Familiar Blame-Shifting Tactics

"Green Medicine... It doesn't come with instructions, and what a plain, unadorned name. This reward is linked to healing, so it's probably some kind of medicine."

Ingetsu composed himself and walked toward the back of the group, growing increasingly curious about the reward item.

The Mission System had always been like this.

It issued missions quite casually.

The rewards were rather abstract as well.

Ingetsu glanced at the "Mission List" and focused on the "Main Mission."

Whether it was a Main Mission or a Side Mission, once issued, it could be stored as text within his consciousness.

Main Mission: Night of the Uchiha Massacre

Options:

1. Kill the other Uchiha.

2. Successfully escape Konoha.

Reward: (Plunder) Seize another person's Mangekyo, absorb their Eye Power, and obtain that Mangekyo's ability.

They had already escaped Konoha.

Yet the mission had not been completed. Ingetsu's guess had been correct—the system judged that they had not truly escaped yet.

To complete this Main Mission,

Ingetsu estimated

they might need the Uchiha Renegade Squad to become completely safe, or perhaps to kill all the pursuing forces and leave the Land of Fire.

"Captain... The wounds on Tamao have started bleeding heavily again..."

The young Uchiha looked anxious, sweat beading on his forehead as he glanced back from time to time.

Tamao lay motionless on his back. His head, chest, and limbs were all wrapped in bandages soaked through with blood, making him look like a mummy dipped in gore.

Tamao had lost consciousness, his eyes tightly shut, his breathing visibly weak.

The Uchiha stopped one after another and anxiously looked toward Tamao. Recalling Danzo's oppressive Advanced Wind Release Ninjutsu, they still felt shaken.

Aside from his back, not a patch of intact skin remained on Tamao's front, as though he had been hacked apart by a thousand blades.

Worry for her clansman and companion showed in Uchiha Izumi's limpid eyes. She hated herself for not learning Medical Ninjutsu while in Konoha.

The Uchiha knew very well

that no one would help them now. It was impossible for them to encounter a Medical Ninja along the way.

Tamao would most likely die on the road.

Ingetsu slightly furrowed his brow, focused his mind, and reached into the empty air.

His action left the others completely bewildered.

A moment later, everyone stared in astonishment as two items appeared out of thin air in Ingetsu's hand, as though he had used some mysterious Space Ninjutsu.

"Ingetsu really isn't simple at all!"

Uchiha Nanfeng raised a hand and adjusted his black-rimmed glasses, muttering inwardly.

This scene also left Uchiha Mikoto looking surprised, despite still being controlled by Yachihoko.

Ingetsu took a small black porcelain bottle from his Storage Space, along with Soldier Pills wrapped in yellow paper. He poured out one pill from each and stuffed them into Tamao's mouth.

The black porcelain bottle contained medicinal pills that could actively stimulate the Chakra within one's body.

He handed the two medicines to the young Uchiha carrying Tamao and instructed him, "Feed him one pill every hour."

The Uchiha took the bottle, and the others immediately let out a sigh of relief, though worry soon returned to their faces.

Ingetsu wanted to replenish the Chakra inside Tamao's body and forcefully keep him alive.

This crude method had been popular during the Great Ninja War. If there were no medical facilities during wartime, force-feeding Soldier Pills to critically wounded soldiers and enhancing the Chakra in their bodies could keep them alive for a while longer.

Everything came at a price.

At most, he would have one week.

If a critically wounded soldier did not receive Medical Ninjutsu treatment, the Chakra meridians driven to their limits by the medicine would be completely destroyed.

The wounded soldier would then die suddenly.

"He won't die for now. Keep moving. The pursuers are probably already on the way. If you don't want to die, run faster!"

Ingetsu's expression remained calm as he turned and returned to the front of the group, continuing to lead them in their flight.

He had done everything he could. Whether Tamao could survive would depend on fate.

"Get some rest. I'll carry him."

Uchiha Nanfeng took the two medicines from the Uchiha youth who had exhausted all his strength, then carried Tamao on his back as well.

A large portion of the young Uchiha's back had already been dyed red with blood. He hurriedly thanked him:

"Thank you, Captain Nanfeng."

Nanfeng reminded him, "Change out of the clothes you're wearing and put them away. The blood will leave traces."

The young Uchiha nodded, his heart filled with gratitude.

He was Tamao's subordinate. He had thought Ingetsu would abandon their captain, since they were fleeing for their lives, but Ingetsu had not done so.

This reassured him considerably.

Even Captain Nanfeng, who had held a grudge against Captain Tamao, had set aside his past grievances.

The Uchiha did not know where this journey would take them, but a subtle change was quietly taking place in the atmosphere within the group.

Outside the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

A flock of crows circled through the night sky, their hoarse cries unending and adding an even more eerie air of death to this ominous land.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Utatane Koharu, and Mitokado Homura walked side by side toward the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

ANBU had been stationed at the entrances and exits of the streets.

The three wore gloomy expressions as they considered how to deal with the aftermath of tonight's events.

"Hiruzen, I think the destruction of the Uchiha Clan can be blamed on that Uchiha Renegade Squad."

Utatane Koharu spoke slowly and quietly.

As she spoke, her pair of murky old eyes held no emotion at all. In her heart, this was simply how things ought to be handled.

Mitokado Homura's eyes lit up.

He thought the plan was feasible.

Sarutobi Hiruzen only felt that this blame-shifting tactic was eerily familiar. He merely looked at Utatane Koharu without expressing an opinion.

Utatane Koharu continued unhurriedly:

"After the Uchiha Clan is destroyed by the renegade Uchiha squad, Uchiha Itachi will do everything he can to stop the massacre but fail. He'll then be a heroic ninja of Konoha. Hiruzen, with Danzo dead, Konoha urgently needs capable people!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen demanded, "If Itachi refuses to become this hero, are we going to use Sasuke to keep him here?"

Utatane Koharu narrowed her eyes with a smile and slowly nodded.

Sarutobi Hiruzen flung back his sleeve and said coldly:

"Given Itachi's personality, he won't agree to become Konoha's hero in this manner. Even if we threaten him with Sasuke, it won't work."

The corners of Utatane Koharu's lips lifted. In front of Mitokado Homura, she leaned close to Sarutobi Hiruzen's ear and whispered a few words.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow gradually furrowed. He sank into thought, faced with a difficult choice, and began to waver.

The sky gradually brightened. At the Root Organization headquarters, an elite six-man Root team quietly left Konoha.

They were Danzo's trusted subordinates.

After learning that Danzo had died at the hands of the Uchiha Renegade Squad, they organized themselves and set out to hunt down the culprits in revenge.

The leaders were Yamanaka Fu and Aburame Torune.

Uchiha Clan Grounds.

The corpses of civilians lay strewn across the streets, while blood gathered in the low-lying areas.

Crows lined the walls, their pupils crimson as they silently watched the surroundings, waiting for something to arrive.

Until Itachi came walking over.

Whoosh—the flock of crows finally spread their wings and scattered around, dropping quite a few black feathers in the process.

Itachi had only taken a few steps before he found his target.

He saw Sasuke sitting with his head lowered, leaning against the wall of a wooden house. He then activated his Mangekyo:

"My foolish..."

Sasuke did not move at all, his eyes tightly shut.

"Hm?"

Itachi's brow furrowed deeply. He raised a hand and rubbed his eyes. Everything before him had become hazy, as though veiled in mist.

His vision cleared.

Itachi was stunned to discover that Sasuke was unconscious.