The Night Is Long

Eleven-year-old Itachi stood there in a daze, the expression on his face shifting from shock to denial, from denial to fear, from fear to...

A self-doubt that cut deep into his bones.

"That person... isn't me." He muttered softly, but even he could not convince himself.

That face was his. Those eyes were his.

The way he swung his blade, the hand signs he formed, even the cold turn after killing an enemy—all of it told him:

That was you. You, two years from now.

Then he saw his father lying in a pool of blood.

Fugaku was neither angry nor resistant. He simply accepted it all in silence, and at the very end, he had even said, "You are still my pride."

At last, Itachi's tears fell.

He suddenly realized that the father he had always believed "didn't understand him" had actually understood him better than anyone.

Yet he had chosen betrayal.

Inabi slowly pushed himself up from the ground. The instant his Mangekyō Sharingan awakened, he understood everything, but the resentment in his heart still had nowhere to go.

Flames also flickered in Tekka's eyes, while Shisui wore an expression full of guilt and remorse.

Zhengye spoke at the right moment:

"These are things that will happen in the future, but as long as we make changes, all of this can be avoided."

"But the condition is that all of you must listen to me."

After learning that Zhengye could travel through time and space, the four naturally submitted to him wholeheartedly.

"We'll all listen to you, Zhengye." Inabi and Tekka answered without hesitation.

Even proud Itachi lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Senior Zhengye."

Hearing the change in address, Zhengye nodded faintly and said nothing more.

But he remembered Itachi's change in attitude.

Shisui followed up at once. "Zhengye, I was wrong. As long as Uchiha can be saved, I'll listen to you no matter what I have to do."

Then he hesitated. "I just hope it won't start a war."

After all, Shisui loved peace, so it was only natural for him to add that last sentence.

"Ding..."

Hearing a series of system notifications in his mind, Zhengye smiled casually.

"I'm not Fugaku, and I'm not Yashiro. Besides a military coup, there are plenty of other options."

In this future scene, thirteen-year-old Itachi had already killed Fugaku and Mikoto and was heading outside.

Zhengye waved his hand. "Spread out and gather as much information as you can. It's difficult to come here. We'll meet at the clan grounds plaza in a while."

The four exchanged looks, then passed through the walls and went outside to gather information.

At that moment, Zhengye opened the system.

[Ding, Uchiha Inabi and Uchiha Itachi's fates have changed. Lottery draws obtained x6]

[Ding, gained the acknowledgment of Uchiha Inabi, Tekka, Itachi, and Shisui. Lottery draws obtained x4]

[Ding, Inabi, Tekka, Itachi, and Shisui have been recruited under your command. Lottery draws obtained x8]

Current lottery draws: 18.

Zhengye glanced over the system records. Both Inabi's and Itachi's fates had changed—Inabi had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, while Itachi's understanding had been overturned. Tekka... his fate had not yet taken an obvious turn, but there was plenty of time.

He stopped thinking about it and cleared his mind.

There was no rush to draw cards. He still had a Mental +1 from before that he had yet to use.

Zhengye gave a light tap within his consciousness.

[Ding, Mental +1. Host's personal panel unlocked.]

[Uchiha Zhengye: Strength 3, Agility 4, Constitution 3, Mental 8]

As the point of mental power went in, he involuntarily opened his Three-Tomoe Sharingan. Cool ocular power flowed into his eyes like a gentle stream.

Zhengye blinked. So mental power could directly increase ocular power.

That meant...

With a wave of his hand, he used all eighteen lottery draws at once.

A ball of light exploded in his mind, black flame patterns carving streaks of light through the air—

Strength +2, Mental +2, Constitution +1

Free attribute points: 2

Can be freely allocated to any attribute.

Explosive Tags (Pack of 5) (Common)

Shuriken (Pack of 10) (Common)

Healing Talisman (Fine)

Slow self-healing (1%/day).

Permanent. Can be dried if rendered ineffective by moisture.

Chakra Crystal (Rare)

Permanently increases maximum chakra by 3%.

One-time use. Each person is limited to five uses in a lifetime.

Three-Color Dango (1 Skewer) (Common)

Restores a tiny amount of stamina and improves mood.

Chakra Gum (Fine)

Swallows one flying ninjutsu and allows it to be cast once without cost within one minute.

One pack contains five pieces. Each piece can be chewed for three minutes.

Steel Wire (30-Meter Roll) (Common)

Used for traps and restraint.

Dense Smoke Bombs (10) (Common)

Releases dense smoke to block vision and make enemies cough.

Swimming Powder (Fine)

Swim through earth/walls (10 meters/second).

One pack has three uses, five minutes each.

Portable Rations (Compressed Biscuits) (Common)

Restores a small amount of stamina.

One-time use.

Ninja Tool Sharpness Recipe: Iron-Cutting (Special)

A metalworking recipe. Ninja tool sharpness +30%; can cut through ordinary iron tools.

Permanent knowledge.

Aside from the attribute points, the rest were just ordinary ninja tools with minor functions.

What the hell was this Healing Talisman? Slow self-healing of 1% a day—this was no different from a toy.

Something like Swimming Powder was actually useless to ninjas proficient in Earth Release.

Of course, that metalworking recipe really was a good item.

Zhengye flipped through the rewards twice, then claimed the attribute points first.

When he put the strength points in, Zhengye could clearly feel his muscle fibers becoming dense, like ropes twisted taut.

