A Nine-Tails rampage resulted in Naruto Uzumaki losing his freedom completely and being imprisoned in Root by Danzo Shimura, with guards assigned around the clock.
At the same time, the death of Uchiha Shisui, the Uchiha clan's number one genius, pushed the conflict between the Uchiha and the village to its peak.
Uchiha clan territory.
"Itachi, you're already on the village's side, aren't you?"
Fugaku Uchiha looked at his son, a look of grief flashing in his eyes.
He couldn't understand why even his own son wasn't on his side.
If Itachi Uchiha, Shisui Uchiha, and Fugaku Uchiha joined forces, their three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan would be enough to easily wipe out Konoha.
Unfortunately, neither Uchiha Shisui nor Uchiha Itachi were of the same mind as him.
Now, Uchiha Shisui had died at the hands of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
"Father, the Uchiha are also part of Konoha, why must they go against the village?"
"The Third Hokage said that as long as you have no other intentions, he might even give up the position of Hokage."
"Such a selfless Hokage, isn't he worthy of our support?" Itachi Uchiha looked at Fugaku Uchiha with a complicated expression.
At this time, he still hoped that Fugaku Uchiha would have a change of heart, take the initiative to apologize to the Third Hokage, and ask the village to forgive the Uchiha.
"Foolish!" Fugaku Uchiha scoffed. "That Third Hokage is known for his ruthless nature; how much do you really know about him?"
"He said those things only to win you over, to turn my father and me against each other, and to cause the Uchiha clan to perish in internal strife!"
"The Third Hokage's heart is despicable!"
Fugaku Uchiha clenched his teeth, looking utterly disappointed in Itachi.
He had always thought his son was a very smart child, but he never expected that he would be fooled by Hiruzen Sarutobi's few words into thinking he was an idiot.
"Father!" Itachi Uchiha stubbornly raised his head, tears welling in his eyes, and looked at Fugaku Uchiha: "Do you really want to lead the Uchiha clan into the abyss?"
"Shut up!"
"Do I need you to teach me how to act as my father?"
Fugaku Uchiha's eyes widened, a flash of blood-red light appeared in his pupils, and his crimson Mangekyō Sharingan instantly materialized.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan... So Father also awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan?" Seeing those eyes, Itachi Uchiha's heart sank.
He had always thought his father only had a three-tomoe Sharingan, and had even prepared for the worst.
If Father insisted on going his own way, he could certainly suppress the rebellion within the clan with his newly awakened Mangekyō Sharingan.
But now, looking at those Mangekyō Sharingan, he had no confidence whatsoever.
"My child, I take my leave!"
Under the intense gaze of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Itachi Uchiha lowered his head and slowly walked out of the room.
"Fugaku, is it really going to come to the point of a complete rift between father and son?"
"If Shinichi and Itachi fight each other in the end, whoever dies will bear an indelible stain."
After Itachi left, Mikoto Uchiha walked from another room to Fugaku Uchiha, her voice full of worry.
"Sigh—" Fugaku Uchiha sighed deeply, his eyes filled with difficulty: "It's not that he's unfilial, nor that I'm ignorant, it's just that the Third Hokage and Danzo couldn't tolerate my Uchiha!"
"If it really comes to that..." Uchiha Mikoto asked tentatively.
"I'm too old. If he really has that ability, I will grant it to him. I just hope he can take good care of Sasuke."
Uchiha Fugaku gazed at the sky outside the window with deep eyes and murmured to himself.
...
Naka River.
The place where Uchiha Shisui jumped in the original work.
Uchiha Itachi stood on the cliff, staring blankly at the rushing river below.
"Tsk, the genius of the Uchiha clan, why is he frowning like this?"
Just as Itachi Uchiha's thoughts were drifting off to somewhere, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
Who are you? The sudden sound made Itachi Uchiha look warily at the person behind him.
The newcomer was dressed in a black robe and wore a tiger-skin mask, revealing only his right eye.
He was none other than Uchiha Obito.
"It doesn't matter. All you need to know is that I can help you solve the Uchiha problem."
Obito Uchiha had two purposes for coming to Konoha.
First, collect Sharingan eyes for future use.
Second, let's take a look at Black Zetsu, which we hadn't seen for many years.
"My Uchiha clan's affairs are none of the business of outsiders," Itachi Uchiha said coldly.
Itachi Uchiha never gave an acknowledgment to strangers of unknown origin.
Especially these cowardly rats who hid their heads and tails, it was obvious at a glance that they had ill intentions toward Konoha.
"Outsider?" Upon hearing this, Obito Uchiha's eyes flashed red, and his three-tomoe Sharingan appeared: "I can't be considered an outsider. This is my family matter."
"Sharingan?" Upon seeing this, Itachi Uchiha's expression changed slightly, and his hand instinctively went to the ninja sword on his back: "Who exactly are you? Why do you possess the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan?"
He's still young at heart, too impatient.
Seeing Itachi's expression, Obito thought with a hint of disdain.
He was making such a fuss over nothing, all he did was reveal a Sharingan.
What I'm about to say will scare him to death, won't it?
"My name is Uchiha Madara!" As Obito spoke, he kept an eye on Itachi's reaction. When he saw the look of doubt on Itachi's face, he spoke again: "You may not believe it, but I'm not afraid to tell you that the Nine-Tails' attack seven years ago was my doing."
"It was you!"
Uchiha Itachi couldn't hold back any longer and was about to take action.
It was after the Nine-Tails' attack that the conflict between the Uchiha clan and the village intensified, and the entire clan was constantly monitored.
The reason was that the Third Hokage and others suspected that the Uchiha clan had deliberately released the Nine-Tails to destroy the village.
"Not bad." Obito Uchiha nodded: "The Uchiha clan has become rotten to the core. I originally wanted to use this incident to reignite their fighting spirit, but I didn't expect that they would become even more timid and cowardly."
"You are a rare genius among the Uchiha clan today, join me!"
"Come with me to destroy this already corrupt Uchiha clan. Keeping them in the world will only tarnish the name Uchiha."
Obito extended his hand, inviting Itachi Uchiha to join him.
The Akatsuki organization was currently short-handed, and Black Zetsu had left halfway through.
Therefore, he had been busy recruiting people all these years in order to complete the Eye of the Moon project as soon as possible.
"Don't even think about sowing discord between the village and the Uchiha. Now that they know you are the culprit, the Hokage is wise and discerning and will certainly not target the Uchiha anymore."
As Itachi Uchiha spoke, he was also considering whether or not to take action and defeat his opponent.
But the mere thought of the name "Uchiha Madara" made his body tremble inexplicably.
As the saying went, a person's reputation was like the shadow of a tree. As someone who was on par with the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, and the patriarch of the Uchiha clan, he had no confidence whatsoever in defeating his opponent.
"Heh, keen insight? You'll see through them sooner or later, Itachi. I'll be waiting for you to come back to me."
As Obito Uchiha spoke, he used Kamui and disappeared.