A week had passed since the Night of the Massacre. The sky over Konoha remained overcast, the atmosphere heavy and oppressive.
The streets were no longer bustling as they once were.
On the third day after the massacre, the bodies of Uchiha clan head Fugaku Uchiha, along with those of other Uchiha shinobi and civilians, were gradually laid to rest.
The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, personally attended the funeral dressed in plain mourning robes, accompanied by two of the Hokage advisors and the heads of other clans, to pay their respects.
At the same time, both the Hokage and the Daimyō of the Land of Fire declared the nation to be in a wartime state. The border defenses were raised to their highest alert level.
The Konoha leadership issued a global wanted order throughout the ninja world for the rogue Uchiha squad.
Ten elite three-man ANBU teams were deployed to hunt them down—a kill-on-sight mission, no room for compromise!
With news—real and fake—spreading chaotically, fear and unrest grew among the major clans.
Uchiha Clan District.
Inside the clan leader's estate.
Itachi Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha, one older and one younger, sat side by side on the wooden steps beneath the eaves, emotionless as they stared at the broken Uchiha fan crest on the wall outside.
Young Sasuke's eyes were dark, bright, and full of life; his facial features were delicate and handsome—but his expression was exhausted.
He remembered that fan.
It was broken when the clan members, believing Itachi had killed Shisui, came to confront him. Itachi, furious, had destroyed the clan crest in anger.
The once lively Uchiha district was now desolate. The streets were wide and empty, echoing with loneliness.
Itachi lowered his eyes, glancing sideways at his little brother who neither cried nor made a sound. Guilt crept across his face as he bowed his head.
Since the night of the massacre, Sasuke had awakened his single tomoe Sharingan, overcome with grief, crying in his house day after day.
Only the single tomoe…
Itachi wasn't satisfied.
Just two days ago, Sasuke had finally accepted the truth: his father was dead, the clan destroyed, and their mother had fled.
Still, he wandered through life in a daze, silent and numb—though when he ate, he did so with seething hatred. That part pleased Itachi.
Only through extreme hatred could a Uchiha grow stronger. It was a curse—and an opportunity.
Suddenly, two Root operatives dressed in black dropped soundlessly before Itachi after a few agile leaps.
They glanced briefly at the expressionless Sasuke.
One of them leaned in and whispered something into Itachi's ear.
His expression shifted slightly. He stood slowly and looked down at Sasuke, lips curling into a faint smile, eyes squinting kindly:
"Sasuke, for the next few days, you'll need to handle breakfast, lunch, and dinner on your own. I've received intel—I may have to leave for a while on a mission."
Sasuke's expression turned cold. He stood, turned his back to Itachi, paused mid-step, and asked:
"Are you going to find Mom?"
Itachi smiled and nodded, doing his best to keep his voice as gentle as always:
"Mm. I'll bring her back."
Sasuke continued walking toward the training grounds inside the courtyard, not saying another word.
Itachi stared at his brother's back. The warmth in his smile slowly faded from his tear-lined face, as if it had never been there. He turned to his subordinates and said coldly:
In the inner courtyard training area of the Uchiha clan leader's estate, Sasuke was snarling, his face twisted with fury. He gritted his teeth and launched a storm of taijutsu strikes at the wooden training post before him.
Fist after fist hammered into the post.
Sasuke's small hands were torn and bloodied, the wood stained red—but he didn't stop.
Sasuke leapt into the air, twisting his body mid-jump, and smashed the tall post with a powerful kick, sending it flying with a dull thud.
On the courtyard wall, a pitch-black raven was startled by the noise. It fluttered its wings, landing steadily and tilting its head curiously at Sasuke.
Sweat beaded on Sasuke's forehead as he leaned forward, supporting himself on his knees and gasping for breath. Then, suddenly, he snapped his gaze to the raven on the wall—his pupils flaring blood-red in an instant.
One tomoe Sharingan, activated.
The raven's eyes shrank in alarm, sensing the threat and preparing to take flight—
A kunai shot through the air, perfectly anticipating its path. It struck cleanly at the neck.
The raven was decapitated, its body dropping limply to the ground.
Sasuke lowered his kunai-throwing hand, breathing heavily. His Sharingan faded, and he dropped to the grass, slamming his fists into the earth.
