Compared to the tension among the Uchiha's high-ranking elites, ordinary Uchiha clan members continued their daily lives as usual. Ignorance was also a kind of happiness - perhaps they would never understand until death why Konoha wanted to kill them.
Unlike Meruem's puppet Sasaki who had to busy himself with many things daily, Meruem's true body spent each day either training or being intimate with Ruiko, as well as his nightly "man-eating" activities.
Ever since that day when he used Taotie's Feast to consume Uchiha Suzuki and discovered he could recover some strength, Meruem would secretly act every night when it was deep and quiet. Using the small amount of chakra obtained from "eating" Suzuki, he created a shadow clone to accompany Ruiko while his true body relied on his speed and perception advantages to hunt for prey throughout Konoha.
However, because he was within Konoha Village, Meruem didn't dare be too brazen. He looked down on chunin and elite chunin levels, so his usual targets were jonin and special jonin.
He would never target elite jonin level - first because elite jonin were usually clan leaders or elders, at worst elites of a family. Not to mention that each elite jonin had their own special skills and fighting them would easily lead to discovery, the key was that Meruem generally targeted ninjas on the periphery or those with few nearby residents. Those elite jonin usually lived in family heartlands - too dangerous.
Meruem didn't want to be discovered yet.
Even so, the jonin and special jonin who had died at his hands these past few days numbered at least a dozen, if not twenty. His strength had also recovered a small portion, bringing him one step closer to unlocking the space and releasing his Chimera Ant subordinates.
Even Meruem's body had accumulated quite a bit of chakra. In terms of chakra alone, Meruem had already reached elite jonin level. When you think about it, having "eaten" so many jonin's essence, even with considerable waste, he should have reached elite jonin chakra levels.
He had eaten his fill, but it had thrown Konoha into panic. One or two disappearances would be fine, but in just these few days, a dozen or twenty jonin had gone missing - even an idiot would notice something was wrong.
Yes, indeed, Konoha was wealthy and had many talents. But jonin-level ninjas weren't everywhere on the streets - these were a village's high-end combat forces. Usually losing one would cause heartache for days, let alone so many disappearing at once.
But this matter was too bizarre. Even the Third Hokage's Crystal Ball Technique surveillance jutsu couldn't find the cause or identify the culprit. Let alone others - Meruem's five senses were truly powerful. The moment the Third's Crystal Ball Technique detected his area, he could perceive it.
Zetsu, one of Nen's basic abilities, could hide him very well. Combined with Meruem's speed and spatial ability "Four-Dimensional Apartment," it could only be said that Konoha Village's ninjas were completely blind.
This led Konoha's higher-ups to suspect it was the Uchiha clan's doing, because the Uchiha rebellion was imminent. Most crucially, among these dozen or twenty ninjas, not one was from the Uchiha clan. With their nerves already taut, such wild speculation was normal.
But they could never imagine that this answer was not only close to the truth, but the culprit was actually living within the Uchiha clan.
Due to various circumstances, Konoha could wait no longer and prepared to move against the Uchiha clan ahead of schedule.
The next day, the Third Hokage found an excuse to summon Uchiha Itachi.
At the same moment Itachi left the Uchiha clan, the Uchiha internally also gathered everyone.
"Lord Hokage, I'm afraid my situation has already been noticed by my clan members."
"I'm afraid Itachi has already realized that we've discovered his truth."
"Itachi, tonight please try to hold back your clan members."
"The Third will definitely have Itachi hold back our elites while those ANBU massacre the other clan members."
After Itachi left, Danzo slowly emerged from the shadows and came before the Third.
"Sarutobi, let's move against the Uchiha clan tonight." Danzo's sinister, hoarse voice rang out beside the Third Hokage.
"So tonight, Konoha will move against us! If we can survive this attack, whether we leave or stay to continue fighting Konoha can be decided later."
Both sides had roughly guessed what the other would do. What remained was to see who had more trump cards.
"Finally, is the night of massacre about to begin?" Meruem, sitting cross-legged in his room, opened his eyes, the corner of his mouth curving slightly.
"Ruiko, if - if I had to leave this place, would you leave with me?" Meruem looked very seriously at Uchiha Ruiko.
"Mm! I want to be with Meru! But why do we have to leave? Isn't this place good?" Ruiko blinked her big eyes innocently at Meruem. Ruiko's feelings for the Uchiha clan were very weak. Or rather, because she hadn't awakened her eyes, the Uchiha didn't even consider her a fellow clan member. Similarly, Ruiko had no special sense of belonging to this family.
Leaving one's family for someone you'd only known for a few days - was this scientific? Sometimes emotions were truly mysterious and hard to explain.
