I found myself in complete agreement with Hiruzen; I desperately needed a good night's sleep, or was it a good day's sleep? Nevermind that. The point was, I was utterly exhausted and overwhelmed by the events of the night.
"As you wish, Hokage-sama," I said, casting a glance at Noriaki before offering him a piggyback ride.
"It'll be faster this way." I shrugged at his incredulous stare. Though he seemed unsure, he relented and climbed onto my back, displacing the cats that had taken up residence on our heads, one on each of us.
"I'll leave him with Uncle Inoichi. Is that alright with you, Hokage-sama?" I asked, hoping for his approval. Explaining a clearly malnourished child in my room to my family wouldn't be a pleasant conversation.
Hiruzen gave a slight nod, which was at least some good news.
"Drop Noriaki-kun off and return to my office post-haste. And please, bring Inoichi with you. Itachi, you head there immediately. I shall be joining you both soon," he commanded. It seemed he wanted to get the official report out of the way as quickly as possible. Understandable, but it also meant a few more waking hours for Itachi and me.
I nodded and began walking, using Hirenkyaku to blitz past the room filled with vats. As soon as my first burst of speed ended, I repeated the process, slowing down just below the hole we used to enter. At this point, I jumped up as fast as I could; Noriaki didn't need to witness the carnage down there.
As I slowed above the hole, I noticed the Anbu medic was still attempting to keep Danzo alive. Despite his external injuries appearing better, Danzo's life force was still fading. If I had to guess, Itachi likely took him into Tsukuyomi for some 'friendly' conversation right before we entered the lower floors.
I didn't stay long, my orders were clear.
"Hold on tight," I instructed just before leaping into the air and stepping on it as if it were solid ground. I then propelled myself toward the village at full speed, the heavy rain still making the journey slower.
I continued jumping, receiving a small cry of joy from the child on my back.
"At least someone is enjoying the trip," I thought as I carried him over the forest, the village wall, and into the heart of the village.
Finding Uncle Inoichi was easier than expected; he seemed to be already awake and ready to report for duty. It was clear that the important people had been notified that something had gone horribly wrong during the night.
"Well, saves me the trouble of waking him up," I muttered as I changed my course. Inoichi was meeting up with Choza and Shikaku. There were more people present, but I didn't recognize them based on their chakra signatures.
I arrived quickly, jumping across rooftops until I finally landed in front of the Yamanaka clan's main house, and set Noriaki down before knocking. After a few seconds, Inoichi opened the door, his eyes widening at the sight of the unfamiliar red-haired child and my muddy, water-soaked, and blood-stained appearance.
"Come inside, quick!" he urged, ushering us in with a worried expression.
"What happened? Are you hurt?" His questions came fast, leaving no time to breathe.
"I'm fine," I replied, quickly returning to my mission. "This is Noriaki. Hokage-sama sent me here to keep him safe." Upon hearing this, Inoichi looked slightly relieved, though it was clear he had no idea what had happened that night.
"I was also instructed to get you to the Hokage's office, now." I really didn't want to explain everything twice.
Inoichi, though clearly not happy, grabbed a coat and called into the living room,
"Hokage-sama needs me in his office. I'll be back soon." I wasn't sure if I should correct him; the aftermath of the Uchiha massacre was so immense that he likely wouldn't return until late that night.
The way to the Hokage Tower was short but tense. The sun was slowly rising from behind the horizon, piercing through the thick clouds in a few spots.
We arrived and entered the office to find Hiruzen and Itachi already waiting for us. They clearly hadn't been waiting long, as water from the rain was still dripping off of them.
Once everyone important was gathered, Hiruzen began speaking.
"Whatever is said here will not leave this room," he commanded, placing heavy emphasis on the word "not." After receiving our confirmations, he continued,
"Tonight, the Uchiha clan was attacked by Danzo and his Root. Despite my direct orders to only deal with the coup leaders, he decided to wipe out the entire clan." He recounted what had happened in straightforward terms.
This information was specifically meant for Inoichi, who didn't even know about the potential Uchiha revolt. A sharp gasp escaped Inoichi; understandably so, you wouldn't receive such news on daily basis.
