Sasuke approached Naruto's corpse step by step, his lips trembling, his eyes fixed only on the lifeless body lying on the ground.
"Na... Na... Na..."
Even after reaching Naruto's side, he struggled to voice the three syllables of "Naruto."
He knelt on the ground, touching Naruto's cold corpse. In his mind, Naruto's brilliant smile couldn't help but surface. From the start of school when he announced he wanted to be Hokage, to pestering him at his house, to when he deliberately leaked his training location so Naruto would find him...
Graduation, moving, the Ministry of War, training, sparring...
All the memories of the past, these little moments, constantly bombarded his mind.
Raichi and the other four Uchiha Clan Members felt a terrifying ocular power emerge. They whipped around and looked at Sasuke in shock. They saw him hugging Naruto tightly as two streaks of bloody tears fell.
"Naruto!!!"
A roar filled with extreme negative emotions caused the Three-Tomoe to emerge in his eyes. The Three-Tomoe spun rapidly and merged. Soon, a pair of unique eyes appeared.
"The Mangekyo..."
They couldn't believe it, yet they felt the same pain. On that day, the Uchiha Imperial City was destroyed, and friends and family died before their eyes. That kind of pain was exactly like this.
With the emergence of the Mangekyo, the hatred in Sasuke's heart quickly found a direction— "Kill that masked man!"
However, this hatred in his heart surpassed the existence of the Uchiha clan. It was as if even sacrificing the Uchiha clan would be fine as long as he could achieve his goal.
This made Raichi, who had originally intended to tell Sasuke that Naruto could be resurrected, decide not to tell him for now and let Shisui decide once they returned to the clan.
"There are no other clues, it's time to return to the clan." Raichi said.
Sasuke stood there without saying a word.
After dozens of seconds, one clan member couldn't take it anymore.
"Hey! Raichi is talking to you!"
Sasuke glared at that clan member, filled with cold killing intent.
The worried expressions of the four clan members instantly turned irritable. They drew their short swords, and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan appeared in their eyes.
Both sides were at each other's throats, killing intent permeating the air.
At this moment, crackling sounds of lightning emanated from Raichi's body. The Lightning Release Chakra Mode caused her outfit to flap loudly as she stared directly at Sasuke.
"Sasuke, we can understand you, but that doesn't mean you can take it out on us. This is the first warning, and the last."
Sasuke stared at Raichi. He knew how powerful his abilities were, but he knew the strength of the Lightning Release Chakra Mode even better. Moreover, she was right.
He closed his eyes. "Sorry."
Raichi's cold expression softened slightly. "No need to apologize, I will only judge you by your actions."
Then, she turned and left. The four clan members, their gazes icy, also turned and left.
Sasuke clenched his fists, and with a sense of unwilling resentment, he picked up Naruto's body and headed toward the Uchiha Imperial City.
—
Forest.
Animal bones were scattered everywhere.
A snake-like humanoid figure stood atop a massive beast's skeleton.
His name was Yakushi Kabuto. The once gentle young man with glasses had become like this because he had learned the Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode. His powerful talent for Senjutsu allowed him to maintain this mode at all times.
Below him stood a masked man.
"Tobi... no, I should call you Uchiha Obito, right?"
Black Zetsu, who was controlling Obito, narrowed his eyes, revealing murderous intent. "Do you have a death wish?"
Despite his words, he made no move.
"Based on your attitude toward the resurrected Rin, it's certain that you are Obito, but..."
Kabuto's tone shifted as he said with a smile, "That Uchiha war was probably left for you, wasn't it?"
"Who knows."
"Perhaps you need my help."
"What could you possibly help me with?" Black Zetsu's voice was full of disdain and fierce killing intent, as if he would strike at any moment.
Kabuto smiled slightly, and one coffin after another appeared. Members of Iwagakure, Konoha, Jinchuriki, and the Akatsuki who had not been resurrected by Orochimaru's Edo Tensei appeared within them.
