bridge Battle. Wouldn't forcibly taking away his Sharingan be wrong?"
"Exactly! Plus, I heard that Kakashi's Sharingan was given to him by his teammate, Uchiha Obito."
Just as the villagers were whispering, the Uchiha Clan member guarding the gate shouted loudly, "What nonsense are you talking about! The Sharingan is our Uchiha Clan's Bloodline Limit. How could a Bloodline Limit be allowed to leak out!"
Upon hearing the guard's reprimand, the villagers instantly fell silent.
Seeing this, Uchiha En frowned. He finally understood why the villagers looked so strange when they saw him.
It seems the Village has already launched a public opinion offensive!
However, the Uchiha Clan had not implemented any effective counter-measures, instead allowing clan members to violently shut the villagers up.
In this way, some villagers who originally supported the Uchiha Clan would also change their stance because of the attitude displayed by the Uchiha members.
"What the hell is that idiot Uchiha Fugaku doing?!" Uchiha En cursed internally.
At this moment, Uchiha Fugaku, who Uchiha En was mentally cursing, was in the Uchiha Clan Compound discussing the ownership of Uchiha Obito's Sharingan with the three Uchiha Clan Elders.
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