In the enveloping darkness, the night was silent, with moonlight cascading down like water, illuminating what had become a hell on Earth in the Uchiha clan's territory.
The air was thick with the nauseating mixture of blood, charred flesh, and decay.
Once a powerful family among the five great ninja villages, the Uchiha clan had now become a mere footnote in history after this night.
The boy destined to carry the Uchiha name into the future was placed by his brother in a location agreed upon with someone else, marking the beginning of his tumultuous fate.
At this moment, Uchiha Itachi stood at the edge of the inferno, having dealt with the aftermath. The bloodstains on his ninja attire were already cleaned, but his gaze remained fixed on the blazing remnants of what was once called "home," his crimson eyes flickering with an unknown color deep within.
"It seems you've finally found what you believe to be the right path, Itachi... Is this your last shred of familial love, unwilling to let your clan's corpses be desecrated?"
A cold voice rang out from behind, but it was not the person Itachi had been waiting for.
The owner of that voice was someone Itachi knew all too well—someone he never imagined he would encounter in this place again.
Itachi slowly turned his head, his Sharingan glowing an eerie red under the moonlight, and the shock in his eyes was unmistakable.
"Shisui?!"
Illuminated by the fire and moonlight, Itachi's pupils clearly reflected Shisui's figure.
Though his physique had changed slightly, and a black bandage obscured his eyes, his skin pale and unearthly...
None of that could prevent Itachi from recognizing him at first glance.
After all, in these two years, Itachi had not forgotten for a moment his mentor and friend. The moment he saw him, his expression was nothing short of spectacular.
So spectacular that the observant Shisui completely missed the true reason for Itachi's shock—
In the world of Tsukuyomi, the Fourth Hokage, who had spoken to him about plans and the future, had never mentioned that Shisui was still alive!
Things had changed!
"You and that Uchiha Madara..."
"I was saved by him, and I joined his organization. He sent me to bring you back."
Shisui replied calmly.
Just as Shisui finished speaking, Itachi suddenly furrowed his brow, covering his right eye with his hand, a flash of pain crossing his face, before closing his Sharingan.
"It seems you've overused your eyes..." Shisui observed, not questioning further as he stepped forward to support Itachi.
"Thank you." Itachi exhaled a sigh of relief as he finally opened his eyes to reveal his normal three-tomoe Sharingan, a look of vulnerability directed at Shisui. "To see you again, I thought you were dead... It truly... excites me."
Before the ancestral home, nearly consumed by flames, Itachi spoke while looking at Shisui, then his gaze drifted to the black bandage over Shisui's eyes.
Noticing Itachi's attention, Shisui said lightly, "I've gained new power, but I can't control it just yet. I can't show you."
With Shisui's reply, Itachi's heart sank.
He hadn't caught up with the signals they once used.
He didn't even realize what was hidden in his own eyes...
Yet on the surface, Itachi maintained his exceptional acting skills, his expression perfectly embodying the complex feelings of someone who had just slaughtered his kin and was reuniting with an old friend amidst a sea of corpses—guarded yet difficult to describe.
"It's over... So, should we leave now?"
Shisui didn't probe into what Itachi had done to his family, as if he had ceased to care about it all.
Itachi glanced back at the dwindling flames, feeling that the memories with his parents and younger brother had also been burned away, leaving only ruins behind.
After a moment of silence, he replied, "You go ahead; I need to speak with the higher-ups in Konoha."
Shisui didn't respond, disappearing in an instant.
Itachi stood quietly, the wind whispering, the strong scent of blood mingling with an unfamiliar odor.
He sensed others lurking in the shadows, but they were neither Shisui nor Uchiha Obito; given their levels, they could not have been easily detected by him.
It seemed to be the late-arriving Root organization ninjas.
After identifying the lurking presence, Itachi understood their intentions and chose to ignore them as he vanished from the scene.
"Whoosh."
Two masked members of the Root organization landed where Itachi had just been. One, with a complex expression beneath his mask, remarked, "We're too late. He's already used Fire Release to dispose of the bodies. Did he sense something?"
"Keep looking; there might still be some traces. We can't afford to disappoint the leader."
"Damn it, if it weren't for that Hyuga..."
Meanwhile, in a secret location, the Third Hokage stood alone, gazing into the distance where the lights of the village flickered faintly.
After a long wait, he had yet to see Itachi appear.
