The Mother Who Ran Away

Uchiha Clan Head's residence.

The bedroom.

"Come in. There are no traps!"

Uchiha Fugaku and his wife, Uchiha Mikoto, knelt on the floor with indifferent expressions. Through their actions, they responded to the miserable wails from the clan grounds.

The bedroom door was pushed open.

Uchiha Itachi walked in, his entire body stained with the blood of his clansmen. He wore a Leaf Headband and the gray armor of the ANBU, and held a sharp ninja blade.

Uchiha Fugaku sensed his son's hesitation and lowered his head in resignation. "I see... So you've chosen their side."

"Dad, Mom... I..."

Itachi's eyes were red, and he didn't dare look directly at his parents' backs.

"We understand, Itachi," Mikoto said coldly.

"Itachi, promise me one last thing. Sasuke is in your care." Uchiha Fugaku's tone was calm.

"I know..." Tears spilled from Itachi's Three-Tomoe Sharingan, and both his hands trembled uncontrollably around the blade.

"Don't be afraid. This was your own decision, wasn't it? Compared to you, our suffering will last only an instant." Fugaku said firmly, "Even if our thoughts differ, we will still be proud of you."

The mirrorlike blade lay steadily between Fugaku and Mikoto. Both sides of the blade reflected their indifferent expressions.

At last, Fugaku said calmly, "You truly are a kind child."

Itachi's heart throbbed. He clenched his teeth as tears poured out wildly, falling onto his hands around the blade.

Peace in the Leaf Village! The clan's ambition! A situation with no way out! His friends' vows!

For the sake of a shinobi world without war!

Everything.

All of it.

Turned into countless black lines that bound his heart.

Uchiha Itachi was suffocating, nearly unable to find a way out. He aimed his blade at the black line closest to his heart. It was called "clansmen."

As if, so long as he severed it,

he could gain peace.

He didn't think for long.

"I... understand."

Not long ago, Uchiha Itachi had already found the resolve to descend into hell. In the next moment, he viciously brought down the sharp ninja blade in his hand.

Spurt—

Blood splashed across the wooden floor, like a paintbrush dipped in crimson and casually swept across a canvas.

Fugaku collapsed with a thud.

At that moment, Mikoto's body trembled slightly. Red light rose in her eyes, and the blade-shaped Mangekyo rotated within them.

Just as Itachi swung his killing blade down again,

a kunai suddenly slipped from Mikoto's sleeve. She gripped its handle, spun around sharply, and blocked Itachi's ninja blade head-on with the kunai.

Clang—

The kunai and ninja blade collided, ringing with a metallic tremor as sparks flew.

Itachi furrowed his brows, froze for a moment, then looked up at his mother in astonishment through his Three-Tomoe Sharingan and cried out:

"Mangekyo!"

Mikoto stared blankly with her mouth open, a bewildered expression on her face. Her body was completely beyond her control.

At that moment, her body seemed to have developed a will of its own, telling her that it didn't want to die here yet.

Thus, Mikoto's body retreated without hesitation, widening the distance before crashing into the bedroom window.

Crash—

The window shattered. Mikoto raced into the darkness at top speed and disappeared without looking back.

"..."

Itachi looked at his dead father lying on the floor, then at his mother's retreating figure. His emotions rose and fell, completely failing to connect.

What exactly had happened??

Praised by Sarutobi Hiruzen as someone who possessed the thinking of a Hokage, Itachi quickly understood after thinking for a moment.

"Was it because she couldn't let go of Sasuke?

Father is already dead.

Mother awakened the Mangekyo?

But.

Even if she is still alive, she won't have any impact on the current situation."

Itachi left the Uchiha Clan Head's residence and returned to the street. He looked around but saw no one.

"If both Mother and Father possessed the Mangekyo, I would definitely be the one who died."

Itachi continued deeper into the clan grounds, pondering as he went. Along the way, he glanced toward the Uchiha Military Police Force. The sounds of battle there had already ceased.

He probably still had about fifteen minutes.

On the outskirts of the Uchiha Clan Grounds, the forest was dark and gloomy. Light footsteps and the rustling of swaying branches echoed together without pause.

Several three-person squads had arrived here one after another.

They wore blue-and-green patterned masks, gray-and-white harness armor, and tattoos on their left arms. Ninja blades were strapped to their backs.

They were Danzo's trusted subordinates, an independent organization established under the name of the ANBU Training Department.

At this moment, these Root Organization members stood or crouched on the branches.

