31st July, 57 AE
"The kids were so happy today. I hope they pass their yearly assessment." Himari, who was setting flowers in a pot, playfully spoke to her husband, who was playing on the mat with their son, Arashi, and their baby girl, Hiyori, who was born last year on 7th September.
"Nah, no chance. They will never pass." Kazuma chuckled, and he heard his wife laugh at his words.
"Karin wants to invite her friends over to celebrate their promotion to the Second Year Class."
"That's fine."
"She wants to invite Naruto as well." Himari lightly said, and heard her husband sigh, which made her feel sad.
"Arrange a party at one of the finest restaurants in the Village so that he can join the rest in the celebrations. You know that the Hokage has forbidden all the Clans from inviting the boy into their houses, right? We cannot invite him over until he becomes a Genin, and even then, his Sensei would have to be present with him."
"Yeah..." She sadly stared at the white orchids and was lost in some old memories.
A smile crossed her lips when her husband wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her neck.
"Behave. We have kids present."
"Oh, they are asleep now." He playfully said, and a blush crept up her cheeks.
"Let's go to the other room." She made up her mind, but when she turned around, she found a seal blinking on the back of her husband's left hand.
She knew what it was, and her face immediately paled.
Kazuma quickly created a Blood Clone and then used his Space and Time Jutsu to teleport right by Uchiha Hazuki's side, who was calling for his help.
"What's going on?" she asked the Blood Clone, who had his eyes closed, sharing the sight with the original.
"Uchiha Clan is under attack. Fugaku has asked me to summon the different Clan Heads and rush to the Uchiha District. It's Uchiha and another masked shinobi who are attacking..."
The Clone opened his eyes and quickly created multiple Shadow Clones, whom he tasked with reporting to the Nara, Hyūga, Yamanaka, Akimichi, Inuzuka, and the Hokage Office.
Himari's heart dropped when the Blood Clone disintegrated itself, which meant that her husband needed more strength to deal with the enemies.
She quickly rushed to send out the Uzumaki guards to the Uchiha District and to tell Kushina what was happening.
However, she stopped in her tracks when Uchiha Hazuki, Izumi, and Akane appeared in the room with a Shadow Clone that immediately dispelled itself. The woman was bleeding, and she needed immediate medical attention, but it was little Akane, who was in an even worse condition than her.
Her throat was half slit, and her breath was very weak.
Without wasting any thought, Himari created a Clone to call Kushina, and then she started using her Medical Ninjutsu and blood to heal Akane. Inadvertently, she glanced towards Izumi, and she was stunned when she saw her complete Sharingan morphing into something else. A unique pattern with three black rings spreading around her hollowed pupil, which now also looked like a ring.
The Uzumaki knew what it was. She had seen Hazuki's Mangekyō that she had manifested after Fujin's death. And she was even more shocked because her sister-in-law seemed rattled. What kind of enemy had she faced?
"They will be fine, Izumi. I promise."
As soon as the words fell, Kushina rushed into the room and took over Akane's healing from her, allowing her to focus on Hazuki.
On the other side, Kazuma was chasing after the masked man, who had suddenly disappeared after their confrontation, and his heart ached when he passed by the hundreds of dead bodies of old and young alike.
The entire Police Force had been massacred, but he could sense that a lot of people were still alive and could be saved.
However, before he could start teleporting them away, the masked man appeared in front of him again.
"You were in the village that night when the Nine-Tails broke out of Mizumi." He had picked up on the man's signature.
"You are an annoyance, Uzumaki Kazuma." It was a deep and resonating voice, one that he had never heard before.
The two rushed at each other, and the Uzumaki, who had already got the gist of his opponent's ability, activated his Chakra Chains.
His enemy too realised their crisis, so he refrained from getting close to him.
And then to Kazuma's shock, his opponent used Wood Release to try to counter him.
The Uzumaki sensed that Itachi had killed his parents. Fugaku had not even offered a fight, and he knew exactly why the man let things go the way the Hokage and Danzō desired.
