Chapter 32

Either the other side had some method that could let them slip silently to his side and take his life outright.

Either way, Sasuke was standing on a knife's edge now. "Hm?"

Itachi froze.

Sasuke's tone did not sound like a child's at all.

So Itachi could not possibly dismiss what he said.

Besides, Sasuke's expression had changed. With Itachi's understanding of him, this was absolutely no joke.

Then...

Itachi's eyes narrowed, and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan opened instantly.

As his chakra fluctuations spread, they immediately alarmed the surrounding Uchiha clansmen.

Before long, Uchiha Natsume arrived with the clan's elites. "Itachi, what happened?"

Natsume did not beat around the bush and asked directly.

Uchiha Itachi's brows tightened, and his tone was crisp. "Someone has infiltrated the clan grounds. Whoever came is an expert."

"Notify the whole clan to be on guard at once, and report it to the Hokage as well."

He spoke very decisively.

Although he had not yet locked onto the intruder's position, Sasuke's eyes were different—that special ocular technique would not activate for no reason.

So as long as Sasuke said it, Itachi took it to heart. "What?"

Uchiha Natsume's pupils shrank, and he immediately opened his Sharingan too.

Of the other Uchiha clansmen, two vanished in a flash, splitting up to notify the clan head and the Hokage.

At that moment, Obito, hidden in the shadows, curled the corner of his mouth. "Not bad vigilance."

"No wonder that guy Orochimaru has his eyes fixed so tightly on this kid."

"If he really grows up completely, nine times out of ten he'll become a stumbling block in my plan."

"Why not... kill him now?"

Obito's gaze went cold, and he made up his mind in an instant.

At this stage, he had no sentimentality to speak of.

Anyone who stood in the path he had paved would be eliminated without exception.

Just as Uchiha Natsume was about to extend his perception over the spot where Obito was hiding, Obito directly slipped into the Kamui Dimension.

In the same second, Sasuke abruptly drew a kunai, his other hand clenching the magatama.

Every hair on his body stood on end—a sense of death he had never felt before was pressing down on him, making even breathing difficult. "Sasuke, what exactly did you sense? If..."

"Clang!"

Before Uchiha Itachi could finish speaking, his Sharingan caught that faint abnormal distortion in the air.

A flash of silver light!

Without even thinking, he drew the sword from his back with a backhanded motion and barely blocked that streak of silver.

Only then did Sasuke clearly see the person holding the blade.

Good grief... he had almost forgotten about this guy—Obito Uchiha!

Sure enough, among the masterminds behind the Uchiha massacre, this guy really was there.

With the ability of Obito's Mangekyo, sneaking into Konoha without anyone noticing was as easy as drinking water. "Who are you?"

Uchiha Itachi knocked Obito's weapon aside with one slash, his face tense as he asked in a low voice. "Uchiha Itachi?"

"You do have some skill."

"Unfortunately... you're still not ripe enough."

As soon as Obito finished speaking, he pulled a huge gunbai fan from behind him with one hand.

A fan in his left hand and a short blade in his right, he lunged straight at Uchiha Itachi.

Uchiha Itachi recognized the style of that gunbai fan at a glance.

He had seen that thing before.

But now was not the time to get distracted.

The enemy before him was extremely troublesome, whether in chakra volume or taijutsu level.

The pressure rolling off the other party made Itachi's expression grow heavier and heavier. "Clang, clang, clang—"

The two tangled together in combat.

Uchiha Itachi's talent was already top tier, and with the real combat experience honed in the Anbu, even against an opponent of Obito's level, he could withstand the assault.

One had to know that Itachi was only in his teens at this time.

While keeping his eyes fixed on the battle, Sasuke quietly glanced at the system panel.

The mission information on it was still flashing with a glaring red light.

That was right. The source of this fatal crisis was Obito.

And judging by the timeline, Obito should have already joined the Akatsuki, and had even gotten in touch with Orochimaru.

Otherwise, why would he abandon Rin Nohara's grave and, with nothing better to do, run to Konoha to cause trouble for him?

