The Night of the Nine-Tails, I Became an Uchiha

When Uchiha Gen woke up, his ears were filled with screams.

It was not the muffled sound of a dream through a fog, but cries so close at hand they pierced his eardrums with pain. People were running in the street, people were shouting their children's names, and the heavy roar of collapsing buildings rang out one after another, as if the entire village was being torn apart by some invisible hand.

He opened his eyes abruptly.

A dark red night met his gaze.

The distant sky was illuminated by flames, and black smoke rolled as it surged into the clouds. In the center of the village, a massive shadow was moving amidst a sea of fire. That thing was too huge, so huge that even from this distance, he could still see the gale-force wind whipped up by every swing of its tails.

Nine tails.

Uchiha Gen's breath stopped for a fraction of a second.

The next moment, unfamiliar yet familiar memories stabbed into his mind like shattered glass.

Uchiha Gen.

Thirteen years old.

A collateral branch member of the Uchiha Clan.

A member of the Konoha Military Police Force reserve unit.

Tonight, the Nine-Tails had suddenly appeared in Konoha.

He was not watching an anime, nor was he dreaming.

He had time-traveled.

And furthermore, he had transmigrated to the Night of the Nine-Tails.

"Gen! What are you standing there dazed for?"

Someone gave him a heavy pat on the shoulder.

Uchiha Gen turned his head and saw a sixteen or seventeen-year-old Uchiha youth looking at him with a frown. The other person wore a dark-colored short-sleeved shirt with a ninja tool pouch hung at his waist, and a single tomoe was already spinning slowly in his eyes.

Memory provided a name.

Uchiha Ryo.

An acquaintance of the original owner in the reserve unit, hot-tempered and stronger in ability than him.

"The outskirts of the Clan District are already in chaos." Uchiha Ryo lowered his voice. "The members of the Konoha Military Police Force are all gathering, and we have to go over too."

Uchiha Gen did not answer immediately.

He raised his head to look into the distance.

The roar of the Nine-Tails pierced through the night, striking everyone's heart like a massive hammer. Konoha's rooftops collapsed in batches, and flames leaped up from both sides of the street. One could vaguely see ninjas darting between eaves and civilians hugging their children as they ran toward the direction of the shelters.

This was a disaster.

Yet Uchiha Gen knew clearer than anyone that for the Uchiha, this night was not just a disaster.

This was the starting point where their fate was pushed toward the abyss.

The Nine-Tails had been manipulated by the Sharingan.

The village would suspect the Uchiha.

The higher-ups would isolate the Uchiha.

The Konoha Military Police Force would become a cage.

Shisui would die, Itachi would shoulder the name of clan extermination, Sasuke would grow up in blood and hatred, and the entire Uchiha Clan would be erased from Konoha's history on a certain night years later.

And the very first stone of all this fell tonight.

"Hurry up!" Uchiha Ryo urged. "Any later and the people in front are going to curse."

Uchiha Gen withdrew his gaze and followed him as he ran toward the center of the Clan District.

A large number of torches had already been lit within the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Adult ninjas stood at the very front, while the reserve unit and younger clansmen were held back behind them. Everyone's expression was very ugly. The Nine-Tails was wreaking havoc in the village, and they were the Konoha Military Police Force, the ninja clan responsible for the village's security, yet at this moment they were all gathered in the Clan District, as if bound by some form of formless rope.

The moment Uchiha Gen steadied himself, he heard muffled arguments coming from ahead.

"The Nine-Tails has already charged into the residential area, why are you still not letting us go over?"

"The duty of the Konoha Military Police Force is to protect the village, not to stand here and watch."

"Lord Hokage's orders have not changed."

"Orders? What kind of order is this?"

"The higher-ups told us to stay behind to guard the Clan District and maintain order in the Uchiha district. Without permission, no one is permitted to approach the Nine-Tails without authorization."

