Uchiha Itachi in Action

In the dense forest, several masked ninjas were hiding among the treetops, silently watching their surroundings.

A figure in a ninja vest walked over slowly. Without any warning, the hidden ninjas swung their arms, sending sharp kunai stabbing toward the vest-wearing ninja.

"Going straight for the kill? That confirms you're Root ninjas."

As the words fell, clanging sounds rang out as several kunai were deflected. The vest-wearing ninja looked up, his crimson eyes revealing three black tomoe slowly rotating.

"Damn, it's an Uchiha ninja!"

"Don't look into his eyes!"

But by the time these ninjas realized it, it was already too late. Under the power of a powerful genjutsu, several Root ninjas thudded one after another, falling from the trees.

"Let me extract some information. Have you attacked Uchiha Shisui recently?"

Uchiha Itachi asked calmly.

Root was said to be packed with elites, with a high baseline, but Konoha only had so many jonin. These Root ninjas stationed on the perimeter were merely Elite Chunin at best—how could they resist the genjutsu of the Uchiha clan's number one genius?

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

Most of the Root ninjas answered directly in the negative. Itachi wasn't surprised. The ones who attacked Uchiha Shisui had to be Root's elite; it was perfectly normal for these ordinary chunin not to have participated.

As for asking these Root ninjas whether they knew if Root had launched an attack on Shisui, that was even more pointless.

Root ninjas had almost all had their individual wills erased. They had no trace of curiosity and would never proactively seek out any intelligence. Aside from those directly involved in the operation, the rest of Root would know nothing about it.

But then, a turn of events occurred. The last Root ninja suddenly stiffened all over, opening his mouth as if to speak, yet no words came out. Itachi immediately realized:

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

Itachi let out a long breath, a look crossing his face that was hard to read—whether joy, pain, or hesitation. Now that he had confirmed Shisui was attacked, there was both pain in his heart and a sense of relief, like a stone finally hitting the ground.

Ever since receiving Shisui's suicide note, Itachi had already suspected as much, but he had clung to a sliver of hope. Now that hope was completely dead.

"Let me see exactly how Shisui was attacked."

The three tomoe spun continuously as Itachi poured more power into his Three Tomoe Sharingan, bypassing the heavy seals in the ninja's mind. Ignoring the risk of turning the man's brain into mush, he dug out some fragmented images.

Skipping over the meaningless fragments, Itachi finally saw in this ninja's mind the scene where Shisui, caught off guard, had one eye gouged out by Danzō using Izanagi.

With a dull thud, a large amount of blood plasma flowed from under the Root ninja's mask, mixed with some pinkish paste. The ninja's body swayed twice before collapsing to the ground, lifeless.

Itachi's body trembled slightly. An uncontrollable rage surfaced on his face. The three tomoe in his eyes spun faster and faster, eventually splitting and elongating into the shape of a Mangekyo.

"Shisui... Danzō! You bastard!"

Itachi's fury wasn't just from seeing Shisui ambushed—it was also because he recognized that Danzō had used Izanagi.

Unlike Shisui, Itachi hadn't yet awakened his Mangekyo back then, and his strength fell short of Body Flicker Shisui. But as the son of Uchiha Fujioka, the Uchiha clan head, he had a much deeper understanding of the clan's secrets.

Shisui hadn't recognized Izanagi, didn't even know such a Sharingan secret technique existed. But Itachi saw at a glance that Shimura Danzō was using Izanagi.

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

In other words, long before Danzō attacked Shisui, he had already ambushed an Uchiha ninja and stolen a Three Tomoe Sharingan.

Even though Itachi had long known that Danzō and his Root were rotten to the core—the darkest department in all of Konoha—seeing it with his own eyes, especially Danzō smugly swapping Shisui's eye for a spent three-tomoe, still filled him with a rage that made him want to grind Danzō's bones to dust.

Sensing the change in his own eyes, Itachi pulled out a kunai and stared at his reflection in the blade, at the pattern in his eyes. He was silent for a moment, then let out a bitter laugh.

"Mangekyo... truly eyes born from calamity and misfortune."

Taking a long breath, Itachi did nothing to the remaining Root ninjas. Even if they weren't good people, he would never lay hands on Konoha's ninjas.

As for the unlucky Root ninja whose brain had been turned into tofu-like mush from Itachi's memory extraction—there was nothing to be done about that.

At the time, Itachi's emotions were running high, and with his Mangekyo just awakening, he couldn't control his strength well. He wouldn't actively kill Konoha ninjas, but for one who died by accident like this, he could only offer an apology.

"What!? Number Twenty-Three Ding is dead? Killed by Uchiha Itachi!"

"And Uchiha Itachi has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan!?"

In Root's base, Shimura Danzō, upon receiving the report from his subordinate, changed expression and abruptly stood up.

Despite Danzō's constant scheming to wipe out the Uchiha clan, he was well aware of the Destructive Power they could unleash. If he and his Root ninjas had to take on the entire Uchiha clan alone, the old bastard would back down in an instant.

In plain terms, before this, Danzō had dared to bully and oppress the Uchiha only because he relied on Konoha Village and the Uchiha's own inaction.

If the Uchiha truly wanted to fight to the death—going all out against the whole village, especially Root—Danzō could easily imagine the consequences.

Root's ninjas were no match for the Uchiha clan. Even with the entire village backing them, the resulting turmoil would leave Konoha severely weakened.

In truth, Danzō could tolerate Konoha being crippled. But if the Uchiha, in their death throes, made Root their primary target—that was something he really couldn't bear.