Uchiha Itachi Takes Action

In the dense forest, several masked ninjas hid among the treetops, silently keeping watch over their surroundings.

A figure wearing a flak jacket slowly approached. Without a word of warning, the hidden ninjas waved their hands, sending sharp Kunai toward the approaching figure.

"You're going straight for the kill? Looks like you really are Root Ninja!"

As his voice fell, clanging sounds rang out, and several Kunai were knocked aside. The ninja in the flak jacket raised his head. In his scarlet eyes, three black tomoe slowly revolved.

"Damn, he's a Uchiha!"

"Don't look into his eyes!"

By the time the ninjas reacted, it was already too late. Under the powerful genjutsu, several Root ninjas tumbled from the trees one after another.

"Let's see what I can learn. Have you attacked Uchiha Shisui recently?"

Uchiha Itachi asked calmly.

Root was supposedly filled with elite ninja and had an exceptionally high standard, but Konoha had only so many Jonin. These Root ninjas on perimeter duty were no more than Elite Chunin. How could they possibly withstand the genjutsu of the Uchiha Clan's greatest genius?

"No!" "No!" "No!"

Most of the Root ninjas answered no. Uchiha Itachi wasn't surprised. The ones who attacked Uchiha Shisui had to be Root's elites; it was perfectly normal for these ordinary Chunin not to have taken part.

And there was even less point in asking whether these Root ninjas knew if Root had carried out an attack on Uchiha Shisui.

Root ninjas had almost entirely lost their individuality. They simply didn't have anything like curiosity and wouldn't go out of their way to ask about anything. Apart from those who had directly participated in an operation, the rest of Root would know nothing about it.

But then, something unexpected happened. The last Root ninja suddenly went rigid. He opened his mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. Uchiha Itachi immediately realized what was happening.

"The Cursed Tongue Eradication Jutsu! So Root really did attack Shisui, and you were one of the participants!"

Uchiha Itachi let out a long breath. His expression was impossible to read—perhaps joyful, perhaps pained, or perhaps uncertain. Now that he knew Uchiha Shisui had been attacked, he felt both anguish and a sense of relief, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Ever since receiving Uchiha Shisui's farewell letter, Uchiha Itachi had suspected as much. But back then, he had still clung to a sliver of hope. Now, that hope was completely gone.

"Let me see how Shisui was attacked!"

The Three Tomoe spun faster and faster. Uchiha Itachi poured more Dojutsu Power into his Three Tomoe Sharingan, bypassing the layers of seals in the man's mind. Ignoring the risk of turning him into a vegetable, he dug out a few fragmented memories.

After skimming past the meaningless fragments, Uchiha Itachi finally saw the scene in the ninja's mind: Uchiha Shisui had let his guard down, and Danzo had used Izanagi to gouge out one of his eyes!

With a thud, a huge amount of blood flowed from beneath the Root ninja's mask. Something pink and pulpy seemed to be mixed in with it. The ninja swayed twice, then collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

Uchiha Itachi's body trembled slightly, and fury he could barely suppress spread across his face. The three tomoe in his eyes spun faster and faster, then split and stretched into the shape of the Mangekyō.

"Shisui... Danzo! You damn bastard!"

Uchiha Itachi's rage wasn't just because he had seen Uchiha Shisui being ambushed. It was also because he had seen Shimura Danzo use Izanagi!

Unlike Uchiha Shisui, Uchiha Itachi hadn't yet awakened the Mangekyō back then. Though he wasn't as strong as Body Flicker Shisui, as the son of Uchiha Fujioka, the Uchiha Clan's leader, he knew far more about the clan's secrets.

Uchiha Shisui hadn't recognized Izanagi and hadn't even known the Sharingan technique existed. But Uchiha Itachi had recognized at a glance that Shimura Danzo was using Izanagi.

And Izanagi was a technique that required a Sharingan to use!

In other words, before Shimura Danzo attacked Shisui, he had already attacked a Uchiha ninja and stolen a Three Tomoe Sharingan!

Uchiha Itachi had long known that Shimura Danzo and his Root were up to no good, and that they were the darkest part of all Konoha. But seeing it with his own eyes—especially the sight of Shimura Danzo smugly trading Shisui's eye for a blinded Three Tomoe Sharingan—still filled him with the urge to grind Danzo's bones to dust.

Feeling the change in his eyes, Uchiha Itachi drew a Kunai and stared at the reflection of his eye pattern. He fell silent for a moment, then gave a bitter laugh.

"Mangekyō... No wonder these eyes are born alongside calamity and misfortune!"

He took a long breath. Uchiha Itachi didn't do anything to the remaining Root ninjas. They weren't good people, but he still wouldn't lay a hand on Konoha's ninja.

As for the unlucky Root ninja whose memories Uchiha Itachi had probed, whose brain had turned to mush and spilled out of his head, there was nothing to be done.

Uchiha Itachi had been worked up, and the Mangekyō had just awakened. He couldn't control his strength. He wouldn't deliberately kill Konoha's ninja, but when one of them was left to die by accident, all he could do was apologize.

"What!? Number Twenty-Three Ding is dead? Uchiha Itachi killed him!"

"And Uchiha Itachi awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!?"

Inside Root's base, Shimura Danzo's face changed when he received the report from one of his Root ninjas. He shot to his feet.

Though Shimura Danzo had always wanted to wipe out the Uchiha Clan, he knew just how much destruction they could cause. If he and his Root ninjas had to face the entire Uchiha Clan alone, the old bastard would throw in the towel in a heartbeat.

Put simply, Shimura Danzo had dared to bully and suppress the Uchiha only because he could rely on Konoha Village—and because the Uchiha themselves had done nothing.

If the Uchiha really decided to fight to the death against all of Konoha, especially Root, Shimura Danzo could imagine the consequences.

Root's ninjas were no match for the Uchiha Clan. Even with all of Konoha added to the mix, the resulting upheaval would leave Konoha gravely weakened.

In fact, Konoha being gravely weakened was still within Shimura Danzo's tolerance. But if the Uchiha made Root their primary target when they fought back, he truly wouldn't be able to bear it.