"Mm, this place isn't good, because except when Ruiko sees me and smiles, she looks unhappy at other times. And because this is the Uchiha family territory, I can't always accompany Ruiko. I hope I can always be by Ruiko's side." Pinching Ruiko's little face, Meruem said with a smile. He didn't want to tell Ruiko the truth about the Uchiha clan's impending massacre. If possible, he hoped Ruiko would always remain this innocent and pure.
"Meru is so annoying! ?(????ω????)?" Ruiko ran away with a red face, then after a while poked her little head out from behind a wall to look at Meruem.
"Meru, are you telling the truth?"
"Of course it's true!" Meruem said with a tilted head and smile.
A smiling Meruem? If people from the Hunter world saw this, they would definitely shout "Are you kidding me? This is the Ant King?"
"?(????ω????)? I... I don't want to go with Meru!"
Night. Tonight's moon was particularly round and particularly bright.
Such weather was called "bright moon" in ancient China, legendary for being when demons and spirits were active. Of course, it was also a dark and windy night for murder. Although the sky was bright, such weather was indeed very suitable for killing.
Far from the Uchiha clan gathering place, in Konoha's Training Ground No. 10, lay a little boy with a fan pattern on his back, apparently having fallen asleep from training too hard.
At the same time, a black-haired youth in black night clothes with two deep nasolabial folds was slowly advancing toward the interior of the Uchiha clan.
But countless shadows followed behind him.
Konoha ANBU, Root, and Uchiha Itachi.
But they didn't see that countless figures had also appeared throughout the Uchiha clan's territory.
Standing on the spire of the tallest building in the Uchiha clan was a youth in white robes with a fan pattern on his back, looking down at their arrival from above.
"It begins!" Meruem, being held like a koala by Ruiko, suddenly opened his eyes. Glancing at Ruiko beside him, he lightly waved his left hand, and the person, bed, and even the entire house disappeared together.
This was "Four-Dimensional Apartment" but different from the original. Knov's Four-Dimensional Apartment entrance was generally only door-sized, while Meruem's Four-Dimensional Apartment entrance could take in Ruiko's entire house.
This house contained Ruiko's memories - she had cried here and laughed here. Meruem didn't want to erase these, so he simply took the house and person together into the Four-Dimensional Apartment. There was plenty of space anyway.
"Crack, crack." Meruem moved his body, producing a series of bean-popping sounds.
"Make noise, make noise, make noise. The bigger the commotion you make, the better I can fish in troubled waters. Everyone in Konoha, I'm starting!" Meruem licked his upper lip and let out a series of strange laughs.
Flashing blades, blood shadows - no unnecessary words, no unnecessary shouts. Except for the sounds of kunai meeting long swords and shuriken, and sharp weapons piercing bodies, there were no other superfluous sounds.
"Itachi, you've come." In the largest and oldest building in the Uchiha clan, a middle-aged man who looked eighty percent like Uchiha Itachi looked at the person before him. Beside him stood a very beautiful woman.
Uchiha Fugaku and his wife, also Itachi and Sasuke's mother, Uchiha Mikoto.
"Father..." Itachi stared blankly at Fugaku, as if his father had been waiting for him. A bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Indeed, had he been discovered long ago? A father knows his son best - Fugaku had already made his decision.
"On one side is my son, on the other is the family... I'm sorry, I cannot choose. Only death can give you a chance to live. Take good care of Sasuke..."
"Father... why?" Itachi felt his throat tighten. Was what he was doing right or wrong? Betraying his family and personally killing his own father? No! I am right! For Sasuke, for the village, for peace... but he is my father...
"Do it, Itachi." Fugaku, kneeling on the tatami, slowly closed his eyes.
With trembling hands, Itachi thrust the sharp katana into Fugaku's body, then used the same method to pierce Mikoto's body.
"Itachi, Sasuke... my children, I love you. I'm sorry... please forgive me for not being able to watch you grow up..." These were Uchiha Mikoto's last words as she lay dying.
"Be careful of Sasaki - he also has Mangekyou." In the last moment before leaving this world, Fugaku didn't forget to warn Itachi.
Itachi knelt before the two of them, tears streaming down his jaw and falling to the ground... He had thought his tears had already dried up...
"Clap, clap, clap" - loud applause rang out inappropriately at this moment. This sound was so grating to Itachi's ears right now.
Several figures emerged from the shadows of the room.
Uchiha Sasaki.
(End of Chapter)
[Get +20 Extra Chapters On — P@tr3on "Mutter"]
[Every 50 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter Drop]
[Thanks for Reading!]