Night of the Clan Destruction, Leaving Konoha

Deep in the forest outside Konoha.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the branches, casting mottled shadows.

Tonight's blood moon was exceptionally eerie, its scarlet hue staining the entire sky like a curtain washed in fresh blood.

In a forgotten corner of the forest, a meticulously camouflaged entrance lay hidden behind the gnarled roots of an ancient tree.

The stairs extending down from the hideout led to a cramped space of less than ten square meters.

Jingxin Uchiha stared at the monitor, sighing, "So, it still couldn't be prevented?"

The cold light of the screen reflected off his youthful yet unnervingly calm face.

On the screen, the Uchiha clan's compound had already turned into a living hell, where blood, silence, and the blood moon mirrored one another.

Uchiha clansmen lay scattered across the streets, their blood winding into rivers along the stone pavement.

Occasionally, a figure would collapse after being struck by kunai or ninjutsu fired from the shadows.

The scarlet glow of Sharingan eyes flickered on and off in the night.

Most jarring were the children—Uchiha kids the same age as Jingxin or even younger—who were dragged from their hiding spots by the killer before they could even comprehend what was happening, only to close their eyes forever.

In one corner of the screen, Jingxin saw his familiar neighbor, Tekka Uchiha, the Jonin who always smiled and offered him dango; now, three kunai were embedded in his chest, and the Sharingan in his wide-open eyes had lost their luster.

Years ago, Jingxin had transmigrated from Blue Star, becoming a member of the Uchiha clan, the same age as Sasuke.

From that moment on, Jingxin had strived to avoid the Night of the Massacre.

To convince the Konoha high-ups that the First Hokage's plan was viable, Jingxin had played the role of a "good person."

Other Uchiha clansmen were aloof and arrogant, even looking down on their peers.

Yet Jingxin maintained kindness toward everyone, building friendships with the Konoha 12 at the Ninja Academy, becoming a well-known social butterfly, and even frequently helping elderly ladies cross the street.

He had tried to influence the attitude within the Uchiha clan, but his words carried no weight.

He had tried to let Hiruzen Sarutobi know everything through anonymous means, but the man remained as silent as an incompetent husband.

He had tried to influence Itachi Uchiha through psychology, but the boy was too deeply brainwashed and still turned into a weasel.

Jingxin had even attempted to make Danzo truly understand the Second Hokage's political goals, but the man was a hack who had only learned how to suppress the Uchiha from the Second.

As a transmigrator, the fact that he had actually attempted to influence Danzo showed just how desperate he really was.

Aside from the elusive Obito, Jingxin had tried to warn or change the "protagonists" of the massacre in almost every way he could think of.

But it was all in vain; the event still came to pass.

If he had arrived a few years earlier, giving him enough time to prepare, perhaps... maybe... there could have been a different outcome?

Because Jingxin also possessed a system, but its benefits relied on the accumulation of time.

The system had only one function, and that was Linear Potential: effort yields results, and your potential no longer has any upper limits or bottlenecks.

If Jingxin had been a few years older, or even just the same age as Itachi, he would have possessed the strength to change all of this.

Jingxin frowned, staring at the screen as cameras were discovered and destroyed one by one, turning into the static snow he saw before him.

The shadows in the hideout began to ripple.

Several pitch-black feathers appeared out of thin air, gathering together to gradually outline a human silhouette.

The feathers faded, revealing the attire of the Konoha Anbu.

Within a pair of scarlet pupils, three tomoe connected in a peculiar pattern, rotating slowly.

Itachi Uchiha appeared in the narrow space without warning; his Crow Clone allowed him to bypass all physical defenses like a ghost.

He stood in a position that blocked the only exit, his figure casting a long shadow under the glow of the instrument's indicator lights, completely enveloping Jingxin.

"You really didn't die."

These words suddenly appeared by Jingxin's ear, the voice extremely rational and highly recognizable.

There were tear stains at the corners of Itachi's eyes, but his voice was deathly calm: "Completing the Ninja Academy curriculum in just one year, graduating early, and attempting to take on missions—all to fabricate news of your death during a mission, just to get away from the Uchiha and Konoha."

"Sigh," Jingxin sighed, turning his chair to face Itachi, his demeanor showing not a hint of nervousness: "You still did it. You really are a hopeless case."

A trace of madness flickered in Itachi's gaze, but it was quickly drowned out by rationality: "To be this calm... is this a Shadow Clone?"

Jingxin rested his chin on his interlocked fingers, his demeanor and tone not at all like those of an eight-year-old child: "Time will prove just how foolish your choice was."

"I'm sorry." Itachi's heart and spirit were on the verge of collapse: "You are very talented, your thinking is meticulous, and your ideas were good... but time would not allow the village to experiment with errors."

Itachi felt an incomparable sense of desolation.

If only Jingxin had appeared a few years earlier...

In any case, the plot had reached its conclusion.

Either the village purged the Uchiha tonight, or the Uchiha rebellion would deal the village a devastating blow tomorrow night.

But regardless, the fate of the Uchiha was already sealed.

Jingxin did not hide his disgust for Itachi in the slightest: "In Jonin reconnaissance theory, there is a chapter on judging the approximate location of the main body by observing the subtle reactions of a clone."

"And now that things have reached this point, the remaining Uchiha pose absolutely no threat to the village. Is it really necessary to be this absolute?"

Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan remained fixed on Jingxin, yet he could glean no useful information from the analytical patterns provided by his ocular prowess.

Nevertheless, Itachi countered Jingxin's point: "They pose no physical threat to the village, but the order I received is to kill everyone to avoid any public outcry."

Jingxin's lips curled slightly: "Everyone?"

Itachi: "..."

Jingxin raised his index finger, circulating his chakra slightly to prepare for the dispersal of his Shadow Clone, leaving behind one final sentence: "I will help you complete this mission thoroughly."

In that instant, Sasuke's smiling face flashed through Itachi's mind, and his Mangekyo spun rapidly.

The moment Jingxin's clone vanished, he caught the trail of chakra from within the clone drifting toward the north.

Simultaneously, the sound of paper bombs igniting reached Itachi's ears.

His body transformed into a murder of black crows, flying toward the exterior of the hideout in an attempt to relay the intelligence.

But it was already too late.

The flames obliterated the entire underground hideout, and the crows dissipated into white mist amidst the explosion.

Outside the hideout, Obito, who had been waiting, activated his intangibility to avoid the shockwave of the paper bombs.

He received no intelligence relayed by Itachi's Shadow Clone.

The dust settled.

On a large tree not far from Obito, the branches and leaves were blown away by the blast, revealing a hidden surveillance camera.

The faint red light was extremely conspicuous in the night, and Obito turned to look at the monitor, muttering unhappily: "Trash..."

The next second, the monitor was destroyed by a kunai.

In the northern part of the forest outside Konoha, a boy with short black hair stood silently on a tree branch, watching the firelight stirred up by the paper bombs in the dense forest.

After receiving the memories transmitted back by his Shadow Clone, he turned and merged into the deeper darkness.