The Uchiha clan compound was engulfed in chaos.
Smoke and flames rose into the sky, filling the air with the sickening scent of blood and burning flesh. Explosive tags had detonated, scattering bodies and dismembered limbs across the streets. The cries of the fallen echoed in the distance.
In the Uchiha police force's dungeon, Takuo leaned weakly against the wall, his breath shallow. The horrific screams from outside reached his ears—voices he recognized: his parents, his siblings, and his clan members.
"They... they seem to be calling me..."
His cracked, pale lips trembled as he muttered. The blood on his face had long since dried. His mind was beginning to fade.
But he couldn't die yet.
Not until he heard the news that Uchiha Kuroki was dead. Only then would he be content to face death.
His eyes, barely holding on to the three-tomoe Sharingan, trembled as he noticed a strange ripple in the space in front of him. His expression turned to confusion and shock.
The space twisted clockwise.
A masked man stepped out of the distortion, his Mangekyō Sharingan glowing through the hole in his mask.
"Another... Mangekyō!!"
Takuo's eyelids twitched.
Though his spirit was on the verge of collapse, the shock brought him back to focus.
The masked man surveyed the dungeon. It was a wreck. He stepped over Takuo's body, crouching to inspect the corpses of the Uchiha scattered around.
He lifted one body, then another, shaking his head each time in disappointment.
The masked man paced around the entire dungeon, returning to where he started, his brows furrowed.
Nearly fifty core members of the Uchiha police force were dead, and all of them were missing their Sharingan.
At that moment, a squelching sound echoed through the silence—Itachi stepped onto the rooftop, crossing over the corpses of his clan members. His body was drenched in blood, each step leaving a crimson footprint as if he had just crawled out of a pile of corpses, the aura of murder still clinging to him.
Takuo struggled to turn his head. Upon seeing Itachi, his face twisted in fury. He clenched his fists and rasped:
"The screams from the clan... were they caused by Kuroki slaughtering the civilians?
Uchiha Kuroki is a traitor!
Itachi... did you kill him?"
But Itachi ignored Takuo, offering no response.
It was the masked man who finally broke the silence, his single Mangekyō Sharingan glowing red as he looked at Takuo and asked calmly:
"Did Uchiha Kuroki kill all these members of the police force?
Did he take their Sharingan?
Did he do all of this on his own?"
Takuo's face grew pale as memories flooded back, despair washing over him. He nodded weakly:
"Yes, he killed my men first, then left me alive to lure in more reinforcements from the police force... then he slaughtered them too."
"You're lying," Itachi said coldly, suspicion in his eyes. "Kuroki is just a regular jōnin and one of the police force captains. He doesn't have the power to do this alone."
Itachi had teamed up with the masked man, with Itachi tasked with killing the civilians and the masked man responsible for wiping out the core members of the Uchiha police force.
It wasn't that Itachi couldn't do it, but it would take time.
From the looks of things, Kuroki had killed these people faster than the masked man could take down the rest of the police force.
Takuo sighed helplessly:
"But it's the truth. You can find him yourself... I have no reason to lie to you."
Itachi's eyes narrowed slightly. From Takuo's tone, it didn't seem like he was lying.
The masked man let out a surprised chuckle:
"No wonder there's barely anyone left in the police force who even has a full three-tomoe Sharingan. What a disappointment!
But... how interesting.
Since Kuroki already collected all these Sharingan for me, I won't be shy about taking them.
Itachi.
Deal with this guy and bring me his three-tomoe. I'll go after the rats that escaped!"
With that, the masked man eagerly activated his Kamui, his body twisting with the space until he disappeared.
"Take... my three-tomoe..."
Takuo muttered blankly. He could sense the killing intent now, and his remaining three-tomoe Sharingan glared at Itachi with fury.
Itachi remained expressionless, sighing softly as he gripped his blade and approached Takuo.
"Itachi, what are you doing?!"
Takuo's eyes widened in shock. But as he processed the actions of Kuroki and Itachi, realization dawned on him.
