Night of Clan Massacre

While the Uchiha Clan's elite higher-ups were tense, the ordinary clan members went on with their lives as usual. Ignorance was a kind of happiness, perhaps. Maybe they would not understand why Konoha wanted to kill them until the day they died.

Unlike Sasaki, Meruem's puppet, who had to deal with many matters every day, Meruem himself spent each day either training or clinging to Ruiko, as well as—

His nightly "eating people" operation, carried out once the night had grown quiet.

Ever since he had used Taotie Feast to devour Uchiha Suzuki and discovered that it could restore a small portion of his strength, Meruem had acted in secret every night. He used the small amount of Chakra gained from "eating" Suzuki to create a Shadow Clone to stay with Ruiko, while his real body relied on his speed and sensory advantages to search for prey throughout Konoha.

However, since this was Konoha Village, Meruem did not dare act too brazenly. He had no interest in Chunin or Elite Chunin-level targets, so the people he usually targeted were Jonin and Special Jonin.

He would never target Elite Jonin. For one thing, Elite Jonin were either clan heads or elders; at the very least, they were a clan's finest. Not to mention that every Elite Jonin had their own special techniques, making it easy to draw attention if a fight broke out, Meruem generally chose ninja who lived on the outskirts or in sparsely populated areas. Those Elite Jonin usually lived deep within their clans' territories. It was too dangerous.

Meruem did not want to be discovered just yet.

Even so, over the past few days, no fewer than a dozen or twenty Jonin and Special Jonin had died by his hand. His strength had recovered somewhat as well, bringing him another step closer to unlocking the space and releasing his Chimera Ant subordinates.

Meruem had also accumulated quite a bit of Chakra within his body. In terms of Chakra alone, he had already reached the level of an Elite Jonin. It made sense, though. After "eating" the essence of so many Jonin, even with a considerable amount wasted, he should have reached an Elite Jonin's Chakra level.

He had enjoyed his meal, but Konoha had been thrown into a panic. One or two disappearances would have been fine, but over the course of just a few days, more than a dozen—perhaps twenty—Jonin had vanished. Even an idiot would have realized something was wrong.

Yes, Konoha was wealthy and had no shortage of talent. But Jonin were not everywhere you looked. They were a village's high-end fighting force. Normally, the loss of even one would hurt for a long time, let alone so many disappearing at once.

But the matter was far too bizarre. Even the Third Hokage's surveillance ninjutsu, the Crystal Ball Technique, could not uncover the cause or identify the culprit. Let alone anyone else. Meruem's five senses were truly formidable; the instant the Third Hokage's Crystal Ball Technique scanned the area where he was, he could sense it.

Zetsu, one of Nen's basic abilities, was perfect for hiding. Combined with Meruem's speed and his Spatial Ability, the "Four-Dimensional Mansion," Konoha Village's ninja could only be left completely stumped.

This had even forced Konoha's higher-ups to suspect the Uchiha Clan of being behind it. The Uchiha were on the verge of rebelling against the village, and most importantly, not one of those dozen or twenty ninja belonged to the Uchiha Clan. Naturally, that made them even more tense, and such wild speculation was understandable.

But they would never have imagined that the answer was not far from the truth—and that the murderer was living within the Uchiha Clan itself.

For various reasons, Konoha could wait no longer and prepared to strike against the Uchiha Clan ahead of schedule.

The next day, the Third Hokage summoned Uchiha Itachi under some pretext.

At the same time Itachi left the Uchiha Clan, the Uchiha held a gathering of everyone within the clan.

"Hokage-sama, I'm afraid the clan members have already noticed what I've been doing."

"I'm afraid Itachi has already realized that we discovered the truth about him."

"Itachi, tonight, please do your best to hold your clansmen back."

"The Third Hokage will definitely have Itachi hold off our elites, while those Anbu slaughter the rest of the clan."

After Itachi left, Danzo slowly emerged from the shadows and approached the Third Hokage.

"Sarutobi, tonight, we strike against the Uchiha Clan." Danzo's sinister, hoarse voice sounded beside the Third Hokage.

"So tonight, Konoha will move against us! If we can withstand this attack, we can decide afterward whether to leave or remain and go to war with Konoha."

Both sides had more or less guessed what the other would do. All that remained was to see who had more trump cards.

"So, the Night of Clan Massacre is finally about to begin?" Meruem, seated cross-legged in his room, opened his eyes and curled his lips into a faint smile.

"Ruiko, if—if I were to leave this place, would you leave with me?" Meruem looked at Uchiha Ruiko very seriously.

"Mm! I want to be with Meruem! But why leave? Isn't this place good?" Ruiko blinked her Big Eyes innocently at Meruem. Her feelings toward the Uchiha Clan were very faint. Or rather, because she had not awakened her eyes, the Uchiha did not even regard her as one of their own. Likewise, Ruiko felt no particular sense of belonging toward the clan.

