"Lord Danzo, many of the Uchiha clan members' Sharingan have been gouged out!"
A Root ninja wearing a mask reported in a hushed voice.
Danzo frowned slightly: "It must have been Itachi and that man, right? Hmph!"
"Don't worry about this matter. Quickly collect all the remaining Sharingan!"
"Yes!"
The Root ninja flashed away, but one person wearing a dog-head mask remained motionless.
Danzo was slightly surprised. Root ninjas have cursed seals in their bodies and cannot disobey his words in the slightest!
Danzo turned and said, "What are you doing? Why aren't you acting quickly?!"
The masked man slowly raised his head, a pair of crimson Sharingan staring intently at Shimura Danzo: "Remember what you promised me, Danzo! I will be watching you from the shadows!"
Danzo was greatly alarmed, his single eye wide open: "Uchiha... Itachi?! When did you infiltrate my side?"
Itachi's Mangekyo, like the gaze of a death god, said faintly, "I can come to your side at any time. So, don't harbor any ill intentions towards Sasuke! Otherwise!"
"Clang!"
An unparalleled genjutsu enveloped Danzo, countless cold flashes of blades appeared, and Danzo's body was completely cut to pieces!
"Ha... huff..."
A moment later, Danzo gasped for breath and took two steps back. Itachi was no longer there.
"A genjutsu? So powerful..."
...Before long, the bodies of the Uchiha clan were gathered and neatly arranged.
It must be said that the Uchiha clan lived up to their reputation as a proud family; their members were generally high in appearance and good in physique.
The bodies of many Uchiha women had clearly been tampered with, making it easy to infer that they had been violated, or perhaps even taken advantage of while still warm...
At the edge of Konoha Village, atop a tall giant tree, two figures stood.
The man in the tiger-striped mask looked at the distant clan grounds, his voice low: "The Konoha people came so quickly, I didn't even have time to do more!"
"Well... the matter is finally over, Itachi-kun. Come with me now. The true peace of the ninja world needs your strength, for our common ideal."
Itachi just stood there quietly, then suddenly spoke softly: "Madara, do you know what the meaning of life truly is?"
"Itachi-kun, life has no meaning. This world has no meaning! Only our ideal is the only meaning!"
Itachi said expressionlessly, "I understand. I will go with you, but you must promise me one condition!"
"A condition? What is it?"
"That is, you are not allowed to lay a hand on Konoha!"
Pausing, Itachi continued, "I helped you exact your revenge on the Uchiha, and I can help you with things in the future, but this is my bottom line! If you dare to attack Konoha, then I will attack your organization!"
The man in the tiger-striped mask stared deeply at Uchiha Itachi for a long while before finally speaking: "I understand. Then..."
Itachi turned and walked into the distance: "Let's go."
...There were roughly a thousand Uchiha clan bodies, densely packed and filling the streets.
The Anbu found the sole survivor—the unconscious Uchiha Sasuke—and took him to the Konoha hospital.
In the dead of night, large numbers of Anbu and Root ninjas were loading bodies onto carts, preparing to bury them at a location designated by Lord Third. It wasn't a good spot; a Konoha heroes' burial ground was out of the question for the Uchiha clan members.
A once-proud clan, now completely wiped out, was nothing. They no longer deserved Konoha's consideration, nor even a proper funeral!
A simple phrase, "For Konoha's safety, strict secrecy is required," completely buried the glory of this prominent clan, and everything the Uchiha had sacrificed for Konoha...
The Uchiha, like other fallen ninja clans, had at this moment become history.
The Hokage faction couldn't even bother with superficial gestures and intended to conclude the matter quickly.
By dawn, the vast convoy of corpse-transporting vehicles had already departed from the Uchiha clan grounds.
Konoha's ninjas gradually received the news, and most ordinary ninjas were, of course, shocked and terrified.
After all, such a heinous clan massacre occurring in Konoha, illuminated by the Will of Fire, was truly appalling!
How could such a thing happen in our beautiful and harmonious Konoha?
As people gradually learned that Uchiha Itachi was the perpetrator, they felt little sympathy, but rather more anger and fear.
The inherently evil Uchiha were indeed terrifying!
To be able to harm his own clan members in such a cruel way—it was unimaginable that such a demon had been living among them, sending shivers down their spines!
Meanwhile, more ninja clans flocked to the Uchiha clan grounds to loot, taking everything of value.
Of course, for them, the most precious items were the essence of the Uchiha heritage: various ninjutsu scrolls, training manuals, secret texts on chakra understanding and application, and so on...
The culmination of nearly a thousand years of the Uchiha family's legacy now belonged entirely to the various clans of Konoha.
When a whale falls, all things grow!
...Behind Konoha Mountain, the bodies of the Uchiha clan were buried.
Several large mounds stood. If an unknowing person walked by, they would only think it was an uneven patch of ground; no one would know it was a mass grave for a thousand people.
This showed how perfunctory and careless Konoha was with their final arrangements.
Everyone responsible for this matter was from Root. After they returned, their memories of this event would be erased using a special secret jutsu.
In the entire Konoha, no one would ever know where the Uchiha clan members were buried.
The only two people who knew the whereabouts of the Uchiha clan's bodies were the Third Hokage and Danzo. This was also why others could never find the Uchiha's remains.
Although no one in Konoha would care where the Uchiha's graves were anyway...
"Earth Style - Earth Release!"
Behind one of the large mounds, the soft soil split open a small crack, and a young man crawled out.
Uchiha Feiyun slumped to the ground, threw the Konoha Anbu ninja tag from his chest back into the crack, and then quickly re-covered the opening.
"No one is around anymore, right...?"
He had sensed everyone leaving earlier before climbing out of the "grave."
However, Uchiha Feiyun was still uneasy and carefully sensed his surroundings again.
Only after confirming that no one was present did he begin to cover his tracks as he moved away from the area.
He dared not take any chances. What if the Konoha people returned and found traces of someone having left? That would be disastrous! Wouldn't he be hunted down until he died?
Only after moving hundreds of meters away from the hill did Uchiha Feiyun stop clearing his tracks.
He turned to look at the massive graves and whispered, "My apologies. I tried earlier, but I can only heal my own body; I can't save you!"
"Although I really want to erect a monument for you, circumstances don't allow it!"
After speaking, Feiyun turned his head to look in the direction of Konoha: "The old geezers of Konoha, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Obito, you will all pay dearly for this in the future!"