Residence of the Uchiha Clan Head.Main bedroom.
"Come in, don't worry—no traps here!" said Fugaku with a forced smile, like a man who knew he had only seconds to live.
He and Mikoto were kneeling on the tatami, calm as if they were waiting for tea and not the sword of their eldest son. Far in the distance, the screams of their clan played the tragic soundtrack of the night.
The door burst open.
Itachi appeared, soaked in blood up to his ears, Konoha's forehead protector gleaming under the dim light. He wore ANBU armor, eyes downcast, and a sword still dripping.
"Ah… I see," Fugaku sighed, half resigned. "You joined the murder club."
"Dad, Mom… I…"
Itachi couldn't look them in the eyes. He looked like a teen caught cheating on a test.
"We understand, Itachi," said Mikoto, colder than a winter shower floor.
"Just promise me you'll protect Sasuke," Fugaku asked calmly.
"I know…" Itachi whispered. Tears streamed down his cheeks. He trembled like someone who had green tea replaced with black coffee.
"Don't be afraid. We're old. You're just beginning your trauma collection," Fugaku said with an almost proud smile. "Even if we think differently, we still love you."
The ninja sword hovered between them. Both parents stared at their reflection in the blade. Itachi hesitated. His heart pounded like an ANBU exam he hadn't studied for.
"You're a good boy," Fugaku whispered one last time.
Itachi clenched his teeth. His ninja logic collapsed. World peace, the Hokage's promises, his duty—all of it crumbled like a sandcastle.
And he struck.
SPLASH.
Blood trickled over the wooden floor. Fugaku fell with a dry thud.
Itachi looked up… and Mikoto was still there. Trembling. Her eyes… were glowing.
"Kaleidoscope?!" Itachi blurted out, face frozen in a "WHAT" expression.
Mikoto didn't understand. Her body moved on its own, like it was saying: "Not dying today, thank you." She pulled a kunai from her sleeve, blocked Itachi's sword with a movement almost graceful, and jumped back, slamming into the window.
CRASH!
Without hesitation, Mikoto leaped out like it was an action movie. She ran into the night with an agility she didn't even know she had.
Itachi stood frozen.
"What just happened?"
He looked at his dead father… and the hole where his mother had been.
"Did she awaken the Mangekyō because of Sasuke...? Or because she didn't finish that series she was watching?" he wondered.
He shook his head. "Doesn't matter. Nothing changes."
He wiped his tears and stepped out into the eerie silence of the street.
"If they both had Mangekyō… I'd probably be the one lying dead."
He headed toward the police department. The fighting had gone quiet. He had fifteen minutes left to finish the cleanup.
Meanwhile… in the forest outside Uchiha territory.
The night was as dense as Danzo's evil plans. Branches swayed in the wind, and shadows moved like something—or someone—was breathing in the dark.
Groups of three began to arrive. Pale armor, sinister masks, tattoos on their left arms.
Danzo's lapdogs—known as "Root"—perched on the trees like crows waiting for carrion.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A cane struck the ground with weight. The darkness parted.
Danzo Shimura appeared, more wrinkled than an old man's summoning scroll. Cane in one hand, the other hidden under his cloak. His face, a mix of dried lemon and ninja mummy, frowned as he looked into the forest.
"Shimura-Danzo…" murmured one of the infiltrated Uchiha—Uchiha Nanfeng—swallowing hard.
Akuma had smuggled them in using Henge no Jutsu. Were they insane? Facing Danzo directly?
The tension was so thick one of the Uchiha almost sneezed, but held it back out of fear (and basic survival instinct).
Danzo looked at his subordinates and gave his classic villain line:
"Collect the eyes. Waste nothing."
"Yes, Danzo-sama," replied two Root agents kneeling before him.
One of them lifted his head. His eyes gleamed red.
"Excuse me… are these the kind you collect?"
He removed his mask.
It was Akuma.
Danzo barely had time to mutter, "What–?" when the gaze of the Mangekyō locked onto him. It felt like staring into a blender made of rage.
The rest of Root froze, like someone had cut off their Wi-Fi.
Danzo was petrified. His body wouldn't respond.
"What…? I can't move!"
From the left, another supposed agent leapt in. His mask flew off mid-air, revealing—
"Tamao!" someone shouted from above.
"Take this, you crusty old fossil!"
SLASH!
The sword pierced Danzo's heart with surgical grace. Tamao was in sync with Akuma—but still couldn't resist yelling in joy:
"Finally! I've always wanted to stab something expensive!"
At the same time, Akuma drove his fingers into Danzo's bandaged eye, tearing off the wrappings and pulling out a Sharingan with a spinning pinwheel pattern.
"That… That's the Bie Tianshen!" cried one half-asleep Uchiha from a nearby tree.
Blood splattered across Danzo's cloak like abstract art. The Uchiha still conscious felt an old rage boil inside them.
"Shisui… You're the one who killed him!"
Danzo dropped to the ground, with the face of someone who realized too late that he had underestimated the quiet nerd in class.