A Daily Self-Examination: I Killed Him Too Soon

The sun moved lazily across the sky, scattering boundless light and warmth over the Ninja World below.

The Land of Fire truly was the most fertile place in the Ninja World. Dense forests covered the land everywhere. No wonder it was called Konoha.

Uchiha An lay hidden in the branches of a great tree, staring blankly at the shadow of the tree inching across the ground. His heart felt hollow.

He regretted it a little now.

He'd been too impulsive last night. What he'd done hadn't been thought through!

He shouldn't have killed Sasuke just like that!

Now that he'd calmed down, he regretted it.

He'd let Sasuke off too easily!

He should've cut off Sasuke's limbs first, then gouged out his eyes, pierced his eardrums, cut out his tongue, and turned him into a human pickle, keeping him in a jar!

Ah, no, wait. He shouldn't gouge out Sasuke's eyes just yet. Maybe pushing him that far would awaken a pair of Mangekyo!

The massacre of his clan had been such a huge shock, yet that cold-blooded brat had only awakened a One Tomoe. Clearly, he was cut from the same cloth as his brother. Neither of them cared a thing for their clan!

Those brothers were both damnable scum!

Clan members who acted like beasts deserved to be kept in jars!

Then he could take the jars to show Uchiha Itachi!

He could even ask Itachi whether, with his magnanimous nature, he found it satisfying to see Sasuke like that.

What a pity!

He'd been too impulsive last night. Rage had clouded his mind, and he'd killed Sasuke in a fit of anger. His splendid plan had gone completely to waste.

He shouldn't have done that!

From now on, he had to keep his cool!

Uchiha An kept reflecting on his actions, examining himself three times a day.

The Uchiha were a clan of extremes, and under the influence of the Mangekyo's Yin Release Chakra, Uchiha An couldn't see anything wrong with his thoughts.

Revenge was only natural. No one could stop him!

What counted as revenge?

Of course, it meant making his enemies suffer!

Making them wish they were dead!

Making them regret everything!

To accomplish that, Uchiha An was willing to do anything!

He wouldn't spare Uchiha Itachi!

He wouldn't spare Uchiha Obito, either!

And he certainly wouldn't spare the two masterminds behind everything, the Third Hokage and Danzo!

He wouldn't spare any of the accomplices in Konoha!

As Uchiha An continued to reflect, a group of children came running toward him in a blur. The one at their center, with a head of blond hair, was unmistakably Uzumaki Naruto.

An glanced sideways at the sun overhead, now at its zenith, and silently gave his approval.

Konohamaru and the others were impressively efficient. They'd lured Naruto out so quickly. No wonder he was the Third Hokage's grandson.

If anyone else had tried to pull this off, the Anbu guarding the Nine-Tails would probably have grown suspicious.

But with the Third Hokage wielding such power in the village, who would dare investigate his little grandson?

In the end, shinobi were nothing but dogs raised by those in power!

The corner of Uchiha An's mouth curled beneath his mask. He quietly slid down and vanished into the forest without a sound.

The children crowded around Naruto and rushed to the great tree. They looked around, confirmed that this was the mission location the Anbu had mentioned, then cheered and jumped about, shouting excitedly.

"Ah, we're here! It's this tree!"

"We completed the mission! We did it!"

"Where's the shinobi? We're here to report in!"

"Huh? What mission?" Uzumaki Naruto scratched his head in confusion and looked at Konohamaru. "Didn't you say we were coming outside the village to play a game?"

"Idiot! Don't make the target suspicious!" Konohamaru angrily punched the friend who'd been shouting the loudest. Then he turned back, rubbed the back of his head, and tried to laugh it off with Naruto.

"Haha... Naruto, we meant a ninja game!"

Naruto sensed that something was off, but he didn't have many friends to begin with, and most of his classmates disliked him. Now that someone was willing to play with him, he was happy to go along with it. He pretended not to notice and played along.

"Oh, well... how are we going to play?"

"Uh..." Konohamaru was at a loss for words. He looked around for the Anbu shinobi who'd given them the mission, but there wasn't a shadow of one in sight.

He didn't know if this was another test. He was about to make up some lie to keep Naruto occupied when he heard the faint sound of a blade piercing flesh. A moment later, a figure fell from the nearby tree and slammed into the ground, raising a cloud of dust. From the figure's build, it was clearly an Anbu shinobi.

"Ah!" Konohamaru jumped in fright. As he stood there in panic, a series of muffled groans followed. Corpses appeared one after another from all around them, splattering blood across the ground. The air soon filled with the stench of blood.

"Ah! It's an enemy!"

Compared to Konohamaru and the other children, Naruto, despite being a half-trained shinobi, reacted faster. He pulled out a Kunai and held it up, taking a defensive stance.

In the shinobi world, the slightest difference in strength meant the difference between life and death.

After unlocking the Mangekyo, Uchiha An's strength had undergone a qualitative change.

The improvement wasn't limited to his Mangekyo abilities. His overall physical abilities had improved, including his speed, strength, reflexes, and Chakra reserves.

Just as Itachi had easily killed An, a Jōnin with Three Tomoe, An now needed only a single strike to assassinate those Anbu.

After dealing with them with ease, Uchiha An appeared before the group and slowly walked toward them, one step at a time.

Seeing a pile of corpses in front of them, Konohamaru and the others were too terrified to move. They stammered out their questions.

"Y-you're an Anbu shinobi, aren't you?"

"Didn't Lord Hokage send you?"

"Why... why did you kill them?"

"Weren't they Anbu, too?"

Naruto was the only one who reacted quickly. He hurriedly stood in front of the others and shouted in alarm.

"Run! He's not Anbu!"

Konohamaru stupidly tried to argue with him.

"No!"

"He is Anbu!"

"I've seen him with Grandpa!"

"I recognize him!"

Uchiha An completely ignored the two of them bickering. His face was cold as he delivered his lines in a flat voice.

"The Nine-Tailed Demon Fox is born evil. The village must keep it under tight control. It can't just be allowed to roam free outside!"

His heart was filled with hatred, and his gaze was icy. The way he looked at the people before him as though they weren't human was pure Root. It made everyone shiver.

But Konohamaru had never experienced the harshness of the real world. He still trusted his eyes, didn't believe the man before him was an impostor, and didn't think anyone could hurt him in Konoha. He continued to shout loudly.

"W-what Nine-Tailed Demon Fox? There's no Nine-Tailed Demon Fox here!"

He failed to notice that Naruto's body had begun to tremble.

Naruto abruptly cut Konohamaru off and shouted.

"He's after me!"

"Run!"

"What?" Konohamaru was shocked, but he didn't run. Instead, he pulled a Kunai from his pouch and shouted, full of loyalty, "A shinobi never abandons his comrades!"

"Naruto, run! We'll hold him off!"

"Don't worry about Lord Hokage. I'll go ask Grandpa to forgive you!"

With that, he charged at Uchiha An.

His friends behind him were fired up by his actions. They all pulled out their Ninja Tools and charged after him.

"Don't!"

Naruto shouted and tried to stop them, but it was too late. He could only watch as Konohamaru rushed up to the enemy and was cut in two diagonally, from shoulder to waist.