Of course, First Hokage Hashirama, Second Hokage Tobirama, Third Hokage Hiruzen, and Fourth Hokage Minato did not appear. After all, they were all sealed by the Reaper Death Seal and were still inside the Shinigami's stomach.
However, Madara appeared among them as the strongest.
Black Zetsu glanced at them and asked calmly, "What do you want to do?"
"No, it's not what I want to do, but what you want to do." Kabuto laughed. "These people can help you do it, and there are even more."
"What is your objective?"
"My objective?" Kabuto smiled. "Let me see what you are actually plotting."
"You are seeking your own death." Black Zetsu spoke as if kindly advising him not to get involved.
But if Kabuto dared to show even a hint of hesitation, Black Zetsu would surely kill him.
Kabuto laughed wildly, like a madman. "As long as I can witness the truth of the world, I don't mind."
"Hahahaha!" Black Zetsu laughed loudly.
The next second, he suddenly stopped, his aura surging with terrifying killing intent.
"Fine."
—
Uchiha Imperial City.
Sasuke returned carrying Naruto's body, a sight that made the clan members' expressions soften with pity.
But after hearing from Raichi and the others that Sasuke had intended to use the Mangekyo against his own kin, they couldn't help but recall Itachi's previous traitorous behavior.
A Mangekyo user couldn't help but snort coldly, "Itachi, keep your little brother in check."
Itachi replied calmly, frowning, "I will keep him in check."
Shisui and Fugaku were somewhat worried.
"I haven't told him yet about the things only known to the Mangekyo users." Raichi said.
The Mangekyo users nodded slightly, agreeing with Raichi's approach. After all, Sasuke's thoughts were far too unpredictable. But they were still conflicted about whether or not to inform Sasuke.
Reasonably speaking, as long as someone awakened the Mangekyo, no matter how reckless the clan member was, they would be told that Hiromi possessed the ability to resurrect the dead. However, Sasuke already showed signs of betraying the clan, so it was hard to say whether he should be informed.
Slowly, they all turned their gaze toward Shisui.
Shisui pondered for a moment. A few seconds later, he looked at Izumi. "Izumi, how many people can you revive?"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the clan members looked at Izumi. They were also very curious about this.
Izumi said, "With the cells transplanted by Orochimaru, I estimate it's more than three people."
Shisui gave an "mm" of acknowledgement and said, "Reveal this ability to Sasuke. If he comes to you, help him revive one person."
The clan members present narrowed their eyes.
Revive one person, not revive Naruto...
Clearly, the hope was that Sasuke would remember the fact that his mother was dead. This made them involuntarily look toward Fugaku.
Fugaku's face darkened as he said, "If you have something to say, say it."
Raichi chuckled and immediately raised her hand. "Then I'll be blunt. Clan Head Fugaku, both of your sons are quite rebellious. What do you think about this?"
Seeing someone take the lead, the other clan members couldn't wait to speak up.
"I don't think Fugaku is fit to be the clan head."
"Exactly. He just walks around with a dark face all day, even scolding us Mangekyo users."
"Now that so many people have the Mangekyo and you're getting old, it's time to give the younger generation a chance."
"That's right, and stepping down now would be just the right time."
"Only in the hands of our younger generation can the Uchiha follow Hiromi and walk a glorious path."
Shisui stood up with a calm expression. The clan members thought he was going to say something, but to their surprise, he just turned and walked away.
Seeing this, they were filled with doubt and confusion.
Itachi, pulling Izumi along, also left.
Seeing this, Kazuto and Shizuka also stood up and followed closely behind, leaving quickly.
Last time the two of them were slow to run, this time they had to be fast.
With those two gone, no matter how foolish the other clan members were, they sensed something was wrong and hurriedly stood up, wanting to leave.
The next second, Fugaku's gaze made their hearts go cold, and they tremblingly sat back down.
And then...
Six hours later, over a dozen Mangekyo users emerged from the meeting room with their heads hanging and hollow eyes.
Their brains... their brains were numb from being scolded.