Uchiha Clan District. Smoke rose from all sides. The air was thick with the scent of blood and the acrid stench of saltpeter from exploding tags. Corpses lined the streets; severed limbs and viscera lay scattered across the pavement.
Uchiha Police Force Dungeon. Inabi leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. The shrill cries echoing from the district felt like a summons—he could hear the voices of his parents, his brothers, his clansmen.
"They... they seem to be calling me to join them..." Inabi's pale, cracked lips moved. The blood on his face had long since dried. His consciousness was fading, but he refused to die yet. He wanted to hear the news of Uchiha Kuroya's death before he allowed himself to descend into hell.
His remaining Three-Tomoe Sharingan flickered as he watched the air in front of him ripple. His eyes widened in shock. The space twisted clockwise, and a masked man stepped out, a Mangekyō Sharingan visible through the single hole in his mask.
"Another... Mangekyō!!" Inabi's eyelids twitched. His mind was on the verge of collapse, but the shock forced him back into focus.
The masked man scanned the rooftop. It was a mess. He stepped over Inabi's body and knelt to examine the Uchiha corpses nearby. He lifted a body, dropped it, lifted another, and dropped it again, shaking his head with a sigh. He walked the perimeter of the rooftop and returned to the center, his brow furrowed beneath the mask.
Nearly fifty corpses of core Uchiha Police Force members lay here. Every single one was missing its Sharingan.
Drip... splash...
The sound of wet footsteps echoed as Itachi walked up the stairs. He crossed the roof, stepping over his fallen kin. He was drenched in blood, leaving crimson footprints with every step, looking like a demon crawled from a pit of corpses. His killing intent had not yet subsided.
Inabi struggled to turn his head. Seeing Itachi, rage flared on his face. He clenched his fists, propping himself up. "The screaming in the village... was it caused by Kuroya slaughtering the civilians?" he hissed. "Uchiha Kuroya is a traitor! Itachi... did you kill him yet?"
Itachi looked at Inabi but remained silent.
The masked man broke the silence. His single Mangekyō glowed red as he looked at Inabi. "These Police members... were they all killed by that Uchiha Kuroya? Were the eyes taken by him as well? Did he slaughter the entire Police Force alone?"
Inabi's face went pale as the memory flooded back. He nodded weakly. "Yes. He killed my men first, then left me alive to lure in the reinforcements... and then he butchered them all."
"You are lying," Itachi said coldly, his eyes narrowing. "Kuroya was just an ordinary Jōnin, a squad captain. He didn't have that kind of power. He couldn't have done this alone."
Itachi had partnered with the masked man for a reason. He took the task of killing the civilians while the masked man was supposed to handle the Police Force—the core of the Uchiha's military strength. It wasn't that Itachi couldn't do it, but it would have taken time. From the state of the scene, Kuroya had cleared these people faster than the masked man could have.
Inabi chuckled breathlessly. "But that is the truth. You can go look for him yourselves. I... have no reason to lie to you anymore."
Itachi's pupils contracted. He could tell Inabi wasn't lying.
The masked man let out a short, mocking laugh. "No wonder. The only ones left at the Police HQ were a few old men who couldn't scrape together a single pair of Three-Tomoe between them. What a disappointment. But... how interesting. Since this Kuroya has gathered all the Sharingan for me, I suppose I'll take them from him. Itachi, finish this one and bring me his eye. I'm going after the rats who escaped!"
With that, the masked man activated Kamui. His body twisted into the void and vanished.
"Take my eye..." Inabi muttered. He felt a surge of killing intent and glared at Itachi.
Itachi's face remained a mask of indifference. He sighed, raised his blade, and walked toward Inabi.
"Itachi, what are you doing??" Inabi demanded. Then, connecting the dots between Kuroya's actions and Itachi's presence, the truth finally hit him.
"Inabi, open that remaining eye of yours and watch closely what happens next to the Uchiha district!!" Kuroya's final words echoed in his mind.
Inabi finally understood everything.
The next second, blood sprayed.
"I'm sorry," Itachi whispered. "I am the one who killed the clan."
Itachi's blade pierced Inabi's heart, the steel emerging from his back. Inabi's face contorted as his life force flickered out. His remaining Three-Tomoe stared at Itachi with a mixture of unwilling rage and agonizing regret.
The one who truly wanted to exterminate the Uchiha tonight... was Uchiha Itachi!
Inabi finally realized that by killing the Police Force members as a "traitor," Kuroya had granted them a quick, merciful release. If they had died at the hands of Itachi—the man they had placed all their trust in—they would have died in the same state of despair as Inabi himself.
Kuroya had planned everything. He knew the patrol route he had assigned would take his squad away from the initial slaughter. He had intentionally gotten himself "arrested" to be in position. He had killed the shinobi in the dungeon to draw in the rest of the Police Force, ensuring they died quickly and that their eyes wouldn't fall into the hands of the "masked man."
And then, he had used the patrol squad to stage a pursuit, leading them out of Konoha—leading them away from the genocide.
No wonder he had said that as long as he lived, the Uchiha would endure with dignity. He had already prepared the "seeds" of the clan. He had operated like a precision machine—time, place, and people, all perfectly aligned.
He really is countless times stronger than me, Inabi thought as his vision darkened. Stronger than the useless Clan Head. Stronger than the useless elders. One day, he will return with a new Uchiha...
Inabi felt a profound sense of irony. He had misunderstood Kuroya's intent until the very end. He felt he truly deserved to die.
Kuroya was, as always, gentle. He hadn't touched a single civilian. And his blade was swift and accurate—far more merciful than the "ungrateful wolf" standing before him.
Inabi's breath stopped. His eye remained open, and Itachi reached out, plucking the Three-Tomoe Sharingan with practiced precision. Itachi then turned and left. The corpses didn't matter. His priority now was to deal with the defecting Uchiha squad. If he didn't, the village elders might not keep their promise to protect Sasuke.
Edge of the Uchiha District. The small-scale war between Root and ANBU had ended. ANBU had technically won, but at the cost of half their men. Eighty percent of the Root operatives were dead; the remaining twenty percent lay on the ground, clutching wounds and wailing in agony. The ANBU captains, shaken to their core, ordered a temporary withdrawal from the immediate area to regroup.
The second group to arrive was not the Third Hokage, but a few ambitious Jōnin.
Woof! Woof! Woof! The frantic barking of ninken echoed through the night, their voices laced with terror at a residual energy they couldn't name. Five figures appeared.
"Phew—that's a hell of a mess!" Asuma Sarutobi exhaled a cloud of smoke, surveyed the forest of corpses, and casually tossed his half-finished cigarette. A chill ran down his spine, but he felt a surge of excitement.
Root and ANBU had taken heavy losses. If he could capture the person responsible, it would be a massive achievement. His reputation would skyrocket. Asuma felt that if he ever wanted to challenge the old man—his father—on how things were run, he needed to build his own legend first.
Thinking of this, the young Asuma felt his fear fade. The bigger the storm, the greater the glory!