Nightmare

The world passed safely into the midnight of the second day.

Amid cawing cries, Sasuke suddenly jolted awake from his sleep. He gasped for breath, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

As if something were driving him, he hurriedly threw off the blanket, got up, and ran to Itachi's room. Yet it was still empty. Only a raven stood by the window, tilting its head at him.

"Was it... a dream?"

He wiped away his sweat, and his tense emotions gradually settled.

—The thing about his brother being killed by someone using despicable means had to be a dream, right?

Why had he dreamed of something like that? Seriously...

Awakened by the nightmare, Sasuke had lost all sleepiness. His entire body was soaked in sweat.

His brother and father had not returned all night, while his mother was already asleep. Firelight still shone on the streets outside, though he had no idea what they were doing—and no interest in finding out.

He lay on the floor of his brother's room, still shaken.

As if sensing something, he raised his head. At some point, the raven had landed on his chest. Only then did Sasuke notice that the raven's other eye was not pure black, but black and red—remarkably similar to his father's eyes!

Just as Sasuke felt confused,

the raven opened its beak.

"Sasuke... sorry..."

Sasuke froze. The raven could speak?

"Ah—"

He shot upright in panic. The raven was no longer on his chest. Looking around, he realized that he was still lying in his own bed.

What did that mean?

A dream within a dream?

Sasuke steadied himself and carefully went to Itachi's room again. When he opened the door, the room was arranged exactly as it had been in the dream. His brother still had not returned. The only difference was that the window was half open, and the raven from the dream had vanished without a trace.

It had only been a false alarm. Sasuke patted his chest and was about to return to his room when he suddenly stopped.

He carefully recalled the raven's tone from earlier.

"That sounded like... my brother's voice..."

"Stay sharp, everyone. Don't let your guard down. The Uchiha Clan will most likely launch their coup during the day, but who knows whether they might suddenly lose their minds and decide to act now?"

The ANBU forces concealed in the darkness each sharpened the blades in their hands, preparing for the battle to come that day.

"Are they really going to start a civil war in Konoha?" After a long silence, someone could not help asking.

Due to confidentiality requirements, many of them had only just learned the truth. They had previously been gathered under the pretense of routine drills. Who would have thought that just after midnight, their captain would tell them the drills were fake and that the conflict with the Uchiha Clan was real?

"I'll repeat this: it isn't a civil war. It's stopping an Uchiha coup!" the ANBU captain at the head of the group emphasized. "We are only eliminating the ringleaders. Only a small number of Uchiha higher-ups will be judged. Innocent Uchiha clansmen will not be implicated."

Everyone was somewhat more encouraged. As ANBU directly under the Hokage, they had always obeyed orders without question during missions, putting completion of the mission first. Even without knowing the truth, it would not have affected their loyalty.

But now that they knew their enemies were ambitious elements of Konoha's elite preparing to stage a coup, and that they themselves were on the righteous side protecting Konoha's stability, they would be more decisive when swinging their swords.

Not far away, Firefly, secretly monitoring the ANBU, sighed with a somewhat gloomy expression.

Danzo's order was not for her to fight the Uchiha ninja, but to slaughter the unarmed civilians remaining in the Uchiha District. This clearly went against the Third Hokage's will. After this was done, who knew how far the conflict between the Third Hokage and Danzo would escalate because of it...

She slowly wiped the long blade in her hand.

Soon, this blade would be stained with the blood of innocents.

The Uchiha Clan and Konoha were actively preparing for war, while out in the wilderness, another battle stood on the verge of erupting.

"...This guy is Madara Uchiha?"

"That Sharingan is unmistakable. He must be the trump card the Uchiha Clan kept in reserve!"

"Hey, you bastard! What did you do to Ning Qi?"

Konoha's Dagger Squad had already surrounded the masked Madara Uchiha.

