In the land of the Uchiha clan
Madara walked in here without a sound.
The guards outside did not notice his arrival at all.
Strolling here, Madara seemed to have seen the scene of the year.
At this time!
"Mikoto, father has decided on our marriage."
Under the street lamp, a man looked at a woman and said in a serious tone.
"Okay."
The woman lowered her head, expressionless. She didn't look happy or unhappy.
"Mikoto, aren't you happy?" The man asked.
"So so." Mikoto replied.
This made Fugaku frown.
"Whether you are happy or not, this matter will not change. You, Mikoto, next month will be my wife!" Fugaku said loudly.
"Think about it carefully."
After finishing speaking, Fugaku turned around and left without paying any attention to the opinion of Mikoto behind him.
At this time, Mikoto under the street lamp raised her head and looked at Fugaku who had left.
"Am I going to be married?"
Mikoto looked at Fugaku who was going away, and sighed faintly.
She was in her twenties. At her age, many female clan members in the clan have already given birth to children.
Originally, Mikoto should also have been similar to these clansmen.
Married at the age of twenty or so, and then taking care of husband and son, and bidding farewell to the profession of a ninja.
But because of the persuasion of her friend Kushina, she never agreed to Fugaku's pursuit, and she dragged on until today.
Then Fugaku, who had already ascended to the position and became the clan leader of their clan, actually issued an ultimatum directly.
Obviously, she did not agree to Fugaku's pursuit at all.
The two are not even boyfriend and girlfriend, and they are going to get married?
Absurd!
Mikoto was powerless to object.
She's just an ordinary Jōnin, backed by her grandfather in the past.
Mikoto's grandfather is the chief elder of the clan.
Very powerful.
Enough to compete with the clan leader!
Therefore...
In the past, she was able to reject Fugaku's advances repeatedly.
She thought the other party would give up and find another woman to marry.
But what Mikoto didn't expect was that he was more stubborn than she and Kushina had thought.
Because of her repeated rejections, it seemed to arouse his rebellious nature.
The clan leader of the previous generation had found several other women for him.
But he was stubborn and insisted on marrying Mikoto.
Even if Mikoto didn't like him, he just wanted her to marry him.
It's disgusting!!
Before, Mikoto's grandfather was alive and she could still refuse him.
But at the beginning of this year, her grandfather passed away due to his age.
Mikoto could no longer refuse the new clan leader.
After Fugaku continued to pursue, and found that Mikoto still rejected him, he simply used his father's name to forcefully decide the marriage of the two.
Because his father is now the chief elder of the clan. And he is the clan leader.
Mikoto, the powerless Jōnin, had no way to refuse the order issued by the clan leader and the great elder together.
She can already foresee her future.
"In the end... still can't resist this fate?" Mikoto said to herself with a depressed expression.
"You want to defy fate?"
At this moment, a voice suddenly appeared behind Mikoto.
"Who is it?!"
She turned to look behind her.
Under the street lamp, in the darkness where no light could be found, a tall figure stood there, walking over step by step.
"Who are you?"
Mikoto looked at him warily.
She grew up in the land of the clan. She could recognize not all of the people in the clan, but at least 90% of them.
And the long black hair of the person in front of her was so iconic, it was impossible for her to miss it once she has seen it.
So, there is only one answer, that is, the other party is not from the clan.
"I ask you, do you want to rebel against your fate?"
Madara originally didn't intend to pay attention to the younger generation of the clan.
The love between men and women has never been something that Madara would consider.
When Hashirama got married, he laughed at Hashirama, saying women would only affect Hashirama's power.
And Hashirama said he didn't understand at all. He didn't want to understand either.
Women have never been something that needs to appear in his life.
For Madara, there are only three things that are the most important in this life.
One is Hashirama!
One is his younger brother!
The last one is his dream!
That was also his dream with Hashirama.
However, now Hashirama and his brother are no longer in this world.
And his dream was completely torn apart today, and everything turned out to be just a ridiculous lie, just a conspiracy.
This made Madara very confused for a time. He couldn't find his direction in life.
So after Ryosuke took him to Konoha, Madara followed the road that he walked with Hashirama, and came all the way here.
Seeing this family that had once abandoned him, he noticed changes over time.
Things are different!
While feeling slightly sad, Madara couldn't help but sneer.
The clan is having a bad time in Konoha. It can even be said to be bad.
Behind the seemingly prosperous scene, it is already riddled with holes.
The so-called number one clan has now become the object of the village's disdain.
This made Madara want to laugh at those who were unwilling to leave the village with him.
If they were willing to leave the village with him, the result would definitely not be like this.
They were content with the status quo!
They didn't think ahead!
