Chapter 245: Shisui: Itachi, You’ve Disappointed Me Too Much
Konohagakure was immersed in an unusual silence.
Beneath this tranquility, a chilling killing intent surged like an undercurrent.
At the periphery of the Uchiha Clan territory where the Uchiha Clan gathered, several dark shadows moved silently, wearing the distinctive masks of Root, their actions swift and precise.
Several Root Ninja skilled in Barrier Ninjutsu dispersed and stood firm, their hands quickly forming hand seals, chakra’s glow flowing at their fingertips, as a massive, nearly transparent barrier gradually formed, intending to completely seal off the entire Uchiha Clan territory, turning it into a cage of despair.
A faint energy fluctuation began to permeate the air.
At that moment, one of the Root Ninja fully maintaining the jutsu suddenly froze.
He instinctively inhaled, and an extremely pungent smell, like inferior tobacco burning mixed with strange medicinal materials, abruptly entered his nasal cavity.
“Cough… uh…”
He didn’t even have time to issue a warning before intense pain seized all his senses.
The sensation was not mere suffocation, but as if he had inhaled not air, but scalding thick smoke and steel needles, burning and piercing from his throat all the way to his vital organs.
The seal in his hands instantly collapsed, his entire body curling up as he fell to the ground, struggling and convulsing violently like a fish out of water, his throat emitting only meaningless “heh heh” sounds, the face beneath the mask undoubtedly twisted in extreme agony.
Another nearby Root Ninja immediately noticed his companion’s abnormality, but he did not rashly approach to check.
As a Root member who had undergone strict selection and training, his first reaction was utmost vigilance as he scanned the surroundings, his hand gripping the short sword on his back.
But the next second, that invisible pungent smoke enveloped him too!
The eerie, deathly aura-laden smoke drifted into his mouth, nose, and even ears from all directions.
“Poison gas? No…”
The thought had just arisen when terrible pain descended.
He experienced the exact same horrific sensation as his companion, as if an unquenchable karmic fire had been ignited within his body, madly incinerating his meridians and organs.
He staggered one step, then powerless fell to the ground, joining his companion in silent near-death struggles.
At that instant, a faint sound of breaking air rang out.
In the darkness, two points of pale bone spikes precisely embedded into the vital points of the first fallen ninja.
Almost simultaneously, a senbon gleaming with cold light also pierced the neck of the second ninja deviously.
Their struggles ceased in an instant, their life auras rapidly dissipating.
The next moment, several figures landed silently like ghosts—it was the first squad members led by Uchiha Hikari.
Her scarlet three-tomoe Sharingan swept over the corpses on the ground in the darkness, calmly assessing the situation.
“East side barrier node cleared.” Uchiha Shisui’s voice came from the shadows on one side, as he appeared like teleporting.
The Konoha headband on his forehead remained, standing out among the Star Ninja, a complex, indefinable emotion flashing in his pair of three-tomoe Sharingan eyes.
He once belonged here, yet now he returned in another identity.
“West side resolved as well.” Miyashiro En stepped out from another direction.
At this time, from the mouths and noses beneath the masks of the two already dead Root Ninja, two strands of smoke rose curling and did not dissipate.
The smoke twisted and gathered in the air like it possessed life, ultimately forming one tall and one short humanoid shapes.
“Lord, mission accomplished.” Gōta and Yukimi reported after dispelling their smoke transformation.
Miyashiro En looked at Gōta and Yukimi who had just materialized from smoke, smacking his lips with great interest: “Tsk tsk, the Iburi Clan’s bloodline limit, killing without a trace, truly impossible to guard against. Impressive, impressive.”
‘Iburi Clan…’ Uchiha Shisui, witnessing this ability for the first time with his own eyes, could not help but reveal deep caution in his gaze.
Their bloodline limit allowed them to turn their bodies into smoke and enter others’ bodies through any orifice.
This method of killing without a trace was indeed dread-inducing.
Even Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki, who had quietly followed and hidden in the farther shadows, could not help but exchange surprised glances.
