At that moment, inside the Hidden Leaf Village.
At the Uchiha Clan compound.
A large number of Uchiha stood in the smoke-filled "ruins," staring blankly in utter bewilderment.
From the start of the fierce battle, to their clan head's defeat, and then to the defection of Natsume—
the whole thing had taken barely ten minutes.
And now, more than half the buildings in the Uchiha Clan compound had been reduced to ruins?
This was way too damn absurd!
But soon, the clan members noticed something else.
Many familiar faces were missing from the compound!
By a rough estimate, more than half of them were gone!
Where had all those clan members gone?
Could they really have defected?
Many of the remaining Uchiha quietly wondered, their hearts sinking.
After all, a while ago, someone in the clan had come to ask if they were willing to leave Konoha.
The ones who remained had turned them down for all sorts of reasons.
Or they'd simply assumed it was a joke.
But now, it was clear this hadn't been a joke at all!
They really had defected!
Damn it!
If they'd known it was real, they should've escaped too!
For a while, many clan members who had only just grasped what was happening sank into deep regret.
Meanwhile, amid the vast stretch of charred ruins,
a not particularly tall figure was leaping and running at full speed.
Itou soon made his way through the piles of rubble.
He reached the spot where his father, Fugaku, had been knocked down.
But before he could start digging through the ruins,
Uchiha Fugaku, dusty but still full of energy, rose from a pile of broken timber.
"Itachi, you're here!"
"Father! Are you all right?"
Seeing that his father was still alive, Itachi felt a little relieved.
Even though he had originally intended to turn against his father and the entire Uchiha Clan tonight.
"I'm fine, I'm fine."
"That kid Natsume held back at the end. Otherwise..."
Fugaku brushed the dust off himself and sighed wistfully.
But he immediately realized he'd said too much and shut his mouth.
He couldn't let Konoha find out that he and that kid Natsume had been "putting on a fierce battle."
Well... they really had been fighting just now!
Look at all the houses they'd knocked down... What a huge loss!
"Father, you and my cousin Natsume...?"
Itachi had a suspicion, and at last asked what had been troubling him.
"Natsume? That kid took more than half the clan members and defected from Konoha!"
"I tried to stop him just now, but I still failed..."
Fugaku sounded regretful, but his eyes remained sharp, without a trace of sorrow.
"How could he? Isn't that just asking to die?"
"Even if he succeeds in leading half the clan members out, they still won't be able to withstand the village's pursuit!"
"And by defecting like this, he's made things even worse for the clan members who stayed behind..."
Itachi was stunned.
He couldn't understand why his cousin Natsume would do something so reckless and foolish.
"He must have his own considerations and a plan to deal with what comes next."
"But for him, staying in the village and waiting to die would be even more pointless."
"Everyone has the right to choose their own future."
"Itachi, you chose to oppose your clan for Konoha and Sasuke. You weren't wrong."
"Natsume chose to oppose Konoha for himself and the clan members. He wasn't wrong either."
"Though your views are different, you're both outstanding Uchiha. What happens in the future is yours to make."
Fugaku spoke with rare emotion.
He tipped his head back slightly and gazed up at the stars.
He could no longer see what the future held for the Uchiha Clan...
"So, Father, you already knew... I..."
Itachi's heart jolted. He didn't know how to explain himself.
No matter how many reasons he had,
there was no disputing the sin of betraying his clan and deciding to stain his hands with blood.
"Don't blame yourself. After something this serious, your mission should be put on hold for a while."
"Go check on your mother and Sasuke first. They should be all right..."
"Okay!"
At the mention of Sasuke, Itachi perked up a little.
He hurriedly prepared to check on his younger brother.
However,
right then,
with a whoosh,
another figure wearing a Konoha Military Police Force jacket flashed into view beside them.
"Clan Head, Young Master Itachi, forgive my intrusion!"