"What I need is a report, which, with Inoichi's help, will be a mindwalk. I don't want to miss any details." That was an order, not a request; we would all go through a mindwalk together to look for any detail we might have missed.
I might need to explain Haki to Hiruzen if it came to that. With Danzo gone, I felt more confident about revealing some of my secrets, but that didn't mean I would just spill everything.
"Let's start with me. Itachi's part mainly involves Danzo," I suggested, stepping forward. Inoichi nodded, touching my head and waiting for Hiruzen and Itachi to place their hands on his shoulders.
Memories flashed before me, as if I were living them again, with Itachi, Inoichi, and Hiruzen always next to me, observing my memories as if on a tape.
I focused on the conversation I had with Itachi, the day he asked for help, and then on the night itself, knocking out the Anbu around the compound and being a lookout for Itachi.
After that came the first signatures, Fugaku's resolve, and Itachi's rage. And of course, the fight and evacuation.
What felt like merely a few seconds outside took hours for me to experience. Hiruzen gave me a knowing look; it seemed we would indeed discuss Haki, but that would come later. For now, he wanted to resolve the mess, so he didn't question me directly, which I appreciated.
Please, Uncle, don't say anything to my parents," I requested, not wanting to worry them again. Although it felt wrong to lie to them, I believed it was for the best.
I would tell them eventually. "Maybe right before I move out," I thought silently while trying to stay awake. The mindwalk tired me even more; my young body wasn't accustomed to pulling an all-nighter.
It was Itachi's turn now, and he stepped forward as Inoichi placed his hand on his head. This time, I would be traveling into Itachi's memories.
I made physical contact with Inoichi before he activated the jutsu. I felt my consciousness being pulled along with Inoichi and Hiruzen. There was something I really wanted to see in Itachi's memories.
We entered the same memories, but this time from Itachi's perspective, up until the moment the Root showed up, right after Itachi had gone dark.
He looked toward Fugaku, who walked out of the living room and into a room that resembled a study or an office. Fugaku then poured chakra into a seal beneath the table, and a few short seconds later, an alarm blared across the district.
"I understand what you have to do," he said. "But make sure the clan survives and that Sasuke is taken care of." Fugaku's voice was resigned; he could not bring himself to fight his own son.
Mikoto, Itachi's mother, entered the room as well.
"I already hid Sasuke in the panic room," she stated, looking at Itachi.
"Don't hesitate, son. Unlike yours, our pain will be over in an instant." Her tone was sad, accepting her fate. Like Fugaku, she would not fight her child.
Itachi gripped his tanto so tightly that I was surprised it didn't break.
"I will, Father," he managed to choke out through tears.
"I'm sorry," he said just before his blade struck. In a moment, he swung twice, swiftly ending both his parents lives.
He stood there for a moment, stunned by his own actions, but after a brief pause, he recovered somewhat.
He dried his tears with his sleeve and stepped out of the study, into the living room, down the small hallway, and finally through the door outside.
He took a few seconds to compose himself, though it clearly didn't help. He tapped his earpiece, activating it again, and I already knew his next words.
"Mission successful. Now for the pest control..." His voice was just as broken as I remembered.
My response came shortly after, urging him to go and cut off the head of the snake.
The next moments were a blur; he sped toward the Root Headquarters, easily burning away any opposition in his path.
The eight Root members who tried to ambush him were incinerated in a single second by the black flames his eye conjured. He continued running as if they had never even attempted to attack him; he didn't even slow down.
The scene shifted suddenly, revealing Itachi as he burst through the main entrance of the Root base, cutting through the steel door as if it were made of hot butter, his tanto enveloped in menacing black flames.
Immediately, the gate guards scrambled to get to their feet, but it was futile. Itachi merely locked eyes with them, and they collapsed to the ground, motionless. Just to be safe, he incinerated them into ash with a fireball.
He pressed onward, heading toward Danzo's chakra signature. He had his target in sight and wouldn't leave until Danzo was dealt with.
