Konoha Village, Uchiha Clan's compound.
Fugaku's hearty laughter echoed in his house: "Hahahaha, as expected of my son!"
Fugaku looked at his son, Itachi, who had just returned with his scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan, his face filled with pride.
He completely failed to notice his son's low spirits and the gloom swirling in his eyes.
Having just returned from a mission, Itachi's eyes were bloodshot, his mind relentlessly replaying the scenes of his teammates and teacher being slaughtered.
Especially the image of Tenma, who had shielded him and charged at the enemy, screaming for him to run as blood sprayed everywhere.
Just a few days ago, they had been catching cats together, and Itachi had finally earned Tenma and Shinko's acceptance… the three had become friends.
Now, he was the only survivor of the team.
Amid overwhelming fear and the emotional shock of his companions' deaths, Itachi awakened his Two-Tomoe Sharingan directly. Through it, he had glimpsed the man with tiger-striped mask, a single scarlet Sharingan gleaming in his eye.
However, he couldn't understand why an Uchiha would be outside the village, slaughtering Konoha's Ninja without mercy!
Fugaku was still laughing.
After all, Itachi was already eight years old. For a genius of his age to not have awakened the Sharingan yet would have been concerning.
But his father's grating laughter only made Itachi clench his fists tighter, his emotions churning. He couldn't comprehend why the death of his teammates and teacher, exchanged for these eyes, was something worth celebrating.
Suddenly, an Anbu appeared on the courtyard wall: "Clan Head Fugaku! The Hokage urgently summons you to Konoha Hospital!"
"Hm? Konoha Hospital?" Fugaku's laughter froze, his brows knitted together as he asked, "Can you tell me what this is about?"
"You have the clearance to know." The Anbu said in a low voice: "Uchiha Shisui has returned from a failed mission, and he is severely injured."
Shock!
The air in the courtyard instantly turned cold. Fugaku's expression darkened, while Itachi's head snapped up.
'Shisui!'
'One of the Uchiha Clan's strongest Ninjas had failed a mission and returned wounded?!'
"I'll go immediately." Fugaku's face became serious. After the Anbu left, Fugaku glanced at his son's trembling lips and said, "Rest at home for now. I'll go check on Shisui."
Itachi opened his mouth to speak, but his raised hand froze midair.
In the end, he only replied dejectedly: "Yes, Father."
…
Konoha Hospital.
Following the instructions from the Anbu, Fugaku headed straight to a ward on the third-floor.
After knocking on the door, the voice of the Third Hokage came from inside: "Come in."
Fugaku pushed the door open and walked in. In the sterile white room, Shisui lay on the hospital bed, his left eye wrapped in bandages. The air carried the sharp scent of antiseptic and a faint trace of blood.
Sitting beside the bed in his Hokage's robes and hat, Hiruzen has a solemn expression.
"Fugaku, you're here." Hiruzen said softly, lifting his gaze to meet Fugaku's.
"Fugaku-sama…" Shisui called weakly from the bed, attempting to sit up.
Fugaku stepped forward and gently pressed Shisui back down before taking the seat opposite Hiruzen.
"Hokage-sama." Fugaku looked at Shisui, who was so weak on the bed, staring at his left eye wrapped in gauze: "Shisui's eye-"
"It was dug out by the enemy." Shisui said softly.
Fugaku's pupils trembled slightly!
'What kind of enemy could possibly pluck out Shisui's eye?!'
"Who is the enemy?" Fugaku's voice was low and grave, his expression solemn, 'When had the Uchiha Clan ever suffered such humiliation?!'
"This is precisely why I called you here, Fugaku." Hiruzen sighed heavily.
'What did that mean?'
Fugaku looked at Hiruzen opposite him with some confusion, studying his grim expression.
"The enemy is from Hoshigakure…" Shisui turned his remaining right eye toward Fugaku and recounted to them what happened: "There is an Uchiha Clan's member who has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan."
The moment those last words left his mouth, Fugaku froze.
'An Uchiha living outside the clan had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?!'
"Are you certain, Shisui?" Even after hearing it directly from Shisui, Fugaku still found it hard to believe.
Shisui, who was still lying on the hospital bed, nodded: "She appeared to be around my age, but she was strong… so strong that within the first moments of our encounter, Hayama-senpai and Hoheto were already defeated."
"Even after I activated my Sharingan and fought her, I was completely overwhelmed!"
As he recalled the terrifying sight of that dark red giant looming over him like a mountain, forcing him to retreat step by step, Shisui's remaining eye trembled slightly.
"If her teammate hadn't been occupied restraining the Iwagakure's Ninjas, giving me a chance to lure her away and escape…"
"…none of us would have made it back alive."
Though Shisui didn't go into detail about the battle, Fugaku could already imagine just how perilous it had been.
"What is her name?" Fugaku asked sternly after hearing the account.
Shisui opened his mouth hesitantly and looked at Fugaku with a complicated expression in his right eye: "She called herself Nanashi. She claimed to have once been a weapon of the Uchiha Clan, but was abandoned by them, so now she harbors deep hatred for us."
'Nanashi? A weapon? Abandoned?'
These words connected together left Fugaku utterly baffled. He crossed his arms, his brow deeply furrowed.
'An Uchiha of such strength couldn't possibly have gone unnoticed, let alone been cast aside by the clan.'
Realizing this, Fugaku looked up and met Hiruzen's gaze.
And in that moment, he immediately understood why Hiruzen had summoned him.
So Fugaku immediately clarified: "Hokage-sama, since I became the head of Uchiha Clan, every Uchiha who awakened the Sharingan has remained in Konoha Village. Even those who married outside the clan, if their children awakened the Sharingan, they would be brought back into the clan."
Fugaku emphasized that this had been the case since his tenure as the head began.
Then, Fugaku raised another possibility, "However… when that man left, whether he took other clansmen with him… is something we cannot know for certain."
Though Fugaku only referred to 'that man' and did not say his name directly, Hiruzen naturally knew that he was referring to Uchiha Madara, one who had once founded Konoha Village alongside the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
"I believe you." Hiruzen sighed again, then added another piece of information.
"Aside from this Uchiha girl, there was also… someone who may be a survivor of the Uzumaki Clan."
"The Uzumaki Clan?!" Fugaku's thoughts immediately turned to Kushina, who had died years ago, and Uzumaki Mito, the First Hokage's wife.
'However, the Uzumaki Clan had been annihilated over a decade ago. And now, there's a rogue Uchiha and an Uzumaki survivor?'
'What kind of combination was this?!'
Hiruzen's old voice was hoarse as he spoke: "The situation in Hoshigakure is much worse than I expected."
"Based on Shisui's assessment, the mastermind behind Hoshigakure's rebellion is so powerful that it can't be resolved with just one or two teams. At minimum… it would require a full-scale war."
But whether it was Konoha, Sunagakure, or Iwagakure, none of them had the capacity to wage another war so soon.