His heart skipped a beat when he sensed Sasuke return from the Academy, and he heard the boy's scream as he found the dead bodies.
And on the other side, Itachi was going to finish the job and kill the remaining people and children of the clan.
Immediately, Kazuma summoned dozens of his Shadow Clones and got ready to use a Sealing Jutsu.
"Sealing Art: The Life Prison." Kazuma gritted his teeth and performed a long series of hand seals as his chains kept the enemy at bay.
He succeeded just as the masked man got close to him, and then a barrier appeared around him, another appeared in the distance, and then another further away. Deprived of his Chakra, all his Shadow Clones exploded into puffs of smoke.
Soon, the entire Uchiha District was divided into different zones, and the survivors were sealed inside a prison that they could not escape and no other life could enter.
His enemy, however, had managed to phase next to Itachi at the last moment and was now trying to get away, which Kazuma could not allow.
He quickly used another complex Sealing Art and secured the different sections of the district in a unique Space and Time Seal.
Next, Kazuma teleported right in front of the masked man and Itachi, and his heart skipped a beat when he sensed Sasuke reach his home and end up facing a Shadow Clone of his older brother.
Even though he sensed that the Uchiha prodigy did not intend to kill his brother, he still secured Sasuke in a Time and Space Barrier, but was a little late as the boy had fallen unconscious to some Genjutsu.
He frowned as he looked at the two people who were sealed with him and looked right into the Mangekyō Sharingan of the thirteen-year-old Itachi.
"Why?"
Itachi did not answer him. Instead, his right eye suddenly started bleeding, and Kazuma's heart skipped a beat.
"Amaterasu..." he heard the boy's voice before bells of crisis rang in his head, and instinctively, he switched his body with an Explosive Clone, using substitution. The Clone that was suddenly consumed in terrifying black flames instantly exploded.
This caught both Itachi and the masked man off guard and they were forced to protect themselves.
The Uchiha was shocked when he sensed Kazuma appear right behind him, but somehow, he managed to survive the piercing hand, which ended up hitting something hard.
It was a skeleton, covered in red chakra, and then it surrounded all of Itachi's body.
The masked man took the opportunity and, to his surprise, shot out metal chains, which was a terrible mistake on his part because the Uzumaki caught those chains with his own Chakra Chains and also wrapped them around the Avatar that surrounded Itachi.
Itachi used his Amaterasu again, this time, at a much larger scale, and then with his now Armoured Skeleton Avatar, he swung a Chakra Sword.
Kazuma was prepared this time, and he used his Space and Time Sealing Art to send those black flames on his body away as soon as they appeared. Then he used the unique power of his Chakra Chains, which started melting everything they were in contact with, and also blocked the oncoming sword swing.
His enemies were surprised once again, and this time, they truly feared him because he broke right into the Armoured Skeleton and got ready to pierce his arm into Itachi's heart.
"Tsukuyomi."
Kazuma's vision suddenly blurred, and his reaching hand briefly froze, which allowed Itachi to get away.
The reinforcements had arrived as well, and when the Uchiha glanced at dozens of people, including the Clan Heads, who were looking at everything, his eyes became vacant.
The masked man, however, suddenly used his own Space and Time Art, and as soon as the Chakra Chains got past the Armoured Skeleton, he appeared next to Itachi and made the boy disappear from the place.
And the next instant, Kazuma's body burst out with more strength as he entered Sage Mode, and instinctively moved a little, soon feeling a sudden sting in his chest.
He found a black creature behind him, who had stabbed him in the back with a wooden stake, which had missed his heart due to his timely reaction.
His chains immediately locked around the creature and melted it, but the Uzumaki then had to dodge the wooden spears that erupted from the ground and rushed at him.
Itachi suddenly appeared out of the portal right behind him and used the Great Fireball Jutsu, which consumed the entire prison that they were locked inside.
