The Escaping 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 through their actions to the miserable wails echoing through the compound.

The bedroom door was pushed open.

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

Sensing his son's hesitation, Uchiha Fugaku lowered his head in relief. "So that was it... You chose their side."

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

Itachi's eyes were red as he dared not look directly at his parents' backs.

"We understand, Itachi."

Mikoto said coldly.

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

"I know..." Tears spilled from Itachi's Three Tomoe Sharingan, and the hands gripping his sword trembled uncontrollably.

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

Itachi's blade, smooth as a mirror, lay steadily between Fugaku and Mikoto, reflecting their indifferent expressions on both sides.

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

Itachi's heart jolted. He clenched his teeth as tears surged wildly from his eyes and fell onto the hands holding his sword.

Konoha's peace! The clan's ambitions! A situation with no way out! His friend's vow!

For a Shinobi World without war!

Everything.

Turned into black threads that bound his heart.

Nearly suffocating, Uchiha Itachi aimed his blade at the black thread closest to his heart. It was called "clansmen."

It seemed that as long as he severed it.

He would find peace.

He did not think for long.

"I... understand."

Not long ago, Uchiha Itachi had already resolved himself to fall into hell. In the next instant, he viciously swung down the sharp ninja sword in his hand.

Squelch—

Blood splattered across the wooden floor, like crimson paint carelessly brushed onto a canvas.

Fugaku fell at the sound.

At that moment, Mikoto's body trembled slightly. Red light bloomed in her pupils, and blade-shaped Mangekyo patterns spun within her eyes.

Just as Itachi's butcher's blade came down again.

A kunai suddenly slipped from Uchiha Mikoto's sleeve. She gripped its hilt, spun around fiercely, and used it to block Itachi's ninja sword head-on.

Clang—

The kunai collided with the ninja sword, letting out a metallic ring and scattering sparks.

Itachi's brows furrowed. He froze for a moment, then looked up at his mother in astonishment through his Three Tomoe Sharingan and cried out:

"Mangekyo!"

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

At that moment, it was as though her body had developed a will of its own and told her that it did not want to die here yet.

Thus, without the slightest hesitation, Mikoto's body retreated to open up distance before crashing into the bedroom window.

Bang—

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

"..."

Itachi looked at his father lying dead on the floor, then at his mother's retreating figure. His emotions rose and fell erratically, impossible to piece together.

What exactly had happened??

Itachi, who Sarutobi Hiruzen had praised for possessing the mind of a Hokage, thought for a moment before immediately realizing what had happened.

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

Father was already dead.

Mother awakened the Mangekyo?

Still.

Even if she survived, it wouldn't affect the current situation in any way."

Itachi left the clan head's residence and returned to the street. He looked around but did not see anyone.

"If Mother and Father had both possessed the Mangekyo, the one who died would definitely have been me."

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

He probably needed around fifteen more minutes.

At the outskirts of the Uchiha Compound, the forest was pitch-black and gloomy. Light footsteps and the rustling of branches continuously mingled together.

Several three-man squads had gradually gathered here.

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

They were Danzo's trusted subordinates, an independent organization formed under the name of the ANBU Training Division.

At that moment, these Root Organization members stood or crouched atop tree branches.

Each of them radiated a gloomy aura, like ferocious beasts that had lived in darkness for ages.

Tap—

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

An aged yet steady figure emerged from the shadows one step at a time.

He passed through his subordinates and came to the front.

Mottled moonlight illuminated the old face covered in wrinkles and crisscrossing scars.

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

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

His cloudy left eye narrowed slightly.

His shadow swallowed the moonlight behind him, as though wherever he stood was darkness without light.

"Shimura Danzō!!"

Uchiha Nanpu and the others were mixed among the Root Organization members on the branches. When they saw the newcomer, their pupils contracted and their breathing stopped.

Ingetsu had brought them here to cause trouble for Danzo?

Were they coming back to kill themselves?

The act struck their hearts like a heavy hammer, instantly snapping the Uchiha out of their grief.

This was absolutely impossible.

Their opponent was the Hokage Assistant!!

With only the few Uchiha they had left, even with Ingetsu's Mangekyo, there was no way they could eliminate him while he was protected by 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 control all of them too?

That was what all the Uchiha were thinking.

This was an absolutely impossible operation!

Whoosh—

Two Root Organization members flashed back from the depths of the forest and crouched on one knee before Danzo, lowering their heads respectfully.

"Lord Danzo, the battle in the Uchiha Compound will end soon."

Danzo held his head high and lowered his left eye as he examined his two close subordinates. His voice was low. "Go. Make haste and collect the eyes."

"Yes... Lord Danzo!"

The Root Organization member on the right suddenly raised his head. Red light bloomed from beneath his mask, and three blade-shaped Mangekyo patterns slowly spun in his right eye as he provocatively asked:

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

He slowly rose and removed his mask.

Ingetsu's face was revealed.

The red glow blooming from his Mangekyo carried Yin Release Chakra. Through their locked gazes, it instantly pierced Danzo's widened left eye, only to encounter the familiar Pupil Power of a Three Tomoe Sharingan.

In but an instant.

The Mangekyo's Pupil Power crushed the Three Tomoe's feeble stream like a mountain collapse and tsunami.

Countless Root Organization members in the trees heard the commotion and lowered their heads. Their gazes met the red glow, and everyone 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 is 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 in place. He wanted to break free, but his thoughts suddenly stalled. "My body won't move."

Ingetsu had appeared without warning.

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

In an instant.

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

"You old bastard, eat this blade!!"

Squelch—

He pressed against Danzo, and the ninja sword in his hand pierced 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 slash!

At the same time.

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

It was unmistakably—the Kotoamatsukami Mangekyo!

The Uchiha lying in wait in the nearby trees looked at the red-and-white eyeball, their thoughts churning as fury instantly ignited within them.

They understood many things now.

Shisui's death was connected to Danzo!

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