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"Swish! Swish!"
Uchiha Izumi raised her hand and threw two shuriken toward Obito.
Though she possessed the three-tomoe Sharingan, Izumi had no idea how to use it properly. Her attacks were still too basic, relying on shuriken, which seemed somewhat ineffective.
As expected, the shuriken passed right through Obito's body, causing him no harm.
"How is this possible?" Izumi exclaimed, stunned. Anyone witnessing Obito's Kamui for the first time would be shocked beyond belief.
With a clatter, Obito flung out a chain, instantly binding Izumi and dragging her to the ground at his feet. He raised the chain high, preparing to kill her.
"Wait," Kagaya spoke up.
"Spare her life."
Obito cast a sideways glance at Kagaya. "This is a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan. I'm not too keen on letting them go."
Kagaya remained unmoved. "There are plenty of three-tomoe Sharingan in the Uchiha clan. You can't take them all. Missing one won't make a difference."
Obito fell silent for a moment before speaking. "You're right. If we kill off all the Uchiha, one pair of Sharingan less won't matter to me. But I'm curious—why do you want to save her?"
"Is that important?" Kagaya asked.
"I think it's quite important," Obito replied.
"She's someone important to Itachi. In the past, I couldn't protect anyone, but that won't happen again."
"You should cut ties with your past," Obito said, his eyes beneath the mask fixed on Kagaya. He didn't want to see Kagaya still clinging to Konoha.
Kagaya's expression was neither joyful nor sorrowful, and he responded calmly. "The Uchiha clan is about to be wiped out. I just want to save this one person. Konoha no longer has any place for me."
"Is that so?" Obito said, looking at Kagaya.
He released Izumi. Obito had personally witnessed Kagaya's past and the pain he carried. With the added weight of the Uchiha clan's destruction, it seemed impossible for Kagaya to return to Konoha.
"Fine, I'll continue fulfilling my agreement with Itachi. Since you've saved this woman, I won't touch her. But I also have no obligation to protect her. If she dies in this chaos, don't blame me."
Kagaya closed his eyes, then opened them again, his three-tomoe Sharingan glowing a calm, blood-red as he looked at Obito. "With me here, that won't happen."
Obito let out a cold huff. He could sense Kagaya's firm resolve to protect this woman.
"Alright then."
With that, a vortex swirled around Obito, and he vanished, continuing his slaughter.
Kagaya's eyes returned to their normal black pupils as he looked at Izumi. "Can you stand? If you can, follow me closely."
When Kagaya first arrived in Konoha, he didn't know Izumi. But after four months of lurking in the village, he'd have to be blind not to recognize her by now. Though Kagaya kept a low profile in Konoha, he knew Izumi and was aware of her connection to Itachi. However, Izumi wasn't as familiar with Kagaya. She vaguely recalled seeing him months ago, but the memory was hazy.
Right, it was back then!
"You… you're that kid from that day? Are you the one causing this tragedy? Why? Your eyes just now—you're an Uchiha too, aren't you? Why are you slaughtering your own clan?"
Kagaya looked at Izumi in silence, understanding the despair in her voice. He was no stranger to despair himself.
"Do you trust me?" he asked.
Izumi stared at him as if he were a fool. "Trust you? How could I possibly trust you?!"
"Then do you trust Itachi?"
Izumi froze. She might not trust Obito or Kagaya, but for Itachi, she felt an unshakable trust deep within her heart.
Kagaya continued, "If you trust Itachi, come with me. This chaos isn't as simple as it seems. You see the deaths of our clan and feel pain, don't you? But I believe Itachi is suffering far more than you are. Even so, he's the one who started this massacre. I'm in as much pain as you are, yet I haven't stopped it. Why? Because many things in this world are beyond our control. So stop the useless talk and stand"
With that, Kagaya turned and walked deeper into the clan grounds. He had no intention of joining Obito in slaughtering the Uchiha's outer defenses. Instead, he wanted to take this girl to see the person she longed for.
Kagaya didn't dare let Izumi go alone. In this horrifying massacre, who knew if some Uchiha, driven mad with desperation, might kill indiscriminately?
Izumi stared blankly at Kagaya. She didn't trust him, but she desperately wanted to see Itachi, to beg him to stop this slaughter. And right now, the boy in the black-and-red-clouded robe was her only chance to reach Itachi. She had no other choice.
Izumi struggled to her feet and chased after Kagaya.
---
The endless slaughter continued. Kill! Kill! Kill!
Itachi wiped the terrifying blood from his face and pressed forward. But ahead, a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan glowed, staring at Itachi and the corpses behind him.
"Itachi, what lies at the end of this massacre? I once showed you the future of our clan. Are you trying to show me a different outcome?"
The person waiting for Itachi was none other than Uchiha Fugaku, his father.
The "future of the clan" Fugaku referred to was the "bloodless revolution" he had spoken of to Itachi that day.
Itachi didn't waste words. His three-tomoe Sharingan transformed into the Mangekyō, and he cast a genjutsu on Fugaku, showing him the different future Itachi envisioned.
"Look!"
Fugaku entered the genjutsu, eager to see the future Itachi foresaw.
In the first vision, Itachi aided the Uchiha in their bloodless revolution, but it failed. The entire Uchiha clan was wiped out, not a single member spared.
In the second vision, the bloodless revolution succeeded, but the conflict with the village weakened Konoha significantly. Other nations seized the opportunity to invade, and the Uchiha clan was still annihilated, with no survivors.
In the third vision, Itachi didn't support the Uchiha's revolution. Instead, he helped the village purge the Uchiha. Konoha's strength remained intact, deterring foreign invasions. Because of Itachi's agreement with the village, one Uchiha was spared—Sasuke.
In this vision, Itachi placed all his hopes on Sasuke, believing he could become the last hope of the Uchiha, restoring the clan's glory in the future.
The genjutsu ended there.
"This is the future I see for the village and our clan," Itachi said.
"Is that so?" Fugaku replied, looking at Itachi.
"Sasuke, huh?"
Fugaku said nothing more. Just as he had told Kagaya that day, he believed his son could see further than he could. No matter what, he would support Itachi's decision, even if their ideals differed. He wouldn't deny Itachi's vision.
Then, Fugaku vanished in a puff of white smoke. It was clearly a shadow clone.
"A shadow clone?!" Itachi said, surprised, before raising his blade and heading toward his final destination—his home.
"Father is my greatest enemy. This will be a battle between two Mangekyō Sharingan users."
Itachi arrived at his home, cautiously concealing his presence, wary of Fugaku.
"Over here," a voice called.
Itachi froze.
"There's no trap. Come in," Fugaku's voice said, calm and devoid of sorrow or anger, like a father speaking to his son as always.
Itachi cautiously opened the door and stepped inside. What he saw were his parents, kneeling with their backs to him.
"Father?!" Itachi's voice carried shock and an unavoidable tinge of sorrow. He understood his father's decision.
"I don't want to fight my own son to the death," Fugaku said.
Itachi approached, blade in hand, as Fugaku continued, "So, you've chosen their side."
"Father, Mother, I—"
Uchiha Mikoto, Itachi's mother, finally spoke. "We understand, Itachi."
As a mother, her first words weren't about her impending death or the extinction of their clan. Instead, she chose to comfort her son.
"Itachi, promise me one last thing: take care of Sasuke," she said.
Fugaku spoke next, the parents' thoughts still on their sons, even in their final moments.
*****
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