The morning mist had yet to fully disperse, but firelight had already spread across the battlefield.
The sound of weapons slicing through the air, the explosions caused by Ninja Techniques, the hoarse, desperate shouts of the ninja—all of it boiled endlessly on the battlefield.
Kunai, shuriken, ninja blades lay scattered everywhere, embedded in the ground, lodged in the bodies of corpses; the stench of blood was so overwhelming it made one nauseous, and the earth was dyed red.
The battle raged on from morning until afternoon, storm clouds rolling in from distant skies, unleashing cold rain, and the air turned somber and chilly.
The rain fell mercilessly upon Itachi, who was only four years old.
That young, fragile body was noticeably out of place on the battlefield; his childish soul was shaken by the horrors unfolding before his eyes.
Drenched in the cold rain, he stared blankly at everything happening in front of him.
The battlefield was riddled with craters—as the rain fell, they continued to billow hot, black smoke that curled upward into the sky.
Brutal scenes, blood and severed limbs, were reflected unflinchingly in Itachi's eyes.
Looking closely, the fallen bodies all around—whether Konoha Ninja or Hidden Cloud Village Ninja—not one corpse wore a peaceful expression.
Twisted in agony, stiffening in deformity, their bodies grew cold.
Standing beside Itachi was his father, Uchiha Fugaku.
The current clan leader of the Uchiha Clan, one of Konoha's noble families and a powerful ninja who could effortlessly wield Kekkeigenkai Sharingan.
The gentle warmth that once marked his father Fugaku's face was gone, replaced only by an endless seriousness.
Itachi desperately wished he could throw himself into his father's arms, seeking a haven of familial comfort to forget the horrors playing out before him.
Yet Fugaku did not act according to Itachi's wishes.
He gave him no solace; instead, he spoke coldly:
"This is war—a ninja's war."
War…
Itachi did not know what war was before.
Until now, he began to understand, a little, what war was.
Konoha and Hidden Cloud Ninja fighting—none of it was connected to their own will; the ninja on both sides died in pain and misery, struggling at the edge of hell.
The suffering and despair of the corpses, regardless of which side's ninja, were all the same.
Itachi could deeply sense that each corpse lying on the ground did not want to die. Yet they still died—in agony.
Why had it become like this?
Because war had broken out.
Itachi felt some regret; when his father Fugaku asked him to come to the battlefield to witness the real world, he should have refused.
He instinctively rejected seeing these scenes.
Clenching his tiny fists, his heart was sucked into a whirlpool of indescribable emotions—he didn't know the reason or why this revulsion arose—it was simply a suffocating oppression, weighing on his chest, making it hard to breathe.
"War…"
As if sensing Itachi's trembling and frail whisper, Fugaku's voice cut through the wind and rain, clear and precise in Itachi's ears.
"Meaningless battles and killings among strangers—this is the ninja world. It is also a world cursed by war. You are destined to live in such a world. The reason I brought you here is so you can see clearly what the real world is."
His words struck like a hammer—savage and heavy—smashing fiercely into Itachi's young heart.
The 'truth' Fugaku spoke of—the ninja's truth, the truth of a world cursed by war—was utterly beyond what four-year-old Itachi could understand.
Even though Fugaku said he wanted him to see the truth of the world.
Still, Itachi did not want to see such things.
He could only desperately hold back his fear, restrain the tears from falling.
"Remember all of this well. We ninja survive for the sake of battle. Because you are not just part of Konoha, you will also be an outstanding ninja who inherits the Uchiha name. Itachi, you're a smart child—you'll understand."
No, I don't understand. Itachi could barely breathe, desperately wanting to speak up to Fugaku, but afraid of his father's reproach and disappointed gaze, so he restrained himself in silence.
Unspeakable terror made Itachi fear closing his eyes, wishing he could forget everything he'd just witnessed.
Yet the more he tried to erase those images, the clearer they became in his mind.
Blood; twisted, hopeless faces of corpses.
When he reopened his eyes, nothing in front of him had changed—it was still the living hell that etched itself into Itachi's memory.
And he, Uchiha Itachi, would live within this hellish world.
But deep inside, Itachi rejected such a world; resolving conflict through battle and strife was wrong—he could not endure quietly in this kind of world.
From now on, he absolutely did not want to live in such a world.
Therefore, before him lay only one path—to change it all.
This world must change.
◎
The Hidden Cloud's assault was fierce, but on Konoha's side, there were ninja like the Yellow Flash. No matter how ferociously Hidden Cloud advanced, they could not force their way into the Land of Fire at all.
This deadlock dragged on until June—then things finally took a new turn.
That was when the Hidden Cloud withdrew without fighting, pulling their forces out of the Land of Hot Water, returning to the Land of Lightning, leaving the Konoha Ninjas guarding the border of the Land of Fire astonished.
Hidden Cloud's retreat was extremely strange. Before withdrawing, they sent no one to negotiate a truce, nor did they give the slightest warning. Although, due to the Yellow Flash's presence, Hidden Cloud's actions became greatly restricted, Konoha suffered as well.
If the deadlock continued, it was still uncertain whose victory it would be.