"Green medicine… no instructions. What a plain name."
Kazuki steadied his thoughts as he walked toward the back of the squad, growing more curious about the reward item.
The mission system had always been like this.
Tasks were issued almost randomly.
Rewards were often vague and abstract.
Kazuki glanced at the "Mission List" and focused on the Main Quest.
Whether main quests or side quests, once issued they would appear as text stored within his consciousness.
[Main Quest]: Night of Extermination
Options:
Kill all the remaining Uchiha.
Successfully escape Konoha.
Reward: (Plunder) — Seize another person's Mangekyō Sharingan, absorb its ocular power, and obtain that Mangekyō's ability.
They had already escaped Konoha.
Yet the mission still wasn't complete.
Kazuki's earlier guess was correct—the system judged that they had not fully escaped yet.
To complete this main quest…
Kazuki estimated that the rogue Uchiha squad would either need to reach true safety, eliminate all pursuers, or leave the Land of Fire entirely.
"Captain… Tamayū's wounds are bleeding heavily again!"
The young Uchiha looked anxious, sweat covering his forehead as he kept glancing back.
Tamayū lay motionless on his back.
His head, chest, and limbs were wrapped in blood-soaked bandages, like a mummy drenched in crimson.
He had already lost consciousness.
His breathing was visibly weak.
The Uchiha stopped moving and looked at Tamayū with concern.
They all remembered the terrifying pressure of Danzō's high-level Wind Release techniques.
Tamayū's back was the only part of his body that still had intact skin.
The rest looked as if it had been shredded by countless blades.
Uchiha Izumi's bright eyes filled with worry for her clanmate.
She hated that she had never learned medical ninjutsu in Konoha.
Everyone understood one thing clearly.
No one would help them now.
They wouldn't meet a medical ninja on this road.
Tamayū would most likely die during their escape.
Kazuki frowned slightly.
He focused his mind and reached into empty air.
The action confused the others.
But moments later, everyone stared in shock.
Two items suddenly appeared in Kazuki's hand—as if he had used some mysterious space-time ninjutsu.
"Kazuki really is something else…"
Uchiha Nanase pushed up his glasses and muttered quietly.
Even Uchiha Mikoto showed surprise, though she was still under the control of the Eight Thousand Spears technique.
Kazuki took out a black porcelain bottle and a pack of soldier pills wrapped in yellow paper.
He poured out one pill from each container and fed them into Tamayū's mouth.
The black bottle contained a chakra-stimulating medical pill.
Kazuki handed both medicines to the young Uchiha carrying Tamayū.
"Feed him one every hour."
The young ninja took the bottles.
The others breathed a sigh of relief—but worry quickly returned.
Kazuki's method was simple.
He was trying to forcefully replenish Tamayū's chakra to keep him alive.
This crude method had been common during the Great Ninja Wars.
When medical help wasn't available, feeding dying soldiers soldier pills could temporarily boost chakra and keep them alive longer.
But everything had a price.
At most—
one week.
If the injured ninja didn't receive real medical treatment, the overstimulated chakra network would completely collapse.
And they would die instantly.
"He won't die for now."
Kazuki spoke calmly as he walked back to the front of the group.
"Keep moving. The pursuers are probably already on the way. If you don't want to die—run faster."
He had done everything he could.
Whether Tamayū lived or died now depended on fate.
"Rest. I'll carry him."
Uchiha Nanase took the medicine bottles and Tamayū from the exhausted young ninja.
The young man's back was already soaked in blood.
"Thank you, Captain Nanase."
Nanase nodded.
"Change your clothes and store the bloody ones. Blood leaves tracks."
The young Uchiha nodded gratefully.
He was Tamayū's subordinate.
He had feared Kazuki would abandon his captain during the escape.
But Kazuki hadn't done that.
That alone eased his heart.
Even Captain Nanase—who had once had conflicts with Tamayū—put aside old grudges.
None of the Uchiha knew where they were ultimately heading.
But the atmosphere within the team was quietly changing.
Outside the Uchiha District
Crows circled the night sky.
Their harsh cries echoed endlessly, adding an eerie sense of death to the cursed land.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado walked side by side toward the Uchiha district.
ANBU guarded the street entrances.
The three elders wore grim expressions as they discussed how to deal with the aftermath of the night's events.
"Hiruzen," Koharu said slowly,
"I believe the Uchiha massacre can be blamed on that rogue Uchiha squad."
Her dull yellow eyes held no emotion.
To her, this was simply the correct solution.
Homura's eyes lit up.
It sounded feasible.
Hiruzen only felt a strange sense of familiarity.
This scapegoating tactic seemed very familiar.
He looked at Koharu but said nothing.
Koharu calmly continued.
"After the rogue Uchiha slaughtered their own clan, Uchiha Itachi tried his best to stop the massacre but failed."
"He will become a hero of Konoha."
"Danzō is dead. Konoha urgently needs capable people."
Hiruzen frowned.
"And if Itachi refuses to accept this role?"
"Will we use Sasuke to keep him obedient?"
Koharu smiled faintly and nodded.
Hiruzen snorted and flicked his sleeve.
"With Itachi's personality, he would never accept being a hero like that."
"Even if we threaten him with Sasuke."
Koharu's smile widened slightly.
In front of Homura, she leaned closer to Hiruzen and whispered a few words in his ear.
Hiruzen's brows slowly tightened.
He fell silent.
Once again caught between choices—
unable to decide.
Dawn
At the Root headquarters, a six-man elite team quietly left Konoha.
They were Danzō's loyal followers.
After learning that Danzō had been killed by the rogue Uchiha squad, they organized themselves to pursue revenge.
Leading them were:
Yamanaka Fū
and
Aburame Torune.
Uchiha District
Civilian corpses lay scattered across the streets.
Blood pooled in the low ground.
Rows of crows perched silently on the walls, their red eyes watching.
Waiting.
Then—
Itachi walked slowly into the area.
With a loud flutter, the crows scattered into the sky, black feathers falling.
Itachi soon found his target.
Sasuke sat against a wooden wall with his head lowered.
Itachi opened his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"My foolish little—"
Sasuke didn't move.
His eyes were closed.
"Hmm?"
Itachi frowned and rubbed his eyes.
For a moment, his vision looked blurred—like a thin mist had appeared before him.
Then it cleared.
And Itachi realized something unexpected.
Sasuke had fainted.
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