Minato nodded slightly, whispering: “Turning the body into smoke, directly infiltrating and destroying the enemy’s internals—this jutsu… somewhat resembles the Hozuki clan’s water transformation secret technique.”
Kushina also lowered her voice in agreement: “This reminds me of the poison gas from Hanzo of the Salamander you once mentioned—utterly undefendable.”
Orochimaru, manipulating the reanimated bodies of First Hokage Hashirama Senju and Second Hokage Tobirama Senju, followed at a distance behind the group, a glint of satisfaction passing through his golden snake pupils.
He had once been the Iburi Clan’s “benefactor,” though they later fell out and became enemies, but due to that man codenamed “Shura,” he had helped the Iburi Clan resolve the fatal flaw of their bloodline limit’s instability, where smoke transformation made it impossible to revert to human form.
The scene before him was undoubtedly the best validation of his research achievements.
He licked his lips, smiling silently, as if appreciating a perfect work of art.
Suddenly, the air in the field seemed to stagnate for an instant.
A figure appeared out of thin air without warning, as if he had always been standing there, merely peeling out from the shadows.
Menma wore a loose black robe, his face covered by a white three-eyed fox mask, all three eye holes emitting an indifferent gaze.
His appearance immediately made everyone present, including the just-materialized Gōta and Yukimi, kneel on one knee in unison, showing reverence and obedience.
“You’re here.” Uchiha Hikari reported softly, her voice clear and concise: “Uzumaki Kushina leading the second squad has proceeded as planned toward the Hyuga Clan territory for diversion. Kisame Hoshigaki’s third squad has also headed to the Konoha Military Police Force area, expected to have already made contact with the clan members there and begun providing support.”
Menma’s gaze pierced through the mask, sweeping over everyone, finally settling on the depths of the Uchiha Clan territory shrouded in the shadow of death.
He said nothing superfluous, merely raising his hand, pointing toward that Uchiha Clan territory from which sporadic screams and sounds of fighting were now emanating.
He waved his hand calmly.
The operation began.
………………
At the same time, on the main street of the Uchiha Clan territory.
The bloody scent was so thick it was almost tangible, forming a terrifying contrast with the former bustle of the clan territory.
Itachi Uchiha stood amid the wreckage, the ninja sword in his hand still slowly dripping warm blood.
He had already removed the Anbu animal mask from his face, revealing a young yet ice-cold expression devoid of any emotion, only his slowly spinning scarlet eyes harboring bottomless darkness and exhaustion.
Sensing something, he looked up toward the end of the street.
A figure stood there, staring incredulously at the hellish scene before her.
Izumi Uchiha, the girl who harbored vague fondness for him, now had a face pale as paper, her body trembling uncontrollably, her eyes filled with horror, fear, and the deepest bewilderment.
“You’re here.” Itachi’s voice was terrifyingly calm, as if merely stating an unrelated fact.
“…Why? Itachi!” Izumi’s voice carried a sob, almost shouted out: “Tell me this isn’t real! Why are you doing this?! They’re all your clan members!”
For a long time in the past, Izumi had repeatedly fallen into a terrifying and realistic nightmare.
In that illusion world, she experienced the clan territory being bloodbathed, where even swaddled infants and elderly could not escape the tragic fate.
And the one carrying out the slaughter was the very man before her—Itachi Uchiha.
She had told herself countless times that it was just an illusion, just a nightmare born of excessive worry.
Yet tonight, the nightmare intruded into reality in the cruelest way.
Facing Izumi’s questioning, Itachi’s gaze did not waver in the slightest, only a near-cruel calm: “Merely to measure my own capacity. A clan filled with hatred and narrow-mindedness has no value in continuing to exist.”
This sentence, like the final death knell, shattered the last shred of hope in Izumi’s heart.
The pain, struggles, and battles she had experienced countless times in the illusion world, the combat experience and understanding of the man before her forcibly instilled, at this moment overwhelmed the pure fear.
Her three-tomoe Sharingan spun madly, two lines of blood tears sliding down her cheeks—not tears of sorrow, but the manifestation of her eye power pushed to the extreme.
“If… if you really are this kind of person…” Izumi’s eyes spun with three tomoe madly, two lines of blood tears sliding down her cheeks: “Then even I, Izumi Uchiha… have misjudged you my whole life!”
