"Shisui, please help take care of Hiromi."
"You still have the newborn Hiromi, I should be the one to go." Shisui immediately objected.
"Shisui, you are a direct descendant of Kagami, and besides..."
Shisui followed his gaze and saw the frenzied Nine-Tails raging ahead. Intense flames flickered there, and the dense clashing of metal could be heard faintly, interspersed with countless wails and despair.
Anyone could go to help, but the Uchiha clan could not. After all, it was rumored that the Uchiha clan could control the Nine-Tails.
Logically, the Uchiha clan should be staying quietly within the Uchiha Clan Compound right now. However, the Uchiha needed to take a stand. They couldn't let the Uchiha suffer any more suspicion.
In this time when Konoha needed protection, as relatives of Kagami—who was trusted by the Hokage's high-ranking officials—they were the only ones from the Uchiha clan who could step forward.
Furthermore, they didn't want the sixteen-year-old Shisui to rush there only to be met with vigilance, mockery, and gossip from others.
Therefore, as elders, they entrusted the task of looking after their newborn child to Shisui.
Shisui opened his mouth but amidst their smiles, the words caught in his throat, and he couldn't say a single thing.
Finally, he closed his eyes and suppressed the uneasy throbbing in his heart. "Please, you must return safely."
The couple in their early twenties smiled slightly. Turning, they looked at the three-month-old Hiromi in the baby basket, their eyes filled with doting love.
"Hiromi, wait for us to come back." They didn't say these words aloud.
Amidst a smile wrapped in endless love, they turned away reluctantly, facing the terrifying Nine-Tails that was destroying everything, their expressions quickly becoming firm.
Shisui watched their receding backs in silence. It felt as if a great mountain were pressing down on him. Just looking at it felt oppressive.
Any ordinary child with sharp perception might have burst into tears but Hiromi was different. Instead of being scared into tears, he was a bit annoyed.
Because missions were constantly refreshing in his mind.
[Mission Name: So You're the Most Miserable? Want to Kill Your Teacher and Mother?]
[Mission Content: Kill Uchiha Obito!]
[Mission Reward: Sage Body + Eight Inner Gates]
When he first saw the mission rewards, Hiromi's eyes lit up, nearly making his parents think he had awakened the Sharingan.
Unfortunately, the mission requirements were too high, so Hiromi thought he could save it for later. But he didn't expect the mission rewards to change over time.
For example, the initial reward for this mission was Sage Body + Eight Inner Gates + Cellular Regeneration Absorption.
He estimated that by the time he could kill Obito, it was uncertain if the Sage Body reward would even remain as rewards were constantly decreasing in value with time. This made him feel a bit broken.
As a newborn baby who couldn't even crawl or speak, the system actually wanted him to crawl over and kill Obito right now? Is this reasonable?
'Forget it, it'll be fine once I grow up.'
The three-month-old Hiromi comforted himself, ignoring the occasional missions that asked him to kill Danzo, Hiruzen, Homura, and Koharu.
But today, the system went crazy. It was refreshing frantically every second, and the rewards made his eyes turn red with envy. He wished he could crawl over right now and give the mission targets a kick. Maybe there'd be a chance for them to be trampled to death by the Nine-Tails.
[Mission Name: So You're the One Planning the Uchiha clan Massacre?]
[Mission Content: Kill Shimura Danzo!]
[Mission Reward: Sage Body + Death Controlling Possessed Blood + Giant Insect Summoning Beast]
[Mission Name: So You're the will of fire?]
[Mission Content: Kill Sarutobi Hiruzen!]
[Mission Reward: Rinnegan]
[Mission Name: So You're the Uchiha clan head?]
[Mission Content: Kill Uchiha Fugaku!]
[Mission Reward...]
[Mission Name: So You Have a Younger Brother?]
[Mission Content: Kill Uchiha...]
[Mission Name: So You Have a Mother?]
[Mission...]
...
"Hurry!"
Under the rapid guidance of the Konoha ninjas, the villagers frantically ran toward the shelters, staying away from the terrifying Nine-Tails behind them.
Meanwhile, two figures were moving in the opposite direction, coming out from the Uchiha Clan Compound and moving quickly across the rooftops toward the Nine-Tails.
Suddenly, a voice sounded from an alleyway. "You two."
The young couple stopped and looked at the Anbu within, wondering to themselves, 'Anbu? Why are they calling out to us secretly in an alley?'
But out of trust for the Hokage, they jumped into the alley without suspicion.
The Anbu said, "You two, Hokage-sama has something he needs your help with..."
The male Uchiha was about to listen to what the other party had to say when he sensed a sudden burst of fierce killing intent, and his expression changed drastically. In his haste, he hurriedly pushed his wife aside.
"Kazuto!" His wife watched helplessly as three short swords pierced her husband's chest, throat, and heart.
The intense pain blurred the man's consciousness. His whole body convulsed, and he spat out blood, staining his jaw red.
"Quick... go..."
He felt the strength in his body draining rapidly. Every word caused him agonizing pain. But as long as his wife was safe, it didn't matter if he died.
While he prayed in his heart that his wife would escape, he saw two masked people pierce his wife's chest with short swords.
His face went blank, his mouth opening and closing with slight tremors, filled with disbelief.
From his pierced throat, he made an extremely hoarse sound.
"Shizu... ka?"
His heart felt like it was being sliced apart. A frenzied killing intent surged in his eyes, and blood vessels burst, turning his eyes red.
He stared intently at the attackers' masks. Only then did he realize that those masks were not the animal shapes of the Anbu, but rather more colorful design. These were masks unique to a certain department in Konoha.
"Root!"
The three tomoe in his eyes spun frantically, filled with crazed hatred. Two lines of blood flowed down, and some kind of change seemed to be occurring, causing him to feel an extraordinary pain in his eyes. But no matter the pain, it was nowhere near the pain of seeing his wife die a tragic death before his eyes.
"Root! I'll make you pay..."
The next second.
Swoosh!
A cold gleam flashed by, and blood splashed onto the wall.
The man's expression seemed frozen, devoid of any lifelike appearance. Those eyes, once filled with killing intent, quickly became dull.
As his head hit the ground, it rolled with a thud. It finally stopped and tilted to the side, staring blankly at his lifeless wife, his mouth still opening and closing slightly.
The male Uchiha's eyes had lost all luster, looking like the eyes of a dead fish.
But to the masked man, they were like treasures. He carefully gouged out the couple's eyes and placed them into small tubes filled with nutrient solution. He then unfurled a scroll and sealed the two corpses away.
Water Release was used to clean the bloodstains, while Fire Release was used to dry the water marks.
After completing these tasks, the six masked men quickly departed, leaving behind an alleyway that had become somewhat clean.