Uchiha Clan Head's Residence.
Bedroom.
"Come in. There are no traps."
Uchiha Fugaku and his wife, Uchiha Mikoto, knelt on the floor with indifferent expressions. Through their actions, they responded to the miserable screams echoing throughout the clan compound.
The bedroom door was pushed open.
Uchiha Itachi walked in, his body stained with the blood of his clansmen. He wore a Konoha forehead protector and gray ANBU armor, a sharp ninja blade in his hand.
Sensing his son's hesitation, Fugaku lowered his head in resignation. "So that's how it is… You chose to stand on their side."
"Father, Mother… I—"
Itachi's eyes were red. He dared not look at his parents' backs.
"We understand, Itachi," Mikoto said coldly.
"Itachi, promise me one last thing—leave Sasuke to you," Fugaku said calmly.
"I know…" Tears overflowed from Itachi's three-tomoe Sharingan. His hands trembled uncontrollably around the hilt of the blade.
"Don't be afraid. This was your own decision, wasn't it? Compared to you, our pain will only last an instant," Fugaku said firmly. "Even if our ideals differ, we are still proud of you."
Like a mirror, the blade lay steadily between Fugaku and Mikoto, its two sides reflecting their cold expressions.
At last, Fugaku spoke calmly, "You truly are a kind child."
Itachi's heart convulsed. He clenched his teeth as tears poured out, dripping onto the hands gripping his blade.
The peace of Konoha!
The ambitions of the clan!
A situation with no retreat!
A promise to friends!
For a ninja world without war!
All of it turned into dark strands that bound his heart.
Choking, unable to find a way out, Uchiha Itachi aimed his blade at the strand closest to his heart—
the one called "clan."
As if cutting it would bring him peace.
He didn't hesitate long.
"I… understand."
Not long ago, having already resolved himself to fall into hell, Uchiha Itachi, in the next moment, brought his blade down with all his strength.
Pshhk—
Blood splattered across the wooden floor, like a brush dipped in crimson dragged carelessly across a canvas.
Fugaku collapsed.
And at that instant, Mikoto's body trembled slightly. Red light bloomed in her pupils as blade-shaped Mangekyō patterns spun within her eyes.
Just as Itachi raised his blade again—
A kunai suddenly slipped from Mikoto's sleeve. She clenched it, spun around sharply, and blocked Itachi's sword head-on.
Clang—
Kunai and blade collided, metal ringing as sparks flew.
Itachi frowned, stunned. He raised his three-tomoe Sharingan to look at his mother and cried out in shock:
"Mangekyō!"
Mikoto opened her mouth blankly, her expression dazed. Her body was completely out of her control.
At this moment, it was as if her body had a will of its own—
and it told her that it did not want to die here.
So without the slightest hesitation, Mikoto leapt backward, crashed into the bedroom window—
Bang!
The window shattered. Mikoto fled at top speed into the darkness, never once looking back, vanishing from sight.
"..."
Itachi looked at his father's corpse on the floor, then at his mother's retreating figure. His emotions surged chaotically, unable to connect into a coherent thought.
What… just happened?
Praised by Hiruzen Sarutobi as possessing the mindset of a Hokage, Itachi thought for a moment before immediately understanding.
"Is it because she couldn't let go of Sasuke?
Father is already dead.
Mother awakened the Mangekyō? But—
Even if she's alive, it won't change anything about the current situation."
Leaving the clan head's residence, Itachi returned to the main street. He scanned his surroundings but saw no one.
"If both Mother and Father had possessed the Mangekyō… the one who would have died would surely have been me."
With these thoughts, Itachi continued deeper into the clan compound. Along the way, he glanced toward the direction of the Uchiha Police Force—the sounds of battle there had already stopped.
He estimated he needed about fifteen more minutes.
…
…
Outside the Uchiha compound — Forest.
Dark and pitch-black, light footsteps and the rustling of branches echoed continuously.
Multiple three-man squads arrived one after another.
They wore blue-green patterned masks, gray-white harness armor, tattoos on their left arms, and ninja swords on their backs.
They were ROOT—Danzō's trusted subordinates, an independent organization established under the name of the ANBU Training Division.
At this moment, the ROOT members stood or crouched on tree branches.
