"Come with me."
Menma knew they wanted something from him, so he said briefly.
Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something, turned around, ran to Naruto, and instructed, "Go home early. If Mom asks, just say I went to Ino's house to play."
"Huh? Where are you going?"
Naruto scratched his head.
"I have a secret mission to carry out…"
Menma deliberately spoke mysteriously, then suddenly raised his voice and shouted, "Uzumaki Naruto!"
"Yes!"
Naruto stood up straight.
"This is a Ninja mission I've given you. Can you complete it?!"
"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!"
Naruto responded excitedly.
"Good, when I come back, I'll give you two ramen coupons."
"Five!"
Naruto held up five fingers.
"Three!"
"I need five. If Mom gets angry…"
Naruto pretended to be troubled.
"You sly kid, you've learned bad habits. Who taught you?"
Menma was a bit surprised.
"You."
Naruto grinned.
"Get lost!"
Menma pulled out two ramen coupons and shoved them into Naruto's hand.
"Hey! Brother, that's only two!"
Naruto counted, dissatisfied.
"I'll give you the rest after you complete the mission."
After Menma finished speaking, he turned and darted into the small forest.
Uchiha Shisui and Itachi exchanged glances, then flashed after him.
"I really envy you guys for having a younger brother."
Uchiha Shisui looked at the two of them, a gentle smile playing on his lips, but an almost imperceptible hint of loneliness hidden in his eyes.
Being alone, he knew better than anyone how precious this blood-bound connection was.
Precisely because of this, he felt an even greater need to protect this hard-won peace.
"Shisui…"
Uchiha Itachi hesitated, his Adam's apple bobbing, and in the end, he could only squeeze out, "We are also brothers…"
Shisui's throat tightened suddenly, and a sourness welled up in his eyes.
This brotherly affection was like a campfire in winter, making his eyes burn with warmth.
Menma rubbed his arms, goosebumps rising all over him.
This intense, unresolvable Uchiha-style brotherhood was truly overwhelming.
"You can express your brotherly affection later. Let's talk business."
He interrupted their staring contest, his expression turning serious. "Regarding the Uchiha Clan, have you decided what to do?"
Shisui and Itachi exchanged glances and said in unison, "We have made our resolve."
Shisui pulled a scroll from his chest, his fingertips caressing the edge, his expression complex. "The list of the Uchiha Clan's radical faction is all here."
Menma took the scroll and unsealed it.
A dense array of names appeared before his eyes, more than forty Uchiha Clan members in total, almost all of them armed personnel from the clan.
He calmly put the scroll into his system space and said in a deep voice, "I'm glad you have such resolve. I hope this list has no omissions. Once the seed of hatred takes Root, it's hard to remove."
"I understand…"
Shisui nodded solemnly.
"What about Uncle Fugaku's attitude?"
Menma pressed. As the head of the Uchiha Clan, Fugaku's stance would directly determine the fate of the entire clan.
Shisui's face instantly turned pale, and Itachi also lowered his head, ominously silent.
Menma's heart skipped a beat, and he tentatively asked, "Did you use Kotoamatsukami on him?"
"Mm…"
Shisui exhaled, his voice seeming to be squeezed from the deepest part of his chest. He knew the power of Kotoamatsukami too well; who would easily use this double-edged sword unless absolutely necessary?
A slight misstep, and the user could become deeply entangled and lose himself.
Menma's internal alarm bells blared.
Shisui could restrain himself now, but there was no guarantee he wouldn't lose control in the future.
The human heart is the most unpredictable.
If he were to attack his father, the Hokage, one day… his pupils constricted slightly, and his tone grew colder. "What is the cost of Kotoamatsukami?"
Sensing the killing intent in Menma's words, Itachi instinctively moved to step forward but was stopped by Shisui's raised hand.
Shisui took a deep breath and said calmly, "The right eye's Kotoamatsukami can instantly change a person's thoughts, but its effect is limited on those with strong wills or higher ocular power than mine; the left eye can permanently rewrite will, but its cooldown period lasts over a decade."
As his voice fell, the forest fell into a dead silence, with only the rustling of leaves in the wind.
The wind in the forest suddenly stopped, and withered leaves hung suspended in mid-air.
Menma stared at Uchiha Shisui: "Shisui-nii, how can I trust you?"
"Menma… Shisui wouldn't do that! He…"
Uchiha Itachi's voice rose, his fingers clenched until his knuckles were white, and the kunai pouch at his waist subtly rose and fell with his rapid breathing.
"Itachi!"
Shisui interrupted his companion's defense, his dark brown pupils reflecting Menma's wary expression. He was silent for a moment, then suddenly reached for his Ninja tool pouch, a cold glint flashed, and a kunai had already pierced his left eye.
"Shisui!"
Itachi cried out in alarm. He lunged forward, the air current from his clothes stirring the fallen leaves on the ground.
But Menma was a step faster, his palm firmly grasping Shisui's blade-wielding wrist.
"I trust you, Shisui-nii."
When Menma released his hand, the sun happened to break through the clouds, illuminating the smile at the corner of his eye.
Shisui stood frozen, clutching the trembling kunai, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, finally uttering a hoarse, "Thank you for your trust, Menma…"
Menma clapped his hands, brushing off nonexistent dust, his expression instantly turning serious: "Now I will explain my plan."
His gaze swept over their tense shoulders, and he continued, "Have Uncle Fugaku, under the pretext of seizing power from the Village's higher-ups, lead the Uchiha Clan's radical armed personnel to confront Root. When both sides are severely wounded, you two will be responsible for the aftermath, eradicating Root."
He emphasized, word by word, "You must kill Danzo, otherwise the repercussions will be endless."
"But Anbu and others…"
Shisui frowned, his bangs swaying slightly with the movement.
"Anbu will appear two hours after the attack, and some Ninja from the Shimura Clan will be out on a mission tomorrow morning."
Menma said calmly, "Other clans have long been dissatisfied with Danzo and Root; eliminating them serves everyone's interests."
He suddenly gave a mischievous smile, his fangs glinting in the sunlight: "As for Grandpa Sarutobi, Naruto and I will visit him with gifts tomorrow."
The birdsong in the forest suddenly grew sharp.
Menma's gaze, like a hawk's, swept over Shisui and Itachi's tense faces: "The most crucial thing afterward is that you must firmly control the Uchiha Clan, and there must not be a single voice of opposition!"
"Understood…"
Shisui sheathed his kunai, the metallic clink exceptionally clear in the silent forest.
He looked at Menma, who was speaking eloquently, and felt a little dazed: Menma seemed to be a born leader.
"Prepare yourselves; we strike tomorrow night!"
Menma said with a firm gaze and a deep voice.
Uchiha Shisui and Itachi's expressions tightened, and they responded in unison, "Yes!"
Just as the two turned to leave, Menma called out to them: "Shisui-nii, Brother Itachi, wait a moment."
The two quickly turned, their gazes focused on Menma.
He scratched his head, shedding his earlier seriousness, and revealed a shy, childlike smile: "I want to ask a question: how did you two used to skip class without getting caught?"
"Huh?"
Shisui and Itachi both froze, their previously tense nerves instantly relaxing.
They looked at Menma's slightly expectant eyes and suddenly realized that this young man, who had just been strategizing, was essentially just a six-year-old child.
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