"Honestly, guys... Konoha's been treating us like dirt swept under the rug for years. They fear us, they push us aside, and well, let's just say a few uncles in the Naka Shrine were already thinking about throwing the house out the window… literally," said Uchiha Akuma, scratching his head like he was just talking about the weather.
The others stared at him like they'd just realized their classmate was a serial killer.
"The rebellion's been simmering for a while now. But you lot—who haven't been invited to the adults' secret meetings yet—didn't know a thing. Totally normal. I didn't get invited either… until I started collecting Sharingan like they were marbles."
Tears rolled down Izumi's cheeks. Yes, that Izumi—the one everyone thought would become Hokage someday, because she was so sweet and responsible. Now she stood there, devastated.
"And you?" she asked, voice shaking. "Were you going to betray us too?"
Akuma shrugged and gave that classic "not my fault" grin that always pissed off his superiors.
"Me? Nah, I'm not as noble as little prodigy Itachi. He sacrificed himself for 'peace' and all that poetic nonsense. Me? I just want to survive. That's it. If someone dies by my blade, well, it was their time. If not, maybe they should've bought insurance."
Tamao, who'd been staring at the clouds for a while, suddenly burst out laughing.
"HA! I knew it! Captain Akuma isn't killing for fun—he's saving the Uchiha from an even worse massacre! He's our deranged hero!"
Everyone looked at him like he'd just eaten a frog. But since Tamao was… well, Tamao (a functioning psychopath with a baby face), nobody said a word. Plus, he looked genuinely happy—like he'd finally understood a math problem.
Akuma spun his Mangekyō Sharingan and released Tamao from the mind control. Honestly, the guy already followed him more blindly than a puppy.
"Go ahead, Tamao. But don't blow anything up without warning, alright?"
Tamao nodded with a smile that could haunt dreams.
"Got it, Captain! I'll kick the butt of anyone in my way!"
Meanwhile, Uchiha Nanfeng was turning red with rage. His mind was on his grandparents, his puppy, even his bonsai—all probably burning in the hottest part of hell right now: the Uchiha district center.
"We have to stop Itachi!" he shouted, fists clenched, voice trembling with held-back tears.
"You can't," Akuma replied, unusually serious. "Neither can I. Not even all of us together could stop him now."
An awkward silence fell over the group.
One of the younger ones, voice shaking, dared to ask:
"Maybe the Hokage will step in… or Patriarch Fugaku. He won't let this go on, right?"
Akuma let out a bitter chuckle and pointed toward the forest surrounding the clan's land.
"See those shadows? That's Root. They've been standing there for five minutes like they're waiting for pizza. No one's gonna lift a finger until the last Uchiha screams for the last time."
"But… the Patriarch…" said another.
"Fugaku? He's either in on it or just watching. That's it. No one's coming to save us. If it doesn't kill you, it betrays you."
Tamao raised his hand like he was back in the academy.
"What if we escape and become rogue ninjas? Then come back stronger and wreck the village? Huh? I vote for that!"
Some looked at him. Others nodded. In the end, insanity was starting to sound reasonable.
Nanfeng, however, shook his head.
"My family's down there. I can't leave them."
Akuma was about to respond when a mental notification cut through his dramatic moment:
[Side Mission Unlocked! – Rescue]Condition: Save someone within the clan territory.Reward: 100 cubic meters of extra storage space.
Akuma frowned. "Well… technically saving one person is enough. And there's one that might be worth it…"
While his shadow clone continued infiltrating the district, Akuma looked up. His comrades were broken… but alive.
"I can't save everyone. But I can promise you this—Tonight, a lot of Uchiha will die…But you won't be among them.And when the time comes, we're going to make this village tremble."
Without waiting for a reply, he activated Eight Thousand Spears and transformed the whole group into a squad of Root agents. Including Tamao, who had somehow already changed his face using an explosive tag. Don't ask how.
With firm steps, they headed for the forest edge—right where Danzo's units were gathering, unaware that their numbers had just grown.
"This is the end," Akuma murmured. "But also the beginning."
Then, smiling ironically, he said softly:
"Let's go pay an old friend a visit… right, Danzo?"