The Escaped Mother

Uchiha Clan Head's Residence.

Bedroom.

"Come in. There are no traps!"

Uchiha Fugaku and his wife, Uchiha Mikoto, knelt on the floor with indifferent expressions, responding to the miserable wails echoing through the clan compound with their actions.

The bedroom door was pushed open.

Uchiha Itachi entered, covered in the blood of his clansmen. He wore a Konoha forehead protector and gray ANBU armor, a sharp ninja blade in hand.

Sensing his son's hesitation, Uchiha Fugaku lowered his head in resignation. "I see... You chose their side."

"Father, Mother... I..."

Itachi's eyes were red-rimmed, and he did not dare look directly at his parents' backs.

"We understand, Itachi."

Mikoto said coldly.

"Itachi, promise me one last thing. Sasuke is in your care now." Fugaku's tone was calm.

"I know..." Tears spilled from Itachi's Three Tomoe Sharingan, and the hands gripping his blade would not stop trembling.

"Don't be afraid. This was your own choice, wasn't it? Compared to you, our pain will only last an instant." Fugaku said firmly, "Even if our ideals differ, we are still proud of you."

Itachi's blade, its surface like a mirror, lay steadily between Fugaku and Mikoto, reflecting their cold expressions on both sides.

At last, Fugaku said calmly, "You truly are a kind child."

Itachi's heart convulsed. He clenched his teeth as tears poured wildly from his eyes, falling onto the hands gripping his sword.

Konoha's peace! The clan's ambitions! A situation with no way out! A promise to a friend!

So that there would be no more war in the ninja world!

All of it.

Turned into black threads that bound his heart.

Nearly suffocating, unable to find a way out, Uchiha Itachi aimed his blade at the black thread closest to his heart—the one called "clansmen."

It seemed that as long as he severed it, he would find peace.

He did not hesitate for long.

"I... understand."

Not long ago, Uchiha Itachi had already resolved himself to fall into hell. The next instant, he fiercely brought down the sharp ninja blade in his hand.

Splurt—

Blood splashed across the wooden floor, like a brush dipped in crimson casually swiping across a canvas.

Fugaku fell in response.

Just then, Mikoto's body trembled slightly. Her pupils glowed red, and blade-like Mangekyo patterns spun within her eyes.

Just as Itachi's slaughtering blade came down once more, a kunai suddenly slipped from Uchiha Mikoto's sleeve. She gripped its handle, spun around sharply, and used it to block Itachi's ninja blade head-on.

Clang—

The kunai collided with the ninja blade with a metallic ring, sending sparks flying.

Itachi frowned deeply. After freezing for a moment, he looked up at his mother in shock through his Three Tomoe Sharingan and cried out:

"Mangekyo!"

Mikoto stared blankly with her mouth slightly open, her expression bewildered. Her body was completely beyond her control.

At that moment, her body seemed to have developed a will of its own, telling her that it did not want to die here yet.

So, without the slightest hesitation, Mikoto's body retreated to widen the distance, then crashed toward the bedroom window.

Bang—

The window shattered. Mikoto rushed into the darkness at top speed without looking back, disappearing from sight.

"..."

Itachi looked at his father's corpse on the floor, then at his mother's retreating figure. His emotions rose and fell chaotically, refusing to connect into anything coherent.

What exactly had happened??

Itachi, whom Sarutobi Hiruzen had praised as possessing the mindset of a Hokage, thought for a moment before immediately realizing.

"Was it because she couldn't let go of Sasuke?

Father is already dead.

Mother awakened the Mangekyo?"

However.

Even if she were still alive, it would not have any effect on the current situation."

Itachi left the clan head's residence and returned to the street. After looking around, he did not see a single person.

"If Mother and Father both had Mangekyo, then the one who died would definitely be me."

Lost in thought, Itachi continued deeper into the compound. Along the way, he looked up toward the Uchiha Police Force. The sounds of battle there had already ceased.

He probably needed another fifteen minutes or so.

On the outskirts of the Uchiha Compound, the forest was pitch-black and gloomy. Light footsteps mingled with the rustling of branches, sounding without cease.

Several three-man squads had arrived here one after another.

They wore blue-and-green patterned masks, gray-white strapped armor, tattoos on their left arms, and ninja swords on their backs.

They were Danzō's confidants, members of an independent organization established under the name of the ANBU Training Division.

At this moment, these Root Organization members either stood or crouched atop the branches.