Before the words finished, her figure shot forward, a kunai slicing through the air straight toward Itachi’s vitals.
The fierce battle erupted instantly!
Itachi raised his blade to block, the clash of metal ringing especially harshly on the deathly silent street.
Itachi originally thought he could easily subdue Izumi—after graduation, she had chosen relatively leisurely village internal duties, merely a genin.
But upon engaging, he immediately felt immense pressure!
Izumi’s attacks, dodges, counterattacks—every move was fierce, precise, and astoundingly seasoned!
Her combat experience far exceeded that of a genin, even richer and more tenacious than many three-tomoe Uchiha jonin who performed constant external missions!
She seemed able to predict Itachi’s every intent, always resolving crises at the smallest cost and delivering lethal counterattacks.
‘How is this possible?!’ A storm surged in Itachi’s heart.
Izumi’s fighting style gave him an eerie sense of familiarity…
As if… as if honed by instincts from a thousand battles to the death with him!
Having long performed top-level Anbu missions, his combat experience far surpassed his peers; dealing with Izumi should have been effortless.
Yet at this moment, the tenacity and combat skills Izumi displayed made it impossible for him to take her down quickly.
“It seems you have your secrets too.” Itachi commented indifferently, the Mangekyo pattern in his eyes suddenly sharpening.
He decided to end this meaningless entanglement, using top-level eye power to forcibly suppress and give this girl one final gift.
An eternal, happy illusion dream, letting her spend the rest of her life in blissful illusion, spared from this cruel reality and him, the cruel executioner.
The powerful Mangekyo eye power surged like an invisible tide toward Izumi’s mind.
However, the instant his eye power invaded her mental world, what he saw was not the anticipated fragile defense, but a blood moon hanging high, emanating ominous red light!
At the center of that blood moon, a never-before-seen, strangely patterned Mangekyo Sharingan suddenly opened, gazing back at him with absolute repulsion!
Cold, eerie eye power filled with protection and anger struck like a tangible impact, slamming into Itachi’s invading eye power!
“Urgh!” In reality, Itachi was struck hard, grunting muffledly, sharp pain from his eyes as two lines of blood surged from the corners! His mental power and eye power were forcibly expelled and rebounded!
“What?!”
In the real world, Itachi grunted, his body trembling slightly, the intense stinging pain in his eyes nearly shattering his calm.
Two lines of blood trickled from his eye corners—that was the backlash from his eye power being forcibly disrupted and rebound.
He looked incredulously at Izumi, still standing in place, panting in agony but not fallen into illusion.
And at that moment, another figure appeared silently beside Izumi, one hand gently supporting the nearly exhausted girl.
Itachi looked up, his Mangekyo Sharingan gaze meeting that figure.
Uchiha Clan Head, Uchiha Fugaku.
Fugaku’s Mangekyo Sharingan gaze was heavy, sweeping over the street full of clan members’ corpses, finally settling on his son’s bloodstained face and ninja sword, then glancing at Izumi beside him, still shaken and barely standing by leaning on him, and sighed deeply and heavily, that sigh containing too much unspeakable disappointment, pain, and helplessness.
“Is this your final choice, Itachi?” Fugaku’s voice was low and hoarse.
Itachi quickly suppressed the storm in his heart, forcing himself to regain calm.
He wiped the blood from his eye corners, his voice still steady: “Sorry, Father. I cannot accept the future brought by the path you foresaw.”
Instantly, Itachi’s Mangekyo spun again.
He transmitted through illusion the horrific outcome he had deduced from what he saw and heard while lurking in Anbu: if the Uchiha launched a coup, they would face Konoha High Council long prepared, united ninja clans in suppression, the Uchiha thoroughly slaughtered, even Sasuke unable to survive.
Fugaku’s body swayed slightly, his face growing even paler.
“So, that’s why you kept confirming with me before whether I had secretly contacted Uchiha Hikari of the Land of Stars, to ensure this ‘rebellion’ had no external interference, allowing the Konoha High Council to ‘perfectly’ carry out the cleanup…” Fugaku’s voice carried a hint of sarcasm, soon turning to powerlessness.
