Clan Annihilation and Eye Opening

"Speaking of which, Gen Uchiha didn't show up today. Isn't that guy always punctual?" Zi Xu found it strange that Gen Uchiha, who was always a model student, had uncharacteristically failed to appear on time.

"Perhaps she had something to attend to. Besides, Nohara isn't here either." Although Hatsumi felt a bit puzzled, she didn't pay it much mind; taking a leave of absence was normal enough.

"I'm not sure." Although Chino had always been overshadowed by Gen Uchiha, she still cared about her. After all, someone who was both a model student and kind-hearted wouldn't be disliked by many. From the bottom of her heart, she admired Gen, though that didn't change her desire to surpass her.

"Everyone, today I have a very painful announcement to make..." Takeshi Goda's tone was unprecedentedly serious. The surrounding students, who had been quite relaxed, were infected by his gravity and focused their attention, waiting for what he had to say.

Zi Xu had a bad premonition; he felt in his gut that what Takeshi Goda was about to announce might be related to the missing Gen.

"Yesterday, a member of the Uchiha Clan—Itachi Uchiha—slaughtered all the members of the Uchiha Clan... every single one of them. It is said that only his younger brother, Sasuke Uchiha, survived. He did this merely to test his own capacity. He has now defected from Konoha and become a Rogue Ninja." Takeshi Goda's tone carried undisguised fury. He clenched his fists tightly and slammed them onto the podium, the wood cracking with a "crunching" sound under the force of his impact.

"Among the victims... was our classmate... Gen Uchiha..." Tears welled up in Takeshi Goda's eyes. His dream was to cultivate a Hokage, and he felt this class, including Zi Xu and the others, was the most promising one he had ever had.

Gen Uchiha, in particular, had been the recipient of his high hopes. She was a model student, lacked the arrogance typical of the Uchiha, and possessed leadership qualities... all the essential factors for becoming a Hokage were embodied in her. He had even believed he could truly cultivate the first female Hokage in history, but all of that had been shattered by a massacre.

"How could this happen!" Chino, usually so calm, stood up in a state of agitation, her tone filled with unconcealable shock and disbelief. She could not accept that a classmate she lived alongside every day had lost her life in a mere single day, becoming a cold corpse.

"How is that possible! The Uchiha are a great clan! How could they be wiped out so easily? Teacher, you must be joking! Yes... it must be a joke. Gen is so strong, she surely could have..." The most distraught was a chubby boy sitting in the front row. Zi Xu remembered him; he was in Gen's group, Maruyama, he believed.

At this moment, Maruyama walked to the podium in a daze, grabbing Takeshi Goda's arm and shaking it, as if he wanted to hear from Goda's own mouth that this was all just a prank.

The usually strict and upright Takeshi Goda was speechless. He didn't know how to explain death to this group of seven or eight-year-olds, nor did he know how to face the desperate, hope-seeking look in Maruyama's eyes.

"Enough! Maruyama, don't you understand yet? Gen has left us forever. She wasn't strong enough, that's why she died. She didn't possess the power to kill Itachi Uchiha, so she died. We only have the right to live if we keep getting stronger. Gen is the result of failure. One day, I will kill Itachi just as he killed Gen..."

Nohara spoke with a gloomy expression, his tightly clenched hands nearly tearing his already wrinkled clothes. Although he said this, he was equally saddened by Gen's death, but his belief that "the weak do not deserve to live" grew ever stronger within him.

Nohara's response was like the final straw that broke the camel's back. Maruyama completely collapsed, tears streaming from his eyes like a burst dam, his mouth emitting hoarse cries. But it was all in vain; Gen Uchiha was dead.

Hatsumi's body trembled with fear and confusion. Recalling the strange, sweet, cloying smell they had caught on the road that morning, her stomach churned, and she retched repeatedly. The other students' reactions were even worse; some were trembling so violently that a foul-smelling liquid began to leak from their pant legs. But they all remembered one name today—Itachi Uchiha, the man who slaughtered his entire clan.

Although Zi Xu was also filled with shock, his composure remained relatively intact. He forcibly suppressed his inner panic and unease, repeating to himself, "Calm down, impulse leads to mistakes, and mistakes lead to destruction." With that, his turbulent heart finally calmed down a little.

Although he hadn't watched Naruto, he had heard about it from his college roommate. Itachi Uchiha, whom they called Itachi-sama, was naturally among them. He only knew that Itachi Uchiha seemed to have had some hidden motive for slaughtering his clan and eventually died while holding back in a battle against Sasuke.

But regardless of his previous impressions of Itachi, one fact remained: Itachi Uchiha had slaughtered his entire clan, including his classmate Gen Uchiha. With so many people in the Uchiha Clan, Itachi's hands must have been stained with the blood of the innocent. He had spared only his brother; perhaps Sasuke was irreplaceable to Itachi, but were the lives of others merely blades of grass?