He threw a punch on instinct, producing a dull crack through the air.

Not bad. My strength is about twenty percent greater than before.

After adding to his constitution, it felt as if warm water had flowed into his body, spreading rapidly through his limbs with his blood.

He closed his eyes and sensed the surging chakra.

His total chakra reserves had increased by ten percent.

The increase in mental attributes was even more apparent. It was as though a clear spring had been poured into his brain; both his ocular power and energy were rising.

Most importantly, he felt that his ocular power had reached an invisible, intangible bottleneck.

Zhengye looked at his attributes.

[Strength 5, Agility 4, Constitution 4, Mental 10]

Free attribute points: 2

He hesitated for a moment. Originally, he had wanted to save some for agility, since speed was the key to survival.

But the increase in ocular power brought by that Mental +1 had tempted him—in this world, the Uchiha Clan's Sharingan was the most reliable power.

"Let's gamble."

He put both free attribute points into Mental:

Mental 10 → Mental 12

Boom—

His brain felt as though it had been struck by lightning, and his consciousness expanded instantly.

His Three-Tomoe Sharingan opened uncontrollably. Within his blood-red pupils, the three tomoe spun wildly, so fast that they nearly blurred into one.

The world in his field of vision began to change.

The veins of distant leaves, the dust drifting through the air, even traces of flowing chakra—all of it became crystal clear.

Then the three tomoe abruptly shattered and reformed.

The tomoe vanished, replaced by three diamond-shaped patterns connected end to end, slowly rotating within his pupils.

Mangekyō Sharingan!

Zhengye closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the patterns in his eyes had stabilized.

An unprecedented ocular power surged in his eye sockets—heavy and dense, like two stars compressed to their limits.

"Finally..."

He clenched his fists. In this world, he finally had the means to protect himself.

Suppressing the joy in his heart, Zhengye leaped toward the clan grounds plaza outside the Uchiha compound.

Uchiha Shisui stared at the Third Hokage with his single eye, the fury inside it visible to the naked eye.

Zhengye landed beside Inabi and questioned him with a look.

Inabi pointed toward the center of the plaza, gritting his teeth.

"Look."

Zhengye followed his gaze—

The Third Hokage stood in the center of the plaza, grief nearly overflowing from his face.

He directed the ANBU to load bodies into corpse bags, his voice hoarse but loud:

"Are there any survivors? Do everything you can to save them!"

Yet just two hundred meters away, gray-robed figures from Root were rapidly withdrawing. The Third Hokage occasionally glanced in that direction, but pretended not to see them.

"Damn it," Inabi spat viciously.

"He stood right there and watched Root slaughter us, but now he's pretending to be some kind of saint."

Zhengye said as if it were only natural, "He's the Third Hokage, after all. Isn't putting on a show normal for him?"

"He's had people monitoring our clan grounds the whole time. If he didn't even know our clan was being exterminated, wouldn't that make him an utter idiot?"

Eleven-year-old Itachi stared blankly at Sasuke, who lay collapsed on the ground. Naturally, he knew that his thirteen-year-old self had hit his younger brother with Tsukuyomi.

Seeing Sasuke's miserable state, Itachi's heart ached terribly.

His voice dry, he asked Zhengye, "Senior Zhengye, do you know what happened to Sasuke later?"

Zhengye glanced at him and replied blandly:

"Haven't you seen what kind of life the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki lived? Do you really think Sasuke, whose entire family was dead, could have lived well?"

Itachi's body jolted. He staggered back a step, his face deathly pale.

That's right. Even the Third Hokage abused a Jinchuriki. How could Sasuke have lived well after the clan massacre?

"Pitiful. Sasuke bore hatred for his entire life. He never had joy again, becoming a walking corpse from then on."

Zhengye did not forget to drive the knife in deeper. Seeing Itachi so utterly devastated made him feel good.

After all, there was no cure for chuunibyou. The only treatment was a heavy punch!

Watching the ANBU continuously pack the clan members' corpses into body bags, Tekka murmured:

"Then our clan's Sharingan...?"

Zhengye took over, "Of course they were used as Konoha's research materials. You didn't think they would bury them for you, did you?"

The muscles in Tekka's cheeks tightened, and his eyes were filled with grief.

Zhengye clapped his hands, drawing all their attention.

"The destruction of our Uchiha Clan was not caused by any single factor."

"But at its core, one key reason was that Fugaku was not a qualified clan head."

"He was stubborn and willful, placing all his hopes on Itachi, who had already been brainwashed by Konoha."

Zhengye glanced at Itachi then. Itachi looked pained and lowered his proud head.

"In the end, unable to bear his own failure, he did not think of saving more clan members. He only thought of fulfilling Itachi."

"Therefore, Uchiha Fugaku is unfit to be clan head!"

All four of them trembled. Shisui could not help asking, "Zhengye, do you want to become clan head?"

Zhengye shook his head. "Whether I become clan head is not important. What matters is that Fugaku can no longer be clan head."

Seeing the clan members' bodies covering the ground and recalling Fugaku baring his neck for execution, the four nodded unconsciously.

Zhengye took the spacetime treasure, Plow, from his robes. Pale yellow light shone once more.

"We should go back."

His gaze swept over the dead before finally falling on the Root sentries still patrolling outside the clan grounds.

"Tonight, there are still many people we need to meet. And many debts we need to settle."

The next moment, the light swallowed everything.