Hello, One Year Before the Nine-Tails' Attack!

"Cicada—cicada—"

The cries of cicadas surged into his ears like a tide, rising and falling, tireless.

Sunlight pierced through the gap in the curtains, stabbing Xuan Shi's eyelids like golden blades.

Hot.

Stiflingly hot.

It was not the scorching heat of being roasted by fire, but the humid, water-laden swelter unique to high summer.

Xuan Shi's eyes snapped open, and his upper body sprang up from the tatami like a coil.

His chest heaved violently, his lungs greedily devouring the air.

There was no stench of blood in the air, no burnt smell, only the faint lingering scent of mosquito coils mixed with the grassy smell of sun-baked earth outside the window.

He gasped for breath, his vision blurring for an instant before focusing on his own hands.

These hands were clean and pale.

There were no thick calluses, no scars torn open by chains; his fingers were long, his skin firm.

These were the hands of a fifteen-year-old boy.

Xuan Shi instinctively touched his chest.

It was flat and smooth, without the huge hole Itachi had pierced through it with a single slash.

His heart beat powerfully inside his chest. Thump, thump, thump, as if striking a brand-new war drum.

"I'm back..."

Xuan Shi forced the words from his throat, his voice somewhat hoarse.

He threw off the thin blanket and stepped barefoot onto the wooden floor.

The floor was slightly cool, the sensation so real it made him want to cry.

He walked to the window and shoved it open.

Clatter.

A wave of heat rushed into his face.

The street was bustling. An auntie selling vegetables was pushing her cart past, the wheels rumbling over the stone road. A few half-grown children carried schoolbags on their backs and rice balls in their hands, laughing as they ran toward the ninja academy.

In the distance, Hokage Rock shone brilliantly in the sunlight.

Beside the third face, the fourth face was new and sharp—Minato Namikaze.

Xuan Shi turned his head and looked at the calendar hanging on the wall.

A date had been circled in red pen.

June 12, Year 47 of the Hidden Leaf.

There was still one year and four months until the Nine-Tails' Attack.

Shisui was still alive.

The Fourth Hokage was still alive.

None of the tragedies had begun yet.

Ding.

A crisp notification rang out deep in his mind.

That familiar pale-blue panel surfaced once more, but this time, it was no longer the despairing color of bloodred.

[Temporal anchor complete.]

[Current node: Year 47 of the Hidden Leaf.]

[Clan prosperity: 15 (base value/reset).]

[Whole-clan soul fusion rate: 100%. Side effect: the entire clan will experience a short period of mental fatigue and cognitive restructuring. Full recovery is estimated within 24 hours.]

It had worked.

It had really worked.

Xuan Shi closed his eyes, feeling the lingering aftershock of the temporal turbulence in his mind that had yet to subside.

They had won the gamble.

They had staked thousands of lives at the gaming table in exchange for this chance to flip the board.

"Heh."

A soft laugh slipped from his lips.

Xuan Shi grabbed the Police Force uniform hanging on the clothes rack.

It was a brand-new uniform, not yet stained with any dust or blood.

He put on the clothes, fastened his ninja tool pouch, and hung the unsharpened ninja blade at his waist.

Then he pushed the door open and walked out.

Morning sunlight spilled over the streets of the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Xuan Shi walked along the road, his steps very light.

A middle-aged man came toward him.

Uchiha Teyaki, the uncle who sold rice crackers.

On the Night of Clan Extermination in his previous life, Xuan Shi had seen him fall in a pool of blood with his own eyes, three kunai buried in his chest, while his hand still clutched the rice crackers he had saved for his daughter.

Now, Uncle Teyaki was holding a big broom, sweeping the fallen leaves in front of his shop.

Hearing footsteps, Teyaki raised his head.

Their eyes met.

Teyaki's movements stopped.

In those eyes that should have been cloudy and worldly, a chilling, razor-sharp glint flashed instead.

That was the gaze of someone who had seen hell.

There were no pleasantries, no greetings.

Teyaki tightened his grip on the broom, his knuckles turning white, as if he were holding a blade.

He looked at Xuan Shi, his eyes slightly reddening, his Adam's apple bobbing once. Then, with extreme subtlety, he stood the broom handle upright and tapped the top of the handle twice with his index finger.

Two long, one short.

This was an internal signal of the Police Force: [Safety confirmed. Standing by at any moment.]

Xuan Shi nodded slightly, the corners of his mouth pressed into a straight line, and returned a look.

Teyaki took a deep breath, lowered his head, and continued sweeping.

Scrape, scrape, scrape.

The sound of sweeping became especially forceful, as if he were clearing a battlefield.

Xuan Shi continued forward.

When he passed an intersection, two children with schoolbags were stopped there tying their shoelaces.

One of the children raised his head, revealing a young, tender face.

It was Uchiha Tekka's younger brother.

In his previous life, this child had died the most wretched death, strangled alive under the bed by a Root ninja.

Now, the child looked at Xuan Shi, and in those large, clear black-and-white eyes, there was not a trace of a child's innocence.

There was only a chilling coldness and hatred.

He slowly straightened, his hand instinctively moving toward the outside of his thigh—where a kunai pouch was tied.

"Brother."

The child called out in a low voice, steady as a veteran who had weathered the world.

Xuan Shi stopped and reached out to rub his hair.

It felt warm.

He was alive.

"Go to school," Xuan Shi said softly. "This time, no one will be able to bully you."