They just waited to be eliminated by the times.
Madara knee all this well. He didn't feel sympathy when he saw the state of the clan.
On the contrary, he felt a little pleasure.
Originally, he just wanted to revisit the old place and didn't plan to meet the descendants of the clan.
After all, everyone he knew was dead.
Besides, the entire family abandoned him back then, so what was there to see?
But when he heard Mikoto talking to herself, expressing dissatisfaction with her destiny, wanting to break free from fate's chains but feeling powerless, it reminded him of his former self.
Had it not been for Ryosuke's intervention, he would have fallen into Black Zetsu's trap, walking right into the carefully set-up snare.
At the peak of his pride, he would have received the most fatal blow.
Madara is a proud man.
Losing the last important thing in his life indeed dealt a blow to Madara, but when he was the most lost, he saw Mikoto, a descendant of the clan.
In her, he saw a trace of himself but it was just a glimpse.
Madara felt a kind of empathy, as he, abandoned by fate, felt the same isolation.
But it was enough to make him show up and meet Mikoto.
Just like Ryosuke urged him to leave his original fate behind, Madara wanted to be the one to offer a hand when others were in despair.
Maybe that would give him some peace. At least, it would feel like he had resisted fate.
Although, it was someone else's fate.
Mikoto looked at the strange man in front of her. He didn't wear a ninja headband or any clan symbols, making it hard to identify him.
Still, Mikoto felt he looked familiar, like someone she had seen before.
But she couldn't quite place her finger on it. It was probably just her imagination.
"So what do I think? I'm just an ordinary Jōnin, with no power in the clan, and I don't even have the courage to escape from this place!" Mikoto said with a self-deprecating smile.
"Just the thought is enough." Madara replied softly.
The next second—
Mikoto felt the world around her twist.
When she regained her senses, she found that the strange man was gone.
"Wait, why am I here?"
Mikoto rubbed her forehead, feeling as though she had forgotten something important, but it wasn't clear.
Oh well, maybe it's just tiredness, she thought, before turning and heading home.
At that moment!
A fire broke out in the distance, followed by screams and cries of pain.
It echoed from there.
"What happened?"
Mikoto looked in surprise and instinctively ran toward the source of the chaos.
When she arrived, she saw that the place was already filled with corpses.
The bodies of clansmen were scattered everywhere. Many of them were people she knew well.
"Nimiko!"
Mikoto rushed to her friend, Nimiko, who was lying in a pool of blood.
Nimiko managed to take a shallow breath. She weakly grasped Mikoto's hand.
"Quick... run!"
With those final words, Nimiko's head lolled to the side, lifeless.
"Nimiko!!!"
Mikoto stared at the scene in disbelief.
At that moment!
A few incredibly fast shadows passed by, and several fleeing clansmen were instantly decapitated.
Mikoto's pupils trembled as she watched.
Her Sharingan activated automatically, gazing in horror at the scene like a living nightmare.
A figure staggered out from one side.
"Kushina?"
Mikoto looked at her friend with surprise.
"Mikoto, thank goodness! I'm so glad you're alright!!"
Kushina embraced Mikoto, then quickly pulled away and said, "Come on, we have to leave the village now!"
"Ah?!!"
Before Mikoto could respond, Kushina dragged her along.
As they ran, Mikoto saw countless figures in black, wearing faceless white masks, massacring the village civilians.
Some ninjas tried to stop them, but these men were so powerful that they killed the ninjas effortlessly.
"Kushina, what's going on?" Mikoto asked in confusion.
"I don't know. Things were fine at first, but then these people appeared out of nowhere. The village is falling apart. We need to get out fast!" Kushina replied.
Kushina kept pulling Mikoto toward the village exit.
The two avoided the masked men as much as possible along the way.
As they neared the village entrance, a dead body suddenly crashed into their path.
"Oh~! Didn't expect to find two little bugs trying to escape!"
A man in black appeared in front of them, holding a sword. His exposed eyes held a playful glint.
"Mikoto, go!"
Kushina suddenly pushed Mikoto away and rushed at the man in black, shouting.
"Kushina, don't!!!"
Mikoto screamed, but Kushina was already running, urging her to escape.
The next second—
Splat~!
The man in black swung his sword and severed one of Kushina's arms.
Blood splattered.
Despite losing an arm, Kushina still struggled to block the man, giving Mikoto a chance to flee.
"Go! Mikoto, go!!"
Mikoto stood there, frozen in shock, watching as the man in black beheaded her friend.
In that moment, her Sharingan spun wildly. It gradually morphed into a new pattern.
Mangekyō!!
Outside, in the real world
Madara smiled faintly.
"Not bad."
He commented softly.