Kakashi surveyed the area. Not long ago, an astonishing battle must have taken place here. The surrounding earth had been overturned, the tree trunks were covered in sword marks, and many trees had fallen nearby. These should have been the traces left after Ning Qi was discovered while tracking Madara Uchiha.

But... why was there no sign of Ning Qi?

Hearing their words, the masked man narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Fools. You have been used, yet you still don't realize it..."

Ning Qi wanted these people dead, yet they were still worried about Ning Qi's safety.

How ridiculous!

He glanced at Kakashi, who was deep in thought not far away.

This guy too.

Even now, he had made no progress.

It was one thing that he had failed to protect Rin back then.

But he held his Sharingan and still could not see through something as simple as human nature.

Utterly foolish!

With that thought, the killing intent in the masked man's heart gradually subsided.

It was fine to keep such stupid opponents alive.

It only further proved that such an ignorant world was not worth clinging to.

"I don't want to be used by Ning Qi, so I won't hold this against you this time. Cherish this rare opportunity. I am not often so merciful," the masked man said flatly. A tremendous suction force came from the hole in his mask, swallowing his entire body.

"He's trying to escape!"

The incoming kunai passed directly through the masked man's body. Everyone in the Dagger Squad widened their eyes.

This guy... what kind of ability was that?

They stood where the masked man had disappeared, looking at one another.

"The Yata Mirror... truly is a good thing." Ning Qi narrowed his eyes, sheathed his sword, and looked down into the valley beneath his feet.

He had plotted for so long and prepared so many measures, yet once Itachi brought out such an unfair divine artifact, his preparations still proved insufficient.

Ning Qi knew that Itachi possessed both the Yata Mirror and the Totsuka Blade, but he had never known that Itachi had obtained one of them so early.

Ning Qi had never made any contingency plan for this.

Just like Shisui's eye—on a battlefield of flashing blades and flying swords, Itachi suddenly replacing his own eye with Shisui's and using Kotoamatsukami was the sort of thing one could only imagine. Ning Qi was not foolish enough to give him such an opportunity, so naturally he had not prepared for it.

"What a pity about those eyes." Ning Qi sighed softly.

After being schemed against by him, Itachi had already resolved not to leave anything behind for Ning Qi. He had continuously drawn the battlefield toward the cliffside, showing remarkable determination.

Though he could not use chakra, the Yata Mirror did not require chakra to protect him from Ning Qi's sword techniques. It was like a turtle shell. Its only weakness was that Itachi might not have had the stamina to maintain that turtle shell while fighting Ning Qi for long. Thus, when he realized his strength was about to run out, he chose to jump off the cliff without hesitation.

Just like Shisui two years ago.

"You'd better be dead down there." Ning Qi withdrew his gaze.

The cliff was deep, the current swift, and even after using the Byakugan to extend his vision to ten kilometers, Ning Qi had lost sight of him.

Falling off a cliff after being seriously injured sounded like some clichéd plot from a novel.

But whether Itachi lived or died, Ning Qi's goal had already been achieved. The Uchiha Clan would launch their rebellion as planned during the day, and every obstructing factor had been cleared away.

After continuing his search to no avail, he turned and left.

On a riverbank gathered with hundreds of ravens, the masked man emerged from the Kamui Space. He looked strangely at the dying man at his feet, who had a short blade lodged in his chest.

He knew this man.

"Uchiha... Itachi."

He also knew the short blade on the man's body.

—Ning Qi Hyuga.

Not long ago, he had fought Ning Qi's Sword Clone. The identical short blade that had transformed into Ning Qi's clone was still in the Kamui Space.

He raised his head to look at the cliff above, but ultimately suppressed the urge to go up and seek trouble with Ning Qi.

As if noticing something, he crouched down and examined the short blade embedded in Itachi's body.

Then he narrowed his eyes.

This was... pressure-point sealing?

I see.

"It isn't just swordsmanship using different attributes."

"Ning Qi actually hid a sealing sword technique similar to pressure-point sealing."

"No wonder you lost so badly..."

Could everyone just pretend they didn't see this?