Wooo—wooo—wooo—
The alarm ripped through the twilight.
It wasn't a long air-raid siren, but a series of three short, sharp blasts followed by one long one, like fingernails scraping across a blackboard.
The Uchiha Clan Compound erupted into chaos.
"What's going on? Are we under attack?"
"Over there! Naka Shrine!"
"Quick! Get the children!"
The normally quiet streets descended into chaos in an instant. Women cooking dropped their spatulas, men who had just gotten home rushed into their bedrooms to rummage for their ninja gear, and children carried elderly relatives on their backs.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Fists pounded on doors all along the street.
Police Force members in dark blue uniforms charged into every alley like a pack of mad wolves, kicking open every door that was shut.
"By order of the clan head! We've received intelligence of a Level One enemy attack!"
Yashiro Uchiha stood at a crossroads, spittle flying as the veins in his neck writhed like earthworms.
"Everyone! Get to the underground shelter at Naka Shrine immediately! Ten minutes! You have only ten minutes! Lock the doors and windows! Bring food and water! Move! Move! Move!"
His shout rang with chakra, rattling the tiles on the rooftops.
Xuan Shi stood outside his home.
He had already changed into his faded Police Force uniform, a ninja blade slung at his waist.
"Big brother..."
Akane stood behind him with a small pack on her back, clutching the drawing tightly in her hand. "Are we... really going to war?"
Her face was deathly pale, her lips trembling.
"It's a drill."
Xuan Shi crouched to tighten the straps on her pack, then tucked a bottle of water into its side pocket.
"Don't be scared. Go with Big Brother Tekka to the shrine and find a corner in the underground shelter to sit in. Don't leave, no matter who comes calling, until I come get you."
"What about you?" Akane grabbed his sleeve.
"I'm going to meet a guest."
Xuan Shi rose and looked toward Uchiha Tekka, who stood not far away.
Tekka was directing the residents of the area to evacuate, sweat pouring down his face. When he saw Xuan Shi, he nodded firmly.
"Take her." Xuan Shi pushed Akane toward Tekka.
"Big brother!" Akane cried out again.
"Go!"
Xuan Shi barked, turned, and headed against the flow of people toward the shrine gate.
The streets were full of running clan members.
Children's cries, adults' shouts, and wooden sandals clattering against the stone pavement blended into a deafening torrent.
Panic.
This was genuine panic.
No one suspected it was a false alarm. Everyone knew the Uchiha Clan's position in the village. That blade had hung over their heads for too long. Even a gust of wind could snap the taut string.
At the edge of the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Several figures wearing blank masks crouched among the treetops of a few towering trees.
Root.
"What's going on?"
The ninja codenamed "Kō" lowered his voice and pressed a finger to his radio earpiece. "The Uchiha are in an uproar. It looks like they're gathering."
"They're moving toward Naka Shrine."
His companion narrowed his eyes. "Could they be launching their coup early? Danzo-sama's intelligence said they were going to wait a few more days."
"Doesn't matter. Report it first."
Kō was about to form the Hand Seals to summon a messenger.
Buzz!
Without warning, a purple barrier rose around the clan grounds.
Four enormous pillars of light shot into the sky, one at each of the four corners. The barrier closed like an inverted bowl, sealing the entire Uchiha Clan Compound inside.
The Uchiha Flame Formation.
"Damn it!"
Kō's vision blurred, and his chakra sensing bounced off the barrier.
"Barrier Squad! Analyze the formation!"
"We can't! This is an advanced Uchiha barrier. It'll take at least half an hour to break through!"
"Should we force our way in?"
"Do you want to die? That's the Uchiha stronghold! Without Danzo-sama's orders, who would dare move?"
The Root ninjas exchanged glances, able only to watch as the purple barrier cut off all sight and sound.
At the entrance to Naka Shrine.
People poured into the huge underground entrance like ants returning to their nest.
Xuan Shi stood beneath the torii.
