"By the way, Uchiha Gen isn't here today. Isn't she always so punctual?" Zi Xu noticed that Uchiha Gen, who had always excelled in both academics and conduct, was unusually late, and couldn't help finding it strange.
"Maybe something came up. Nohara isn't here either, though." Hatsumi was a little puzzled, but didn't give it much thought. Taking a day off was perfectly normal.
"I'm not sure." Chino had always been overshadowed by Uchiha Gen, but she still cared about Gen. After all, someone who excelled in both academics and conduct and had such a good personality wasn't likely to be disliked by many. Deep down, Chino admired Gen, though that didn't mean she wasn't determined to surpass her.
"Everyone, today I have something very painful to announce..." Takeshi Goda's voice was more serious than ever. The students, who had been lounging around, were infected by his solemnity and focused their attention on him, waiting for him to continue.
Zi Xu had a bad feeling. Somehow, he sensed that what Takeshi Goda was about to announce might have something to do with Gen's absence.
"Yesterday, a member of the Uchiha Clan—Itachi Uchiha—killed every member of the Uchiha Clan... all of them. They say his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, was the only survivor. He did it to test the limits of his own abilities. He has now defected from Konoha and become a Rogue Ninja." Takeshi Goda's voice was laced with undisguised anger. He clenched his fists and pounded the lectern so hard that the wood cracked with a series of sharp snaps.
"Among the Uchiha who were killed... was one of our classmates... Uchiha Gen..." Tears welled in Takeshi Goda's eyes. His dream was to train a Hokage, and he felt that Zi Xu's class was the most promising one yet.
He had placed especially high hopes on Uchiha Gen. She excelled in both academics and conduct, wasn't as arrogant as the average Uchiha, and had a natural talent for leadership... She had so many of the qualities a Hokage needed. He'd even thought he might truly be able to raise the first female Hokage in history. But that massacre had shattered everything.
"How could this happen!" Chino, who was usually so composed, slapped the desk and jumped to her feet, unable to hide her shock and disbelief. She couldn't accept that a classmate she saw every day had lost her life in a single day and become a cold, lifeless corpse.
"How is that possible! The Uchiha are a major clan! How could they have been wiped out so easily? Sensei, you have to be joking! You are... You have to be joking. Gen was so strong, she couldn't have..." The most distraught was a chubby boy sitting in the front row. Zi Xu remembered him: he was in Gen's group, and his name was probably Maruyama.
Maruyama stumbled up to the lectern, grabbed Takeshi Goda's arm, and shook it, as if he could make Takeshi Goda tell him that it was all just a joke.
Takeshi Goda, usually so stern and upright, couldn't find the words. He didn't know how to explain death to a group of seven- and eight-year-old children. He didn't know how to face the look in Maruyama's eyes, desperate for even the faintest glimmer of hope.
"Enough! Maruyama, don't you understand? Gen is gone forever. She wasn't strong enough, and that's why she died. She didn't have enough power to kill Itachi Uchiha, and that's why she died. We have to keep getting stronger if we want to survive. Gen's death was the price of failure. One day, I'll kill Itachi the same way he killed Gen..."
Nohara spoke in a dark, low voice. His clenched hands nearly tore the already-wrinkled fabric of his clothes. Though he spoke those words, he was just as grief-stricken by Gen's death. But his belief that "the weak don't deserve to live" had only grown stronger.
Nohara's words were the last straw for Maruyama. He broke down completely, tears pouring from his eyes like a burst dam. He let out a hoarse cry, but none of it could change what had happened. Uchiha Gen was dead.
Hatsumi trembled with fear and confusion. When she remembered the strange, sickly-sweet smell they'd noticed on the way that morning, her stomach lurched. She retched again and again. The other students fared even worse. Some were already shaking so badly that foul-smelling liquid seeped down their trouser legs. But they all remembered one name that day: Itachi Uchiha, the man who had slaughtered his entire clan.
Zi Xu was shocked too, but managed to keep himself composed. He forced down his panic and unease, repeating to himself, Stay calm. Impulsiveness leads to mistakes, and mistakes lead to destruction. At last, his turbulent emotions settled a little.
He had never watched Naruto, but he'd heard about it from his college roommate. Itachi Uchiha, whom they called Itachi-sama, was one of the characters he'd heard about. He only knew that Itachi had apparently had his reasons for massacring his clan, and that he'd eventually died in a fight with Sasuke after holding back.
But whatever impression he'd had of Itachi before, it couldn't change one fact: Itachi Uchiha had slaughtered his entire clan, including Zi Xu's classmate, Uchiha Gen. There had been so many people in the Uchiha Clan; surely Itachi's hands were stained with the blood of innocents. He had spared only his younger brother. Maybe Sasuke was irreplaceable to Itachi, but did that mean everyone else's lives were worthless?