Each of them radiated a gloomy aura, like beasts that had dwelled in darkness for years.

Tap—

The dull sound of a cane striking the ground came from behind. The Root members beneath the trees turned their heads, then immediately lowered them and stepped aside, clearing a path.

An aged yet steady figure walked out of the shadows one step at a time.

He passed between his subordinates and came to the front.

Mottled moonlight illuminated his old face, covered in wrinkles and crossing knife scars.

Shimura Danzō supported himself with a cane in his left hand. White bandages wrapped around his head and covered his right eye, while his right arm, wrapped in a black robe, hung before his chest.

He raised his head and gazed into the depths of the forest.

His murky left eye narrowed slightly.

His shadow swallowed the moonlight behind him. It was as if wherever he stood became a darkness where light could never exist.

"Shimura Danzō!!"

On the branches, Uchiha Nanfeng and the others were mixed among the Root Organization members. When they saw who had arrived, their pupils shrank and their breathing stopped.

Had Ingetsu brought them here to cause trouble for Danzo?

Was this suicide?

This behavior was like a heavy hammer striking their hearts, immediately jolting the Uchihas out of their grief.

This was absolutely impossible to accomplish.

The other side was the Hokage Assistant!!

Even if the few Uchihas they had left joined forces with Ingetsu, who possessed the Mangekyo, it was impossible for them to eliminate him under the protection of more than a hundred Root Organization members.

Ingetsu had controlled the nine of them, but there were still over a hundred Root Organization members nearby. Could he really control all of them?

This was what the Uchihas were thinking at that moment.

This was an operation that absolutely could not be completed!

Whoosh—

Two Root members who had returned from the depths of the forest using Body Flicker crouched before Danzo with their heads lowered and spoke respectfully:

"Lord Danzo, the battle in the Uchiha Clan Grounds will end soon."

Danzo held his head high, his left eye lowered as he sized up his two personal subordinates. He spoke in a low voice, "Go. Hurry and collect the eyes."

"Yes... Lord Danzo!"

The Root Organization member on the right suddenly raised his head. Red light suddenly blossomed within the eye sockets beneath his mask. Three blade-shaped Mangekyo patterns quietly rotated in his right eye as he provoked him:

"May I ask, are these the kind of eyes you want us to collect?"

He slowly rose and removed his mask.

Ingetsu's face appeared.

The red radiance of his Mangekyo contained Yin Release Chakra energy. Through eye contact, it instantly pierced Danzo's widened left eye, only to encounter the resistance of the familiar Three-Tomoe Sharingan's Eye Power.

In merely an instant,

the Mangekyo's Eye Power crushed the frail stream of the Three Tomoe like a landslide and a tsunami.

On the trees, countless Root members heard the disturbance and lowered their heads one after another. Their gazes met the red radiance, and everyone froze in place as if they had turned into stone statues.

The Uchihas were stunned.

Ingetsu had really done it. In an instant, he had controlled everyone present.

This showed just how overwhelming Ingetsu's Mangekyo truly was!!

"What happened?"

"Lord Danzo!"

"Enemy attack!!"

The Root Organization members couldn't speak. They stood rooted in place, crying out in their hearts while their bodies remained unable to move.

"How could there be an Uchiha here?" Danzo froze in place. He tried to break free, but his thoughts suddenly stalled. "I can't move my body."

Ingetsu had appeared unexpectedly.

How could Danzo have guessed that while he regarded the entire Uchiha clan as prey ready to be devoured, an Uchiha had also regarded him as prey?

In an instant.

The Root member on the left suddenly lunged at Danzo. His mask fell away in midair, revealing Tamao's baby-faced features.

"You old bastard, eat my blade!!"

Pfft—

He pressed against Danzo, and the ninja blade in his hand pierced through Danzo's heart. His movements were clean and decisive.

Tamao was being controlled by Ingetsu at the same time, but he was delighted because he had finally slashed the old bastard he'd always wanted to cut down!

At the same time,

Ingetsu reached out and clawed at Danzo's bandaged right eye. His fingers were like an eagle's talons, precisely tearing through the bandages. As blood spurted out, he plucked out a Sharingan.

It was none other than—the Kotoamatsukami Kaleidoscope!

The Uchihas lying in ambush in the trees nearby looked at that red-and-white eyeball, their thoughts churning as their anger was instantly ignited.

They understood many things.

Shisui's death was connected to Danzo!

Blood bloomed like flowers from Danzo's right eye socket and left chest at the same time, staining his bandages and clothing red.