He didn't go inside. Instead, he leaned against a vermilion pillar and lit a cigarette.
He didn't smoke.
After his first puff, he coughed violently.
But he didn't throw it away.
The cigarette rested between his fingers, smoke curling upward and obscuring his face.
Night had fallen completely.
The streetlights came on, their dim yellow glow stretching his shadow long across the ground.
He waited.
For the final piece of the puzzle.
Caw—
A hoarse crow's cry.
Xuan Shi looked up.
A black crow perched atop the telephone pole directly across from him.
It tilted its head, its beady eyes reflecting the lantern light at the shrine entrance.
He was here.
Xuan Shi stubbed out the cigarette and flicked it into the grass beside him.
Flap.
The crow dispersed into a shower of black feathers.
A figure descended through the falling feathers and soundlessly landed five meters in front of Xuan Shi.
A gray Anbu vest. White bandages wrapped around the hilt of the ninja blade on his back.
His face was hidden in shadow, his expression unreadable.
Only his red eyes stood out in the darkness.
Itachi Uchiha.
He looked at the clan members frantically rushing into the shrine, then at Xuan Shi, who stood guard at the entrance like a gatekeeper.
He slowly raised a hand and rested it on the hilt of the blade on his back.
"Is this Father's decision?"
Itachi spoke.
His voice was as cold as ice striking stone, utterly devoid of warmth.
"Gather the elderly, women, and children as hostages, then have the elite forces launch a surprise attack on the Hokage Building?"
He had taken the evacuation as the prelude to a coup.
What else, besides a coup, could have made his indecisive father give such an order?
Xuan Shi looked at him.
At the prodigy who had carried too much until it crushed him—and shattered his clan along with him.
"Hostages?"
Xuan Shi shook his head. "You underestimate the clan head. And you underestimate the Uchiha."
He stepped aside, clearing the path to the shrine entrance.
Then he gestured for Itachi to go ahead.
"If you want to know the truth, go in and see for yourself."
Itachi didn't move.
His fingers curled around the guard of his blade, his thumb pushing it a fraction of an inch from its sheath.
He was assessing the situation.
The strength of the guards, Xuan Shi's abilities, and how many seconds it would take to kill everyone standing at the entrance if he attacked.
"What's wrong?" Xuan Shi's lips curled in a mocking smile. "Does the famous Itachi Uchiha hesitate to return to his own clan's shrine? Or are you waiting for your teammate? The one wearing the mask?"
Itachi's pupils contracted sharply.
The Masked Man.
No one knew this secret except him and Danzo.
"Who are you?" Killing intent locked onto Xuan Shi.
"Who I am doesn't matter."
Xuan Shi pointed at the shrine entrance, where the doors were closing. "What matters is that the doors are closing. If you don't want to miss tonight's show, you'd better hurry."
Creak—
The heavy shrine doors began to close.
The last few clan members had already run inside.
Itachi drew a deep breath.
His killing intent faded.
He released the hilt of his blade and stepped forward.
Whatever lay inside, he had to go in.
If this was a coup, he would cut it off at the source. If it was something else... he would see it with his own eyes.
They passed each other.
Neither said another word.
Itachi walked through the doors.
Xuan Shi followed behind him.
Boom!
The doors shut completely.
Several Sealing Jutsu formulas lit up on the inside, like heavy locks turning the shrine into an isolated island.
The underground chamber.
It had originally been used to store the Naka River Stone Tablet and hold secret gatherings.
It was spacious enough to hold several thousand people.
But now, it was packed.
The air was stifling, thick with the smell of sweat, dust, and fear.
It wasn't as noisy as one might have expected.
On the contrary, it was eerily quiet.
Thousands of people stood packed together, and the only sounds were the occasional wail of a baby and muffled sobs as mothers covered their children's mouths.
Everyone was watching the raised platform at the front.
Two rows of torches lit the platform brightly.
