The night wind spun through the streets, dragging the stench of blood along with it.
The moment Evan appeared, the battlefield went dead silent.
Then, as if someone had cut a string, the silence snapped.
The Konoha shinobi looked up at him—
and hope flooded their faces.
"Thank goodness, it's Lord Evan!"
"We're saved—!"
"Lord Evan took down all those attackers by himself earlier!"
"Lord Evan, kill him!"
Tears actually shone in some of their eyes.
Their savior had arrived.
Evan's lips curled slightly.
He pointed at the dazed Konoha shinobi who now looked exactly like the "masked devil" in everyone's perception.
"Take him down," Evan ordered lightly.
"Yes, sir!"
His presence lit a fire under them.
Chakra surged as they all formed hand seals.
"Haah!"
Shouts rang out one after another as a barrage of ninjutsu drowned the "black-cloaked enemy."
From Evan's perspective, it was simply one unfortunate Konoha shinobi—
staring in disbelief, unable to resist at all—
being massacred by his own comrades under the grip of Evan's genjutsu.
Don't blame me, Evan thought silently. You're the one who started preaching about the Will of Fire.
Didn't you know my Will of Fire is pretty enthusiastic too?
He looked at the surrounding shinobi. Their gazes burned with admiration.
Evan's expression grew serious.
"Jōnin, head to the Nine-Tails frontline," he ordered. "Chūnin and genin, evacuate the civilians and protect the villagers."
"Yes, sir!"
They scattered at once.
Without even realizing it, Konoha's ninja had started to follow his orders as naturally as if he were a Hokage.
"The Nine-Tails is already rampaging inside the village. Where's that old monkey Hiruzen hiding now?" Evan muttered as he moved closer to the Fox. "Don't tell me Obito got to him first?"
He kept speculating as he advanced.
It was almost time to make a move.
If he stepped in now, he could rake in even more favor and reputation.
After all, everything bad tonight was Obito's fault.
What did any of it have to do with Evan?
He was just… cleaning up.
But as he approached the battle line, several figures in Uchiha police armor appeared in front of him.
The Uchiha Police Force—
dozens of them, blocking the path.
Evan even spotted Uchiha Fugaku among them.
They weren't moving forward.
They were being blocked.
Hmm?
Evan's mouth twitched.
This scene looked awfully familiar.
Except in the "original script," Koharu and Homura were the ones blocking the Uchiha—
and both of those old advisers were already dead in this timeline.
So who was stopping the Uchiha now?
The Third?
"Truly worthy of being the Nine-Tails…"
Fugaku stared at the raging behemoth in the distance, his voice grave.
He'd read the clan's records.
There was an entire scroll dedicated solely to the Nine-Tails.
He knew why.
The Fox had once been treated as Uchiha Madara's personal pet—
his contracted summon.
When it came to understanding the Nine-Tails,
the Uchiha knew almost as much as any jinchūriki.
"Maybe only the Mangekyō Sharingan can handle it," Fugaku thought, fingers brushing the corner of his eye in a subtle motion.
"But what's going on with the Sharingan in its eyes…?"
A deep frown cut across his face.
"Is it being controlled?"
No one answered.
"Could it be some Uchiha who stayed outside the village…?"
The moment he saw the reflected Sharingan in the Fox's eyes, he knew something was very wrong.
He had made his decision almost immediately.
The Uchiha had to move.
Otherwise, even if they were innocent,
no one in Konoha would believe it.
Only Uchiha awakened Sharingan, after all.
When this was over, the clan would be the first on the chopping block.
Fugaku clenched his jaw.
He couldn't hesitate anymore.
"Uchiha will join the assault on the Nine-Tails," he declared. "Everyone, as planned—"
"Wait."
Several masked ANBU in black battle gear appeared behind them.
"Uchiha Fugaku," one of them announced flatly, "withdraw your men from the frontline."
ANBU.
Fugaku's face hardened.
"What do you mean by this?" he asked.
But he already knew.
With Sharingan clearly visible in the Nine-Tails' eyes, the Uchiha were the prime suspects.
"The Hokage has ordered it. The Uchiha are to leave the battlefield," the ANBU captain recited stiffly. "The Uchiha Police Force is to focus on evacuating and protecting civilians."
A chill ran through Fugaku's heart.
The Hokage's orders?
Which Hokage?
The Third—or the Fourth?
If the Uchiha retreated now, without proving their innocence…
it would only be harder to clear their name later.