The moment this final sentence dropped, the surroundings instantly fell quiet for a split second.

No approaching the Nine-Tails without authorization.

Uchiha Gen looked toward the person who spoke.

That was a Konoha Military Police Force chūnin, his face ashen, anger suppressed at the bottom of his eyes, yet he was still repeating the order.

This was not his own decision.

This is the will of the Konoha High Command.

When the Nine-Tails' Attack occurred, the Uchiha were excluded from the core battlefield.

The surface reason was very simple.

The Sharingan had the potential to control the Tailed Beast.

Yet the problem was that if the Uchiha truly did nothing tonight, the entire village would only remember one thing tomorrow.

When the Nine-Tails appeared, the Uchiha did not participate in the rescue.

No one would remember that this was an order.

No one would calmly distinguish right from wrong amidst the pain of losing loved ones.

They would only suspect, fear, and then hate.

Uchiha Gen's fingers slowly tightened.

Someone nearby cursed in a low voice, "When trouble strikes the village, they suspect us first. Normally they have the Konoha Military Police Force handle every little thing, but when it's a matter of life and death, they forbid us from getting close."

Another older clansman said in a deep voice, "Shut your traps. Now is not the time to complain. The patriarch hasn't given the order yet, so no one is allowed to move rashly."

Uchiha Gen looked over at the sound.

In the distance, Uchiha Fugaku stood at the very front of the formation.

The patriarch's expression was calm, betraying neither joy nor anger. Yet Uchiha Gen could see that his hands, hanging inside his sleeves, were clenched just as tightly.

Fugaku also knew what this order implied.

Yet he could not act rashly.

Once the entire Uchiha clan violated the order and approached the Nine-Tails, even if they truly went to save people, they could still be pinned with an even greater suspicion.

Yet to do nothing was a slow death.

Uchiha Gen suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

It was not because of the night wind.

It was because he had finally truly stepped into this tragedy.

When reading the story in the past, he could easily say why the Uchiha did not explain, why they did not resist, and why they stepped step-by-step toward the clan's extermination.

Now he finally understood that every step was not a simple choice.

To act meant potentially being convicted on the spot.

To do nothing meant being isolated to death sooner or later.

Another ninja came forward to report.

"The southern district is on fire, and the evacuation teams are blocked!"

"How far is it from the Clan District?"

"Very close, right in the outer commercial street, just two streets away from the Uchiha district."

The crowd stirred once more.

Uchiha Gen's heart skipped a beat.

The outer commercial street.

That neither counted as the core Nine-Tails battlefield nor was it inside the Clan District.

If it were merely protecting civilians on the outer perimeter of the Clan District, the nature of the act would be entirely different.

Just as he was about to speak, Uchiha Ryo beside him was already grinding his teeth in anxiety, "There are many ordinary people over there! Are we just going to watch like this?"

No one answered.

Uchiha Gen asked in a low voice, "Ryo, if those people die outside the Clan District tonight, how will the story spread tomorrow?"

Uchiha Ryo froze.

"What?"

Uchiha Gen looked at him and said word by word, "They will say that when the Nine-Tails attacked the village, the Uchiha just watched from the sidelines."

Uchiha Ryo's expression changed.

Uchiha Gen continued, "They won't know what orders we received, nor will they care why we couldn't go over. They will only remember that their family members died very close to the Uchiha, and the Uchiha didn't show up."

Uchiha Ryo opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Another loud crash echoed from the distance.

One of the Nine-Tails' tails swept across the district, blowing away vast swathes of roofs. Kakkō illuminated everyone's faces, also revealing the utmost suppression of reluctance deep within their eyes.

Uchiha Gen knew he had to do something.

He was currently just a thirteen-year-old collateral youth with no qualification to command the clansmen, let alone directly change Fugaku's decision.

Yet he could rip open a gap.

A gap that would prevent the Uchiha from being completely nailed to the position of "standing by with folded arms."

