After sending off Choza, Rengoku, Fugaku, Itachi, and Shisui all went into Orochimaru's laboratory to wait.
Kabuto was also there assisting.
In this room lay Uchiha Kiyan and Uchiha Makumi, both knocked out by genjutsu.
Rinjin had already been sent out.
Rengoku was holding and reading the will Makumi had written in advance.
[This mission is very dangerous, but it's also a very rare opportunity.]
[Yoko, if I don't come back, with the pension policy issued by Clan Head-sama, it will still be enough for you to live without worry.]
[Yumi has good talent, she will certainly become a skilled kunoichi in the future.]
[Be sure to raise her well.]
After finishing the will, Rengoku asked Fugaku, "So Makumi's meaning is his wife and daughter?"
Fugaku gave a small nod, "What he loves most should be his daughter."
Rengoku thought for a moment, then nodded slightly.
Itachi and Shisui were preparing to weave genjutsu to obscure his memories, while Rengoku was preparing to craft the deepest layer of the dream.
"Makumi has the greatest hope. If Makumi succeeds, then continue on to Kiyan."
"If Makumi fails, then we abandon this experiment."
Rengoku also made the decision directly, finalizing the plan.
"Let's begin."
Itachi and Shisui pried open Makumi's eyelids. With the two of them cooperating with their Mangekyo Sharingan, Makumi's memories were obscured.
Rengoku cast his illusion, and Makumi entered the deepest layer of the dreamscape.
———
[Dream]
"Cough! Cough! Cough!"
Makumi weakly opened his eyes.
"What… what happened to me?", He was groggy as he looked at his surroundings.
He was in a dense forest, his right hand wrapped in bandages.
"Makumi, you're awake?", A beautiful woman before him was shocked and overjoyed, rushing forward.
"Yoko, where… where are we?"
Uchiha Yoko let out a long breath, "Good, you still recognize me.
"You injured your head and forgot some things."
Makumi's head throbbed, countless memories flooding into his mind.
It turned out the Third Hokage had joined forces with the Sand ninja to launch a sudden assault on the Uchiha compound.
Their clan head, Rengoku, covered their retreat, but midway the Iwa ninja ambushed them, scattering their group.
Makumi, as part of the guard squad, fought desperately. But after injuring his hand and being pierced through the abdomen, his head was struck by an Earth Release boulder.
So he had lost consciousness.
Makumi felt his mind was hazy, much was unclear.
But the bandages still wrapped around his head told him,nany movement brought sharp pain.
So all the confusion and oddness in his memory, he attributed to his brain being damaged.
"Father, you're awake!", A girl of about ten, ponytail tied, walked out of the forest.
Though delicate of face, her expression was firm.
"Yumi, you're alright?", Seeing his beloved daughter appear, Makumi finally relaxed a little inside.
This daughter was currently studying at the academy. After graduating from the previous elite class, she had been preparing to apply for the next.
But then this happened.
"Don't worry, Father. As long as no one chases us, we just have to regroup with the main forces."
Mature beyond her years, Yumi even turned to comfort Makumi.
Makumi's heart warmed, "Alright, I'll listen to you, Yumi. Let's go."
Yoko quickly came to help support Makumi.
She was just an ordinary Uchiha by name, not a combatant.
But she and Makumi had loved each other for years, rarely quarreled, and she managed the household very well.
As long as the family was safe, Makumi felt nothing else mattered.
Just then, rustling sounds came from the forest. Clearly many people were approaching.
"So there were still Uchiha over here!"
Makumi's heart sank. It was an Iwa pursuit unit. A single glance counted sixteen of them.
What path had he taken to run right into Iwa ninja?
He reached for his ninja pouch, which was already gone.
His right hand was injured, so he could only draw a weapon with his left.
He pushed Yoko and Yumi forward, "Go quickly! I'll cover the rear!"
Yoko didn't cry or wail, she just grabbed Yumi and ran ahead.
"Kill them quickly!"
One Iwa ninja gave the order.
Earth Release: Rock Iron Cannon!
They didn't close in. Several of them spat stones from their mouths.
These were just pebbles when spat out, but instantly swelled in the wind.
By the time they reached Makumi, they had already become solid boulders.
Makumi dodged left and right, eyes fixed on the Iwa ninja, using his evasions to draw closer to them.
"Hmph!", Seeing his skill, four Iwa ninja in the front drew their blades.
They rushed at him. Taking advantage of him sidestepping a Rock Iron Cannon, one slashed down.
Makumi, unskilled at wielding weapons ambidextrously, could only block with his arm. A huge force surged through, splitting open his waist wound again with piercing pain.
He clenched his teeth, endured, and spun his Sharingan.
In close combat, just a single eye contact. An Iwa shinobi froze in a daze, and Makumi cut his throat.
Real close combat rarely had much space for trading blows.
The very next instant, another Iwa ninja's blade already hacked into Makumi's left hand.
A sharp pain, then no feeling. The weapon slipped to the ground.
He leapt and kicked that Iwa ninja, but then he heard his wife Yoko's scream.
His heart jolted. A huge rock smashed into his chest.
Crack!
Bone-breaking sounds rang out, and Makumi was slammed to the ground.
He saw an Iwa ninja use Earth Release to burrow up beside Yoko.
The blade had already slashed across her neck.
"Incredible… wounded like this and still fighting."
"That one, is she your daughter, or your sister?"
Speaking, the Iwa ninja dragged the fleeing Yumi back and threw her down near Makumi.
Yoko, blood spurting from mouth and nose, only had time to give Makumi a fleeting glance before collapsing into a pool of blood.
Makumi was stomped on the back, his entire battered body letting out just a muffled groan.
He could only watch his wife die before his eyes.
Struggling desperately, his three-tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, his breath rasping hoarsely, "Hhh…"
"Yumi!"
"Father… AHHH!"
Yumi screamed hoarsely as well.
A Rock Iron Cannon came crashing from above, slamming into her back.
Blood spurted from her mouth, her back twisted unnaturally, her bones clearly broken.
The Iwa ninja lifted his blade, brought it before Yumi's face, and said to Makumi, "This one… seems to be your daughter?"
Then, under Makumi's gaze, he pressed the blade to Yumi's cheek, slowly pushing down.
Yumi grabbed at the blade, but though her hands ran with blood, she couldn't stop the strength of an adult man.
She could only watch as the steel sank into her face.
"Dad… Dad…"
Puchi!
The blade pierced straight through Yumi's skull.
Her life ended in that moment.
"YUUUUUMI!", His heart-tearing scream rang out.
Makumi's three tomoe suddenly shattered apart, morphing into circles linked together.
And the entire world collapsed in an instant.
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