"Are the Uchiha planning to disobey the Hokage's orders?" the ANBU captain asked coldly.
Hostility burned in his eyes.
His comrades shifted subtly, hands drifting toward their blades.
The Sharingan in the Nine-Tails' eyes had put the entire village on edge.
Trust in the Uchiha had just hit rock bottom.
"Damn it…"
Fugaku's indecision tightened into a knot.
Once again, he hesitated.
"Which Hokage's orders are you following, exactly?"
A calm voice cut through the tension.
Evan's.
Everyone—ANBU, Uchiha, and even clan heads watching from nearby—turned at once.
"It's Evan—"
"Lord Evan is here!"
"Thank goodness. Lord Evan will know what to do about the Nine-Tails…"
The mass of shinobi instinctively parted, opening a straight path.
Evan walked through with a cold expression, stopping beside Fugaku.
The moment they saw his tall, steady figure, people visibly relaxed.
Never mind his battlefield achievements before tonight.
He'd fended off the Sand's ambush on the Hokage building.
He'd crushed the prison break and the clan compound attacks earlier tonight.
To many Konoha shinobi, Evan's presence now was second only to the Hokage himself.
"Evan, you're here," Fugaku exhaled, shoulders finally loosening.
If there was anyone who might stand with the Uchiha now,
Fugaku's first thought would be Evan.
After all, one of the women in his clan was… closely involved with him.
Fugaku did not understand Evan's tastes.
But that wasn't important.
"Yeah."
Evan nodded, then looked at the ANBU.
"I was delayed a bit dealing with the masked man," he said.
"The masked man…?"
Everyone's hearts lurched.
"Lord Evan, the one who released the prisoners and attacked all the clans—was that him?" someone blurted, unable to hide the fear in his voice.
The masked man who had led the prison escape had left a deep scar on everyone's psyche.
"That's right," Evan said calmly. "He's also the one controlling the Nine-Tails."
He let his gaze sharpen, cutting across the crowd like a blade.
"His goal is to destroy Konoha."
"What!?"
"That bastard—"
"Where is he now!?"
Anger burst forth in an instant, and questions flew.
"What about his eyes…?" Fugaku asked quietly, face dark. It was the one thing he cared about most.
He already suspected the answer.
"Sharingan," Evan said bluntly.
"Evil Uchiha… I knew it!"
"It was them—!"
The moment the words left his mouth, hatred turned toward the Uchiha like a flood.
If Lord Evan said so, how could it be wrong?
Fugaku's expression went rigid.
He stared at Evan in disbelief.
You're stabbing me in the back… now?
Evan watched the reactions with amusement.
Fugaku's mood was probably a rollercoaster right now.
"His eyes are Sharingan," Evan continued evenly, "but I fought him myself."
"And I'm certain he's not an Uchiha from Konoha."
He let that sink in.
"Besides… he called himself Uchiha Madara."
"What!?"
"That's impossible!"
"Uchiha Madara… who?"
"Never heard of him…"
The name exploded like a bomb.
Some of the older shinobi turned pale.
Others frowned, unsure.
Some had heard the name and found the claim absurd.
Others had no idea what it meant, but they all understood one thing:
This just got a lot more complicated.
Could there really be Uchiha remnants outside the village…?
Was that what led to this disaster?
"Impossible. Uchiha Madara died long ago," the ANBU captain suddenly snapped.
Then he fixed Fugaku with a hard stare.
"Uchiha Fugaku, are you refusing to follow the Hokage's orders?"
"You're saying I'm lying?" Evan's voice turned frosty.
"Did you forget?" he asked softly. "I personally crossed blades with him. He called himself Uchiha Madara."
"Whether that's true or not…"
He took a step forward.
"What right do you have to question what I say?"
Killing intent exploded from him like a wave of ice.
The air seemed to congeal.
"Hh… haa…"
The ANBU were closest. Evan's murderous aura crashed over them first, wrapping them in suffocating pressure.
One by one, they dropped to their knees with a dull thud.
The killing intent faded as quickly as it came.
Evan's face smoothed over, once again mild and harmless.
But no one dared speak.
Fugaku swallowed hard.
He was the nearest to Evan.
That brief moment of suffocating dread made the hairs on his arms stand up.
Just how many people has this man killed… to have killing intent like that?
Around them, clan heads and elite shinobi fell silent.