Grinding his teeth, Sasuke glared wildly, pounding the ground as if it were Itachi's face beneath his fists.
When his fists ached, he yanked another kunai from his pouch and stabbed the earth over and over.
Grass tore, dirt flew.
He kept at it until he wore himself out.
Panting hard, young Sasuke lay on his back in the grass, eyes unfocused as he stared at the grey sky. He let the kunai slip from his fingers, expression blank, lost in memories.
The night of the massacre.
His mother had knocked him out to protect him. After that, a familiar figure appeared and woke him, helping him sit up against the wall.
Sasuke had seen that person a few times before, back at the police department.
His name was Uchiha Yu.
A long time ago, under his mother Mikoto's guidance, Sasuke had respectfully addressed the man as "Uncle Yu," the captain of the police force.
That night, Yu appeared and, using genjutsu, forced Sasuke to witness with his own eyes how Itachi raised his blade against the clan—how he turned that blade on their parents.
It was at that moment...
Sasuke awakened his Sharingan.
And he knew—it was Yu who had intervened, taking control of his mother's body and saving her.
Sasuke's face twisted once more, his teeth clenched so hard his gums began to bleed, fists tightening with rage.
If not for that, his mother would have died that night at the hands of that demon—Itachi!
The thought alone made Sasuke slam his fist into the ground again.
He had begged Yu to take both him and his mother away, but Yu had only left him with one sentence:
"Don't worry about your mother. What you need to do now is survive. When the time is right, I'll come back for you."
Then, Yu left the compound, heading toward the outskirts of the clan's land. Before going, he used genjutsu once more to render Sasuke unconscious.
Over the last few days, Sasuke had pieced together the shifting tides of opinion within the village about the "Uchiha Massacre."
Sasuke felt only one thing about the so-called Hidden Leaf Village:
Filthy. Rotten. Utterly dark and corrupt.
Itachi, the true culprit who butchered his own clan, now stood among the upper ranks of the village. He was praised by the Third Hokage as some kind of tragic hero who had tried to save the Uchiha.
Meanwhile, Yu, who had saved his mother and preserved a spark of the Uchiha legacy, was branded the murderer of civilians, labeled an S-rank rogue ninja!
Absurd. Laughable. Tragic.
So this… this was the "broad-minded vision" Itachi once preached about?
He didn't even have the heart to sit and speak with his own people. Instead, he played judge and executioner, sentencing his kin—even the civilians—to death with a single stroke!
Sasuke's heart was filled with despair. Exhausted, he dragged his weary body off the grass and sheathed his kunai.
He needed to go back and treat his wounds.
Until Yu returned to reunite them, he had to survive in Konoha, even if it meant playing along with Itachi for now!
Uchiha Clan District — Street
Itachi felt it—the sudden end of the surveillance crow he'd left behind.
His brow furrowed slightly, but he only sighed, turning away and departing with his subordinates.
After walking through the hallway, Itachi arrived at the door of the Hokage's office.
Just as he was about to knock, he heard panicked shouts and startled cries from inside.
He hesitated… then pushed the door open.
Itachi's pupils shrank in shock—he was witnessing one of the most unexpected scenes of his life.
"Hiruzen, Hiruzen, open your eyes!"
The two Hokage advisors were flustered, on the ground in a panic.
And there—lying flat on the cold floor, eyes dim, face pallid with age—was the man who had held Konoha's reins for half a lifetime, the so-called "God of Shinobi" of his era:
He lay there limp, unresponsive, as Koharu frantically tried to treat him.
Itachi's gaze trembled slightly. He stepped up to the Hokage's desk and looked down at the intelligence scroll spread open before him.
Next to it—two belts bearing the Fire symbol.
The scroll detailed the death of Asuma and the destruction of the Fire Temple.
There was a foreshadowed reason for why the protagonist's shadow clone woke Sasuke. After Mikoto knocked Sasuke out, he collapsed face-down. When Itachi later found Sasuke, he was already propped up against the wall—that was because Yu's shadow clone had helped him up.
After the shadow clone rescued Mikoto, I deliberately didn't mention that it also did this—it was meant to be picked up on later.
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