Due to Hiashi Hyuga's unusual behavior that day, the Third Hokage could only vaguely sense something was amiss, letting out a long sigh.
He knew that some of his decisions, once made, could never be taken back.
Itachi not returning as agreed to report was a silent answer in itself.
"Hm?" Suddenly, the Third Hokage sensed something unusual. Turning around, he saw a kunai whistling through the air, the sharp weapon embedding itself inches from his foot with a crisp sound.
Attached to the kunai was a piece of paper.
The Third Hokage looked in the direction the kunai had come from, catching a glimpse of a crow disappearing into the night.
Unfolding the note, the first line revealed a hidden location—where Itachi had previously agreed to hide Sasuke.
Beyond that, there was another piece of information that left the Third Hokage stunned:
"Suspected target of Uchiha Shisui, within the Akatsuki."
At that moment, in a desolate ancient ruin amidst swirling sands, Uchiha Izumi cautiously emerged after temporarily settling the other clan members. She scanned the area, finally spotting Itachi standing silently before two gravestones.
Perhaps due to the life-and-death moments they had faced, Izumi approached Itachi from behind, reaching out gently to embrace him, resting her head softly against his back.
It seemed she wanted to convey her affection as comfort, warming the one she deemed the hero who had 'saved' their clan at that moment.
This time, Itachi did not reject her; he accepted this final embrace.
Her long black hair flowed in the wind as her delicate face pressed against his back, full of anticipation as she yearned to hear how he had 'rescued' their kin.
The wind howled, and a bright moon hung in the sky.
Stars twinkled as the two exchanged whispers beneath the moonlight.
What a beautiful and romantic scene it was.
However, as Itachi calmly revealed the truth, Izumi released her embrace, instinctively stumbling back a few steps.
The sound of her feet sinking into the sand was piercingly loud.
When she raised her head to look at Itachi, who had turned to face her, her once-bright eyes now held only emptiness, devoid of even the color of despair.
There is no greater sorrow than a dead heart.
"Why... did you tell me all this?" Izumi's voice trembled, hoarse.
Itachi said nothing. In the next moment, a kunai shot towards him, piercing his chest!
The pain caused Itachi to instinctively frown, fresh blood spilling from his chest and dripping onto the yellow sand.
Just a bit further, and the kunai would have pierced his heart.
But it halted right there.
Uchiha Izumi's hand trembled as she gripped the kunai, tearing at the wound as if it were cutting into her flesh, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't push it any further.
She placed her other hand on the hilt, wanting to drive it into the heart of the man before her.
But in Izumi's hands, the kunai felt as heavy as a mountain, impossible for her to move.
Tears streamed silently down Izumi's face.
From that night of the Nine-Tails incident when he had saved her, their paths had crossed;
The joy of greeting him at the ninja academy, their conversations by the lake;
Her hopes of bumping into him during daily walks with her clan, longing to hear his thoughts;
And many, many more...
These memories flooded back to her mind, each scene a moment shared between the girl and him.
But all those images froze, captured in his expression of guilt, locked in the instant of Izumi's embrace just moments ago.
Then, like the wind and sand, they dispersed into the desert.
In the end, she could not bring herself to strike; she could not avenge.
In the end...
"Get out."
With a word so cold it could freeze even the desert night, Izumi withdrew the kunai from Itachi's chest. When she raised her head again, her crimson Sharingan, glistening with tears, locked onto the man she had once admired.
"Never show yourself in front of me again."
"Otherwise, I will kill you!"
Izumi resolutely turned away, walking away without a glance.
Unbeknownst to her, in that brief moment as she turned away, her tear-filled crimson eyes formed a sharp blade pattern.
As Itachi watched Izumi's silhouette disappear into the distance, he pressed his hand against the wound in his chest. It hurt deeply, but he couldn't tell if the pain originated from his heart or his body.
A self-deprecating smile crept onto Itachi's face as he gazed at the flickering embers of the ruins and the two blank stones. After a long moment, he too turned to leave.
Suddenly, a memory surged back into his mind with the disappearance of his shadow clone, leaving Itachi frozen in place—
His plan with the Fourth Hokage to set a trap for Uchiha Obito had failed. Obito hadn't come to meet his shadow clone in person, nor had he triggered the Kotoamatsukami that Itachi had embedded in the clone!
Moreover, the master of Kotoamatsukami, Uchiha Shisui, was still alive!
Within the ranks of the Akatsuki organization!