Interrogation

"Lord Danzo, S-rank Rogue Ninja Hyuga Mirai has appeared in the Uchiha Compound. He also stopped the fight between the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and Uchiha Fugaku. Uzumaki Naruto has now withdrawn from his Tailed Beast Transformation."

"What!?"

Danzo was so shocked by the news that he nearly snapped the cane in his hand. Uzumaki Naruto was supposed to be his ultimate weapon—how had he been stopped before even producing any results?

And why had Hyuga Mirai appeared in Konoha?

"Has the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki been recovered?"

The Root ninja lowered his head and replied, "There was no time. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was taken to Uzumaki Kushina’s side. Hyuga Mirai and Uchiha Fugaku are nearby as well. Should we move against them, Lord Danzo?"

"Hyuga Mirai!"

Danzo gritted his teeth at the man who had suddenly appeared and ruined his plans. Not only had the Uchiha Clan not been exterminated, but he had even lost the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

"Where is Uchiha Itachi? Has he sent back any news?"

Danzo immediately demanded an answer. Even if Itachi had fired a Signal Flare within the Uchiha Compound, there was no way they should have received no word at all.

The Root ninja reported again, "No message has been received from Uchiha Itachi. However, the Sensor Ninja detected an enormous Chakra disturbance coming from the Uchiha Compound earlier, likely someone using a highly destructive ninjutsu. Not long after that, Hyuga Mirai and Uchiha Tekka appeared at the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki’s battlefield."

The Root ninja gave a detailed account of everything they had discovered, then offered his conclusion: Uchiha Itachi had most likely been killed or captured alive. There was practically no third possibility.

"What a useless fool!"

Danzo cursed furiously upon hearing this. Before the clan’s extermination, Itachi had boasted extravagantly, insisting that Root and Anbu only needed to stand guard outside while he handled everything himself. If Mitokado Homura had not forcibly made Uchiha Itachi take a Signal Flare, they would not even have known that the extermination operation had failed.

Even after the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki had held back Uchiha Fugaku and part of the Military Police Force, Uchiha Itachi had still failed. Danzo was furious beyond measure.

"Root is to follow the prepared battle plan and slaughter the Uchiha Clan. Have Anbu search throughout the village for the Uchiha Clan’s Secret Passage. The clansmen they have relocated are not to be spared either. Anyone encountered is to be executed on the spot as a village traitor."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

Having received the order, the Root ninja immediately left to carry it out. Danzo also rose and headed for the Hokage Tower. Hyuga Mirai, that rogue ninja, had appeared, so he had to make Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura step forward alongside him and gather the various Ninja Clans—especially the Hyuga Clan’s elites—to deal with Hyuga Mirai.

If he deployed only Root ninja, the casualties would be far too severe. He had gone to great lengths to expand Root to its current scale; if it suffered excessive losses over the night of the clan extermination, all his painstaking efforts would be wasted.

If it had not been for the destruction of the Uchiha Clan, he would never have committed all of Root’s strength.

After using a Truth-Seeking Orb to force Uzumaki Naruto’s Nine-Tails Chakra back into his body, Hyuga Mirai casually reinforced the seal Danzo had damaged. That old man had created a gap in the Eight Trigrams Seal to control the Nine-Tails, allowing the Nine-Tails Chakra to pour out without restraint.

However, erupting with four tails’ worth of Nine-Tails Chakra at only six or seven years old placed no small burden on the body. Naruto’s entire body had been burned by the high-density Tailed Beast Chakra, and many of the meridians inside him had been scorched as well.

When Kushina saw Naruto’s injuries, she immediately began cursing Danzo viciously. If Danzo had been standing before her, she would have beaten that bandaged old man to death even at the cost of worsening her own injuries.

"Hyuga Mirai, please… treat Naruto."

Kushina pleaded with Hyuga Mirai. The situation was unbearably ironic to her: she had been secretly injured by her so-called "own people," then had to beg Konoha’s rogue ninja for help.

If Kushina could have foreseen this day six years ago, she would certainly have left with Uzumaki Ayaka back then.

"It’s not serious. There won’t be any lasting effects. I told you already, Mrs. Kushina—rather than worrying about Uzumaki Naruto, you should think about your own injuries."

Hyuga Mirai spoke slowly. Since coming here, he was practically becoming a full-time doctor.

After Uchiha Tekka led the Military Police Force members in driving back the surrounding Anbu and Root members, he came over as well and said to Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuga Mirai, "Clan Head, Hyuga, we should leave first. If we delay any longer, Konoha’s people may realize what is happening."

"They’ve already realized it. The commotion just now was probably too great. Members of the other Ninja Clans are gathering here."

With his Byakugan active, Hyuga Mirai observed the movement within Konoha. Without the barrier obstructing him, the entirety of Konoha lay within his Byakugan’s field of vision.

More and more ninja were rushing over. Excluding the Anbu and Root who had initially surrounded the Uchiha Compound, over three hundred ninja had arrived in waves, all from various Ninja Clans.

Hyuga Mirai turned his head and suggested, "Go rendezvous with your clansmen first. There are still more than three hundred of them. They probably haven’t been relocated yet."

After the series of upheavals that night, coupled with his excessive expenditure of ocular power, Uchiha Fugaku was nearly incapable of thinking or making judgments. Faced with Uchiha Tekka and Hyuga Mirai’s suggestions, all he could do was nod in agreement.

"Tekka, Itachi, he—"

Before Uchiha Fugaku could finish asking, he saw Uchiha Tekka and the other Military Police Force members’ expressions darken. There was even a trace of anger in the way they looked at him.