He stepped forward.

Uchiha Ryo immediately pulled him back: "What are you doing?"

"Going to the outer commercial district."

"Are you crazy? The higher-ups just said no unauthorized movement!"

"I'm not going to where the Nine-Tails is," Uchiha Gen lowered his voice. "I'm going to rescue people on the outer edge of the Clan District. It's the closest to us, and if the fire spreads over, it will affect the safety of the Clan District anyway."

Uchiha Ryo froze.

This reason wasn't entirely perfect.

But it was enough to make someone hesitate.

Uchiha Gen looked at him: "Do you want to wait until tomorrow when everyone says the Uchiha watched and did nothing, or do you want at least some people to know that the Uchiha saved them tonight?"

Uchiha Ryo's gaze wavered violently.

Right at that moment, a woman holding a child stumbled over from the street corner in the distance.

A few civilians covered in ash followed behind her. Flames chased from the street corner, and a burning wooden beam smashed into the middle of the road. The woman's foot slipped, and she fell straight to the ground while the child in her arms let out a sharp cry.

Several Konoha Military Police Force shinobi instinctively rushed forward, but were suppressed by orders, forcing themselves to stop in their tracks.

Uchiha Gen didn't wait any longer.

He drew a kunai from his ninja tool pouch, bypassed the crowd, and rushed out.

"Gen!"

Uchiha Ryo cursed, but still followed behind.

The wind was filled with the smell of burning.

Uchiha Gen rushed to the woman's side, pulling her up from the ground. A snapping sound came from overhead as a section of burning crossbeam collapsed from the second floor, smashing straight down toward the few of them.

He raised his head almost on instinct.

His eye sockets grew hot.

The firelight in his field of vision suddenly slowed down a fraction.

A single black tomoe spun within his pupil.

It wasn't an animation effect.

It was the true Sharingan.

Uchiha Gen gritted his teeth, throwing out his kunai to deflect the falling angle of the beam. Uchiha Ryo lunged over from the side, kicking the remaining end of the beam, and the two of them jointly smashed the object toward an open space.

Boom!

Sparks exploded.

The woman sat on the ground in fright, the child crying almost out of breath.

Uchiha Gen pushed the people toward the clansmen behind him: "Take them inside! Hurry!"

Uchiha Ryo panted as he looked at him, his gaze complex: "You just..."

"Now is not the time to talk about this."

Uchiha Gen looked back at the outer district.

There were still people there.

There were still many people.

And in the farther firelight, for a split second, he seemed to see space twist gently like the surface of water.

Only for an instant.

So fast it felt like an illusion.

Yet Uchiha Gen knew that wasn't an illusion.

The true ghost of the Night of the Nine-Tails was walking within this chaos.

Just as he wanted to look closer, a cold voice suddenly rang out in the depths of his mind.

[Host contact with a destiny node detected.]
[The Fate Rewrite System has been activated.]
[Current Worldline: Night of the Nine-Tails.]
[Original Destiny: The Uchiha Clan suffers prolonged suspicion due to the Nine-Tails Incident, ultimately heading toward clan annihilation.]
[First quest has been issued.]
[Quest Name: Change the starting point of the Uchiha's suspected destiny.]
[Quest Requirements: Leave effective evidence during the Night of the Nine-Tails of the Uchiha participating in rescue efforts, investigating the true culprit, or protecting villagers.]
[Quest Reward: Settled based on the degree of destiny deviation.]

Uchiha Gen stood in the firelight, listening to the voice in his mind, and slowly tightened his grip on the kunai in his hand.

In the distance, the Nine-Tails roared again.

Behind him were the Uchiha clansmen who were still hesitating.

Ahead of him burned Konoha, hiding the Masked Man in the darkness, and marking the very first night the entire Uchiha was pushed toward the abyss.

Uchiha Gen took a deep breath.

Since he had come.

Then tonight, the Uchiha could not remain silent.