"It could have been the Uchiha Clan," Ning Qi said.
Since the Hyuga clan's extermination had already been put on the schedule, the more chaotic the scene became, the more it suited Ning Qi's interests.
In the original story, Itachi had been able to easily slaughter the Uchiha Clan because behind him stood many Konoha ninja who had been ordered to turn a blind eye, as well as a father, Uchiha Fugaku, who had willingly offered his throat to his son's blade.
Ning Qi was different. If he wanted to imitate Itachi and exterminate the Hyuga clan, Konoha's higher-ups would not agree, and the Hyuga clan would not be willing to commit suicide. The circumstances were completely different.
But there was no helping it. The Byakugan's advancement required a massive amount of Byakugan Essence. Unless Ning Qi was willing to spend more than a decade progressing gradually, the Byakugan's rapid advancement would inevitably be accompanied by his clansmen's "willing sacrifices."
No matter what, the illusion of the clan head's residence being filled with song and dance, created by the This-Realm Naraku Technique, would eventually come to an end. No one was stupid. It was just that the Uchiha Clan's planned rebellion had occupied too much of Konoha's higher-ups' attention, while the disappearance of several branch family members had never seemed important enough.
Since he had chosen this path, Ning Qi's imprisonment of the clan head and slaughter of his own clansmen would inevitably be exposed sooner or later. Rather than wait for the balloon to suddenly burst and be caught off guard, it was better to choose an appropriate time and pop it himself.
Half of the Hyuga clan had already fallen victim to Ning Qi's hand. With Ning Qi prepared, the remaining half would not have much ability to resist either. The only thing he needed to consider was how to escape Konoha's pursuit forces once the news came to light.
The Night of the Clan Massacre was the perfect opportunity.
On the surface, Itachi would exterminate the Uchiha Clan. Konoha would certainly mobilize a large number of personnel to assist him and prevent the unrest from spreading further.
In secret, Ning Qi would exterminate the Hyuga clan. No one would know that the clan meeting organized by the clan head was actually a meeting for the clan's extermination.
Konoha's Twin Prodigies, peerless and unmatched!
With no contingency plan and not even much attention paid to it, they would naturally be unable to organize an effective pursuit force. Ning Qi would have more time to seize further benefits before calmly extricating himself from the whirlpool that was Konoha.
What he needed to do now was determine when the Uchiha Clan's Night of the Clan Massacre would occur. The prerequisite was that Konoha's higher-ups had already reached a consensus on exterminating the clan, allowing the hawkish faction led by Danzo to thoroughly overpower the dovish faction led by the Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage would give way. That was bound to happen. All Ning Qi needed to do was use Takizawa Yamaaki's death to speed things up slightly.
Danzo's only exposed eye stared coldly at Ning Qi for a long time before he gave a slight nod and asked,
"So, where is the body?"
Danzo would inevitably suspect ulterior motives in a matter like this. Though he was more than happy to frame the Uchiha through such despicable means and hasten the clan extermination, he had no desire to let a subordinate use him without knowing anything.
Ning Qi's enthusiasm for destroying the Uchiha Clan was worrying. In particular, Ning Qi, who was controlled by the Caged Bird, could never be regarded by Danzo as a confidant. The seeds of suspicion had already been planted. Ning Qi understood that perfectly well, but it did not matter. He would not remain in Konoha for long, and Danzo's eventual reckoning would never have the chance to fall upon him.
"In the eastern forest," Ning Qi said.
"I'll have Zhili go there," Danzo said, implying that Ning Qi no longer needed to concern himself with what came next.
As for how to create wounds on the body sufficient to frame the Uchiha, Root naturally had people capable of handling it.
"Then I'll take my leave." Having achieved his goal, Ning Qi bowed and left.
The Root team's assignment Ning Qi belonged to was to monitor the Uchiha Clan.
Honestly, it was a rather tedious job. During the day, they basically crouched in trees outside the Uchiha residential district, following and recording Uchiha members entering and leaving. Apart from making sure they were not discovered, there was not much technical difficulty to it.
