Uchiha Renya raised a hand, and the surrounding scenery shifted rapidly.
In his mental world he had absolute control — he could construct any scene he wanted at will, even mix reality and illusion.
A crimson blood moon hung over the whole world, and, without any warning, the two figures appeared on a street in the Uchiha district.
"Kid, what do you want to do?" Senju Tobirama frowned and looked around — he didn't understand why he had been brought out onto the street.
"Don't, don't kill me!"
Several Uchiha children showed fear on their faces and sprinted past the two of them, as if a flood of beasts were hunting them down.
A boy wielding a tachi suddenly materialized and blocked the children's way. His expression was indifferent; the three magatama in his crimson eyes slowly turned.
"What happened?" Tobirama murmured, as if he still hadn't figured out the situation.
Uchiha Renya's mouth curved into a smile.
"Old man, don't be anxious. You'll know soon enough."
"You—" Tobirama narrowed his eyes. "These little tricks—"
Before he could finish, the boy raised his slaughter blade without hesitation and killed several of the children in front of him. Warm blood splashed across his face.
"You monster, stop this at once!" Tobirama's face darkened; he tried to step forward to stop it, but his fingers passed through the boy's body.
The whole scene flickered like a fast-forward. The boy's killing continued.
"Why… Itachi, aren't we clansmen?" an elderly Uchiha knelt on the ground, blood gushing from a huge wound in his abdomen.
A flicker passed through the boy named Itachi's eyes, but his voice remained cold: "For Konoha's future, the Uchiha clan must vanish!"
Tobirama's face showed shock — he hadn't expected the boy to massacre his own clan for the sake of the village.
One after another, Uchiha were killed by the genius within their own ranks while utterly unprepared.
Screams echoed through the clan lands. Some finally realized what was happening, but it was too late.
Itachi and a suddenly appearing masked man methodically cleaned every corner, leaving no potential survivor.
Tobirama watched silently, his expression growing uglier. These two spared neither the infirm elders nor infants swaddled in cloth.
They were beasts without humanity!
Although he had always been wary of the Uchiha and bore them no love, he had never imagined wiping them out entirely.
At least he would never have the heart to slaughter ordinary, helpless people…
Countless Uchiha corpses lay sprawled on the ground. A dense metallic stench of blood spread, and the air was thick with pain and despair.
"Do you like the scene I set up?" Uchiha Renya's voice drifted calmly. "I spent quite some time restoring it."
"What are you trying to prove?" Tobirama barked.
He didn't understand why the man before him would show him such a scene…
"Tsk, boring." Uchiha Renya shook his head helplessly. "I thought you'd be happy watching the Uchiha get annihilated."
"After all, you old man are famous for hating the Uchiha!"
"Even if I dislike the Uchiha, I would never do something like this." Tobirama's voice was icy. "Don't pin that on me!"
"A naturally evil Uchiha brat!"
With those words unfinished, Renya attacked again.
"Old man, have I given you any respect?" Uchiha Renya snorted coldly. "You keep striking me, again and again, inside my domain."
"Do you really think I don't dare kill you?"
He drew the tachi at his waist; his figure turned to smoke and dispersed, then reformed on Tobirama's body. The tachi in his hand slashed down hard.
"Sss—"
Tobirama sidestepped, but the blade still cut across his flank.
No blood flowed, but the pain was unbearably real — injuries in the mental world struck the soul directly.
Tobirama dropped to one knee and clutched the cut side of his abdomen. His chakra immediately spiraled into disarray; his mental body had suffered a heavy blow inside Renya's mental world.
He had been careless — that blade was poisoned.
"Old man, you lost." Uchiha Renya's voice was low and calm, lacking the arrogance of a victor and carrying instead a pitying coldness.
Tobirama panted and looked up at him; confusion rose in his red eyes.
"Why didn't you finish me off?" he asked coldly. "With your personality, you wouldn't let a foe like me go."
Dying in the mental world didn't mean true death, but one's spirit could be gravely injured — at worst left a fool…
Renya tilted his head, a mocking smile twitching at his mouth.
"Enemy?" he repeated, as if hearing something absurd. "I never treated you as an enemy. You were the one who intruded into my mental space…"
"But I should thank you as well — after decades, someone's finally had the patience to keep me company."
...
The scenery around them began to change; the blood-soaked images faded and were replaced by a barren mental wasteland, with only a huge blood moon hanging in the sky.
"Before you arrived, I could only stay here," Uchiha Renya's voice trembled slightly as he pointed at the surrounding environment. "Just struggling alone to survive in this barren desert."
"Only occasionally could I leave this place to control my body!"
"Do you know how I've spent these last ten years?"
"Do you know?"
Uchiha Renya grew increasingly agitated, abandoning his earlier composure. The black magatama in his eyes spun rapidly, briefly forming a complex pattern before settling back into three magatama.
Tobirama was stunned at once.
Was that just now… a Mangekyō Sharingan?!
"Old man, your experiments let me leave this damned world occasionally — I should have thanked you, but you tried to sneak into my mental space and erase me…"
"Your existence threatened Renya's safety!" Tobirama interrupted. "No matter what, I must completely eliminate you!"
It was Tobirama's first time entering another's mental world; he didn't know the exact information inside.
Next time he came, this situation wouldn't repeat.
He would eventually be able to exterminate this guy!
"Threat?" Uchiha Renya laughed. "No — you're just afraid that the original will discover you've used him for experiments."
"I am his closest friend, his most loyal guardian."
"Nothing like what you imagine…"
Tobirama fell silent; he didn't believe a word of it.
It sounded like nonsense; anyone who bought it had lost their wits.
"Get out of my mental world, Tobirama." Uchiha Renya's tachi pierced his chest. "If you dare come back… I won't show mercy."
...
Reality.
The mirror image Tobirama maintained with chakra shattered in an instant. His spirit was heavily wounded; he coughed up a mouthful of blood and his face went ashen.
"Failed…"