The child nodded hard, took his companion's hand, and turned toward the school.

That retreating figure no longer skipped and bounced; instead, it stood straight, like a javelin.

Xuan Shi walked on.

The auntie buying vegetables, the locksmith craftsman, the patrolling officers.

Every person who saw him had a subtle change in their eyes.

That change was extremely fast, gone in the blink of an eye, impossible for outsiders to notice.

But in that instant of eye contact, countless pieces of information were exchanged in silence.

"Back?"

"Back."

"Do you still remember that night?"

"Etched into my bones."

The entire Uchiha Clan Compound, on the surface, still looked like that peaceful, even somewhat arrogant settlement of a noble clan.

But beneath that calm facade, a dormant volcano had already awakened.

Magma surged through their veins.

Behind every pair of eyes hid a vengeful ghost.

Before he knew it, Xuan Shi had reached the bank of the Naka River.

The water murmured, clear to the bottom.

Naka Shrine stood quietly deep within the woods, its vermilion torii red as blood beneath the sunlight.

In the open space before the shrine, three people were already standing.

Hearing Xuan Shi's footsteps, all three turned at the same time.

The man in the middle still wore a dark kimono, his hands clasped behind his back.

Uchiha Fugaku.

His back was ramrod straight, no longer hunched as it had been in the previous life when he knelt and begged his clansmen. On that face that was always stern, there was now an unprecedented composure and depth.

On the left was a young man.

Itachi Uchiha.

He had not yet put on the Anbu vest, wearing only ordinary clan clothing. His delicate face still carried a youth's immaturity, but deep within those eyes lay a deathly, world-weary desolation.

And the person on the right...

Xuan Shi's steps paused.

It was a young man a few years older than Itachi, with curly hair and deep nasolabial folds on either side of his nose.

Shisui Uchiha.

A living, breathing Shisui.

Not blinded, not drowned in the river, but standing there intact.

When he saw Xuan Shi, Shisui revealed his signature gentle smile.

Only, within that smile, there was now a trace of bitterness and resolve.

"Xuan Shi."

Shisui raised a hand and unconsciously touched his right eye socket.

In the memories of that future, this place had once been empty and dripping blood.

"That feeling of having my eye gouged out... it really hurt."

Shisui spoke softly, his tone as if he were discussing today's weather. "Danzo's fingers were very cold, like a venomous snake."

"It doesn't hurt now."

Xuan Shi walked forward and stood opposite the three of them. "Because your eyes are still there."

Shisui lowered his hand, and the warmth in his eyes vanished in an instant.

In its place came a smear of crimson.

Three tomoe spun in his eyes, then instantly connected, forming the shape of a four-pointed shuriken.

Mangekyo Sharingan.

"That's right. They're still here."

Shisui looked at his own palm. "This time, I won't hand these eyes over to anyone again. Not even for the sake of so-called 'peace.'"

"Something like Kotoamatsukami is better used against enemies."

Itachi stood to the side without speaking.

He only looked quietly at Xuan Shi, then bowed slightly and gave a salute.

It was respect shown to a leader.

He remembered everything.

He remembered that night of despair, remembered his father kneeling, remembered the hand Xuan Shi had extended, and also remembered the sensation of driving his blade into Xuan Shi's chest with his own hands.

"Sasuke is still asleep."

Itachi suddenly spoke, his voice very soft. "I went to check on him just now. He was sleeping soundly, and he even kicked off his blanket."

"In this life, I'll make sure he can keep sleeping that soundly."

Xuan Shi nodded.

He looked at Fugaku.

"Clan Head."

"Don't call me Clan Head anymore."

Fugaku shook his head, his gaze turning toward the prosperous Hidden Leaf Village in the distance. "In that underground chamber, I already handed the Uchiha over to you."

"The me of now is only a father who wants to protect his family, and a member of the Uchiha clan who wants revenge."

Fugaku walked up to Xuan Shi, stretched out his hand, and clapped him heavily on the shoulder.

"Give the order, Commander-in-Chief."

"All three hundred and sixty-two members of the clan have awakened their memories."

"Today's Uchiha is an army."

Xuan Shi felt the weight on his shoulders.

He turned around, facing the direction of the Hidden Leaf Village.

The sunlight was bright.

The face of the Fourth Hokage on Hokage Rock was gazing down at the entire village.

And in the village's shadows, Root's base lurked like a malignant tumor.

Obito might be wearing a mask right now, spying on the Hidden Leaf from some corner.

They still did not know what had happened.

They still thought the Uchiha were that bird locked in a cage, ready to be slaughtered at any time.

Ding.

The system panel unfolded before Xuan Shi's eyes.

Several lines of blood-red text slowly emerged.

[Main quest, first stage activated: The Viper in the Shadows.]

[Objective: Within one month, eliminate all spies planted by Danzo inside the Uchiha Clan Compound (Root), and obtain the method to undo the "Cursed Seal of Tongue Eradication."]

[Reward: Clan prosperity +100. Function unlocked: Mangekyo ocular technique optimization.]

Eliminate the spies.

This was only the first step.

Xuan Shi narrowed his eyes, and the Mangekyo pattern deep within his pupils flashed and vanished.

"Then let's begin."

He spoke softly to the three people behind him, and also to the entire Uchiha Clan that had already awakened.

"Everyone, welcome back to hell."

The corner of Xuan Shi's mouth curved into a cold arc.

"But this time."

"We are the demons."

"The hunt begins."