Uchiha Massacre

After returning to the Hyuga Clan District, Dao Yi parted ways with Neji Hyuga.

Neji Hyuga was now wholly focused on training hard and defying fate. He was no longer as hostile, awkward, and difficult as before.

That was a good thing for him. He could concentrate better; his training would yield twice the results with half the effort, and he would improve faster.

Doichi Hyuga personally escorted Hinata Hyuga back to the clan head's home, intending to discuss something with the clan head.

When Hyuga Hiashi saw Doichi Hyuga enter, he invited him to have tea and chat at the stone table beneath the tree.

Hinata Hyuga timidly bowed and returned to her room.

"Clan Head! Have you looked into Hinata's appetite?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It seems Hinata has never been full!"

"Impossible. Her appetite has already caught up to mine."

Hyuga Hiashi was somewhat displeased. What are you implying? That I abuse my daughter and refuse to let her eat her fill?

"Just now, at the barbecue, Hinata ate roughly thirty kilograms of food."

"How is that possible?"

Hyuga Hiashi could hardly believe it.

When Hinata had entered just now, he had specifically observed her. Her figure had not changed at all. Hyuga Hiashi swore on his forty-thousand-degree eyes that he had not been mistaken.

Doichi Hyuga explained everything in detail, and Hyuga Hiashi gradually began to question his life.

Her appetite is already ten times greater than mine. Have I, as her father, cared too little about Hinata? It's not as if the family can't afford food. Why didn't she just say so?

"Clan Head, it would be best to let Hinata eat her fill. She's still growing. The more she can eat, the stronger her life energy will be, which will greatly benefit her future development."

Doichi Hyuga got up and left, leaving Hyuga Hiashi sitting there in a daze.

After two hours of routine training, just as he was about to wash up and sleep, Itachi Uchiha arrived.

"The smell of blood on you is strong. Did you still end up attacking your clansmen?"

The conflict between the higher-ups and the Uchiha Clan had not stopped with Danzo's death. Through the changes in the situation over the past half year, Doichi Hyuga had already noticed this.

"Some time ago, while carrying out an ANBU mission, I exposed my Mangekyō Sharingan in order to protect my teammates. The Uchiha clansmen forced me to launch a coup with them, but I refused."

With Danzo dead, the higher-ups' foremost suspect had been the Uchiha Clan. The exposure of Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan swiftly intensified the conflict between both sides.

"What happened afterward?"

"They prepared to abduct Sasuke Uchiha and the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki."

"So, you sought cooperation from the village higher-ups. Otherwise, the village should be in chaos by now."

Without the higher-ups' involvement, the Uchiha Clan could not have died so silently. At the very least, the higher-ups had provided barrier jutsu support, or had directly participated in the extermination.

However, because of the Mangekyō Sharingan, the higher-ups had also remained wary of Itachi Uchiha. That left Itachi Uchiha trapped between advancing and retreating.

"You killed them all? What about Izumi?"

Doichi Hyuga was somewhat speechless and forcefully suppressed the killing intent in his heart.

Quite a few Uchiha don't deserve to die. Don't tell me I helped for nothing? If you killed Izumi Uchiha, then you, Itachi Uchiha, can die too. And I'll send Sasuke Uchiha away first, so you can experience what true despair is.

"Izumi is alive. I spared the moderate faction of the clan. That was my agreement with the village higher-ups."

Itachi Uchiha answered expressionlessly, impossible to read.

"For this operation, I did not merely cooperate with the higher-ups. I also found someone else."

"Who?"

Doichi Hyuga let out a breath, already understanding.

It's good that Izumi Uchiha is alive. Otherwise, the debt from her saving me would be difficult to repay. Since she survived, that favor can be considered settled.

"A mysterious masked man who called himself Uchiha Madara. That is also why I came to find you. He possesses space-time abilities, so you must be careful of him!"

Itachi Uchiha warned him.

"Do you have any specific information on him?!"

"No! But he invited me to join his organization. I suspect he is plotting something in secret, and I have decided to accept so that I can obtain more intelligence."

