Night!
The bright moon hung high.
Moonlight spilled across the land, keeping the mortal world from being entirely swallowed by darkness.
Outside a luxurious classical-style courtyard, a young man walked, carrying a short blade on his back and wearing silver-gray armor. He had flowing, soft black hair and a rather handsome face, though the tear troughs on either side of his nose marred that handsomeness, yet made it real.
He was none other than Itachi Uchiha, who had made up his mind to slaughter his entire clan tonight, trading the sacrifice of his own family for the peace of the village.
His red eyes surveyed this courtyard. This was the residence of Setsuna Uchiha, the Great Elder of the Uchiha Clan, and it was also the first time Itachi had ever come here.
Itachi had known Shisui since he was very young, and the foundational hue of his ideology was that of the Dove Faction within Uchiha logic, naturally causing him to deeply resist and repel the extremist Setsuna Uchiha.
In the eyes of Itachi and Shisui, extremists like Setsuna were merely madmen—madmen who could not see themselves clearly and wanted to drag the clan down to destruction together with them.
And likewise, the hawk-faction Setsuna considered Shisui of the dove faction to be a mere fool, an idiot who was not only foolish himself, but wanted to drag the clan down to a foolish death along with him.
Therefore, whenever the two sides met, they either quarreled or fought, with no way to quietly and peacefully sit down and discuss anything.
Throughout Itachi's past years, he had not regarded this remnant of the old era with any regard at all.
Setsuna Uchiha had even rebelled back in the era of Tobirama, the Second Hokage. Whether viewed by Itachi or