Living On Uglily

"Damn it..."

"My lord, the enemy is catching up."

"Run! Run toward the village; there will be ninjas there to deal with him."

True character is only revealed in times of crisis.

Danzo, who always spoke with high-sounding rhetoric and advocated for self-sacrifice, ran faster than anyone else when he was the one facing the possibility of death.

He never considered how much damage his flight into the village would cause to Konoha if Naruto Uzumaki were truly deranged enough.

Of course, it was also possible that Danzo had already considered it.

But in his view, only he could lead Konoha to its peak, so his own sacrifice would be the greatest loss to the village; as for the sacrifices of others... they were merely insignificant costs on the road to success.

The chase continued.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

After attack upon attack, Naruto Uzumaki's ocular power and Chakra were rapidly bottoming out.

"Damn it, I guess it'll have to be next time, though who knows how many years I'll have to wait."

Realizing the pursuit was hopeless, Naruto Uzumaki couldn't help but lament: "What a total failure. I didn't kill Obito, and I didn't kill Danzo either."

He had finally experienced the consequences of trying to have his cake and eat it too.

If he had focused solely on killing Danzo from the start, Danzo would have been gone long ago.

In the devastated Uchiha compound, Obito narrowed his eyes in thought: "Emperor... who exactly is he?"

A figure who appeared out of thin air without any warning.

He was hidden too deeply.

If White Zetsu hadn't accidentally captured that strange puppet, he feared he would never have known that another pair of Rinnegan existed in this world.

Thinking about how another organization might be executing a larger plan in the shadows while the Akatsuki collected the Jinchuriki in the future, Obito could not accept it.

"The Eye of the Moon Plan cannot fail. I must uncover the identity of Emperor and eliminate all interference..."

The only clue was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

"It seems... I need to find an opportunity to probe the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki..."

Obito made his decision in secret.

A shout came from the sky.

"Daiban! Kneel and accept your death!"

Naruto Uzumaki, having finished chasing Danzo, flew back.

Obito quickly assessed his own state: his body was aging, his stamina was poor, and his ocular power needed time to recover.

There would likely be no result; neither could do anything to the other.

He immediately said: "Old man, keep the Rinnegan safe for me. I will come to collect it when the time comes."

After delivering his parting threat, a spatial vortex twisted, and Obito vanished.

Having scared off Obito, Naruto Uzumaki changed direction, flew over a nearby ruined street, and found the corpse of White Zetsu.

After all that trouble, nearly losing his life in the process, he had to earn something back.

"Wait, help me take her too." Shadow poked her body out, pointing toward a female corpse on the ground.

"She looks familiar, what was her name again... Oh, I remember, the poor fool Izumi Uchiha, blind enough to fall for that filial son... What do you want with the corpse of Izumi Uchiha?"

"I'll tell you later, just help me take her first."

"Fine."

The commotion in the Uchiha compound had attracted the attention of all of Konoha.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, having prepared in advance, led a squad of elite ninjas, rushing toward the Uchiha compound with murderous intent.

On the way, they encountered Danzo, who was fleeing alone and in a sorry state, and their hearts sank as they felt a bad premonition.

"Where is the enemy?"

"At..." Danzo turned to look back at the sky, only to find that the enemy had long since disappeared; he had just been too focused on running to notice.

"The enemy is extremely powerful." Danzo changed the subject as if nothing had happened, saying with feigned grief: "The elite ninjas of Root have been completely wiped out this time."

Utatane Koharu's expression turned ugly: "The strength of the Uchiha is actually this formidable..."

"It wasn't Uchiha. The Uchiha have already been wiped out. It was a strange ninja, and he possessed..."

Rinnegan—was this a topic that could be discussed?

After a brief moment of thought, Danzo decided he could not speak of it. The Rinnegan was a crucial bargaining chip for him to become Hokage; he could not simply throw it away.

Just like the Rinnegan he had encountered in the Land of Rain years ago, Danzo intended to conceal it this time as well, instead saying, "He possesses an incredibly powerful ability to fly, and he dropped heavy objects from high altitudes, killing many of my subordinates."

"Is that all? Danzo, are you intentionally hiding something?"

Mitokado Homura sensed a problem. The Root was composed of elite ninja; how could they be sacrificed so easily?

Danzo's expression darkened, as if he had suffered a great insult.

"Homura, what do you mean by that? In your heart, am I, Danzo, nothing more than a petty man who would deliberately withhold intelligence and disregard the interests of Konoha?"

Utatane Koharu quickly stepped in to smooth things over, "Danzo, Homura didn't mean it like that. You've misunderstood."

Mitokado Homura was startled by Danzo's expression and quickly apologized, admitting he had spoken out of turn.

Danzo did not press the issue, instead saying with a hint of resentment, "Where is Hiruzen? Why haven't I seen him?"

I was hunted down, and you didn't even come to save me...

Danzo felt that the bond between him and the Third Hokage was apparently just that.

"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki has gone missing. Hiruzen has gone to look for the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki."

It was obvious; the Third Hokage didn't want to be stained by the blame for the Uchiha massacre in the slightest, so he stayed as far away as possible.

In the forest, at the spot where Naruto Uzumaki usually trained, the Third Hokage brought along specialized sensory ninja to search for traces of Naruto Uzumaki.

The Third Hokage asked, "Are there any clues?"

The Jonin of the Inuzuka Clan, Tsume Inuzuka, apologized, "I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. The Jinchuriki... seems to have vanished into thin air."

The Jonin of the Aburame Clan added, "To be precise, it looks more like he flew away."

The Jonin of the Hyuga Clan indicated that he held the same opinion.

"Does this have something to do with the one flying in the sky tonight..."

The Third Hokage fell into deep thought.

The battle between Naruto Uzumaki and Obito had left the Uchiha compound in a complete mess.

This created a small problem for Itachi.

He wanted to stimulate his younger brother.

But the scene of the clan's destruction, the dead clansmen, and his parents' violent deaths had been ruined.

It could still be used, but it just didn't feel stimulating enough.

What to do?

It didn't matter; he had a short video, guaranteed to be authentic and stimulating enough.

The thoughtful, doting brother Itachi specifically left the clan grounds to intercept Sasuke on his way home from school.

He gave the bewildered Sasuke a brutal beating.

--Tsukuyomi!

Then, he maniacally played the iconic scene of their parents' deaths for Sasuke over and over again.

Bang!

With a kick, he sent the mentally shattered Sasuke flying, slamming him heavily against a wall.

Itachi said coldly, "You are not yet worth killing... my foolish little brother... If you want to kill me... then hate me! Loathe me! And live an ugly life! Run! Run... and cling to your pathetic life!"

Watching the figure of Itachi Uchiha gradually fade into the distance, Sasuke, who had been acting like a spoiled child in his brother's arms just yesterday, let out a hoarse, sorrowful howl.

"Itachi Uchiha! I will kill you, ahhhhh!!!"

The night was as black as ink, shadows obscuring the light.

In the Land of Fire, on a desolate mountain far from Konoha, Naruto Uzumaki leaned against a tree, closing his eyes to rest.

The shadow crawled out from Naruto Uzumaki's pocket, looking up at his tired face, its eyes filled with guilt and apology.

I'm sorry, it's all because of my problem...