"Take them. When you meet the other Uchiha Yu and recover your memories—if you don't want to stay with them, you can come find us in the capital of the Land of Snow."
Uchiha Yu gently continued:
"The capital isn't big. It's easy to find the house Tsunade and I live in. The place hasn't been touched by war—peaceful and quiet. Aside from snow every day and the cold, I think you'd like it there."
Hikari quickly wiped away the tears about to fall and replied softly:
"Mm… A country where it snows all year must be beautiful. I want to see the ocean too… especially an ocean covered in snow."
Uchiha Yu smiled.
"The sea around the Land of Snow has thick ice sheets. It's an ice plain floating on the vast ocean. Sometimes you'll see white bears, white foxes, white wolf packs… and huge narwhals."
"A world without war… really is wonderful."
Hikari's eyes shone with longing. She reached out to take the bags from Uchiha Yu.
But at that moment—
She suddenly pulled back her hand. Her beautiful face turned serious and commanding the very next second.
"Stand behind me."
The moment the words fell, the pattern of the Eight-Thousand-Spears Mangekyō Sharingan manifested in her elegant eyes.
Hikari spread her arms slightly, shielding Uchiha Yu with her whole body.
Up close, Uchiha Yu felt the Yin Release chakra radiating from her—it was also the extreme form of Yin Release. In terms of depth and refinement, it was the most exquisite Mangekyō chakra he had ever seen.
As Hikari entered combat mode, Uchiha Yu, laden with bags, scanned the surroundings.
At the far end of the street—
Dark figures were already leaping over the roofs of wooden houses, rushing toward them.
At first, nearby civilians only looked up curiously, pointing at the approaching ninja.
But upon realizing the Konoha ninja were heading right toward their location, everyone panicked and fled, unwilling to get dragged into trouble.
Swish—
Leading the group, Itachi—and Obito—landed on the roof of the inn facing Hikari and Uchiha Yu.
Uchiha Yu let out a cold smile.
Judging by the landing posture of the masked Anbu behind Itachi, he could guess with near certainty: behind that mask was Obito himself.
And to think—they were just talking about Mangekyō.
At the moment, two Mangekyō Sharingan users had arrived.
There weren't many people in the shinobi world who possessed the Mangekyō.
In Uchiha Yu's view:
Obito relied almost entirely on the heaven-defying ability of Kamui to pull off tricks in battle—and with only one eye, his ocular power was severely lacking. Activating Kamui always came with a long delay.
As for Itachi, his time with the Mangekyō had been short. Even after experiencing so many ordeals, his ocular power was only enough for him to barely touch the third stage of Susanoo.
Fugaku didn't even need to be mentioned.
Compared to Hikari, these contemporary Uchiha Mangekyō users were far inferior—just in terms of raw ocular power alone, they fell a whole tier behind, not to mention abilities.
As Itachi led the Konoha shinobi and landed, the three Cloud ninja who had been secretly cooperating with Konoha's leadership also appeared within the Konoha ranks.
What shocked the three of them was:
This girl wasn't following the expected script at all!
She activated her Sharingan the moment the battle began—didn't that immediately expose their purpose?
The Cloud ninja captain's expression grew heavy.
He had assumed the girl would restrain herself in battle, and due to her "identity," would never dare use the Sharingan openly in front of Konoha ninja.
But instead…
Meanwhile, a kilometer away, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, along with the clan heads of every major family, were also watching from afar.
Standing atop a tall building, Koharu and Homura each held a monocular telescope, clearly observing Hikari—and the "Madara" standing behind her.
Right then, "Madara" suddenly turned sideways and flashed a smile directly toward the telescopes.
A presence that overflowed with dominance!!
"It—It's him! It's really him!"
Homura immediately covered the lens of his monocular with his hand and screamed, completely forgetting the dignity expected of a Hokage advisor.
The clan heads of the Hyūga, the Ino-Shika-Chō trio, the Aburame, the Inuzuka, and others tensed up at once at Homura's loss of composure.
"…"
The three Hyūga elders took turns using the telescope to observe.
Moments later, their expressions fell into despair, and even their steps became unsteady.
The three looked at one another.
Muttering:
"How could he possibly still be alive…?"
Koharu's scalp tingled. Her voice was panicked, confused, and laced with fear:
"He might be a fake… but how could there be another girl in the entire shinobi world who possesses that kind of Mangekyō Sharingan?"
Homura shook his head, his eyes blank, and said:
"Is it possible… that the girl is actually Uchiha Yu in disguise?"
Koharu answered gravely, "Retreat for now. Conserve our strength. Let Itachi probe them first."
"But we still haven't seen Lady Tsunade!"
The Hyūga clan's Great Elder spoke up.
Turning to him, Koharu muttered thoughtfully:
"Lady Tsunade is probably looking for us. Whether that Madara is real or fake, whether that girl with the same Mangekyō as Uchiha Yu is real or not—we need to evacuate with the daimyō first!"
All the clan heads immediately dispersed, gathering what remained of their forces to begin the retreat.
At that moment, atop the inn's rooftop—
Itachi and Obito were just as shocked:
The young girl before them actually possessed a Mangekyō Sharingan.
And not just any Mangekyō—
It was the exact same pattern as Uchiha Yu's.
"Is that Uchiha Yu's Transformation Technique?"
Itachi murmured. His gaze unconsciously shifted to Obito. This time, he truly had no choice but to cooperate deeply with this man.
This might be his only chance to take revenge on Uchiha Yu!
But then Itachi noticed something strange—
Under the mask, Obito's expression seemed twisted, his whole body trembling slightly, his breathing becoming sharp and uneven.
Itachi had never seen this kind of emotional disturbance from the man who claimed to be the fake "Madara."
Itachi immediately looked back down.
Below, in front of the inn—
The tall man standing behind the girl shifted half a step to the right, revealing his face.
Itachi didn't find anything unusual.
"Look at that girl and the man behind her—check carefully whether they're using a Transformation Technique or any other disguise!"
Obito demanded sharply.
He grabbed a Hyūga branch clan ninja by the collar and yanked the man forward.
Forced to comply, the Hyūga ninja gritted his teeth and activated his Byakugan, examining both the girl and the man behind her.
Clang—
His vision shifted.
Through his Byakugan, neither the girl nor the tall, imposing man showed any trace of a Transformation Technique… nor any form of disguise.
"These two aren't disguised."
Another Hyūga clan ninja glared coldly at Obito—who was dressed as an Anbu—and answered in an icy tone.
"No Transformation Technique."
"No form of disguise."
The other Hyūga all echoed in agreement.
"Hiss—"
Obito sharply sucked in a breath.
Under his mask, his complexion turned ashen. His mind surged with dread and unease as he muttered in a low, trembling voice:
"Damn it… how is he alive? And why is he appearing here? What the hell is going on?!"
Obito released the Hyūga ninja's collar, then looked toward where Konoha's leadership was stationed. He said to Itachi:
"They sold you out."
"…"
Itachi's breathing grew heavy.
Of course he knew—Konoha's higher-ups had betrayed him.
But what puzzled him most right now was the expression of the girl standing in front of the inn.
The way she looked at him…
It was as if she wanted to kill him on the spot.
°°°
Hungry for more chaps? Then check out our pătreon!
Link: Påtreon.com/BaphometFiction
I post 20 advanced chapters of this fanfic there.
If you do subscribe, please do so in the web patreon, not the ios app.