Clap, clap, clap—
Applause echoed through the air.
Wearing Itachi's face, Uchiha Yu stood behind the ranks of the reanimated Uchiha and began clapping slowly.
He stared straight ahead, his tone cold.
"Oh? A Mangekyō Sharingan? As expected of the clan's weapon of war—so you awakened those eyes even centuries ago.
Tell me… what was it that made you open them?
Oh, right. My name is Uchiha Itachi, a messenger from Konoha sent to undo your seal and take you with me.
Come with me.
For the sake of the Uchiha—
And for your own sake.
Submit to the Hidden Village.
Obey, and once again fulfill your duty as a weapon of war."
As he finished speaking, the Mangekyō pattern flickered in Uchiha Yu's eyes. His voice had shifted perfectly into Itachi's—flawlessly convincing.
It was clear: if words wouldn't work, he was ready to use force.
To the watching reanimated Uchiha controlled by Hikari's "Yasakani" and to Tsunade, Uchiha Yu was Itachi—
from his appearance down to the ominous chakra radiating from his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Uchiha… Konoha… Hidden Village… submit…" Hikari murmured under her breath, head lowered.
For any Uchiha, the emotions behind awakening the Mangekyō were the most volatile—the most forbidden topic of all.
And now, standing before her, this young clansman with neatly parted black hair, the clan's crest on his robe, and a face lined by deep tear troughs—his every word, his arrogant tone, that cold superiority—
all of it reignited the hatred she bore toward her clan.
"Die… all of you die! The clan, the shinobi, this entire world—go to hell!!"
Hikari's head snapped up, her expression fierce.
The red light of her "Yasakani" Mangekyō flared violently. Even under daylight, the killing intent in her gaze could not be hidden.
Like a snow lotus blooming amid a blizzard.
With a furious roar—
her body blurred, vanishing into motion.
She reappeared before Tsunade in an instant, driving a brutal elbow toward her.
"Tch—!"
Tsunade reacted on instinct, raising her arms to shield her face—
but the impact still sent her flying backward, crashing toward where Uchiha Yu stood.
The sheer strength behind that small Uchiha girl's blow was terrifying!
Tsunade's arms throbbed in pain, but she steadied herself beside Uchiha Yu, eyes locked on the girl.
"Fire Style: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Hikari's hands flashed through seals, her gaze sharp. She exhaled a massive torrent of fire toward Tsunade and Uchiha Yu.
BOOM—!
Flames roared skyward.
An ocean of fire surged, engulfing Tsunade and Uchiha Yu in blazing heat.
Even Hashirama and Tobirama, watching from afar, could sense the overwhelming chakra—the fierce, domineering power.
To them, it felt as though Madara himself had returned.
The inferno devoured half the mountaintop.
The temperature spiked violently.
Behind them, the reanimated Uchiha's pupils constricted in shock—
even all of them combined might not have been able to produce such a massive Fire Release.
The ground scorched black; the grass ignited instantly, sending plumes of smoke spiraling into the night sky.
From a distance, it looked as though, in an instant, the mountain in the middle of Hell Valley had turned into a blazing volcano, smoke pouring from its peak.
Within the sea of fire, the flames reflected in Tsunade's eyes—there was no escape. With a loud boom, her body was consumed by the scorching heat and vanished into ashes within the inferno.
Meanwhile, Itachi threw his head back and burst into mad laughter.
"HAHAHAHA! You can't escape! As long as you're still alive, Konoha will find you. They'll make you submit—and turn you into their weapon!"
His laughter was manic, showing no fear of the oncoming sea of fire.
Just before the Great Fire Annihilation engulfed him, his body dispersed into a flock of crows, flying eastward across the mountain, leaving only a trail of black feathers behind.
"…"
Uchiha Yu's cold eyes drew back from the dark swarm of crows. With the chakra replenishment from the Edo Tensei Uchiha around her, her movements were now fully restored.
Then, with swift, decisive action, she turned and walked to the back. One by one, she snapped the necks of the Edo Uchiha like wringing the necks of chickens and ducks.
The reanimated Uchiha, numb to pain, cooperated only by groaning faintly as they fell to the ground.
Aside from finding their touch oddly different, Yu didn't think much of it.
The way she dealt with them was as natural as breathing—for killing was what she did best.
And yet, after the last body fell, her once-cold gaze dimmed. Her brows softened, and her expression turned lost and uncertain.
She rose slowly and walked to the cliff's edge, scanning the vast landscape before her.
The mountains stood tall, wrapped in light mist.
For a fleeting moment, the sunlight pierced through—light and shadow danced, and faint echoes of distant roars seemed to ring in her ears.
The gentle wind brushed through her long hair, carrying her back to that final battle.
She stood alone on the Uchiha border, facing the armies of the Senju and Sarutobi clans.
Ninjutsu thundered.
The earth split apart.
Ravines, peaks, valleys, rivers—everything had been reshaped by that war.
The terrain she saw now was born from that same battlefield.
But time had cloaked it in green—grass and trees now covered what once was desolation. Only time itself could smooth away such scars.
"How long… has it been?"
Hikari's brows furrowed slightly, her face showing quiet melancholy. She clenched her fists, then slowly released them, her eyes wandering in all directions with an awkward confusion that made her look almost like a lost girl.
After all, though she was older, she was still a young woman—one whose mind had been forged only for war, filled with the art and instincts of a shinobi.
Now that no one treated her as a weapon anymore… what could she do? She didn't even know herself.
"I was careless again. I should've left one alive," Hikari muttered, a trace of regret flashing across her face.
Then she suddenly remembered what someone once told her—
If you don't know what to do, then just run forward!
Keep running. Keep moving ahead. You'll find your path. You'll find what you're meant to do.
"Yeah… run!"
Hikari's beautiful eyes blinked once, her cheeks puffing slightly as she cheered herself on in silence.
She stretched her legs and ran down the soft grass-covered slope to the west, her clan robes fluttering in the wind.
It was hard to imagine that this was the same ruthless Uchiha ancestor who had just fought so fiercely and killed without hesitation.
Hikari didn't look back at the mountain fire caused by her Fire Release, nor at the clan members she had executed.
Before she was sealed away by the Senju and Sarutobi clans, she had already reconciled with her past self—and from that moment on, she no longer wished to have anything to do with the Uchiha.
They had treated her like a weapon and abandoned her on the battlefield. When she saw those familiar blue clan robes earlier, all the pain and cruelty of the past had surged back into her mind—that was why she had struck without hesitation.
Now, she ran down the mountain.
Ahead lay a slope blanketed in green, with no path in sight.
But to her eyes, it looked like the freedom she had been chasing all her life.
The air was fresh.
The forest stretched endlessly.
No more clan scolding in her ears—Hikari looked toward the sunlit valley and the woods below, and for the first time, she felt as if she had stepped into another world.
She spread her arms wide, wanting to embrace that world. A faint smile curved her lips. She wanted to scream at the mountains, to let out everything she'd held inside—
But she didn't.
Instead, she took a deep breath, lay down on the grassy slope, and let the morning dew soak through her robes.
She closed her eyes, stretching her arms and legs out in the shape of a cross, savoring this brief, silent peace.
The scent of sunlight filled her lungs.
The dew soaked through her clothes and chilled her back.
And in that moment, she finally knew—she was truly alive again. She had escaped that endless darkness, that cage of years.
°°°
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