The Danzo! I said no!

In the first year of Konoha, under a blood moon, a murderous atmosphere hung over the entire Uchiha Clan District, but no one noticed.

Uchiha Itachi put on his gear and sheathed his short sword.

He reached out with his right hand and gently touched the Konoha Forehead Protector on his brow, which he had always been proud of. His gaze grew utterly resolute.

The location of the foolish Jade Foot Matrix. I'm only thirteen, and I'm so lonely, so tired.

Uchiha Itachi muttered to himself.

The first house belonged to Uchiha Kentai.

Kentai was a middle-ranking member of the clan, with a gentle disposition. Whenever he saw Itachi, he would greet him warmly. Itachi silently slipped into the courtyard.

Through the paper door, he saw Kentai kneeling before a low table, grading his students' homework.

He taught at the Ninja Academy. Itachi's Sharingan glowed an eerie red in the darkness.

The Three-Tomoe slowly revolved. He saw the chakra pathways flowing through Kentai's still body, and the most vulnerable artery in his neck.

The door slid open without a sound. Kentai looked up, still wearing his gentle smile.

Itachi, what are you doing here so late?

A flash of steel, and warm blood spurted from Kentai's throat.

His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the young clan leader he had once been so proud of.

Blood soaked the workbook. The five characters in the name Uchiha Sasuke, which he had only half-finished grading, slowly turned red.

His wife rushed out of the kitchen, still holding the late-night snack she had prepared for her husband.

Kentai, what—? Her question died in her throat.

Itachi's blade pierced her heart. The dishes shattered on the floor, and the soup spilled everywhere.

A child began crying upstairs.

Itachi climbed the stairs, his steps as light as a cat's.

Four-year-old Uchiha Shota stood in the hallway, clutching a toy and rubbing his eyes.

"Mommy, Daddy—" Steel flashed. The toy's head and the boy's head fell to the floor at the same time.

Inside, Hiruzen Sarutobi and Supreme Danzo were engaged in their usual heated argument.

The cane in Supreme Danzo's hand slammed against the floor with a sharp thump.

"Itachi is already making his move. We have to go help."

"The Root members have all been assembled. I know your Anbu have been ready for some time, too."

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly drew on his five-million-ryō-a-pack old pipe.

"No! We can't attack our fellow villagers!"

Supreme Danzo's one eye widened. Beside Hiruzen Sarutobi sat Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.

Koharu sipped her three-million-ryō-a-pack Imperial Police Tea, glancing from side to side as her eyes shifted between her two old friends, who were still arguing.

The Third Hokage exhaled a cloud of smoke and paced anxiously around the room.

"There has to be another way."

"Uchiha Itachi has been our comrade for decades!"

Supreme Danzo gave a cold snort. "Do as you please. I'm taking action!"

"For Konoha's safety, I have to surround them first!"

With that, Danzo turned to leave.

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke sternly.

"You may surround them, Danzo, but don't do anything unnecessary!"

Supreme Danzo turned back in confusion. "What did you say?"

"If the Uchiha realize what's happening, do you know how many people will die?"

"Root has to act!"

"No! For Konoha's sake, I have to act!"

"Danzo, I said no!"

"Hiruzen, I'm the Hokage!"

"Hmph. You'll regret this!"

With that, Danzo slammed the door behind him. Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado exchanged a glance, then spoke up. "Hiruzen, Danzo may have been harsh, but he wasn't entirely wrong."

As the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, his old eyes full of sorrow.

"It's my fault for not finding a better way to handle the Uchiha situation."

After trying for a long while and failing to squeeze out a single tear, Hiruzen Sarutobi continued, "There are spies in the northeast of the village, disguised as our shinobi. Notify the Anbu and seal off that area. Kill anyone you find."

In the Uchiha Clan District, a shadow darted into a courtyard. An elderly man, watching the stars by the door, was silenced with a single slash before he could make a sound.

The shadow rushed into the house and cut down a couple and their two nursing infants. Then it darted off toward the next home. The whole thing took less than ten seconds.

Every time the shadow moved, another household was wiped out.

He had just killed a heavily pregnant woman, taking two lives at once, when the master of the house rushed out.

He was an Uchiha jōnin with a Three-Tomoe Sharingan. After blocking one of the shadow's strikes, the man shouted to warn his clan and call for help. But his voice was stopped by an invisible barrier and could not get through.

The man's gaze fell on the killer's waist. It was a strange chakra array—the Anbu's Mobile Barrier Stone.

The shadow moved at incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, he used the Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of the man and plunged a blade into his heart.

At such close range, the man finally saw the shadow's face. Furious and despairing, he gasped, "Shota, clan leader... why?"

It wasn't only a gap in strength, but a gap in like-mindedness!

Uchiha Itachi didn't look again at the fallen man. He turned toward the next house, then suddenly stopped. He glanced over the bodies on the ground and murmured, "I remember there were five people in the Uchiha family here, not counting the unborn child."

Uchiha Itachi swept the area with his Sharingan and quickly pinpointed the location. He went to a wardrobe, opened the doors, grabbed a three-year-old girl by her pale ankle, and yanked her out.

The little girl's chubby hands clutched desperately at the wardrobe. She sobbed and cried out in garbled words, "Big brother, big brother, don't kill me! Please!"

The blade fell. Her little head, covered in tears and snot, rolled away, and blood spattered across the floor. Even then, her chubby hands kept clawing at the wardrobe, as if her muscles hadn't yet realized that her body was dead.

Uchiha Itachi didn't waste a second. He flashed toward the next house to kill again.

A young mother was telling her child a story about the First to lull him to sleep when she suddenly felt a chill at her neck. The next moment, blood sprayed across her child's face.

Though she hadn't died immediately, the young woman instinctively threw herself over her child, trying to protect him.

But with a wet squelch, the blade pierced her body and plunged into the heart of the child, who had just been startled awake.

The blood moon hung high as the demon darted from house to house, and lives vanished one after another.

There were many powerful shinobi among the Uchiha, but their opponent was the clan's mightiest fighter, wielding the Mangekyo Sharingan. Their own vaunted Sharingan were useless against him, completely countered. More importantly, everyone was at home in a relaxed state, while the killer was fully armed!