Toji brought his hands together.
The Earth Grudge Fear clones twisted violently.
Their solid forms dissolved back into countless thin black threads, all of which returned to his body.
“Mystical Palm Technique.” The torn flesh across his body healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In the end, only a faint mark remained, almost impossible to notice.
After finishing all that, Toji’s figure flashed.
He vanished instantly.
* * * A crescent moon hung in the night sky.
Heavy clouds blocked most of the moonlight, leaving the surface of the Naka River shrouded in endless darkness.
At Naka Shrine, two groups of Uchiha Clan ninja stood on opposite sides of the shrine gate, several meters apart and locked in a tense standoff.
“What is this supposed to be?” Toji frowned slightly.
Since arriving in this world, he had not interacted much with the Uchiha.
He had only treated a few injured clan members at Gospel Hospital.
First, getting too close to the Uchiha would easily attract the suspicion of Tobirama.
Second, in this era, aside from Madara, there was no one in the clan worth his special attention.
This sword-drawn situation was unexpected.
Toji held his breath and completely concealed his presence, blending into the night itself.
Silently, he moved to the edge of the forest and observed in secret.
Even without ninjutsu and relying only on taijutsu, he had once stood beside Kakuzu as one of Takigakure’s strongest.
Hiding his aura and moving unseen during assassination missions was second nature to him.
* * * Naori Uchiha was born fifteen years before Konoha’s founding.
Beautiful in appearance and kind and gentle by nature, unlike many other Uchiha, her mental state had always been stable.
She awakened the Sharingan at age nine.
By twelve, she had already reached the three-tomoe stage.
During the Warring States Period, she followed Madara and Izuna into countless battles.
Decisive and ruthless on the battlefield, she earned the title: Purple Reaper.
She was widely recognized as the strongest Uchiha beneath Madara and Izuna.
After Madara left Konoha, she naturally became acting clan leader.
If nothing changed, becoming the official leader was only a matter of time.
Facing her was Naka Uchiha.
He stood with his younger sister Yanagi Uchiha and thirty clan members.
Across from them were fifty people under Naori’s command.
“Naka, stop this.” Naori sighed and spoke seriously.
“Do you really want to destroy the peace our clan struggled so hard to gain?” “The one who should stop is you, Naori!” Naka snapped back without restraint.
“You don’t even have the courage to oppose the Senju, yet you stand there pretending to be clan leader.” “Today I am taking my people and leaving.
I’d like to see who can stop me.” He had planned this carefully.
Using New Year’s night, when the village defenses were weakest, he intended to lead part of the clan into defection and seek Madara.
By the time Konoha reacted, they would already be long gone.
But at this critical moment, Naori had blocked the road.
“I won’t let you go.” Her eyes gradually turned cold.
“If you defect, every clan member who stays in Konoha will bear the consequences.
I will not allow that.
This is my last warning.
Stop now.” Seeing words had failed, Naka drew his sword at once.
“Fight your way out with me!” “Izanagi, activate!” Naori looked at him coldly.
“Naka Uchiha.
I’ll beat you back to reality.” The three tomoe deep in her eyes spun rapidly.
Then merged into the shape of a three-leaf flower.
* * * “It’s the Mangekyo Sharingan…” Toji was stunned.
The Mangekyo Sharingan was the next stage beyond the Sharingan, the ultimate power of the Uchiha.
He had not expected anyone besides Madara to possess it.
Toji touched his own eyes and muttered, “What a waste.” He felt a trace of regret, then shifted his attention back to the battlefield before the shrine.
* * * The fight was completely one-sided.
Leaving aside the difference in numbers, Naori alone, with the Mangekyo Sharingan, was invincible against the Uchiha present, who had only awakened three-tomoe Sharingan at best.
Before long, casualties began to appear.
The Uchiha who had fallen into madness showed no mercy despite fighting their own kin.
For the sake of their beliefs, whether peace or freedom, they struck each other with the intention to kill.
Then… Izanagi activated.
At the cost of sacrificing the sight of one Sharingan eye, it could turn events unfavorable to the user into something that never happened, while only allowing favorable outcomes to become reality.
A supreme genjutsu that rewrote reality itself.
Soon, the Uchiha who had fallen into pools of blood rose to their feet again.
But after reviving, could they change the outcome?
The answer was no.
Naori raised her index and middle fingers together to her lips.
A line of blood slowly ran from her Mangekyo eye.
In an instant, every rebel ninja who had activated Izanagi, including Naka, froze where they stood.
Time seemed stretched infinitely.
Yet also frozen for only a moment.
When Naka regained movement, the arrogance and violence in his eyes were gone.
Only lifeless calm remained.
“My path…
was wrong.
Naori…
you were right.” As soon as he finished speaking, he dropped to both knees and accepted his defeat.
Thud.
Like a chain reaction, the defectors one after another fell to their knees as well.
At the edge of the battlefield, Naka’s younger sister Yanagi was badly wounded.
Witnessing the scene before her, her eyes nearly split with rage, and despair filled her heart.
She could not accept that her brother and comrades who swore to abandon Konoha with her, who would rather die than lose freedom, had now bowed to Naori.
Hatred and unwillingness surged in her chest.
The two tomoe in her eyes spun rapidly, merging and faintly transforming toward a three-tomoe Sharingan.
She burned this humiliating scene into her memory, gritted her teeth, broke free from those around her, and while Naori was distracted elsewhere, used the last of her strength to rush into the Forest of Death outside Naka Shrine.
She would leave Konoha.
She would pursue freedom beyond Senju oppression.
She would follow the footsteps of Madara-sama.
* * * Inside the dark and silent Forest of Death, Yanagi gathered what little chakra she had left into her legs.
With a push of her toes, a branch bent beneath her weight, then snapped back and launched her more than ten meters forward.
The passing wind shook loose falling leaves.
At the end of her vision, she could already see faint moonlight touching the ground.
The road to salvation was right ahead.
“Almost…” Yanagi clenched her teeth and forced herself onward.
“As long as I cross this forest, I can leave Konoha.” “That’s far enough.” At the very moment she was about to escape, a cold and indifferent voice sounded beside Yanagi’s ear.
Every hair on her body stood up.
Before she could react, darkness swallowed her vision.
Her consciousness sank into blackness, and she lost awareness completely.
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