Ingetsu's Gentleness, As Always

Uchiha Clan Grounds.

Smoke and gunpowder filled the air.

The air was thick with a sickly sweetness. In the distance, acrid smoke from Exploding Tag detonations billowed through the streets, where corpses lay everywhere, severed limbs and entrails scattered across the ground.

The Uchiha Military Police Force dungeon.

Inaho leaned against the wall, barely clinging to life. The shrill screams coming from the clan grounds seemed to be calling out to him. Among them were the voices of his parents, siblings, and fellow clansmen.

"They... seem to be calling me to join them..."

Inaho's pale, cracked lips moved faintly, the blood on his face long since dried.

His consciousness was beginning to blur.

But he still couldn't die.

He had to hear the news of Uchiha Ingetsu's death before he could descend to hell in peace.

His last remaining Three Tomoe Sharingan trembled as he stared at the distortion appearing in the space before him, his eyes filled with bewildered shock.

The space twisted clockwise.

The Masked Man slowly stepped out, his Kamui Mangekyo Sharingan manifesting in the hole of his mask.

"Another... Mangekyo!!!"

Inaho's eyelids twitched.

His mind was on the verge of collapse, but the shock forced him to focus again.

The Masked Man surveyed the rooftop. It was a complete mess. He took a step forward, stepped over Inaho, then crouched down to inspect the nearby Uchiha corpses.

The Masked Man lifted a corpse, set it down, lifted another, then set it down again, shaking his head with a sigh.

He walked around the entire dungeon before returning to his original spot.

His brows drew tightly together.

The corpses of more than fifty core members of the Uchiha Military Police Force had all been stripped of their Sharingan.

Clack--

At that moment, sticky footsteps echoed. Itachi climbed the stairs to the rooftop, stepping over the corpses of countless clansmen.

His entire body was drenched in blood. Every step left a bloody footprint, making him look as though he had just crawled out of a mountain of corpses. The killing intent still clung to him.

Inaho struggled to turn his head. When he saw Itachi, fury appeared on his face. He clenched his fists and forced himself upright, then rasped out:

"The screams from the clan... were they caused by Ingetsu slaughtering the civilians?"

"Uchiha Ingetsu is a traitor to the clan!"

"Itachi... did you kill him?"

Itachi merely ignored Inaho without answering.

The Masked Man broke the silence. His single Mangekyo glowed red as he looked toward Inaho and asked calmly:

"Were all these Military Police Force members killed by that Uchiha Ingetsu?"

"Did he take all their Sharingan too?"

"Did he kill the entire Military Police Force by himself?"

Inaho's face paled as memories surged back. Despair filled his expression, and he gave a slight nod.

"That's right. He first killed all my men, then left me alive to draw in more Military Police Force reinforcements before slaughtering them as well."

"You're lying." Suspicion appeared on Itachi's face as he said indifferently, "That Ingetsu is only an ordinary jonin, one of the Military Police Force captains. He doesn't possess that kind of strength. He couldn't have done this alone."

Itachi had cooperated with the Masked Man. Why had he been responsible for killing the civilians while the Masked Man dealt with the Military Police Force, the core of the Uchiha's power?

It wasn't that Itachi couldn't do it. It would simply have taken time.

Judging from the scene,

that Ingetsu had probably killed these people even faster than the Masked Man had wiped out the Military Police Force.

Inaho said helplessly:

"But that's the truth. You can go find him yourself. I... have no reason to lie to you."

Itachi's pupils contracted slightly. Judging from Inaho's tone, he wasn't lying.

The Masked Man was also shocked into a mocking laugh.

"No wonder. The Military Police Force is left with only a few old geezers who couldn't even scrape together a pair of Three Tomoe Sharingan. What a disappointment!"

"But this is really interesting."

"Since this Ingetsu has already collected all the Sharingan for me, I won't stand on ceremony."

"Itachi."

"Deal with this guy for me. Take his Three Tomoe Sharingan with you. I'll go after those rats who escaped!"

With that, the Masked Man impatiently activated Kamui. His body twisted in sync with space before vanishing on the spot.

"Take my Three Tomoe Sharingan..."

Inaho muttered blankly. Sensing a trace of killing intent, his last remaining Three Tomoe Sharingan glared furiously at Itachi.

Itachi remained expressionless. After letting out a sigh, he gripped his ninja blade and walked toward Inaho.