After navigating several floors and disposing of more Root teams, Itachi finally entered a large room designed for basic training.
Danzo stood there like an untouchable god, surrounded by at least thirty Root initiates, most around Itachi's age, some even younger.
"I take it you're not here to talk, boy," Danzo sneered, as if Itachi had committed a cardinal sin by opposing him.
Itachi remained silent, simply gesturing for the recruits to leave.
"I'm afraid that's not happening," Danzo smirked.
"They are to be my bodyguards one day, and what kind of bodyguard would abandon their post in a moment like this?" His words were simple, yet they revealed the level of indoctrination Danzo had instilled
Even these young recruits, barely out of the academy, were loyal enough to risk their lives for him.
"Just remember... I gave them a choice," Itachi replied, launching a large dragon made entirely of fire in Danzo's direction.
Danzo stepped back behind his child-guard, who couldn't even react in time. Over half of them were killed on impact, unable to muster any form of defense.
Itachi's eye bled again as the walls of the room erupted in flames from his Amaterasu, the fire slowly consuming the entire space and cutting off any means of escape.
"One chance, Danzo. Surrender to Hokage-sama," Itachi warned, though I sensed he was hoping Danzo would choose to fight.
Danzo scoffed at the idea of surrendering, and instead unveiled Shisui's eye, mockingly inviting Itachi to attack.
And attack Itachi did. A powerful blast of haki surged through the room, mixed with Itachi's chakra and killing intent, forcing the child-guard to their knees, trembling in fear. Even Danzo's conditioning couldn't withstand Itachi's rage
"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!" Danzo shouted, sending a large pressurized ball of wind across the room.
Itachi, however, did not flinch. He channeled chakra into both of his eyes, surrounding himself with a bright red aura, like a protective shield.
"Susano," he declared calmly, just as the wind jutsu failed to penetrate his defense. Danzo clearly hadn't anticipated Itachi activating Susano; he probably thought Itachi was still unaware of it.
Panic set in as he fled, using an earth jutsu to sink through the floor.
"Kill him, for the village!" he commanded, just before his head disappeared below the ground.
What angered me was that he had sacrificed recruits, actual children, to cover his retreat. Itachi, from the memory, looked just as furious as I felt watching it happen.
The atmosphere in the room grew heavier with each passing second, and the heat radiating from Itachi intensified.
He deactivated Susano, not wanting to waste precious chakra, but the temperature continued to rise, causing the floor beneath him to begin melting.
"Traitor and coward," Itachi mumbled under his breath, his skin and clothing showing a few red-hot spots.
"I'll burn this whole place away!" he shouted as the heat surged again, responding to his will.
A massive pillar of flames erupted from him, vaporizing everything in the room before thrusting upwards and incinerating floors above.
What felt like an hour of fire and death passed in mere seconds. As the pillar subsided, Itachi collapsed to his knees in an empty room, the remaining floor barely holding together, before it finally gave way with a thunderous crash.
It appears we have just witnessed Itachi's awakening. Whatever he has just grasped is unlike anything we have ever seen, even Hiruzen looked baffled.
Itachi looked exhausted beyond mere physical strain; his chakra reserves were still nowhere near depleted, meaning that this exhaustion came from something else.
He staggered to his feet, forcing himself up, but found it hard to walk. Thankfully, the dizziness and headache he experienced subsided quickly, and he was ready to fight again.
By the time Itachi found him, Danzo had already unsealed his right arm. The arm was completely white, with many sockets prepared for Sharingan implants.
In that moment, Itachi clearly understood the reason for Danzo's treachery: it was all for the Sharingan, for the power of his clan. That was the reason Danzo condemned them all to death.
He didn't even attempt to hide his intentions; the hunger in his eyes revealed everything. If Itachi were to fall, his eyes would be the first to be placed upon that monstrous arm.
Itachi didn't waste any time. He shot a compressed jet of water towards Danzo, who quickly dodged to the left while weaving hand seals.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!" he exclaimed, exhaling as he turned his head. A large, almost invisible curved blade rushed towards Itachi, but he didn't flinch.