Every one of them exuded a dark aura, like ferocious beasts that had long dwelled in darkness.

Tap—

The dull sound of a cane striking the ground came from behind. The Root members beneath the trees turned around, then immediately lowered their heads and moved aside to make way.

An aged yet steady figure emerged from the shadows, walking forward step by step.

He passed through the subordinates on either side and came to the front.

Mottled moonlight illuminated that old face, covered in wrinkles and crisscrossing sword scars.

Shimura Danzō supported himself with a cane in his left hand. White bandages wrapped around his head, covering his right eye, while his right hand was swathed in a black robe and held before his chest.

He raised his head and stared into the depths of the forest.

His clouded left eye narrowed slightly.

His shadow swallowed the moonlight behind him, as though wherever he stood was a darkness that would never see light.

"Shimura Danzō!!"

Up in the branches, Uchiha Nanpu and the others were hidden among the Root Organization members. The moment they saw the newcomer, their pupils contracted and their breathing stopped.

Ingetsu had brought them here to cause trouble for Danzō?

Was he coming back to kill himself?

The thought struck their hearts like a heavy hammer, immediately jolting the Uchiha out of their grief.

This was absolutely impossible to accomplish.

The other party was the Hokage Assistant!!

With only these few Uchiha left, even with Ingetsu, who possessed Mangekyo, there was no way they could take him down under the protection of more than a hundred Root Organization members.

Ingetsu had controlled the nine of them, but there were still over a hundred Root Organization members nearby. Could he possibly control them all?

That was what every Uchiha present was thinking.

This was an absolutely impossible operation!

Whoosh—

Two Root Organization members who had Body Flickered back from the depths of the forest crouched before Danzō, lowered their heads, and said respectfully:

"Lord Danzō, the battle at the Uchiha Compound will end very soon."

Danzō held his head high, his left eye lowered as he sized up his two close subordinates. In a deep voice, he said, "Go. Make haste and collect the eyes."

"Yes... Lord Danzō!"

The Root Organization member on the right suddenly raised his head. Beneath his mask, red light abruptly bloomed in his eye socket. Three blade-like Mangekyo patterns slowly turned within his right eye as he provocatively asked:

"May I ask, do you mean collecting eyes like these?"

He slowly rose and removed his mask.

Ingetsu's face was revealed.

The red glow blooming from his Mangekyo contained Yin Release Chakra. Through their exchanged gaze, it instantly pierced Danzō's widened left eye, only to encounter the familiar Pupil Power of the Three Tomoe Sharingan resisting it.

In just an instant.

The Mangekyo's Pupil Power, like a landslide and tsunami, crushed the feeble stream of the Three Tomoe.

Up in the trees, countless Root members heard the commotion and lowered their heads. Their gazes met the red light, and every one of them froze in place like stone statues.

The Uchiha were stunned.

Ingetsu had truly done it. In a single instant, he had controlled everyone present.

This showed just how overwhelmingly powerful Ingetsu's Mangekyo was!!

"What's going on?"

"Lord Danzo!"

"Enemy attack!!"

The Root Organization members could not speak. They stood frozen in place, screaming inwardly while their bodies refused to move.

"Why is there an Uchiha here?" Danzo froze where he stood. Just as he tried to break free, his thoughts suddenly stalled. "I can't move my body."

Ingetsu had appeared without warning.

How could Danzo have guessed that while he saw the entire Uchiha clan as prey already in his jaws, one Uchiha had also marked him as prey?

In an instant.

The Root member on the left suddenly lunged at Danzo. His mask fell away in midair, revealing Tamao's baby-faced features.

"You old bastard, eat this blade!!"

Psh—

He pressed against Danzo, the ninja sword in his hand piercing straight through Danzo's heart in one clean, decisive motion.

Tamao was being controlled in sync by Ingetsu, but he was delighted, because he had finally slashed the old bastard he had always wanted to cut down!

At the same time.

Ingetsu reached for Danzo's bandaged right eye. His fingers were like an eagle's claws as they precisely tore through the bandages. Blood sprayed out as he plucked out a Sharingan.

It was none other than—the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyo!

The Uchihas lying in wait in the nearby trees stared at that red-and-white eyeball, their minds reeling as fury instantly flared within them.

They understood many things.

Shisui's death had something to do with Danzo!

Blood bloomed like flowers from Danzo's right eye socket and left chest at the same time, staining his bandages and clothes red.