Did Gen, with her ponytail, her dream of "becoming a Ninja who could surpass her older sister," and her kind smile, deserve to die? Zi Xu didn't understand. But he knew it was evil—an evil that could have been prevented.
Damn it, I'm still too weak. I've been slacking off. This disaster could have been avoided. If only I were a little stronger... if only I'd warned them sooner... Zi Xu wasn't someone who felt sorry for everyone. Surely not every member of the Uchiha Clan had been a good person, but there must have been innocent people like Gen.
"Sensei, are you saying that Itachi Uchiha wiped out the entire Uchiha Clan by himself?" Zi Xu composed himself and looked straight at Takeshi Goda, as if trying to read something in his face.
"That's what the report from the higher-ups says. He did it alone..." Takeshi Goda was puzzled, but answered Zi Xu's question. He couldn't believe that a boy in his teens could wipe out a whole clan either, but when he remembered that the boy belonged to the Uchiha Clan and possessed the Sharingan, it made sense to him.
"Alone?" Zi Xu asked again, as if he hadn't heard.
"Of course. He did it alone..." Takeshi Goda assumed Zi Xu had been shaken too, and patiently repeated his answer.
Chino, who had been standing frozen nearby, realized what was wrong after hearing Zi Xu's question. She couldn't help challenging the claim:
"So Itachi Uchiha slaughtered the whole clan while the powerful Third Hokage was already stationed in the village, with the Anbu and the guards there too?" Chino's eyes widened, shining like pure white crystal, as if she'd seen through everything.
The other students began to question it too.
"If he could slaughter an entire clan while the Third Hokage was in the village, does he have some powerful way to hide his movements? Does that mean Konoha is in danger? Could we be killed in our sleep at any time?" Some began to fear for their own lives.
"Isn't Konoha the strongest Ninja village? How could something like this happen?" Some couldn't believe it and began to doubt everything.
"There must be a traitor in Konoha! Itachi Uchiha must have teamed up with those backstabbing dogs! The bastards!" Others began to doubt Konoha's security.
Chino's words made Takeshi Goda realize that something didn't add up. Had the Third Hokage really been unable to stop a boy in his teens? Had the Anbu, trained from childhood to serve as Konoha's eyes and ears, truly noticed nothing? Had Konoha's leaders really been unable to save the Uchiha Clan?
Some things were best not examined too closely. For a moment, he had no idea how to explain it to the children. Had the heroic, invincible Third Hokage stood by and done nothing, or had Konoha's leaders wanted to see the Uchiha Clan destroyed?
Chino, still standing there, felt as if her eyes had been badly irritated. She covered them and sat down. Zi Xu and Hatsumi, beside her, saw the change in her eyes as she bent forward over her desk.
One of Chino's eyes had become even more crystalline and white. Her flawless pupil had turned a pure white, almost gray, while fine blue-white veins appeared around her eye. It didn't look grotesque; if anything, it gave her a bewitchingly beautiful look. But the Byakugan had appeared only in Chino's left eye.
Her right eye was completely different from the crystal-clear left. It had turned red, with a deep, nearly black pupil. Unlike the descriptions of the Sharingan, no tomoe had appeared in Chino's eyeball. Most likely, it wasn't the Sharingan.
But this wasn't the time to think about that. After asking Hatsumi to look after Chino, Zi Xu cleared his throat and waved to the others, drawing the attention of those discussing why Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't stopped Itachi Uchiha.
"Everyone, hear me out. It's not that the Third Hokage didn't want to stop Itachi Uchiha. We all know how busy the Third Hokage is. He has to handle relations between the villages too, so it's entirely possible he wasn't in the village. Itachi Uchiha clearly took advantage of that opening.
"After this incident, I'm sure our village's defenses will be tightened. The Third Hokage won't let everyone down." Zi Xu knew he was talking nonsense. Still, he had to say it to distract Chino, who had just raised those questions, and to show his loyalty.
"As for the guards, the Uchiha possess powerful eyes. Once awakened, they grant all sorts of incredible abilities, including Genjutsu. Ordinary guards would have a hard time fighting back against Itachi Uchiha." Zi Xu spoke slowly, trying to make Konoha look better. For a moment, what he said even sounded reasonable.
"As for the Anbu... how do we know they didn't fight Itachi Uchiha with everything they had? Some of those cold bodies may have been Anbu who died protecting us... Maybe we're still alive because of them. So we shouldn't just grieve here. We should find a way to grow stronger and improve our abilities. Only then can we better protect our village!"
Zi Xu's words were deeply persuasive. Most of the class agreed with him, and even Takeshi Goda nodded from the side, fooling himself into believing that the little boy in front of him was right.
Before you continue