Did Gen, who wore her hair in a ponytail, often said her dream was "to become a ninja who surpasses her sister," and frequently wore a kind smile, deserve to die? Zi Xu didn't understand, but he knew this was an evil—an avoidable evil.

"Damn it, I'm still too weak, too lazy. This disaster could have been avoided. If I could have been a little stronger... if I could have warned them sooner..." Zi Xu was not a person prone to excessive sympathy; not everyone in the Uchiha Clan was a good person, but there were certainly innocents like Gen.

"Teacher, are you saying that Itachi Uchiha wiped out the entire Uchiha Clan by himself?" Zi Xu composed himself and stared directly at Takeshi Goda, as if trying to discern something from him.

"The report from the higher-ups says it was him alone..." Takeshi Goda answered Zi Xu's question, though he was somewhat puzzled. While he couldn't believe a teenager could wipe out a clan, he understood once he considered that the Uchiha possessed the Sharingan.

"Just him alone?" Zi Xu asked again, as if he hadn't heard clearly.

"Of course, just him alone..." Takeshi Goda, assuming Zi Xu was also in shock, patiently explained again.

Chino, standing to the side in a daze, realized the crux of the issue at Zi Xu's prompt and couldn't help but question:

"So you're saying Itachi Uchiha slaughtered the entire clan while the... while the powerful Third Hokage was sitting in the village, with the Anbu and the guard squads all present?" Chino widened her eyes, which shone like pure white glass, as if she had perceived everything in the world.

The surrounding students began to grow suspicious as well.

"He could slaughter the whole clan while Lord Hokage was there? Does he have some powerful technique to hide his tracks? Isn't our Konoha in danger then? Could we be killed in our sleep at any time?" Some worried about their own safety.

"Isn't Konoha the strongest ninja village? Why would something like this happen?" Others were in disbelief, falling into self-doubt.

"There must be a traitor in Konoha! Itachi Uchiha must have colluded with some turncoat dogs! Damn them!" Some were suspicious of Konoha's security.

Takeshi Goda, prompted by Chino, also realized the inconsistencies. Could the Third Hokage really not stop a teenager? Did the Anbu and informants, trained from childhood, really see nothing? Could the high-level officials of Konoha really not save the Uchiha Clan?

Some things couldn't be thought about too deeply. For a moment, he didn't know how to explain it to these children. Was the heroic Third Hokage just standing by, or did the Konoha leadership prefer to see the Uchiha wiped out?

Chino, standing there, felt as if her eyes had been severely stimulated. She covered them and sat down. Zi Xu and Hatsumi, who were nearby, both saw the strange transformation in Chino's eyes as she lay face-down on the desk.

Chino's left eye had become even more crystalline and white; her flawless pupil had turned a near-gray, pure white, and tiny, pale-blue veins appeared around her eye socket. It didn't look eerie; rather, it added a bewitching beauty. However, the Byakugan had appeared only in her left eye.

Her right eye was completely different from the crystal-clear left one. It had turned blood-red, leaving only a deep, blackened-red pupil. Unlike the descriptions of the Sharingan, no tomoe appeared in her eye; it was likely not a Sharingan.

But now was not the time to consider this. Zi Xu instructed Hatsumi to look after Chino, then cleared his throat and waved to the crowd, drawing the attention of those discussing why Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't stopped Itachi Uchiha toward himself.

"Everyone, listen to me. It's not that Lord Hokage didn't want to stop Itachi Uchiha. We all know that Lord Hokage is busy with a thousand tasks and has to handle relations between various villages. It's normal for him to be away from the village sometimes. Itachi Uchiha clearly took advantage of this gap.

After this incident, I believe our village's defensive strength will become even tighter, and Lord Hokage will not let everyone down." Although he knew he was spouting nonsense, he had to speak up to divert attention from Chino's questions and to show his loyalty.

"As for the security issue, the Uchiha Clan possesses powerful eyes. Once awakened, they grant many incredible abilities, including Genjutsu. Therefore, it is difficult for ordinary guards to resist in front of Itachi Uchiha." Zi Xu, thinking about how to whitewash Konoha, spoke slowly, and for a moment, it sounded somewhat reasonable.

"As for the Anbu... how do we know they didn't fight desperately against Itachi Uchiha? Those cold corpses might include Anbu members who died protecting us... The fact that we are still alive might be thanks to them. So we shouldn't be sad here; we should find ways to become stronger and improve our own strength, so that we can better protect our village!"

Zi Xu's words sounded infectious. For a moment, most of the class agreed with him, and even Takeshi Goda nodded, deceiving himself into believing that what the little one in front of him said was true.

------Side Note------

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