Uchiha Obito!

Sasuke struck without a hint of hesitation; even Okada himself could not have imagined that this ninja, who appeared so young, would be so ruthless and efficient in his killing.

"How... how did you dodge that just now?"

The searing pain in his chest made it clear to Okada that he had no chance of survival, and his voice, laced with deep unwillingness, drifted into Sasuke's ears.

"After using the fireball to attack you, I simply summoned a Shadow Clone."

To let Okada die with closure, Sasuke withdrew his hand and explained.

"What an incredible... little brat..."

His vision rapidly darkened, and Okada's body slowly slumped to the ground.

"Sigh! Such is the fate of a ninja!"

Forced to kill the two Kusagakure ninjas, Sasuke sighed with a sense of helplessness.

In truth, Sasuke did not want things to end this way, but if he were to show mercy, he would be the one to die.

Exhaling to steady his emotions, Sasuke walked over to a large tree and slowly pulled a box from his pocket.

"I wonder what could be inside this?"

Murmuring to himself, Sasuke quickly opened the box.

Inside lay two golden scrolls. He took one out, untied the thin cord binding it, and slowly unrolled it to examine it carefully.

"Biruyue, the leader of Kusagakure, is truly too greedy; he has actually imprisoned the Daimyo to control the finances of the Land of Grass!"

After reading the contents of the scroll, Sasuke exclaimed in surprise.

This scroll was actually a mission request. The client was the Daimyo of the Land of Grass, who hoped the Third Hokage would dispatch several elite teams to the Land of Grass to eliminate the tyrannical Biruyue.

Naturally, the mission commission promised by the Daimyo was extremely high, likely exceeding the total commission of two months of Konoha missions; after all, the mission rank had reached SSS.

"It seems this Daimyo has been enduring for a long time; gathering this intelligence must have taken quite a while."

Setting the request aside, Sasuke opened the second scroll, which contained a detailed map of the Land of Grass along with intelligence on Biruyue and his subordinates.

With this information, targeted ninjas could be dispatched, which would greatly increase the probability of mission success.

"Huh, these two guys are actually here too!"

A casual glance was all it took for Sasuke to spot the portraits and profiles of Okada and Asai on the scroll.

Okada's specialty was using the Hardening Technique to fortify his body, and he was proficient in Earth Style ninjutsu, while Asai's specialty was the use of Genjutsu.

Based on these descriptions, Sasuke knew this intelligence was highly accurate.

"No wonder Biruyue would arrange for two experts to hunt down the messenger to Konoha. If these two scrolls really fell into the hands of the Hokage, and if the Hokage agreed to accept this mission, then Biruyue's good days would truly be over. After all, Kusagakure is just a small faction; they could never withstand an assault from Konoha."

Connecting all the dots, Sasuke finally understood why Okada and Asai had been hunting that messenger.

"Forget it, I don't have time to deliver this to the old man Hokage!"

He had originally intended to analyze whether Sarutobi Hiruzen would accept this mission, but thinking it had nothing to do with him, he muttered to himself.

Stowing both scrolls away, he saw that it was getting late, so Sasuke turned and began his slow walk back toward the Uchiha Clan district.

In the twilight of the Uchiha Clan district, the pale blue sky was stained with mottled red clouds, like specks of blood floating in a sea of gray. In contrast to the blue-white and sunset-red of the sky, the ground was already a deep, ink-like black.

Sasuke, having returned from the Training Ground, reached the Uchiha Clan district and paused when he caught a glimpse of the lonely shrine ahead.

The shrine before Sasuke was, naturally, the Naka Shrine of the Uchiha Clan.

The Naka Shrine held great significance for the Uchiha Clan; beneath the seventh tatami mat from the rightmost corner of the main hall lay the entrance to the Uchiha's secret meeting place.

Furthermore, the basement of the Naka Shrine housed a stone tablet written by the Sage of Six Paths, which recorded many unknown secrets. The content would continuously expand in the order of "Sharingan - Mangekyo Sharingan - Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan."

Of course, having watched Naruto, the current Sasuke did not need any special eyes to know the contents of the tablet.

Black Zetsu, in order to resurrect his mother Kaguya Otsutsuki, had incited the decisive battle between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju, and had even altered the information left by the Sage of Six Paths in the Naka Shrine, steering the method to save the world toward the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

"If Black Zetsu hadn't tampered with the text on the tablet, I wonder what the ninja world would be like today!"

Knowing that the text had been altered by Black Zetsu, Sasuke sighed with a touch of melancholy.

Just as Sasuke was sighing, a mysterious figure suddenly appeared on the stone steps of the Naka Shrine's main hall, wearing a black robe and an orange-red mask with black stripes and a single eye hole.

"That is?"

The appearance of this mysterious figure left Sasuke feeling incredibly shocked. There was only one person in Naruto who dressed like this: Obito Uchiha.

Obito Uchiha was perhaps the character most discussed by fans of Naruto; one could even say he was an alternative protagonist of the series.

In his childhood, Obito Uchiha's situation was extremely similar to Naruto's—both were failures who hoped to attract others' attention, and both had a proud, prickly rival who stood in the same position as Sasuke did to Naruto: Kakashi.

However, Obito Uchiha was not as lucky as Naruto, who possessed the protagonist's halo; he had been crushed by a boulder just after awakening his Sharingan, and subsequently fell into the schemes of Madara Uchiha, becoming a pawn step by step.

Ultimately, Obito Uchiha was a good man who had been dealt a bad hand; he was the character with the most tragic color throughout Naruto, and one of the most dramatic as well.

Yet, this did not diminish the affection fans had for him. Day and night, loyal fans wrote the most beautiful hymns for Obito Uchiha.

Perhaps sensing that Sasuke had discovered him, the masked mysterious figure turned his head to look at Sasuke, then walked into the main hall of the Naka Shrine.

"Don't go!"

Seeing the figure of Obito vanish in a flash, Sasuke hurriedly gave chase.

Six years ago, Obito already possessed the strength to contend with Namikaze Minato; Sasuke was eager to get on familiar terms with him, hoping to have a line of communication should any difficulties arise in the future.

Much like Itachi in the original Naruto storyline, who had also sought Obito's assistance to wipe out the Uchiha Clan with such efficiency.

"Sigh! Forget it..."

After searching the area to no avail, Sasuke let out a sigh and headed home in resignation.

Once Sasuke had slowly departed, the mysterious figure's distorted silhouette appeared atop the rubble of Naka Shrine, followed by a low, gravelly voice.

"Itachi's little brother, is it? Seems rather interesting..."