"Itachi, what are you trying to do??"

Inaho's eyes widened. After demanding an answer, he connected Ingetsu's actions with Itachi's and suddenly understood many things.

"Inaho, open your remaining Three Tomoe wide and see clearly what happens next in the Uchiha Clan Grounds!!"

Ingetsu's final words echoed in Inaho's mind.

Inaho gradually understood everything!

But the next second,

blood sprayed through the air.

"Sorry. I was the one who killed the clansmen."

Itachi's ninja blade pierced through Inaho's heart, the bloodstained blade jutting out from his back.

Inaho's face twisted. The flame of his life rapidly went out, and his last remaining Three Tomoe Sharingan stared hatefully at the white-eyed wolf before him, filled with unwillingness, fury, and regret.

The one who wanted to annihilate the Uchiha tonight

was Uchiha Itachi!!

Inaho finally understood. Ingetsu had killed the clansmen in the Military Police Force as a rogue ninja who had willingly gone to prison, giving his fellow clansmen release.

If all these people died at the hands of the Itachi they had placed their hopes in, they would probably die with the same regret as Inaho, unable to rest in peace.

The Uchiha Military Police Force was not far from the Military Police Force dungeon, only a few hundred meters away.

Long before deliberately allowing himself to be imprisoned, Ingetsu had arranged the duty roster for tonight's patrol teams.

With the patrol teams far from the clan grounds, he had killed the Uchiha ninja in the dungeon, drawn in the Military Police Force shinobi, killed them all as well, and taken their Sharingan.

Once he had drawn in the patrol team, Ingetsu deliberately let them pursue him, then led them out of the Leaf Village and away from this massacre.

No wonder... he had said that as long as he lived, the Uchiha could continue in the shinobi world with dignity.

So he had prepared the Uchiha's surviving spark long ago.

Ingetsu had arranged his plan like a precision machine: the time, the place, and the people involved, without a single deviation.

He really was countless times stronger than himself.

Stronger than that useless clan head.

Stronger than that useless elder.

One day, he would lead a brand-new Uchiha back here, wouldn't he...

At that thought, Inaho's expression grew complicated. Remembering how he had failed to understand Ingetsu's intentions, he felt that he truly deserved to die.

He sighed inwardly.

Ingetsu really was as gentle as ever.

He hadn't slaughtered the civilian clansmen.

And his blade had been swift and accurate, giving them a clean death. How could the white-eyed wolf before him compare...

His thoughts finally came to an end.

Inaho breathed his last.

He could not close his eyes. The Three Tomoe Sharingan Ingetsu had left for him were swiftly and precisely removed by Itachi.

Itachi rose and left.

As for the corpses of these clansmen, they were unimportant. The priority was dealing with that Uchiha Squad that had defected.

Otherwise, the Leaf Village's higher-ups might not honor their promise to protect Sasuke.

The edge of the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

The screams continued without end.

The small-scale battle between the Root Organization and ANBU had come to an end. ANBU had won, but had lost half its shinobi, while the Root Organization had lost eighty percent.

The remaining twenty percent of Root members clutched their wounds on the ground, writhing in agony and howling, no longer capable of fighting.

The ANBU captains were terrified and shaken. They led their men in a temporary retreat from the area.

The captains had never expected the enemy to possess such methods, catching them completely off guard.

The second group to arrive in the area was not the Third Hokage, but several jonin who had rushed ahead in pursuit of merit.

Woof, woof, woof!

The anxious barking of ninken echoed across the night sky, fear of some lingering energy contained in their voices.

Five figures appeared.

"Phew—what a brutal scene!"

Asuma exhaled smoke and looked around. He casually tossed the half-smoked cigarette in his hand onto the ground. As he gazed at the forest littered with corpses, a chill ran down his spine.

Yet he felt inexplicably excited inside.

The Root Organization and ANBU had suffered heavy losses.

If he captured the person responsible for all this, it would undoubtedly be a great achievement. By then, Asuma's reputation would skyrocket!

In the Leaf Village, Asuma felt that if he wanted to challenge some of that old man Sarutobi Hiruzen's decisions, he first needed to build up enough prestige.

That was some of the political experience he had learned while protecting the Daimyo.

At that thought,

the young Asuma suddenly felt that perhaps he wasn't so afraid after all.

The bigger the storm, the greater the merit!