"Takuo, open your eyes wide and witness what's about to happen to the Uchiha clan!!" Kuroki 's final words echoed in Takuo's mind.
He finally understood everything!
But the next second—
Blood splattered.
"Sorry, I'm the one who killed our clan," Itachi murmured as his blade pierced Takuo's heart, blood soaking the sword as it exited through Takuo's back.
Takuo's face contorted in pain, the fire of his life quickly extinguishing. His three-tomoe Sharingan, filled with bitterness, anger, and regret, fixed on the traitor before him.
The one who was destroying the Uchiha tonight—
Was Uchiha Itachi!
At last, Takuo understood: Kuroki , who had taken on the role of a traitor and killed his fellow Uchiha in the police force, had done so to give them release.
If they had all died at the hands of Itachi, the one they had placed their hopes in, they would have died with the same torment Takuo felt.
The distance between the Uchiha police force and its dungeon was only a few hundred meters.
Kuroki had already planned everything before he intentionally got himself imprisoned.
He had arranged for the night patrol to be far from the clan compound. Once they were gone, he had wiped out the Uchiha ninja guarding the dungeon, lured more police force members, killed them, and took their Sharingan.
When the patrol team returned, Kuroki deliberately led them in pursuit, guiding them away from Konoha and the massacre.
No wonder...
No wonder he had said that as long as he lived, the Uchiha could continue in the ninja world with dignity.
He had already prepared a way for the Uchiha's legacy to survive.
Kuroki had arranged everything like a finely-tuned machine—time, place, people—without any deviation.
He really is far superior to me, by an immeasurable margin.
Stronger than that useless clan leader.
Stronger than that useless elder.
One day, sooner or later, he will return with a new Uchiha...
As this thought crossed his mind, Inaho's expression turned complex. Reflecting on how he hadn't understood Kuroki 's intentions before, he realized now that he indeed deserved to die.
He sighed in admiration.
Kuroki had always been so gentle.
He didn't slaughter the civilian members of the clan.
And his blade was swift, precise, and gave a merciful death, unlike the traitor standing before him...
As these scattered thoughts faded, takao drew his final breath.
His eyes remained open, and the three-tomoe Sharingan Kuroki left for him was swiftly and accurately taken by Itachi.
Itachi stood up and left.
As for the bodies of his fallen clansmen, they were no longer important. The priority now was to deal with the Uchiha squad that had defected.
Otherwise, the higher-ups of Konoha might not honor their promise to protect Sasuke.
...
...
At the edge of the Uchiha clan's territory.
Screams echoed without end.
A small-scale battle between the Root organization and the Anbu had come to an end. The Anbu were victorious, but half their forces had been lost, while eighty percent of Root members were dead.
The remaining twenty percent of Root members were writhing on the ground, clutching their wounds in agony, rolling around, howling, and completely incapacitated.
The Anbu captains, though victorious, were filled with fear and apprehension, and they decided to temporarily withdraw from the area.
These captains hadn't expected the enemy to have such tactics, catching them off guard.
The next to arrive were not the Third Hokage but several ambitious and reckless jonin.
"Woof woof woof!" The anxious barking of ninja dogs echoed in the night sky, filled with fear of some lingering energy in the air.
Five figures appeared.
"Whew—this really was brutal!"
Asuma exhaled a puff of smoke, looking around. He casually tossed his half-smoked cigarette to the ground, his spine tingling as he gazed at the forest littered with corpses.
Yet, inside, he felt a strange sense of excitement.
Root and Anbu had suffered heavy losses.
If he could capture the person responsible for all of this, it would surely be a huge achievement. His fame would skyrocket!
In Konoha, Asuma felt that if he wanted to challenge some of the decisions made by his father, Hiruzen Sarutobi, he'd first need to build up enough reputation.
That was a political lesson he had learned while guarding the Daimyo.
With this thought in mind...
Young Asuma suddenly realized he wasn't that scared anymore.
The bigger the storm, the bigger the glory!