Instead, he activated the Susanoo once more. The fiery ribcage enveloped him moments before the wind blade struck.
A loud clanging sound echoed, as if a sword had met steel; the attack could not pierce through.
Not pausing after blocking Danzo's strike, Itachi dashed towards him with a tanto in hand, ready to take down anyone in his way.
Danzo met his charge, imbuing a simple kunai with a large amount of wind chakra. Their weapons clashed with a loud impact; steel met steel, and neither of them was willing to give ground.
Itachi, being the more adaptive fighter, understood Danzo's style well. It revolved around strength and explosive power, much like the wind he commanded. And Itachi would not play to his opponent's strength, no matter how enraged he was.
Instead of locking blades with Danzo, Itachi aimed for a bind and disarmament, flicking his wrist at just the right moment.
However, Danzo was a seasoned warrior and managed to hold on to his weapon, albeit barely. This took a toll on him. Still unaccustomed to the precognition provided by his stolen Sharingan, he reacted poorly to Itachi's follow-up attack.
A skeletal arm formed from the upper part of Susanoo's ribcage, swatting at Danzo as if he were a common fly, sending him flying at least a dozen meters before he finally landed on his knees.
tachi did not give him a moment to regain composure; he launched another wave of fire toward Danzo, forcing him to dodge again.
This time, however, Danzo's hand seals were faster.
"Summoning Jutsu!" he exclaimed, sounding surprisingly confident. A large puff of smoke filled Itachi's vision, accompanied by a terrible sound resembling the call of an enraged elephant.
The sheer volume of the sound dissipated the smoke, revealing Danzo's summon.
It was an enormous chimeric beast, light brown in color, resembling a mix of a tapir and an elephant.
The creature was colossal, standing around twenty meters tall and at least sixty meters long. While it didn't quite match the size of the largest toad summons, it certainly belonged to a similar size category.
It opened its large maw and began to inhale, forcing Itachi to focus his chakra on his feet or risk being flung toward it. At the same time, it used its trunk to blow out a powerful gust of wind, effectively keeping Itachi rooted in place.
Danzo did not hesitate; he started shooting more wind-style attacks toward the immobilized Itachi.
Itachi's chakra surged again, causing his Susanoo to change. No longer was it just a ribcage; it shrank down to envelop Itachi's upper body like a fiery red helmet and cuirass.
The empowered wind attacks managed to crack it, but Itachi remained unharmed. Instead of defending himself, he strained his eye, conjuring black flames directly into the maw of Danzo's summon.
The creature stopped its attack, thrashing around in pain, but there was nothing it could do to extinguish these flames.
Danzo had to jump down from his summon to avoid being crushed by the flailing beast. He decided to charge at Itachi again, brandishing another wind-empowered kunai.
Itachi, however, merely pointed at Danzo with two fingers, very similar to my own pose while using Byakurai and exhaled, focusing himself. A thin stream of blue-hot flames erupted from his fingers, racing toward Danzo at incredible speed.
Danzo didn't have time to dodge, but thanks to Shisui's eyes, he at least managed to block it. That was likely one of the biggest mistakes he could have made.
The moment the stream of flames made contact with his left arm, it exploded in a colorful display, engulfing and scorching almost the entire left half of his body and flinging him back toward his still-flailing summon.
Fortunately for Danzo, the creature reverse-summoned itself away from the fight before they could collide. Despite this, Danzo was now seriously wounded, and Itachi seized the moment.
"Hirenkyaku," he intoned calmly before rushing at Danzo, his left arm extended. Danzo could barely move and was unable to react in time.
A sickening sound of flesh being ripped filled the air as Itachi removed Shisui's eye from Danzo's socket, leaving Danzo in even more pain on the ground.
As a final measure, Itachi fired another stream of flames that severed Danzo's artificial arm at the shoulder, effectively ending the fight.
He now stood over defeated Danzo, ready to end him once and for all, but something stopped him just in time.
"Itachi, enough!" a voice, clearly belonging to Hiruzen, could be heard behind Itachi. The fight was now truly over.