Fortunately, Ning Qi was the squad captain and did not need to work that hard. He only needed to oversee the operation and compile the intelligence sent in by the members responsible for surveillance.
"7:05. Uchiha Suzuka and seven others left the Uchiha District together."
"7:40. Uchiha Ichigo and Uchiha Luffy got into an argument at the district gate, apparently because the latter stole the former's girlfriend."
"8:11. Uchiha Suzuka and the others returned to the district carrying a basket of fresh ingredients."
"8:41. A brawl broke out on Konoha Main Street. Uchiha Yashiro of the police force stepped in to stop the conflict."
"8:50. Uchiha Tetsu and Uchiha Shin returned to the district together after sleeping off a drunken stupor."
Ning Qi flipped through the thick stack of surveillance reports delivered from various locations that day. Anything involving the Uchiha Clan, no matter how trivial, was recorded in full. It showed just how seriously Konoha had begun taking the Uchiha Clan lately.
Although concrete reports had already emerged that the Uchiha leadership had repeatedly conspired to stage a coup within the clan, the surveillance records revealed not the slightest abnormality among ordinary Uchiha members.
Ning Qi did not care. The Uchiha higher-ups plotting in secret could not possibly announce it to every clansman through a loudspeaker. The Uchiha Clan also had ordinary people, and there were opponents within the clan. They did not know that the ground beneath their feet was already churning with undercurrents and deadly intent. Oblivious, they continued the inertia of their lives day after day, year after year, remaining ignorant even when death descended... Such was the life of the common masses.
All of it was perfectly normal.
Ning Qi annotated the documents on his desk, placing those that might be useful to one side and those that were certainly useless to the other. As for how he judged whether information was useful or not, that depended entirely on Ning Qi's own discernment.
That was how intelligence work functioned: extracting truly valuable information from all manner of complicated, disordered material, following faint traces to uncover hidden truths. Since Ning Qi had become squad captain, he naturally possessed the ability to find gold in the sand.
There was a mountain of intelligence, but Ning Qi worked even faster, so fast that the subordinate assisting beside him began to struggle to keep up.
"Captain, another batch has arrived." The subordinate codenamed Firefly carried over another stack of raw materials that members from various locations had just recorded and urgently needed processing.
"Mm, put it there," Ning Qi said casually.
Firefly did as instructed. She was about to leave when she seemed to notice one of the reports on the desk. Her body stiffened, and after hesitating for a while, she could not help asking,
"Captain, will the Uchiha... really rebel?"
Aside from a few of Konoha's higher-ups, only this group of ANBU directly responsible for Uchiha affairs knew most clearly that the Uchiha were plotting rebellion.
"I think they will. Why?"
Firefly handed that report to Ning Qi.
"8:15. Second Pillar, Tuwei, and eleven other children left the Uchiha District for the Ninja Academy."
It was an utterly ordinary report that could have been directly classified as useless. Yet given Firefly's earlier question, it was obvious that what she meant had nothing to do with the report's value.
Ning Qi pressed his lips together and asked,
"Can't bear it?"
Once the Uchiha Clan's rebellion failed, what these seeds of hatred would experience went without saying.
Firefly shook her head. She possessed the qualities required of an ANBU. Drawing a blade against children was nothing; she had long grown accustomed to orders taking priority far above her personal emotions.
"I just feel... how did it come to this?"
Power?
Strength?
Ning Qi did not know the answer either, so he said nothing more. Someone would bear this sin. There was no need for others to stain themselves with it. Firefly was worrying too much.
Besides, Ning Qi had sins of his own to bear. When all was said and done, he was not much nobler than that man.
For power.
For the greater good.
No matter what, this was still the slaughter of an entire household, the extermination of an entire clan. I am a demon; he is an executioner.
I am steeped in evil.
He deserves to die ten thousand times over.
I do not think I was wrong. Presumably, he would not regret it either.
This was what Konoha's Twin Prodigies were.
Before you continue