Kazuma, sensing the crisis, quickly teleported the Uchiha survivors, including the unconscious Sasuke, next to the reinforcements, who were unable to get inside the Barrier Prison he had created.
And then he covered his body with a Water Armour and heightened his senses.
There was a hole in his chest, and he needed to escape and seek medical attention; however, he was unwilling to let that masked man escape.
The moment he left this prison, it would start collapsing, and the masked man could escape with Itachi by using his space-manipulating ability.
However, his opponents were very tricky, and they did something he was not expecting.
The masked man used his Wood Release to start filling up the prison with vines, intending to fill all the space in the prison, and since he could hide inside that strange portal, he would not be affected by it.
Kazuma could try to destroy these vines, but that would only mean a waste of time, which he lacked much more than his enemies.
He, however, baited them and started clearing the vines with his Chakra Chains, providing them with the opportunity they were looking for.
The masked man suddenly came out of the portal, right in front of him, rushing at him with a kunai, and phased right past his Chakra Chains, ready to end his life.
A smile crossed Kazuma's face, and he disappeared from his place, leaving behind an afterimage, and appeared above the masked man, quickly binding both his arms with his chains, melting them instantly.
However, a strange creature that armoured the masked man's body suddenly cut off both his arms, preventing the rest of his body from melting, and then the two disappeared inside the portal again at the very last moment.
At the same time, from another portal, thousands of explosive tags poured in, active, and Kazuma gritted his teeth and escaped the Prison of Life, which started collapsing with his departure.
As soon as he arrived in front of the reinforcements, he created defensive barriers, shielding everyone from the massive explosion.
"Kazuma-sama!" His bodyguard, Kenji, immediately rushed to his side and supported him when he swayed on his feet and threw up a mouthful of blood.
"Hiashi, Shikaku... make sure that all the bodies of the dead Uchiha are secured. Do not let the Sharingan fall into the hands of the enemies..." he whispered, and the two listened as they rushed into the Uchiha District, whose entrance was now completely destroyed. "Kenji, stay here and help everyone. The rest of you, move the Uchiha to our District, they will be safe there. That masked man cannot enter our compounds..." he said and with the last bit of his strength, teleported by the side of his wife...
"Onii-sama!" "Otou-san!!!"
He heard Kushina and Karin's cries and saw his son rushing to him before he fell unconscious.
Kazuma woke up five weeks later in his bed and ruefully smiled because he had lost such precious weeks and not spent them with his family.
Himari, who was in the room, cried her eyes out at seeing him wake up and obediently answered all his questions.
"The Village has been sealed. The Hokage issued an emergency. Uchiha Itachi has been declared a Missing-Nin... Hyūga Hiashi and Nara Shikaku personally collected all the Uchiha dead bodies... A few members of the Police Force were missing their eyes, and only four bodies could not be traced. A Uchiha was out on a mission, but he died at the hands of 'enemies'. Only his hand was found." She angrily said, cursing the Hokage and Danzō in her heart.
"The survivors?"
"Only seventeen adults have survived. Eighty-two children. Hazuki has taken the position of the Head of the Clan, and they are staying in the compound next to ours..."
Once she finished speaking, she tearfully looked at him.
"Why did Fugaku not fight? You said he was stronger than the Hokage!"
"He did not want to have a death match with his own son. He lost his son to the Hokage and his Will of Fire. Itachi chose the Village over his family." He sighed. "Fugaku decided to give the enemies what they wanted but also ensured the survival of his clan. With their numbers so low, and most only being children, the Hokage would no longer see them as a threat. At least, not for the time being." He stared at the ceiling. "The only threat that he sees now is me..."
Himari furrowed her brows at his words, and her heart dropped when he spoke again.
"Don't tell anyone that I have woken up. Only you, Kushina, and our children will see me. I don't have much time left, Himari. Only a few months. Let the Village think that I succumbed to the injuries..."
"Kazuma..."
"I am sorry..."