Uchiha Yashiro, his gray hair and bony features making him look gaunt, quickly greeted them.
"Yashiro? What brings you here?"
"It was Young Master Natsume's request..."
"Yashiro! Sigh... I never thought you'd sided with that kid too."
Fugaku was a little surprised.
After all, at forty-five, Yashiro was experienced and powerful, a steadfast pillar of the Uchiha Clan.
He was also Fugaku's right-hand man in the Konoha Military Police Force, someone Fugaku both respected and relied on.
But he'd never expected
that even Yashiro had sided with that kid Natsume.
Yashiro sighed faintly and answered frankly,
"Clan Head, I just wanted to change the state of the clan as a whole..."
"Compared with Young Master Natsume, you're simply too conservative..."
Fugaku coughed and waved his hand dismissively.
"Cough, cough!"
"Enough. Let's not talk about that."
"That kid really is an absurd genius! His strength is terrifying, too! Serving him isn't a bad thing."
This time, Fugaku truly felt old.
It seemed the clan's future had to be left to the younger generation—Natsume, Itachi, and the others—to fight for.
He'd just do what he could to support them!
"Did that kid have something else planned, then?"
"Yes. Young Master Natsume had a few words he wanted me to pass on to Young Master Itachi." Yashiro explained why he'd come.
"Something for Itachi?"
Fugaku looked puzzled.
Even Itachi, standing beside him, was taken aback.
He had no idea what his unbelievably powerful and deeply elusive cousin Natsume had left for him.
The next moment, Yashiro handed over a scroll.
Itachi took it and, with his father Fugaku's approval, opened it and began to read.
A moment later,
after reading the scroll,
Itachi couldn't help but jolt, his eyes lighting up.
The heart that should have been dead and cold suddenly came alive.
Not for any other reason, but because the method recorded in the scroll might allow the remaining Uchiha in Konoha to escape disaster.
They wouldn't have to be wiped out! They wouldn't have to fight Konoha to the death!
"So this is the contingency my cousin Natsume left behind?"
"It's definitely worth a try!"
Itachi spoke with feeling and quickly made up his mind.
Meanwhile, elsewhere,
in a secluded forest a hundred miles north of the Hidden Leaf Village,
a large group of Uchiha had gathered.
There were young and old among them, strong and beautiful... All told, there were more than four hundred people.
Clearly, they were all Uchiha who had defected from Konoha.
At that moment, several powerful clan members were leading them as they waited quietly.
Before long,
in the middle of the group,
the panda Summoning Beast, no bigger than a palm, received its instructions on the grass.
It quickly raised its two round paws and formed Hand Seals.
The next moment,
Reverse Summoning Technique!
It summoned Natsume, who was a hundred miles away, straight to them.
After all, the Summoning Technique was a form of Space-Time Ninjutsu. In theory, it could indeed be used to summon someone in the reverse direction.
And this was one of the reasons Natsume had dared to stay in Konoha and make a scene all by himself.
Otherwise,
escaping Konoha's tight encirclement wouldn't have been easy.
"I'm back! Is everyone all right?"
From within the white mist, Natsume called out to the assembled clan members.
Seeing that Natsume had returned safely,
the hundreds of Uchiha around him immediately burst into excited cheers.
"Young Master Natsume!"
"Young Clan Head!"
"Wonderful, the Young Clan Head is back!"
"We finally escaped Konoha!"
Countless cheers rang out, each wave louder than the last, their joy unmistakable.
Clearly, after being pushed aside and given a hard time by Konoha,
these Uchiha had finally been able to set down their burdens and breathe freely after escaping.
After all, Natsume was now the backbone of every one of them—the guiding light leading them toward a glorious future!
Nothing could lift their spirits more than seeing their new Young Clan Head return safely.
Likewise,
Natsume looked around at his clan members' delighted faces.
Feeling the ease that came with leaving Konoha behind, he too let the corners of his mouth lift in rare, genuine joy.
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