Misplaced Anger

Time rewound a little.

In the small woods behind the Ninja Academy.

An ANBU landed beside Sasuke Uchiha, who had fallen asleep from exhaustion after practicing Shuriken—though in truth, he had been knocked out by Genjutsu.

Release!

The ANBU dispelled the Genjutsu on him, then leaped onto a nearby tree and began watching silently.

Sasuke woke groggily and rubbed his eyes, thinking only that he had been too tired and fallen asleep.

"Oh no! Is it this late already?!"

He saw the large, round moon hanging in the sky and realized it was getting late.

He hurriedly ran toward home.

Sasuke sprinted all the way back to the clan compound, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong!

The road from the academy to the clan compound was terrifyingly quiet.

The streets that usually still had groups of clan members walking and chatting even after nightfall were now completely empty.

Only his hurried footsteps and ragged breathing echoed through the deathly silence.

The moonlight was ghastly white, illuminating vast dark stains on the ground that had yet to dry.

—They were bloodstains. Blood splashed, dripped, and congealed everywhere!

A heavy, rusty stench stubbornly forced its way into his nose, making him nauseous.

An indescribable terror, like icy vines, silently coiled around his heart.

Sasuke was only seven years old. How could he have ever seen something like this?

He did not dare think too much. He simply ran desperately toward home on instinct.

As though returning to that familiar residence would give him answers, give him a sense of safety.

Yet when he finally rushed into the familiar plaza before his home, the sight before him seemed to freeze the blood in his veins instantly.

There were no familiar smiling faces, no warm lights.

There were only corpses, densely packed in rows across the ground!

Hundreds of clan members, dressed in the Uchiha clan clothes he recognized, lay silently on the cold ground, without even having had time to be covered with white cloths.

The grotesquely torn wounds continually assaulted Sasuke's nerves.

Suppressed, heart-wrenching sobs rose and fell throughout the plaza.

The surviving clan members knelt beside their loved ones' bodies, their shoulders shaking violently. Despair and grief seemed to have frozen the entire space.

How could this still be the familiar, lively clan compound he knew? This was clearly hell on earth!

"Sasuke... it's Sasuke!"

A sharp voice, thick with tears, rang out and shattered the mournful silence.

In an instant, countless gazes shot toward Sasuke, who stood frozen at the entrance to the plaza like sharp arrows.

Those gazes no longer held their former gentleness and tolerance. All that remained was crimson hatred, crazed fury, and the pain of losing everything!

"It was your brother! That demon, Itachi Uchiha!"

"And his father! They're both traitors!"

"They killed so many of us! Your whole family is a bunch of butchers!"

A wave of fury instantly swallowed Sasuke.

Several clan members who had lost their closest relatives and completely lost control roared as they rushed forward. Without another word, fists and feet rained down on Sasuke's small body.

"Ah! Stop! It wasn't me... I don't know..."

Sasuke was instantly knocked to the ground. He hugged his head and curled up in pain, utterly unable to understand this sudden violence and overwhelming hatred.

"Stop! Please stop! Sasuke is only a child!"

Mikoto Uchiha rushed out from the residence, her hair disheveled and tears still streaking her face.

She threw herself over Sasuke without hesitation, shielding her son with her body.

However, the pain of losing loved ones had already driven some of the clan members beyond reason.

"A child? What about my child?! He was only five!"

"Mikoto, get out of the way! When that father and son betrayed the clan, did they ever think that we were clan members too?!"

Amid the shoving and curses, someone began pulling and pushing Mikoto as well. The scene briefly spiraled out of control.

"Enough!!!"

A shrill, tearful scream drowned out all the noise.

Everyone looked over to see Izumi Uchiha kneeling beside a woman's corpse at one side of the plaza. It was her mother, Hazuki Uchiha, who had raised her alone.

Tears streamed down Izumi's face, and her body trembled faintly from extreme grief and anger.

She raised her head, her crimson eyes sweeping over the crowd beating Mikoto and Sasuke, and said hoarsely:

"Stop hitting them! The clan members are dead... Itachi killed them... but what does any of this have to do with Aunt Mikoto and Sasuke?!"

"They're victims too! Sasuke is just a child who knows nothing!"

Her words were like a basin of cold water, dousing some of the most frenzied anger.

A little reason returned as they looked at Sasuke, trembling in Mikoto's arms, his face bruised and swollen.

Some people reluctantly stopped, but the hatred in their eyes did not fade.

Sasuke struggled to raise his head from his mother's arms. His face burned with pain, while his heart was filled with immense grievance and confusion.

He looked at Izumi, who had always treated him wonderfully, like an older sister. As if grasping his only lifeline, he staggered toward her.

"Izumi... Sister Izumi..."

His voice trembled with tears as he asked, "What... what happened? Why is everyone... why are they saying my brother and Dad..."

Izumi looked at the boy before her, his face covered in injuries and his eyes helpless, and her heart twisted like a knife.

How badly she wanted to stroke his head as she had before and comfort him.

But her mother's cold body lay beside her, and the image of the boy she had once admired slaughtering the entire clan would not leave her mind.

Under Sasuke's hopeful yet fearful gaze, Izumi took a deep breath.

Using every ounce of strength in her body, she announced the cruel truth word by word:

"It was Itachi! And Clan Head Fugaku! They betrayed the clan!"

"All those people lying outside... my mother... and so many others... they were all killed by them!"

"No... that's impossible! My brother..."

"Sister Izumi, I don't believe it..."

Sasuke's face turned deathly pale as he shook his head wildly, refusing to accept it.

Seeing him like this hurt Izumi even more, but she could not forgive them. She could no longer associate that name with any warmth.

When Sasuke opened his mouth again and helplessly called, "Sister Izumi," she suddenly turned away, shoved him aside with all her strength, and spoke in a cold, broken voice:

"Don't call me sister! I... I will never forgive Itachi!"

"Izumi... Sis..."

His last source of support seemed to collapse before his eyes. His brother was a murderer, his father was a traitor, and even Izumi, who had been like an older sister to him, had completely pushed him away...

The immense grievance, confusion, and pain of being abandoned by the entire world crashed over his young heart like a tsunami.

Agonizing pain surged from his eyes. The world suddenly became incomparably clear, yet it was stained with a crimson undertone—the pattern of a single tomoe slowly began to spin in his eyes.

The powerful mental shock and physical pain made Sasuke's vision go black. He completely lost consciousness, his small body falling limply onto the cold ground.

Shien and the others, who had come out, happened to witness Sasuke awaken his eyes.

His gaze was deep as he took in the injuries on Sasuke's face and the chaotic scene.

"Take Mikoto and Sasuke away first. If they die, things will become troublesome."

Akabane pursed his lips and personally flashed over.

But Shien said nothing else. Instead, he made a gesture, and the group went back inside to resume their meeting.

Mikoto picked Sasuke up, filled with guilt and heartache. She lowered her head and tried to shrink into a corner.

Yet everyone's hostile gazes remained fixed on the two of them. The fury and resentment in those eyes seemed enough to burn through Mikoto's body.

"Sister Mikoto, come with me. You and Sasuke shouldn't be out here."

Akabane quickly led Mikoto away, leaving behind only the clan members with faces full of tears.