"Brother—be careful. The other side... is also an Uchiha."

Sasuke lowered his voice and added, "And what that guy's carrying feels like the kind of smell Dad often talks about... Mangekyo!"

He deliberately shouted very loudly.

If no one exposed Obito Uchiha's phasing ability, then fighting him would absolutely get you killed by a dirty trick. Sasuke could not directly reveal the truth, but giving a warning was fine. "I know."

On Uchiha Itachi's side, more than a dozen kunai had already appeared in his hands.

He raised his hand, and the kunai shot toward Obito like rain. But Obito did not dodge at all. His body seemed fake, and the attacks passed through without even a sound—phasing.

In the blink of an eye, Obito had already closed in before Itachi. "Uchiha Itachi, you count as a rare good seedling."

"I might as well take you along too."

Before his voice had even fallen, his hand had already reached for Itachi's neck. "Rustle, rustle, rustle—"

Without warning, several streaks of red lightning cleaved over from the side.

Obito's brows shifted. The oppressive force of that chakra made him have no choice but to pull back. He twisted sideways and looked toward the direction the lightning had come from. "Uchiha Fugaku... the current clan head, right?"

"That move just now was your Mangekyo's ability?"

Obito stared at the newcomer, his tone carrying a hint of amusement.

He had only dodged just now. He had not truly been afraid. With Kamui, he was invincible. What was more, none of the people present understood space-time ninjutsu. He could leave if he wanted, stay if he wanted—he had things firmly under control. "Those eyes of yours belong to my Uchiha Clan."

"Leave them behind."

Uchiha Fugaku's voice was very deep, without the slightest warmth.

Red chakra had already begun surging out around him, and the Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes lit up directly, without the slightest concealment.

Seeing this, Obito laughed. "Tsk. You raise the situation to this intensity right from the start."

"Fine. I won't waste time with you today."

"Sasuke, Itachi."

"Remember this. One day, I'll come to pick you up."

"Hahaha—"

As soon as his words fell, Kamui activated, and he vanished from where he stood.

Now was not the time to clash head-on with Uchiha Fugaku. Besides, his current identity and methods could not be exposed to the light.

However, Obito could not figure it out no matter how hard he racked his brains—how exactly had he been exposed?

Logically, when Kamui activated, unless someone was staring straight at him, they could not detect it at all. Could there have been some other expert hidden in the dark just now?

This was also one of the reasons he had slipped away so decisively.

"Sasuke, Itachi, are you two all right?"

Uchiha Fugaku withdrew his chakra and walked up to his two sons, a concerned expression on his face.

Although his face was naturally stern, and even the way he showed concern was stiff, Sasuke knew very well that for this old man to manage this much was already not easy. "I'm fine."

Itachi answered first, then asked the doubt in his heart. "But Father, did you see clearly the weapon in his hand?"

"That was... our Uchiha's gunbai fan?"

"The weapon of that lord back then?"

Suspicion was suspicion, but Itachi truly could not believe that the person who had attacked him just now was that man.

—Madara Uchiha.

That was right. That gunbai fan was indeed Madara Uchiha's weapon. Added to the fact that the other side had also revealed the Mangekyo Sharingan... this matter could no longer be resolved simply.

Uchiha Itachi connected the two matters in his mind at once and naturally thought of that legendary existence. "No." Uchiha Fugaku shook his head, his tone certain. "If that lord had truly come in person, even at this current juncture, the three of us together wouldn't last more than a few rounds. Besides, if that lord had really come for us, he wouldn't have fled in such a sorry state."

His understanding of Madara Uchiha could not be considered very deep, but from the rumors he had heard, that was no ordinary figure. He was a legend who stood above all ninja, the true demon of the ninja world. How could such a person be frightened into turning and running just because of a few juniors?

Uchiha Itachi pondered for a moment, then probed, "Father means that the weapon that lord used somehow ended up in someone else's hands?"

