Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall!

At dusk, Neji sat cross-legged in his Laboratory, his Observation Haki spread out.

Ever since he had sensed that something was off in Konoha lately, he had done this every day.

After all, before the Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall, there had been no precise timing or telltale event.

But today, Observation Haki had finally detected something different: an abnormal day in Uchiha Sasuke's routine.

He should normally have gone home early, but today, he had unusually been tied up by all sorts of things outside and lingered for a long time. Neji immediately sensed that something was wrong.

Then he recalled how Hiashi had also acted unusually that morning, telling him to return early today and not go out at night unless necessary.

He immediately understood. The Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall was about to begin.

He had not paid much attention to it before, but now it seemed that Hiashi knew something as well. He might not know exactly what was going to happen.

But he had definitely been warned or hinted at by the Third Hokage. That was entirely in keeping with that old "Shinobi Lord's" style.

Watching the sky outside gradually darken, Neji began sorting through the things he had prepared.

One set of Anbu clothing, one animal mask, and one human-face mask.

Bottles of special solution for preserving Sharingan, their quantities displayed in the inventory.

Neji changed into the Anbu outfit, put on the animal mask, and formed the hand signs for the Transformation Technique, one of the Three Body Technique.

He had prepared these things long ago, and his inventory was filled with necessities.

As a puff of smoke rose, an ordinary-looking Anbu of average height appeared in the Laboratory.

Then, with another change of hand signs, he transformed into several disguised Nejis, who nodded at one another.

The Chakra Clone Technique combined his clone abilities, and the clones it created were Physical Clones.

They could even withstand a certain amount of damage before disappearing.

It had two drawbacks. First, these Physical Clones had no independent consciousness and could only be personally controlled by him. Fortunately, he had the Byakugan and Observation Haki.

With three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision and hearing in all directions, controlling them from a god's-eye view was no problem.

Second, the clones' injuries and even sensations would not be relayed back to him.

That was both an advantage and a disadvantage, but it meant they could not be used for training like Shadow Clones.

However, they were perfectly suited for this Night of the Uchiha Clan Downfall.

This time, his main goal was to trail behind Itachi and Obito and quietly pick up the scraps. Before Danzo and Root came to clean up, he would collect as many Three Tomoe Sharingan as possible.

After repeatedly checking himself for anything forgotten or anything that might expose him, he finally confirmed everything.

"Tonight, I absolutely cannot act on impulse, and I cannot save anyone."

"The principle is to pick up scraps behind two lunatics without letting them discover me. Even if they do, they can only think I'm a Root member."

"Collect Three Tomoe Sharingan. At least five pairs of eyes. Once I reach ten pairs of Three Tomoe Sharingan, I retreat without hesitation!"

Neji warned himself not to be reckless again like he had been in the Pirate World. One failure had already been enough. He absolutely could not fail again this time.

As the hidden door opened, several Physical Clones instantly used Flash Step and darted out without a sound.

They melted into the dark night and stealthily made their way toward the Uchiha Clan.

At that moment, within the Uchiha Clan, a muffled thud rang out as a corpse fell to the ground.

A pair of crimson eyes slaughtered everything without mercy, their owner expressionless and utterly without hesitation.

It was the double agent, the Uchiha Clan's hope, Uchiha Itachi.

For the sake of the village's peace, he had made his choice between the village and his clan.

With his own hands, he slaughtered Konoha's most unstable element: the Uchiha Clan to which he himself belonged.

Elsewhere, a one-eyed Masked Man wearing a swirl-patterned mask was also massacring people within the police force.

His untouchable space placed him in an invincible position, allowing him to kill with ease.

Several black figures quietly followed behind the two of them, picking up "parts."

There were quite a few Uchiha with Three Tomoe Sharingan. Neji had already indirectly probed for them beforehand, so he would not arrive without knowing which ones possessed Three Tomoe Sharingan.

"Damn, this really is brutal."

Controlling his Physical Clones, Neji looked at the corpses lining the way. Nearly all of them had been killed in a single strike, without any wasted movement.

"I need to hurry. Before Danzo sends people over, I need to collect ten pairs of Three Tomoe Sharingan if possible, along with a few Two Tomoe and One Tomoe ones."

"After all, Obito is collecting eyeballs too. If some are missing, he'll take the blame. No need to worry!"

In this world of scapegoats and nested schemes, as long as one acted covertly, people would naturally fill in the blanks and others would step up to take the blame. Neji could not help sighing. There were so many scapegoats.

One hand pulled open the eyelids while the other dug out the eyes. Neji's clones worked with practiced ease; after all, he had personally dug out his own eyes before.

One Sharingan after another was matched to its owner, placed into small bottles, and stored in the inventory.

Like diligent bees, they inspected each body one by one, directly taking anything that met the criteria and ignoring anything that did not.

They advanced deeper step by step until they reached the police force headquarters, where their progress was nearly catching up to Obito's.

"Who's there?!"

A whistling sound cut through the air as Neji's clone dodged a kunai.

Neji frowned, nearly thinking he had been discovered. Obito and Itachi were clearly supposed to be massacring people over there.

He looked at the person who had just ambushed him.

A pair of Three Tomoe Sharingan, a beautiful face, and a ninja forehead protector—yet she was very young.

Uchiha Izumi?

Itachi's little fangirl? Why was she here?

Neji glanced around. Not far behind her was the police force headquarters, from which the sounds of slaughter faintly carried over.

It seemed this was following the anime route rather than the manga or novel route.

Neji placed a pair of Sharingan into a container and stored it in his inventory, then looked at the wary Izumi before him.

Izumi's mind was in utter chaos as she looked at the man before her, who seemed to be Anbu.

And at the corpses of Uchiha clansmen on the ground, she had no idea what had happened today.

Was this person really Anbu? Why was he taking away the Sharingan?

Had someone invaded Konoha, or had he killed the clansmen himself?

Uchiha Izumi's crimson Three Tomoe Sharingan observed the surroundings, gathering information.

Neji did not speak. He silently disappeared into the night, and Uchiha Izumi did not attack.

She could more or less determine that the other party's black clothes and mask were perfectly clean, bearing no traces of battle.

The clansmen's wounds, meanwhile, were severe. He was likely not responsible.

Especially since, after seeing her attack, he had not immediately counterattacked but had instead retreated.

If Anbu had not acted, then someone else must be slaughtering the Uchiha clansmen!

Uchiha Izumi was Startled, her gaze turning toward the police force headquarters. She had to notify everyone immediately.

Watching Izumi head toward the police force headquarters, Neji let out a soft sigh. Don't blame me.

I do not have the ability to save you now. I only hope that the little time I delayed you by encountering you will be enough to spare your life.

But that was probably impossible. As long as she still intended to enter the clan grounds and warn the Uchiha, death would be inevitable.

If she chose to notify Konoha and seek help first, she probably would not die.

Neji fell silent and quietly headed toward the police force headquarters, waiting for the slaughter to end.

Miss Izumi was pretty cute. Sure enough, people's morals followed their looks.