Each of them exuded a gloomy aura, like ferocious beasts long accustomed to darkness.
Tap—
The dull sound of a cane striking the ground came from behind. The ROOT members below turned their heads, then lowered them, stepping aside to clear a path.
An aged yet steady figure emerged from the shadows, step by step.
Passing through his subordinates, he came to the front.
The mottled moonlight illuminated a wrinkled face crisscrossed with old knife scars.
Shimura Danzō leaned on a cane with his left hand. White bandages wrapped around his head, covering his right eye. His right arm was concealed beneath a black robe and held against his chest.
He lifted his head and gazed into the depths of the forest.
His cloudy left eye narrowed slightly.
His shadow devoured the moonlight behind him—as though wherever he stood, there would never be light.
"Shimura Danzō!!"
On the tree branches, Uchiha Nanpu and the others were mixed in among the ROOT members. When they saw the newcomer, their pupils shrank and their breathing stopped.
Yin Yue brought them here to target Danzō?
Was this coming back just to die?
The realization struck like a heavy hammer to their hearts, snapping them out of their grief.
This was absolutely impossible.
The man before them was the Hokage's advisor!
With only these few surviving Uchiha—even with Yin Yue's Mangekyō—it was impossible to deal with him under the protection of over a hundred ROOT members.
Yin Yue controlled the nine of them—but there were over a hundred ROOT operatives nearby. Could he possibly control them all?
That was the unspoken thought in every Uchiha's mind.
This was an action doomed to fail.
Whoosh—
Two ROOT operatives flashed back from deeper in the forest and knelt before Danzō, lowering their heads respectfully.
"Lord Danzō, the fighting in the Uchiha compound will soon be over."
Danzō raised his chin slightly, his left eye lowered as he examined them, speaking in a deep voice. "Go. Make haste and collect the eyes."
"Yes… Lord Danzō!"
Suddenly, the ROOT member on the right raised his head. Beneath the mask, his eye sockets flared with red light. Three blade-shaped Mangekyō patterns rotated silently in his right eye as he spoke provocatively:
"May I ask… are these the eyes you're collecting?"
He slowly stood up and removed his mask.
Yin Yue's face was revealed.
The crimson glow of his Mangekyō, infused with Yin Release chakra, surged through eye contact and instantly pierced Danzō's widened left eye—only to meet resistance from a familiar three-tomoe Sharingan's ocular power.
In a single instant—
The Mangekyō's power crashed down like a collapsing mountain and roaring sea, overwhelming the feeble stream of the three-tomoe Sharingan.
On the trees, countless ROOT members heard the disturbance and looked down—just in time to meet that crimson gaze.
Every single one froze in place, as if turned to stone.
The Uchiha were stunned.
Yin Yue had actually done it—controlling everyone present in a single instant.
This showed just how overwhelmingly powerful his Mangekyō truly was!
"What's going on?"
"Lord Danzō!"
"Enemy attack!!"
The ROOT members couldn't speak. Their minds screamed in panic, but their bodies wouldn't move.
"How could an Uchiha appear here?" Danzō stood frozen, trying to break free—then his thoughts suddenly stalled. "My body… won't move."
Yin Yue had appeared without warning.
How could Danzō have imagined that while he was treating the entire Uchiha as prey ready to be devoured, there was also an Uchiha who had chosen him as prey?
In the next instant—
The ROOT member on the left lunged at Danzō. His mask fell midair, revealing Tamayoshi's doll-like face.
"You old bastard—take this!!"
Pshhk—
He closed in and drove his blade straight through Danzō's heart, swift and clean.
Tamayoshi was being synchronously controlled by Yin Yue, but he was thrilled—because he had finally cut down the old monster he'd always wanted to kill.
At the same time—
Yin Yue reached out, clawing at Danzō's bandaged right eye. His fingers, like an eagle's talons, tore through the wrappings. Blood sprayed as he plucked out a Sharingan.
It was—
the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyō!
On the nearby trees, the hidden Uchiha stared at that red-and-white eye, countless thoughts surging as rage was instantly ignited.
They understood many things at once.
Shisui's death was connected to Danzō!
Blood bloomed like flowers from Danzō's right eye socket and left chest simultaneously, staining the bandages and robes crimson.
(End of Chapter)