"There's already something wrong with your body. Do you know that?"

Doichi Hyuga intended to return the favor. Since the kid was concerned for his safety, he would give him something in return.

"What is wrong?"

Itachi Uchiha was startled. Recently, he really had begun to feel that something was not right with his body.

"Awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan too early places an enormous burden on your body and harms it greatly. The ideal age to awaken it is after your body has fully matured. You awakened it at twelve and have used it frequently. It will greatly affect your lifespan."

Awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan directly damaged the liver and gallbladder. The more it was used afterward, the deeper that damage became. It would also be accompanied by optic nerve damage until blindness set in.

However, it would be much better once the body had matured. After the liver and gallbladder had fully developed, the damage from using the Mangekyō Sharingan would still exist, but at least it would not lead to an early death.

"I understand. I'll be more careful in the future."

"Your physical condition is still fairly good for now, but three years from now, that may no longer be the case... Within the next three years, you can come back and find me. There are some risks, but there is a high chance I can solve your physical problems."

Doichi Hyuga hesitated for a moment before deciding to keep this useful tool around.

"Thank you, Dao Yi! Also... I want to ask you to look after Sasuke Uchiha."

Itachi Uchiha bent at the waist in a bow, shame on his face. He owed Dao Yi so much and had yet to repay any of it, yet today he was making another excessive request.

"Fine, don't worry! As long as I'm here, he won't die."

What a terrifying little brother fanatic. Itachi Uchiha was truly beyond saving. Qing Tianzhu's safety was already being watched over by his "biological father"; when would it ever be our turn to interfere?

Doichi Hyuga grumbled inwardly.

The next morning, news of the Uchiha Massacre spread throughout Konoha.

More than a thousand Uchiha clansmen had been killed, including fifty Jonin and over four hundred Chunin and Genin.

Only a dozen or so Uchiha ninja and more than five hundred ordinary people remained.

The Uchiha Clan had fallen from Konoha's foremost great clan to a position beneath the Inuzuka and Aburame Clans. They were now only slightly stronger than small ninja clans on the verge of extinction, such as the Kurama Clan.

Uchiha Fugaku's family of three had been seriously injured and lay in the hospital receiving emergency treatment alongside dozens of Uchiha clansmen.

Having committed such a bloody crime, Itachi Uchiha was declared an S-Rank rogue ninja by Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Now, all the major ninja clans of Konoha were gripped by alarm and the sorrow of knowing that when the rabbit died, the fox mourned.

It was true that the Uchiha Clan had always been arrogant and widely disliked. But they had not done anything to their fellow villagers that warranted such ruthless treatment.

On the battlefield, the Uchiha had also shed no small amount of blood and made no small number of sacrifices to protect the village.

The purpose of founding a village was to protect everyone within it.

Such a vile incident caused the major ninja clans' trust in the higher-ups led by the Hokage to plummet to rock bottom.

This time, it was the Uchiha Clan. Who would be next? Every major ninja clan considered that question, then collectively turned their gaze toward the Hyuga Clan and felt half-relieved.

Hiruzen Sarutobi claimed that Itachi Uchiha alone had carried out something of this magnitude. How could the ninja clans possibly believe such nonsense?

The major ninja clans had made it from the Warring States Era to the era of ninja villages by relying on more than just numbers and strength. They also had a group of old foxes in every generation of their families.

Forget Itachi Uchiha—even if Uchiha Madara had acted personally, he could not have silently taken out more than a thousand people. Not to mention that fifty Uchiha Jonin had been among them.

Was this some kind of joke? Those were Uchiha Jonin, said to make one flee in a one-on-one fight—not cabbages by the roadside, standing there waiting to be chopped.

Even if they were cabbages, there were still more than a thousand of them. Wouldn't one person chopping down so many people die of exhaustion?!

"You say it wasn't your higher-ups who did it? Do you think we believe you? Heh heh!"

This strange atmosphere spread throughout the village, and Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally could not have been unaware of it.