Uchiha Fugaku stood at its center.
He wore formal clothes, his hands clasped behind his back, his expression dark as a storm cloud.
Yashiro Uchiha, Inabi, and several other elders and jōnin stood on either side, hands on their sword hilts, their expressions grim.
Itachi stood at the very edge of the crowd, leaning against a stone pillar.
His hood covered half his face, leaving only his cold eyes visible as they swept over the gathered crowd.
There were no weapons.
The ordinary clan members carried none.
This didn't look like the start of a coup. A coup needed everyone who could wield a blade to charge in and serve as cannon fodder.
So what was this?
An evacuation?
Who were they hiding from?
As Itachi stood there wondering, someone walked onto the platform.
It wasn't an elder or a jōnin.
He was a young man wearing an ordinary Police Force uniform.
Xuan Shi.
He walked over to Fugaku and stood shoulder to shoulder with the clan head.
Fugaku actually stepped half a pace aside, subtly placing the young man at the forefront.
The crowd erupted.
"Who's that?"
"Xuan Shi? That Chunin?"
"Why is the clan head letting him stand there?"
The whispers buzzed like flies.
Xuan Shi raised a hand and pressed it downward.
It was a small gesture.
But the scene fell silent at once.
Because his eyes had changed.
The three Tomoe had merged into one, the strange black gear-shaped pattern slowly turning in the firelight.
A chill swept across the crowd with the force of his ocular power.
Everyone felt a chill at the back of their necks, as if a venomous snake had just licked them.
Itachi narrowed his eyes.
Mangekyo.
Another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
When had the Uchiha Clan produced someone like this?
Xuan Shi didn't look at the thousands of eyes below him. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the stone pillar in the corner.
On Itachi, hidden in the shadows.
Their eyes met.
Xuan Shi smiled.
"Everyone's here."
Xuan Shi spoke. His voice wasn't loud, but in the enclosed chamber, the echo carried clearly.
"Good evening, everyone."
"I called you all here in such a hurry. Many of you probably haven't even eaten dinner, so you must be furious."
"I'm no different. I still haven't made the tomato and egg stir-fry I promised my little sister."
A few suppressed chuckles rose from the crowd, and the tension eased a little.
But in the next moment, Xuan Shi's tone shifted, like a knife driven into the ground.
"The Police Force just said we're under attack."
"This isn't a drill."
"It's real."
The crowd began to stir again.
"Who's the enemy?"
"Has the village attacked us?"
"Are we going to fight back?"
Xuan Shi shook his head.
"Fight back?"
"With what?"
"With the spatulas in your hands? Or the children in your arms?"
He pointed overhead.
"Outside, Danzo's Root has already surrounded the clan grounds. The Masked Man's Space-Time Ninjutsu has cut off our escape routes."
"We're birds trapped in a cage."
"If we do nothing tonight, by sunrise the Uchiha Clan will be nothing but corpses."
"A name that won't even be carved on the Konoha Memorial Stone."
Panic.
Utter panic erupted in the chamber.
Some began to cry, others shouted curses, and a few wanted to charge outside and fight to the death.
"Silence!"
Fugaku roared, his chakra surging as he quelled the unrest.
Xuan Shi continued.
"A coup is a dead end. Surrender is a dead end, too."
"So the clan head and I have made a decision."
He looked at Itachi.
Itachi's fingers had already shifted against the blade. He was calculating how many seconds it would take to rush the platform and cut Xuan Shi's throat.
This madman was spreading panic. He had to be stopped.
However.
Xuan Shi's next words left Itachi's hand frozen in midair.
"Tonight, we won't stage a coup."
Xuan Shi spread his arms, the red light in his eyes blazing.
"We... will flee as a clan."
"Where will we go?" someone shouted.
Xuan Shi pointed to his eyes.
"Back... to the past."
"To a time before any of these tragedies began."
"To that battlefield... where only we can win."
Before you continue