Was it scientific to leave her own clan for someone she had only known for a few days? Feelings really were strange sometimes, difficult to explain.

"Mm, this place isn't good. Because aside from when she sees me, Ruiko always looks unhappy. And because this is the Uchiha Clan, I can't always be with Ruiko. I want to stay by Ruiko's side all the time." Pinching Ruiko's little cheeks, Meruem said with a smile. He did not want to tell Ruiko the truth—that the Uchiha Clan was about to be wiped out. If possible, he hoped Ruiko could remain this innocent and pure forever.

"Meruem, you're so annoying!?(????ω????)?" Ruiko ran away with a flushed face. After a while, she poked her little head out from behind one side of the wall and looked at Meruem.

"Meruem, was what you said true?"

"Of course it was true!" Meruem tilted his head and smiled.

A smiling Meruem? If anyone else from the Hunter World saw this, they would definitely shout, "Are you fucking kidding me? This is the Ant King?"

"?(????ω????)? I-I don't want to be with Meruem!"

Night fell. Tonight's moon was especially round, and especially bright.

In ancient Zhonghua Family, weather like this was called a Hairy Moon. Legend said that nights like these were when monsters caused trouble. Naturally, they were also perfect nights for murder. Although the sky was bright, this sort of weather really was suited for killing.

In Konoha's Training Ground Number Ten, far from the Uchiha Clan's gathering place, a little boy lay on the ground with a fan pattern printed on his back. He seemed to have accidentally fallen asleep from exhaustion after training too hard.

At the same time, a black-haired youth dressed in black night clothes, with two deep lines beside his nose, slowly made his way toward the Uchiha Clan's interior.

But countless figures followed behind him.

Konoha's Anbu, Root, and Uchiha Itachi.

What they did not see was that countless figures had also appeared throughout the Uchiha Clan's territory.

Atop the spire of the tallest building in the Uchiha Clan stood a young man dressed in white, with a fan pattern on his back, looking down upon their arrival.

"It has begun!" Meruem, who was being held like a koala by Ruiko, suddenly opened his eyes. He glanced at Ruiko beside him and lightly waved his left hand. Ruiko, the bed, and even the entire house vanished together.

This was the "Four-Dimensional Mansion," yet it differed from Knuckle's Four-Dimensional Mansion. Knuckle's passageway entrance was generally only the size of a door, whereas Meruem's Four-Dimensional Mansion could take in Ruiko's entire house.

This house held Ruiko's memories. She had cried here, and she had laughed here. Meruem did not want to erase those memories, so he simply stored the house and its occupant inside the Four-Dimensional Mansion. There was plenty of space anyway.

"Crack, crack." Meruem stretched his body, producing a series of sounds like fried beans popping.

"Make a mess, make a mess, make a mess. The bigger the commotion you make, the easier it'll be for me to fish in troubled waters. Everyone in Konoha, it's time to eat!" Meruem licked his upper lip and let out a strange laugh.

Blade flashes, bloody shadows. There was no pointless chatter, no unnecessary shouting. Other than the clashing of kunai, longswords, and shuriken, and the sound of sharp weapons piercing flesh, there was no other sound.

"Itachi, you've come." Inside one of the Uchiha Clan's largest and oldest buildings, a middle-aged man who bore an eighty-percent resemblance to Uchiha Itachi looked at the person before him. Beside him stood a very beautiful woman.

Uchiha Fugaku and his wife, Uchiha Mikoto—the parents of Itachi and Sasuke.

"Father." Itachi stared blankly at Fugaku, lost in thought. His father looked as though he had been waiting for him all along. A bitter smile appeared on Itachi's lips.

Sure enough, he had been discovered long ago. A father knew his son best; Fugaku had already made his decision.

"On one side is my son, and on the other is the clan. I'm sorry. I cannot choose. Only death can buy you a chance to live. Take good care of Sasuke."

"Father... why?" Itachi felt his throat tighten. Was what he had done truly right or wrong? Betraying the clan and personally killing his own father? No! I'm right! For Sasuke, for the village, for peace... but he was my father.

"Do it, Itachi." Fugaku, kneeling on the tatami, slowly closed his eyes.

With trembling hands, Itachi drove the sharp katana into Fugaku's body. Then, he did the same to Mikoto.

"Itachi, Sasuke... my children, I love you. I'm sorry... Please forgive me for not being able to watch you grow up." Those were Uchiha Mikoto's final words before she passed away.

"Be careful of Sasaki. He also has Mangekyo." Even in the final moment before leaving this world, Fugaku did not forget to warn Itachi.

Itachi knelt before them as tears ran down his chin and fell to the floor. He had thought his tears had long since dried up.

Clap, clap, clap. A loud round of applause sounded at this inopportune moment. To Itachi's ears, the sound was unbearably piercing.

Several figures emerged from the shadows in the room.

Uchiha Sasaki

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PS2: See? I updated early!!!!!!!!!