Uchiha Fugaku did not take up that topic. He waved his hand, indicating that there was no need to worry about this matter for the moment. But immediately after, his gaze suddenly sharpened, and his tone carried irrepressible astonishment. "Sasuke, you... when did your Sharingan reach three tomoe?"

When he had previously heard that Sasuke had awakened the Sharingan, he had felt rather proud. After all, being able to open his eyes meant the child's talent was indeed good. But he had never expected that Sasuke had not only opened his eyes, but had opened directly to three tomoe. "Uh... just a while ago. I suddenly got really hungry, and after I ate my fill, I felt especially happy." Sasuke casually started making things up. He had read that Tale of Nonflammable Materials and knew that this thing called "love" really could awaken the eyes, so it could not be counted as completely baseless nonsense. "Happy that Dad and Mom treat me so well, happy that I have such an amazing brother, happy that there are also quite a few friends around me to play with. When all these happy feelings piled up together, my eyes opened somehow."

"Joy?" Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Itachi looked at each other. The shock in their eyes was even stronger than when they had seen that weapon just now.

Just then, a huge phantom abruptly appeared behind Sasuke. Susanoo swung the long staff in his hands and smashed it down hard. The terrifying impact directly blasted the ground into broken stone, and dust instantly surged up, covering half the sky.

In the smoke and dust, the outline of a person could be faintly seen—Obito Uchiha. This guy had not truly left at all just now. He had only pretended to retreat, waiting for them to relax their guard before doubling back to strike. Fortunately, the instant Sasuke sensed danger, he instinctively summoned Susanoo.

Obito's mood at this moment could simply be described as "pleasant surprise." His original plan had been to pretend to withdraw, wait for the opening when the three of them relaxed their guard, and directly abduct Uchiha Sasuke. Who could have expected that a mysterious person with absurdly powerful strength would suddenly appear halfway through? That taijutsu made no sense at all. When that staff came swinging down, Obito almost did not have time to use Kamui. Around the spot where the long staff fell, even the surrounding space twisted into rippling distortions. He even felt that if he had been half a beat slower in phasing, he would have been beaten to death by that staff.

This time, Obito truly did not dare make another move. He turned and ran, vanishing without a trace in the blink of an eye.

Only after quite a while did Uchiha Fugaku come back to his senses. Without another word, he scooped Sasuke up, and with a flash of his body, disappeared from the training ground. Uchiha Itachi followed close behind, also leaving the spot quickly. When they could not be certain whether the enemy was still there or not, withdrawing first was absolutely the safest response. As for who the person was who had helped them just now, the father and sons could not spare the thought to ponder it at the moment.

After returning home, Uchiha Fugaku immediately set up a barrier. Only after confirming they were safe did he put Sasuke down and ask directly, "Sasuke, you were the closest in that instant just now. You should have seen clearly, right?"

The dynamic vision of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was there. Even if the other party's movements were fast, Sasuke must have caught something.

Sasuke shrank his neck and lowered his voice. "That person just now... I only saw that he was tall. I didn't notice anything else."

"As soon as the noise rang out, I closed my eyes on reflex."

He sounded a little pitiful.

Uchiha Fugaku had originally wanted to ask a few more questions, but seeing his son like this, he forced the words back down.

At the end of the day, no matter how talented and clever Sasuke was, he was still a child.

Being frightened in that kind of situation was all too normal. "Itachi, take Sasuke to rest."

"I'm going to make a round through the clan grounds and investigate the situation clearly, then report back to Lord Hokage afterward."

"Keep an eye on things here at home."

"I'll have Shisui come over to help you."

After Uchiha Fugaku dropped these words, his figure flickered and vanished from where he stood.

Once he was gone, Itachi lowered his head and looked at Sasuke, worry in his eyes. "Brother, I'm really fine."

"I just got startled earlier. Since it's safe now, I want to go sleep."

Sasuke took a deep breath, his tone sounding a little forced.

Itachi reached out and poked his forehead. "All right. Rest well. Your big brother is here."

"When Big Brother Shisui arrives later, nothing will happen even more so."