Actually, I Think You Did Nothing Wrong

Training Ground 44.

It lay on Konoha's outskirts, far from the village's main district.

It was also known as the Forest of Death. Dangerous creatures filled it, and ordinary Genin who entered alone could easily suffer serious injuries or lose their lives.

The Sarutobi Elder stood in a clearing, wearing black armor, calmly watching the boy approach him.

"No need to look. I haven't set an ambush."

He had come as a father seeking revenge for his son; he would not involve innocent clansmen in something like this.

Uchiha Jin slowly drew the Tachi at his waist, its blade gleaming coldly beneath the bright moonlight.

"Killing Sarutobi Shōtarō was my duty."

The Sarutobi Elder closed his eyes at those words, tears sliding down his aged cheeks.

"I don't want to argue with you. I only want to avenge my dead son!"

As his words fell, he closed in instantly, his longsword slashing toward Jin with a sharp whistle through the air.

Despite being over fifty, his strength still could not be underestimated.

After all, becoming a clan elder required not only seniority but also considerable strength.

Otherwise, he could never command respect.

Uchiha Jin raised his sword to block, sparks flying as their blades collided.

Their weapons clashed, then both pulled away and attacked again.

They exchanged several hundred rounds without pause.

The Sarutobi Elder's attacks began to slow, the difference in their physical capabilities putting him at a disadvantage.

But he did not give up. Instead, his attacks grew even more frenzied.

He was determined to avenge his dead son!

Uchiha Jin sidestepped a slash and used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind him. His Tachi cut through the armor, leaving a wound dozens of centimeters long across the elder's back.

The Sarutobi Elder staggered forward several steps from the heavy blow, only barely steadying himself by planting his longsword in the ground.

The intense pain forced him to gasp for breath. Sweat poured from his body, stinging the wound on his back and making the pain even worse.

Uchiha Jin did not rush to attack, watching his wretched state with a calm expression.

"You're no match for me."

The health bar above the elder's head was pale yellow. He was no utterly irredeemable villain.

As long as it did not endanger him, Jin did not mind sparing him.

After all, he was not bloodthirsty by nature...

"Heh, I really am no match for you."

The Sarutobi Elder struggled to straighten up, making no attempt to deny that he was inferior to someone of the younger generation.

"You truly live up to your reputation as the Uchiha Clan's acknowledged genius."

He pulled his longsword from the ground and took a fighting stance, gripping the hilt with both hands.

"But I won't concede. I'll avenge my son!"

At that moment, he was not the Sarutobi Elder, but a father who wanted revenge for his son.

"I respect your choice."

Uchiha Jin nodded slightly at his words, the three tomoe in his eyes spinning rapidly.

The Sarutobi Elder instantly fell into a daze.

The next instant, Jin appeared beside the old man and drove his Tachi straight through his body.

Inside the world of the illusion.

The Sarutobi Elder fought Uchiha Jin for hundreds of rounds, using every sword technique, Taijutsu move, and ninjutsu he had.

In the end, he relied on his wealth of experience to kill Jin at the cost of severe injuries.

"Hahaha, I won!"

Just as he began weeping with joy, the illusion shattered.

Only then did he realize he had fallen under the Sharingan's illusion.

But it was already too late.

The Tachi had already pierced his abdomen.

The Sarutobi Elder looked down at the sword hilt at his abdomen, then at the boy standing behind him, and gave a bitter smile.

"I'm sorry, son. Your father couldn't avenge you..."

His body was like a deflated ball. His rapidly draining vitality left him unable to stand, and he dropped stiffly to his knees.

"Boy..."

Blood spilled from his mouth, Jin's calm face reflected in his clouded eyes.

"Actually, I think you did nothing wrong. Evil people should pay the price they deserve."

As the Sarutobi Elder spoke, tears streamed uncontrollably from his eyes, his voice hoarse.

"But... why did that evil person have to be my son..."

He had fathered Shōtarō late in life and doted on him.

One could say he granted his every wish.

When the Third Shinobi World War broke out, he worried that his son would be in danger.

So he took the initiative to ask Hiruzen Sarutobi to assign Shōtarō to the logistics department.

Feeling that even this was not safe enough.

He also dispatched two Jonin from the Sarutobi Clan to protect him in secret.

To him, his son was his very life. No matter what, nothing could be allowed to happen to him.

Even knowing that Shōtarō was protected on the battlefield, the Sarutobi Elder still felt uneasy back in the village.

He lived in fear that something might happen to his son.

Fortunately, all those years of worry had been unnecessary...

Sarutobi Shōtarō had been safe on the battlefield and remained in the logistics department without incident until the war ended.

Perhaps those years on the battlefield had left him craving the opposite sex.

The Sarutobi Elder noticed what his son wanted and began arranging a suitable marriage match within the clan.

Who could have imagined that Shōtarō could not wait even that long?

Behind his back, he had gone out and raped the innocent noodle shop owner's wife, then brutally murdered the family of three afterward.

When he learned the truth from Uchiha Jin, he felt as though the sky had collapsed.

Although Shōtarō's actions were no different from a beast's, he was still his son!

So he tried every possible way to beg Hiruzen Sarutobi to save Shōtarō.

He had thought this would keep his son alive.

Who could have imagined that Uchiha Jin would disregard the discussions between the clan and the Hokage, leaving the village ahead of time to intercept and kill Sarutobi Shōtarō?

All their efforts had come to nothing.

After Sarutobi Shōtarō was killed, anger clouded the Sarutobi Elder's judgment.

Even knowing his son had been in the wrong first, he still wanted to kill Jin to avenge him.

Unfortunately, he had failed in the end.

He had lost.

And he was going to die.

"Uchiha Jin, just leave my body here. Let the beasts in the forest feed on it. Consider it the price I pay for failing to distinguish right from wrong and attacking you..."

After saying this, the Sarutobi Elder slowly closed his eyes.

Uchiha Jin pulled his Tachi from the elder's body, flicked the blood off the blade, then turned and left.

A few minutes after he left.

Several Anbu appeared at the scene.

"The clan leader has ordered us to bring the grand elder's body back to the clan compound for burial."

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed when he received the Anbu's report.

"Brother, why did it have to come to this?"

He returned to the clan compound, preparing to tell his sister-in-law of his elder brother's death.

But when he reached the grand elder's residence, his sister-in-law was nowhere to be found.

An ominous feeling rose in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart.

He slid open the master bedroom door and saw his sister-in-law kneeling on the floor.

She remained in the posture of thrusting a short blade into her abdomen.

A letter lay on the table.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and fell silent as he read the contents of the envelope.

It explained why she had taken her own life.

Although her son's death had caused her great anguish, he had brought it upon himself, and no one else was to blame.

She intended for one-third of her money to be donated to the victims' relatives after her death, as compensation for Shōtarō's crimes.

All the remaining money would be handed over to the village.

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed the envelope and bowed to his sister-in-law's body.

Then he looked toward the Uchiha Clan Compound and murmured softly.

"Just where do you stand?"