The pale moonlight shone upon the street ahead, its stones slick and red with fresh blood.
Returning from the training grounds, Uchiha Jiyue froze, his breath catching. The sight of clan members lying lifeless by the roadside struck him with a chilling, hellish clarity.
"How…?"
"What happened here?"
"Was it an enemy attack?"
It made sense—ever since the Nine-Tails' attack, the Uchiha clan had been forced to move to the outskirts of the village. If there were truly an invasion, their district would be the first to suffer.
"Father, Mother, Xiaomei… please, please be safe!"
Worry for his family gripped his chest. Keeping close to the walls, Jiyue instinctively quickened his pace—but he also knew enemies might still be nearby. He suppressed the sound of his footsteps and breathing to a bare whisper.
Yet a troubling thought crept in.
If it was an enemy incursion…
Why weren't the Police Force or the Anbu responding?
After only a few more steps, Jiyue stopped in his tracks.
"Uncle Xinshan…? The one who sells fruit…"
Bending down, he felt for breath under the man's nose. Nothing. Just this morning, they had exchanged smiles and greetings—and now, in the evening, Xinshan was a cold corpse.
"This is…!"
Lifting his head, Jiyue saw the fruit shop's door half open. Warm light still glowed faintly inside, but the sight only made his hands and feet go cold.
"Blood… so much blood… who could have done this?"
Everywhere he looked, clansmen lay dead on the street. The stench of blood was thick and acrid, clawing at his senses, filling him with dread.
"Please… please be all right…"
But when he pushed open the door to his own home—whether it was fear or desperate hope in his heart—what greeted him was a scene straight from the depths of hell.
"No!"
"Blood! Why is there so much blood?!"
"Father! Mother!"
The instant he stepped inside, he saw his father collapsed in a corner, blood splattered across the wall.
Further in, his mother lay in the kitchen. The pot of fish soup she had promised to make for him that morning to "build his strength" had spilled by her feet.
"How… how could this happen?"
"This has to be a nightmare!"
"This is Konoha—this is the Uchiha compound—how could something like this happen here? How?!"
Slumping against the wall, Jiyue let his body slide down, empty and numb.
The bedroom…
There was no need to check.
His little sister had only just learned to speak, calling "big brother" with perfect clarity every evening when he came home from training.
But tonight…
The thought of that small, lively figure lying still and cold filled him with agony and helplessness.
"Who did this?!"
"Why didn't anyone come to help us?!"
"We're part of Konoha too!"
"Why… why… WHY?!"
Blood-red rage filled Jiyue's vision. He looked at his father's lifeless body in the corner, then at his mother's corpse at his feet. His eyes burned with grief.
"Father gave everything on the battlefield for the honor of the clan and the safety of Konoha, only to end up half-paralyzed… was he not worth saving?"
"Mother… she always smiled, loved tending flowers, never troubled anyone… what crime did she commit?"
"And my little sister… she'd only just learned to speak!"
"Beasts…"
"BEASTS!"
It was hatred—pure and consuming.
"I'm no genius, not like young clan leader Itachi. Even becoming a ninja was only so that, as a merchant in the future, I could better survive bandit attacks and protect my goods…"
But…
Does being ordinary mean you deserve to be trampled?
Does being ordinary mean you deserve to be abandoned?
No. Not.
Even if the village had abandoned them—
Even if the clan head and the Police Force had abandoned them—
Those still alive had the right to take up weapons and resist!
Time might one day scab over the wound in his chest, but tonight—tonight he would let the flames of rage burn themselves out!
Laying his mother's body gently down, Uchiha Jiyue picked up a kunai and rushed out the door.
At the far end of the street, flames roared, painting the night with searing light. He couldn't tell whether the blood-red glow of the fires was staining the street's pools of blood, or if the blood itself had dyed the flames.
He moved forward, guided only by instinct for revenge.
He didn't know how long he had been running when, at the corner of a street, he finally saw two people still alive.
By the light of the flames, he recognized one of them instantly—
Uchiha Itachi, the young clan leader, had been admired for years.
A wave of relief washed over him.
"Young Clan Leader! I'm here!"
Years ago, Itachi had taught him the finer points of kunai throwing. And now, Itachi was their only hope. Jiyue approached, clinging to the sense of safety his presence brought.
"Oh? One's still alive?"
The man beside Itachi sounded displeased.
"He must have been away before," Itachi replied calmly. "He's just returned."
The masked man glanced at Jiyue, then said to Itachi, "In that case… send him on his way."
Itachi said nothing more. Without a flicker of hesitation, he drew his blood-stained sword, appeared before Jiyue in a flash, and drove the blade into his abdomen.
"Young Clan Leader… you?!"
The questions, the grief, the confusion—he hadn't even had time to voice them to the man he had once looked up to before pain exploded in his gut.
"Why? You're our young clan leader—why attack your people?"
But Itachi neither apologized nor showed regret. He simply withdrew the blade and turned away.
Splurt. Thud.
Blood gushed from his wound. Jiyue collapsed to his knees in the spreading pool, watching Itachi's back as it grew distant. In that moment, he knew—he had nothing left.
"Why… why…"
That morning, he had defended Itachi with his fists when classmates accused him of killing Shisui… and now, at night, he was cut down by the same man. How laughable.
Hack…
Coughing up blood, Jiyue crawled after him.
"Young Clan Leader, why? Even a half-hearted answer… please…"
"Itachi, you're not stopping?" the masked man asked.
"No need," Itachi replied coldly.
With that, the two disappeared around the corner, leaving only moonlight and the glow of flames reflected in Jiyue's eyes.
A long, hopeless sigh escaped him.
"Please…"
…
…
"Haha! Never thought a tough guy like me would get to transmigrate one day!"
"Last time I daydreamed about it was… well, last time. But now? I've done it!"
Ding! "Strongest Harem System activated. Would you like to claim your beginner's gift pack?"
"A system? Hahahaha!"
"Of course I'll claim it! Absolutely!"
"Congratulations—you have received the Ope Ope no Mi, with the fear of the ocean removed."
"Law's fruit? Perfect!"
"Hiss—ow, that hurts! Damn, I think I can see my intestines… If I weren't injured, I wouldn't be seeing them, right? System, I'm badly hurt. Can I use it right now?"
"Of course."
As his consciousness began to fade, Uchiha Jiyue vaguely heard two voices speaking near his ear. They seemed to want to use his body to resurrect themselves. But he had no intention of resisting.
In a world this hopeless, what did it matter if he handed it over?
He didn't care anymore.
A newcomer's journey begins—please take care of me, hehehe! As for Sasuke and Itachi, and whether Sasuke should be killed, please see the related notes. Thank you.