Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh!
Deep within the dense forest, more than a hundred ninjas moved through the shifting shadows of leaves and branches, their footsteps as light as cats.
All of them wore Konoha forehead protectors, along with the Uchiha clan crest on their clothing.
They had been traveling for nearly ten days. As they drew closer to their destination, the air grew heavier, and the mist grew thicker.
Kirigakure was located on an island.
Whether entering from outside or leaving from within, one had to cross a vast stretch of sea.
Konoha's forward camp was set up on the land at the edge of the coastline.
This area consisted of jagged rock formations. The terrain was uneven, and waves crashed against the shore, producing deep, muffled booms.
The sea wind carried a salty, fishy smell as it rushed toward them.
Wen Lan stopped and looked out at the sea, the corner of his mouth twitching.
"Living here for a few years? Everyone's going to end up with rheumatism."
Uchiha Fugaku activated his Sharingan and scanned the surroundings. After confirming there were no immediate threats, he gave the order:
"All units, cut down timber and construct the camp on-site!"
"Yes!"
The group immediately moved into the nearby forest. Trees fell one after another with thunderous crashes. Wood chips flew as several ninjas efficiently cut trunks and branches into usable building materials.
Fugaku stood atop a protruding rock, eyes sharp like a hawk's. His Sharingan rotated slowly as he remained on high alert for any hidden enemies.
Wen Lan hoisted a tree trunk thicker than his own body and sprinted toward the shoreline.
His figure darted across the rocks when a person suddenly landed beside him.
"Leave that kind of work to us. You're still young—get some rest," the man said.
Wen Lan turned his head.
It was Uchiha Shisui.
"No need," Wen Lan replied with a smile. "I didn't come here to rest. I came to fight."
Itachi growing crooked later on—Shisui bears at least eighty percent of the responsibility.
Shisui's problem wasn't that he was wrong.
It was that he identified too strongly with the village, to the point where he neglected the interests of his own clan.
Caring about the village wasn't bad—but he took it too far.
If a person doesn't even value their own interests, then their so-called justice is nothing more than a castle in the air, with no foundation.
Selfless devotion is admirable.
Excessive devotion only teaches others to take your sacrifices for granted.
A bucket of rice earns gratitude; a cartload breeds resentment.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō had seized upon this exact weakness, using it to repeatedly push Shisui into making sacrifices.
But again—it was a matter of essence.
Shisui's wish was coexistence and peace between the village and the Uchiha, even if it meant sacrificing himself.
Yet under his influence, that idea became distorted in Itachi's heart, mutating into:
For the sake of the village, even sacrificing the Uchiha clan is acceptable.
Itachi's worldview eventually became entirely village-centric—maintaining "peace" at any cost.
This idea sounded noble, but it ignored a basic truth:
Without unity and recognition from every clan, the village's peace was nothing more than a fragile illusion.
Shisui wanted to maintain balance through personal sacrifice, never realizing that the peace he sought was built on suppression and compromise.
And Itachi, shaped by that thinking, ultimately chose an extreme path—sacrificing his own clan for stability.
That twisted belief was what led to the destruction of the Uchiha.
If not for a thick-skulled miracle like Uzumaki Naruto appearing later, Konoha would have been wiped out long ago.
Look at Konoha after the Third Shinobi World War—who was even left?
Sunagakure had Chiyo, Ebizo, Gaara.
Kumogakure had A, Killer Bee, Yugito Nii.
Kirigakure had Mei Terumi, Ao.
Iwagakure had Ōnoki, Rōshi, Han.
Konoha had… what?
Hiruzen died.
Jiraiya died.
Orochimaru defected.
Tsunade couldn't leave the Hokage seat.
Kakashi was a "fifty-fifty" fighter.
Might Guy barely counted.
In the end, only Naruto and Sasuke were truly usable.
And Sasuke still defected.
Kirigakure was supposedly the weakest—but that was only because Obito had controlled the Fourth Mizukage and wrecked the village from within for years.
Konoha had once possessed another pillar—Hatake Sakumo, personally awarded the Hokage Half-Sleeve by the Fire Daimyō.
And yet he was driven to suicide by rumors engineered by Hiruzen and Danzō.
The irony was laughable.
Graduating from the Ninja Academy required bell tests—an old tradition meant to teach teamwork and mutual support.
That system had been created by Hiruzen himself.
Yet when Sakumo abandoned a mission to save his comrades, resulting in failure, Hiruzen allowed public opinion to crush him.
Even worse—Sakumo's own foolish son, Kakashi, believed his father was wrong… until Obito's words finally woke him up, at the cost of Obito's "death."
Truly—
In life, only through loss does one gain understanding.
Wen Lan and Shisui carried the timber back to the camp, where other ninjas took over cutting and construction, beginning to assemble a crude perimeter.
The walls weren't meant for defense—only for early warning.
After the perimeter was finished, tents were erected.
For days, they had survived on soldier pills. While filling, those pills had no nutrition—long-term use would weaken the body.
Hiruzen had rushed the Uchiha deployment so abruptly that only three days had been given for supplies to be purchased. The rest would be delivered later by Uchiha Sen.
On the first night, vigilance was lax.
Negotiations between Konoha and Kirigakure were still ongoing. If talks collapsed, messenger hawks would notify them.
Only a single night patrol was assigned.
Each tent housed two people.
Whether intentionally arranged by Fugaku or not, Wen Lan and Shisui shared a tent.
But that night—
Boom!
A sudden explosion shattered the silence.
Wen Lan jolted upright, exchanging a glance with Shisui before the two rushed out of the tent.
Outside, the fog was thick—so dense it was impossible to see one's own hand.
Both of them activated their Sharingan.
Yet they immediately realized something was wrong.
The mist itself was infused with chakra, completely obscuring the perception of others' chakra signatures.
"It's Kirigakure's Hidden Mist Technique!" Shisui shouted, drawing his blade and locking his gaze on the fog.
Explosions echoed in the distance. Sparks from clashing Technique flashed intermittently through the haze.
Wen Lan formed hand seals, inhaled deeply, and exhaled—
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive fireball burst forth, lighting up a section of the fog— and instantly exposing Wen Lan's position.
"What are you doing?!" Shisui shouted in alarm.
"You're exposing yourself!"
"High heat disperses mist—it's the fastest way," Wen Lan replied calmly, drawing his blade.
"And since we don't know where the enemy is, we might as well draw them in and take some pressure off the others!"
"If the mountain won't come to me— then I'll go to the mountain!"
His voice echoed through the fog, steady and resolute.
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