Stories of Evan's brutality on the battlefield suddenly felt very real.
Executioner.
Butcher.
Merciless.
Blood-soaked.
With one flash of killing intent, he silenced the entire field.
Evan smirked faintly.
In the original story, Orochimaru just leaked a little killing intent and almost made Sasuke wet himself. I'm not even warmed up yet.
He narrowed his eyes, voice turning gentle again.
"So," he said, "which Hokage gave that order?"
Fugaku—and everyone else—snapped back to the present.
They all looked at the ANBU captain.
The man no longer dared act arrogant.
He had felt death's shadow a moment ago.
"T-The Third Hokage," he answered weakly. "Lord Hiruzen."
"Heh…"
Old monkey, not out here smashing the Nine-Tails with his staff, but hiding in the back giving orders?
Evan turned to Fugaku.
"If I recall correctly, the current Hokage is the Fourth, Namikaze Minato," he said.
"And the Fourth has been fighting the masked man this entire time. So what exactly is the Third Hokage doing?"
He quietly drove the knife in.
"I was wondering why the Hokage wasn't here yet," someone murmured. "So the Fourth's been fighting all this time…"
"Then the Third…"
"Hush… don't say it."
Expressions shifted all around them.
Fugaku blinked, then suddenly understood.
Evan was reminding him.
Right. The Hokage is the Fourth now.
Minato was, in Fugaku's eyes, comparatively fair toward the Uchiha—
and Mikoto and Kushina's friendship only helped.
If he'd still been wavering before,
half-inclined to obey and withdraw…
Now all his hesitation vanished.
The famously indecisive clan head finally had his answer handed to him.
Evan watched Fugaku drift off in thought and sighed inwardly.
You're welcome. The price for helping the Uchiha… Mikoto can pay later.
He scanned the surrounding shinobi.
Then he raised his voice.
"All Konoha shinobi, hear my command!"
"Chūnin and genin, withdraw from the frontline. Evacuate civilians and defend the villagers."
"All jōnin, advance to the battlefield."
"Everyone—let's protect Konoha together!"
"Yes, sir!"
Not a single person objected.
Clan heads, jōnin, even Fugaku himself—
everyone answered as one.
Fugaku quickly followed through.
"Uchiha Police Force," he shouted, "act according to Lord Evan's orders!"
"Yes!"
The village moved.
In the absence of both Hokage, Evan had become their anchor.
Just seeing him there filled them with confidence.
At that moment—
The rampaging Nine-Tails suddenly stiffened.
As if sensing a threat, it threw back its head and roared.
A terrifying concentration of chakra began to gather in its jaws.
A dense black sphere of chakra swelled, radiating oppressive energy that made everyone's hearts clench.
Evan's eyebrow arched.
Ah. One of Minato's highlight reels.
A second later, the Nine-Tails spat the compressed chakra outward with another roar.
The world shook.
"A Tailed Beast Bomb!?"
"Its target is—"
"Oh no…"
"The Hokage Rock!"
The Tailed Beast Bomb howled through the air.
Space itself seemed to warp around it, air turning thick and heavy.
Every building in its path disintegrated into dust.
The ground split, leaving a deep trench carved into the earth, like the village had been flayed.
Watching it, a wild thought flashed through Evan's mind.
Should I try cutting that in half?
He imagined it—
his sword splitting a Tailed Beast Bomb.
But he discarded the idea almost instantly.
Even if he cut it, it would still explode.
Forget it.
He'd leave this one for Namikaze Minato.
Some scenes were meant to be his.
Then, before everyone's stunned eyes—
Black sealing script suddenly appeared in front of Minato's stone face on the Hokage Rock.
Space twisted, opening into a portal.
The terrifying Tailed Beast Bomb slammed into the void—
and vanished without a trace.
No explosion.
No shockwave.
Just… gone.
BOOOOM—
Far, far away from Konoha, a blinding light bloomed on the horizon.
Thunderous sound rolled across the land.
Every shinobi turned in that direction, shivering inwardly.
"Incredible… If that hit the Hokage Rock, half the village would have been wiped out…"
Fugaku's mouth twitched. His voice came out awkward.
He suddenly wasn't so sure his Mangekyō would be enough to control the Nine-Tails.
He had no experience.
And staring at that level of destruction…
Well.
"What was that?" someone whispered.
"I-I don't know…"
Most shinobi were completely lost,
unable to grasp what had just happened.
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