He closed his eyes, reopening them moments later with understanding and deeper sorrow: “For Sasuke…”
Itachi was silent for a moment, nodding with difficulty: “This is the best…”
“The best?” Fugaku interrupted him, his eyes filled with sorrow: “You’re wrong, Itachi. And… sorry.”
Itachi froze abruptly, a highly ominous premonition rising in his heart.
Could it be… Father he…
“I indeed did not proactively contact Uchiha Hikari or that ‘Shura.'”
Just as a sliver of doubt rose in Itachi’s heart, Fugaku’s next words plunged him into an ice cave.
“But during their last secret visit, they made a prophecy to me…”
Fugaku’s gaze sharpened, staring straight at Itachi: “…The Uchiha Clan will ultimately walk toward self-destruction, dying at the hands of those sharing the same bloodline.”
“At that time, she and Shura will come to take away all survivors, leaving this long-decayed Konoha, to pursue the Uchiha Clan’s true, bright future!”
At that moment, a figure lightly landed beside Izumi, reaching out to support her as she swayed on the verge of collapse from mental and physical exhaustion.
When Izumi’s blurred vision made out the side profile of the arrival, her taut, near-breaking nerves finally relaxed, endless relief surging in her heart; her head tilted, and she fully fainted.
That person gently laid Izumi flat on the ground, then slowly stood up.
“Itachi… you’ve disappointed me too much…”
“Shisui?!” The familiar voice rang out; when Itachi saw the speaker’s face, his expression showed near-collapse shock and disbelief for the first time!
Itachi’s pupils contracted violently, whispering in disbelief: “Impossible… you…”
Missing for over a year, long presumed dead with no body found—Uchiha Shisui!
Uchiha Shisui, still wearing the Konoha headband, ‘returned from death’; those eyes he should have lost now gleamed clearly with three-tomoe light, filled with disappointment, staring dead at Itachi.
“As expected… he saved you.” Nearby, Fugaku looked at Shisui, his tone complex, as if he had anticipated this.
His gaze did not linger on Shisui long, instead turning to the courtyard wall beside the street.
Unnoticed when, several figures already stood silently there.
The two leaders stood shoulder to shoulder.
It was the inscrutable black-robed Shura wearing the white three-eyed fox mask, and the stern-faced Uchiha Hikari.
Beside them, Miyashiro En, Gōta, Kimimaro Kaguya, Mizuki Haku, Yukimi, and others stood in a row, all in uniform Star Ninja attire, Star Country headbands on their foreheads, coldly overlooking the human tragedy below.
And farther away, in undetected shadows, Minato Namikaze let out an almost inaudible sigh.
Kushina Uzumaki bit her lip tightly, her eyes filled with sympathy for the Uchiha’s plight and anger at the Konoha High Council’s decisions.
“First Hokage Lord, Second Hokage Lord, please look…” In a more concealed corner, Orochimaru whispered to the two white-robed, hooded figures beside him, his tone brimming with malicious glee: “This is today’s Konoha, under your ‘Will of Fire,’ the latest fruit borne… a thorough, delightful… clan slaughter.”
As if deeming it insufficiently stimulating, Orochimaru added softly, like a devil’s whisper: “By the timing… the Third Hokage-led personal Anbu… should be arriving at the scene soon, to ‘clean up the aftermath,’ right?”
Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju, just partially unrestricted and regaining some consciousness, looked up to see the Shura field-like scene on the street below: countless Uchiha corpses strewn, the tragedy of brother killing brother unfolding…
First Hokage Hashirama Senju’s pupils trembled violently, his face showing incredulity.
Second Hokage Tobirama Senju coldly watched below, especially fixating on Itachi Uchiha and Shisui, and Uchiha Hikari on the wall, sharp and contemplative light flickering in his eyes.
On the courtyard wall, Menma’s gaze pierced through the mask, coldly falling on Itachi Uchiha below holding the bloodstained ninja sword.
The air over the entire Uchiha Clan territory seemed to completely solidify due to this force’s intervention and standoff.
