Obito eased off a little, wanting to watch Yashiro and the others struggle.
He released Yashiro, who knelt before him, gasping for breath.
He asked Obito, "Lord Madara, why? Why have you come to destroy us?"
Obito laughed in Madara's voice. "A passing whim, perhaps! If I let you seize power in the Leaf Village and become Hokage, wouldn't that prove how blind I was back then?"
"I saw long ago that the Uchiha were nothing but trapped beasts in the Leaf Village, doomed to die sooner or later."
"So I've come to hasten your destruction."
"As it happens, there's a young Uchiha I think very highly of. He asked me to deal with you ninja in the Police Force."
Yashiro's expression darkened, his lips pressed tightly together.
Obito had personally said before that he would support the Uchiha Clan's coup. Only then had Yashiro and the others repeatedly urged Fugaku to draw up a coup plan.
But now Obito was personally retracting his pledge of support and had come to wipe them out himself.
"Lord Madara, the young man you think highly of is Itachi, isn't it?"
That hardly required any thought.
They might question Itachi's loyalties, but they could not question his talent.
Itachi had already become an Anbu squad leader, the youngest in Anbu history.
A thirteen-year-old squad leader.
To be precise, he was only twelve.
The minimum age for an Anbu squad leader was thirteen.
To let Itachi take charge on his own, Danzo had falsified his age, making him a year older for no reason.
The Police Force's ninja all acknowledged Itachi's strength.
Back when Yashiro, Tekka, and Inabi had confronted him over Shisui, Itachi had lost his temper and dealt with them in just a few moves.
That was when they realized Itachi had