Itachi's eyes widened in horror as he watched what was happening, letting out a roar of impotent fury.
"Stop! Stop it right now!"
Fugaku tried to resist, but he couldn't even move a finger.
"Urgh… Aah!"
After the excruciating pain, his vision went dark.
Kaede had forcibly taken his Mangekyō Sharingan.
And then, as the Totsuka Blade withdrew, Fugaku's consciousness faded into complete darkness.
Fugaku Uchiha, dead.
Ignoring the venomous glare from Itachi, who looked ready to tear him apart, Kaede calmly took out a prepared container and gently placed Fugaku's Mangekyō inside.
"The first pair of Mangekyō… secured."
Once everything in Konoha was settled, he could begin absorbing the power of Fugaku's Mangekyō.
Itachi clenched his jaw, glaring at Kaede.
"You manipulated us into fighting each other… Kaede, you're truly heartless!"
Kaede turned with a curious expression and smirked.
"Why are you looking at me like that? As if I was the one who forced you to kill your father."
He taunted, "You should be thanking me."
"After all, a clan leader—even a former one—shouldn't die branded as a traitor."
"Letting Fugaku fall at the hands of a 'traitor' like you? The clan might just honor him as someone who died heroically for the sake of the Uchiha."
"That way, your family might even leave behind a noble reputation."
Itachi roared in fury and swung his arm, his Susanoo mimicking his rage and hurling a punch at Kaede.
But it only struck a phantom.
Kaede's true body had already moved elsewhere.
"Itachi, stop talking to him! Kaede's mind is twisted beyond saving!"
At that moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally arrived.
He glanced at Itachi's Susanoo, a hint of wariness flashing through his eyes.
But to calm Itachi, he said gravely:
"You and Fugaku both fought well. You are heroes who tried to preserve the peace of Konoha."
Then he pointed angrily at Kaede.
"But him—he's just a narrow-minded, conniving schemer!"
Kaede let out a cold chuckle. "Heh… how many people in your eyes can even be called schemers?"
Hiruzen ignored him and turned to Itachi with a serious gaze.
"Danzo may have been extreme, but his Root unit has suffered heavy losses. This chaos must end tonight!"
"For the sake of Konoha's stability and peace, we must eliminate Kaede."
Itachi took a deep breath and regained his composure.
He was right.
If Kaede was allowed to run wild any longer, Konoha would spiral into chaos.
The other villages wouldn't pass up the opportunity. The Fourth Great Ninja War could break out at any moment.
With that thought, Itachi stared hard at Kaede.
"Don't worry, Hokage-sama. I'll kill him!"
Then, remembering Kaede's strange ability that had fooled Fugaku, he added:
"Be careful, Hokage-sama. Kaede has some kind of bizarre ability… even my father, with his Mangekyō, mistook me for him!"
"And when Danzo fought him earlier, he couldn't locate Kaede's real body—every time, it was just an illusion!"
Itachi began describing Kaede's abilities in detail.
But what he didn't know was… the moment he couldn't see Kaede's true body either, he too had already fallen under Kyōka Suigetsu.
Yes—just like Danzo and Fugaku before him.
The only difference was, his condition wasn't as severe as Fugaku's.
Hiruzen was shocked. "Even the Mangekyō can't resist it?!"
To every ninja, the word "Sharingan" symbolized the strongest genjutsu in the shinobi world.
But now, Kaede's genjutsu could overpower even the Mangekyō Sharingan?
Hiruzen fell into self-doubt.
'Can I really defeat this guy?'
At the same time, Kaede was considering whether to use Kyōka Suigetsu on Hiruzen again.
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Kaede turned toward another battlefield.
The previously faltering Root had somehow managed to suppress the Uchiha forces again.
Kaede narrowed his eyes. "So the entire Anbu's arrived too?"
If that was the case, there was no rush to use his ability.
"I'll deal with you both later."
He shot a cold look at Itachi and Hiruzen, then vanished instantly.
He had long since marked a kunai with a seal to instantly teleport to Naoto when needed.
His sudden disappearance left Hiruzen confused.
"That technique… is it space-time ninjutsu?!"
Itachi nodded. "Most likely Kaede's eye technique. Just like Shisui's Kotoamatsukami."
With the plot deviating so far from the original, Itachi no longer shared everything with Hiruzen.
He wasn't going to tell him about his own Tsukuyomi or Amaterasu, for example.
Hiruzen glanced at Itachi, wondering what his eye technique might be.
"Not good!"
As if a thought struck him, Hiruzen's expression turned grim.
"Kaede must be heading to the other battlefield! We need to support them!"
He had no faith that Root and the Anbu could stop someone even he couldn't deal with.
Especially since there were still over a hundred elite Uchiha there.
Without hesitation, Itachi deactivated his Susanoo and followed Hiruzen in pursuit of Kaede.
…
Kaede reappeared at the battlefield in an instant, casually slicing down an unfortunate Root member who stood in his way.
"So many of you still left, huh."
Root had suffered massive losses during the Uchiha's initial strike. Only fifty or sixty remained.
The newly arrived Anbu had deployed in full force, barely numbering over a hundred.
The Uchiha side had lost some members too, leaving just over a hundred.
Kaede bowed his head briefly in silent mourning for the fallen.
But this was war. Death was inevitable.
And realistically speaking, he had already saved many more lives.
The surviving Uchiha, rather than being weakened, had grown fiercer through battle.
Their fighting spirit soared.
Even though they were now outnumbered…
The Uchiha only grew stronger the more they fought!
Back in the Warring States era, the Uchiha rose to the top of the ninja world with just the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Yet now, even with Mangekyō, it was rare to see a single Kage-level Uchiha.
It seemed laughable—like each generation of Uchiha grew weaker than the last.
But in truth, all of this could be traced back to the Second Hokage: Tobirama.
It's often said that no one knows you better than your enemies. That couldn't be truer in Tobirama's case.
After Konoha's founding, he quietly promoted the Uchiha to lead the Police Force.
This not only isolated them from the village but kept them from the battlefield.
Without battle experience, each generation of Uchiha grew weaker.
Just look at the Third Great Ninja War—one of the rare times the Uchiha went to battle.
And in that single war, three Mangekyō users emerged: Obito, Fugaku, and Shisui.
Now that Kaede had returned, he wouldn't let that cycle repeat.
After tonight, the once-feared Uchiha would rise again to the top of the shinobi world!
"And it starts with all of you!"
Kaede's bloodthirsty gaze swept over the Root and Anbu forces.
…
(End of Chapter)
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