"We’ll discuss this after we return!"

Uchiha Tekka said coldly. As for Uchiha Itachi, he was determined to kill him today. Not even Uchiha Fugaku could stop him.

By now, it was practically certain that Uchiha Itachi was the traitor who had colluded with Danzo. Uchiha Tekka would avenge not only the more than one hundred clansmen, but Yasunori Sakai as well.

"Then let’s go."

Hyuga Mirai created a Shadow Clone to carry Uzumaki Naruto, though what occupied his thoughts was Uchiha Itachi’s Mangekyō Sharingan. The eyes were merely the manifested expression of the Uchiha Clan’s power; the true secret of the Sharingan came from the special Chakra within their brains.

When the time came, he could forgo Uchiha Itachi’s eyes, but he had to obtain his brain for research. He had studied the genetic cells of Uchiha clansmen before, but had never conducted any specific research on their brains.

"Hyuga Mirai…"

Kushina’s voice came from behind him. Hyuga Mirai turned around, and then suddenly remembered.

"Almost forgot about you. Sorry."

Hyuga Mirai then created another Shadow Clone and had it carry Kushina as well. Though she had received basic treatment, Uzumaki Kushina still had difficulty moving. Her injuries were not difficult for Hyuga Mirai to treat, but healing them would require many surgeries.

Forcing herself into Curse Mark Transformation earlier had nearly drained the last of Kushina’s strength. If not for Hyuga Mirai, she truly might have died here tonight.

Root’s rats were still trailing them from afar to monitor them, but the Uchiha Clan had no time to deal with those people.

This night had truly been one calamity after another for their clan.

The vast clan compound was almost entirely in ruins. The Military Police Force had suffered devastating losses under Uchiha Obito’s slaughter, and the Uchiha Clan’s hidden ninja forces had also sustained mutual casualties against the Anbu. Uchiha Itachi had killed over a hundred ordinary clan members, and they did not even have time to collect all the bodies.

Before long, Hyuga Mirai followed Uchiha Tekka to the place where they had gathered the clan members.

After passing through the outer guard posts, Uchiha Fugaku approached and saw his wife pinned to the ground, her wrists held by two Military Police Force members and a kunai pressed to her throat.

"Fugaku, save Itachi!"

The moment Uchiha Mikoto saw Uchiha Fugaku return, she struggled to rise. However, the two Military Police Force members showed her no courtesy and forcibly pressed her back down.

"What are you doing? Let Mikoto go!"

Uchiha Fugaku shouted in a low, furious voice. Seeing such a scene the moment he returned filled him with rage. Yet after hearing their Clan Head’s command, the two Military Police Force members did not immediately release her. Instead, they looked in another direction.

"I ordered them to do it. Anyone who wants to save that traitor Uchiha Itachi can be executed on the spot for betraying the clan!"

Uchiha Tekka stepped forward with an icy voice and said to Uchiha Fugaku, "Clan leader, the fact that Uchiha Mikoto is still alive already shows that the Military Police Force has held back. Uchiha Itachi killed over a hundred clan members, as well as Yashiro and his group. Now I would like to ask you: how should a traitor like this be dealt with?"

After hearing Uchiha Tekka’s words, Uchiha Fugaku was so furious he nearly fainted. Itachi had done something like this!?

Following the direction Uchiha Tekka pointed, he saw his son. But Uchiha Itachi no longer looked anything like the genius of the Uchiha Clan.

His limbs had been twisted and broken at unnatural angles. He was covered in blood, and not a single patch of exposed skin was intact. If not for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Uchiha Fugaku would have thought his son was already dead.

"Itachi."

Uchiha Fugaku came to Itachi’s side. Afraid that he would not hear him, Uchiha Fugaku crouched down and asked, "Why did you do this? You were once the pride of the Uchiha Clan. Why did you betray your clansmen and side with Konoha?"

"Father."

Uchiha Itachi slowly opened his eyes. Seeing Uchiha Fugaku’s face, he said slowly, "This… was the best way to ensure peace and preserve the Uchiha Clan’s reputation. What you were doing could only start a war and plunge the entire Land of Fire into turmoil."

"So you killed one hundred and thirty-two ordinary Uchiha clan members who weren’t ninja? They had no ability to start a war. The ones capable of starting a war should have been the ninja within the Uchiha Clan, right? Did you kill the wrong people?"

"When ninja go to war, why kill ordinary people?"

The speaker was not Uchiha Fugaku, but someone behind him.

Everyone present turned around in unison and looked at the person who had just spoken.

"Sorry, my Shadow Clone was a little too talkative. Release!"

Hyuga Mirai immediately dispelled the overly talkative Shadow Clone. Though that was indeed what he thought, the Shadow Clone clearly lacked some tact. So he directly dispelled it, but Kushina suddenly suffered for it—she dropped from the air and hit the ground with a thud.

"Sorry for interrupting. Please continue. But the number my Shadow Clone mentioned was correct. The Byakugan can see the bodies buried underground."

After dismissing the Shadow Clone, Hyuga Mirai smiled and waved at the Uchiha people.

Although they had been interrupted, everyone who heard those words found themselves agreeing with them to some extent. The non-ninja Uchiha clan members present, in particular, felt even greater fury toward Uchiha Itachi.

We had no ability to wage war. We usually just sold vegetables, clothes, and things like that. Why did you come after us!?

Every ordinary Uchiha clan member had the same thought arise in their hearts.