Boom—!
At the outskirts of Konoha,
one building after another rose from the ground, causing the earth to tremble faintly.
At this moment, however, those noises were completely ignored by the people standing atop the Hokage Building.
From the top of the tower, one could only see the nearby streets that had already been repaired—
the far distance was beyond sight.
To overlook the entire village, one would have to stand upon the faces carved into the Hokage Rock.
Now, everyone's attention was focused entirely on uncovering the truth behind the Uchiha Clan's night of massacre.
As Sasuke and Inabi recounted the events in full detail, the first to be truly shocked were Hashirama and Tobirama.
When they were revived by the Edo Tensei, they had heard from Hiruzen Sarutobi and others that the massacre had been Uchiha Yu's doing alone.
They never expected…
that there was such a story behind it all.
If this was true,
then even Tobirama had to view Uchiha Yu in a new light.
For the sake of preserving the Uchiha lineage, he had borne the vilest sin imaginable—
defying the judgment of the world itself to make the most righteous choice.
He had simply done what was necessary to survive.
How could that be called evil?
"I see now…" Hashirama murmured, feeling a sudden ache in his chest.
Back then, the Uchiha who hadn't chosen to follow Madara had stayed in Konoha to pursue peace—
to follow him, Senju Hashirama.
And yet now,
the very village he had built had betrayed the Uchiha.
Without Uchiha Yu,
the truth behind the clan's massacre might never have been revealed.
A deep sense of guilt welled up within him.
After the initial uproar, the reanimated Uchihas' voices gradually grew quieter as they began discussing the possibility of it all being true.
"…"
The three Uchiha Elders stared intently at Sasuke's serious face, then turned to Inabi.
Neither of them showed any sign of lying.
Moreover, neither Sasuke nor Inabi—nor even those standing beside Uchiha Yu—displayed the slightest trace of being under a Sharingan's control.
At Uchiha Yu's side, his followers gazed at him with burning eyes, their emotions completely genuine.
They wanted to speak up,
but after seeing how Tamamo's earlier outburst had nearly angered everyone, they held their tongues.
The Uchiha clan… had never been good at expressing emotions or preaching.
Even back when Madara had felt ostracized by Konoha, he had simply left alone—
never once complaining directly to Hashirama.
"With Uchiha Yu's strength at the time, to face two Mangekyō Sharingan users alone…"
The Second Elder thought deeply for a moment, then shook his head and let out a heavy sigh.
That was nothing short of a desperate situation.
A three-tomoe Sharingan user going up against two Mangekyō wielders—
it was like hurling an egg against a rock.
There was no chance of survival, let alone protecting the Uchiha's last embers.
The three Elders understood all too well the vast gulf between a Mangekyō and an ordinary Sharingan.
No wonder Tamao had said what he did.
"Is that… really true?"
Even in his reanimated state, the Great Elder looked far older after hearing the full account of that night.
He stared at Uchiha Yu, as if trying to read the truth from this once-unremarkable clansman's eyes.
"Yes," Uchiha Yu replied quietly, his gaze clear and unwavering.
The Great Elder's brows eased slightly.
From that calm, unflinching gaze, he found the answer he sought.
Uchiha Yu had not used the Sharingan on him.
In a low voice, the Great Elder asked,
"The mysterious masked man who cooperated with Itachi—was he the one who controlled the Nine-Tails back then, the one who caused the Nine-Tails' rampage?"
He assumed Uchiha Yu might know the answer.
That night, when Obito had appeared at the Police Force headquarters, revealing his Mangekyō Sharingan, these old men had already drawn a connection to the Nine-Tails Incident.
There had to be another Uchiha out there—
or perhaps an outsider who had somehow gained a Mangekyō Sharingan.
Uchiha Yu replied, "Based on what happened afterward, yes—it was him."
Afterward, the Uchiha group headed to Kirigakure.
By analyzing the incident of the Fourth Mizukage being controlled by the Sharingan, Izumi and the others finally pieced everything together.
Speaking of the Fourth Mizukage—he had also once been sealed within the Totsuka Blade. Now, much like Rasa, he had become one of the shinobi serving in the new Konoha.
Previously, because of his small stature and lack of presence, he had gone unnoticed among the other ninja—even by Uchiha Yu and Tsunade.
The Great Elder burst into tears of joy, tilting his head back and laughing aloud:
"Hahaha! That's right! The one who controlled and released the Nine-Tails back then wasn't an Uchiha—it wasn't an Uchiha at all! Yet Konoha didn't even bother to investigate! They simply drove us to the village's outskirts, spreading slander and lies!"
Uchiha Yu silently watched the old man vent his emotions.
Sometimes, even he felt pity for the Uchiha.
They were a clan that embodied the purest forms of "love" in the shinobi world—yet in the end, their fate was nothing short of tragic.
When injustice fell upon them, the question of the clan's survival became an unavoidable burden.
They tried to resist fate with their own strength, only to collapse from internal betrayal that was far more fatal.
Every tragedy of the Uchiha stemmed from this—
they were never evil enough,
and their clan's nature was filled with contradictions.
Looking back on Uchiha history,
Uchiha Yu was not the only one who had ever awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan with the "Yasakani no Magatama."
Yet, even so, the clan's destiny never changed.
In the end, the Uchiha perfectly embodied the phrase:
pitiable people often have something detestable about them.
But Uchiha Yu was an anomaly—
a man who had opened a new path for the clan,
allowing them to finally see how they ought to move forward.
As the reanimated Uchiha continued talking, the conversation gradually died down until silence filled the air.
The Great Elder finally asked,
"If you knew beforehand that Itachi would join others to destroy the clan, why didn't you tell us? Why not face it together?"
Uchiha Yu countered calmly,
"Would you have believed me?"
That single question silenced all three Elders.
Indeed…
With how arrogantly they had viewed themselves back then, would they ever have heeded the warning of a young, obscure clansman?
Had the Uchiha not been prepared, an early rebellion would have only resulted in Konoha's full-scale retaliation.
Uchiha Yu's room to act would have vanished entirely.
Now, those who had died by his hand began to see things through his eyes.
If they had known in advance that Itachi and an outsider were plotting the clan's annihilation—
the sheer pressure would have shattered their minds.
They couldn't even be sure that killing their kin would grant them power; they wouldn't have known where to go or what future to seek.
On one hand, they couldn't turn to their own clan for help.
On the other, they faced enemies wielding Mangekyō Sharingan.
If they had known of their fate ahead of time, the only path left would've been to abandon the village and flee—
none of them could have done what Uchiha Yu did.
"So after the clan's extermination…"
The Great Elder turned toward the distant Konoha and the Hokage Building beneath their feet, his voice filled with astonishment.
"You mean to say… this is still Konoha?"
The area around the Hokage Building had already been completely rebuilt.
At a glance, even the reanimated Uchiha could hardly tell the village had ever been destroyed.
The Great Elder couldn't believe Uchiha Yu would escape Konoha with the survivors—
only to reconcile and return later.
If they had been captured and dragged back,
there was no way they'd be standing here freely in the Hokage Building.
"After fleeing," one Uchiha explained,
"Captain Yu led us through several Konoha pursuit attempts.
Then we went to Kirigakure, captured the Three-Tails and Six-Tails, wandered the ninja world for over a month—
and now, we've finally taken revenge on Konoha, driven out the original clans, and seized the village for ourselves!"
Izumi's eyes were red, her voice trembling slightly as she forced down the bitterness in her heart and briefly described their long, painful escape.
°°°
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