The Uchiha clan grounds under the curtain of night turned into a purgatory on earth, while the village just a street away seemed unaffected, the lights of thousands of homes still burning bright!
Floating in mid-air, Shinji lowered his gaze, witnessing all of this.
He could see the urgently mobilized Anbu, surrounding the Uchiha clan grounds tightly, seemingly isolating it to prevent the fighting inside from spreading to the village, or perhaps gathering momentum, preparing to catch the Uchiha in one fell swoop.
Within the Uchiha clan grounds, the slaughter was underway.
Obito headed straight for the Police Force building, which was an important stronghold of the Uchiha clan besides the Clan Head's mansion, with Uchiha Jonin stationed there permanently.
However, these Uchiha Jonin obviously did not expect the attack to be so sudden, and that the attacker would be Obito, who possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan and mastered 'Kamui'. So in just one encounter, several squad leaders of the Uchiha Police Force were successively ambushed by Obito's 'Kamui' and fell into his 'Kamui Dimension'.
Without the Jonin-level squad leaders, the other members of the Police Force quickly became a sheet of loose sand, swept floor by floor by Obito, easily slaughtered one by one.
Obito's containment gave Itachi the opportunity to act calmly.
The massacre in the clan grounds went even smoother than Itachi had anticipated. Not only did the members of the Police Force not appear on a large scale to interfere with him, but even the father-son duel he thought inevitable did not occur as expected.
He entered and exited house after house, followed by screams and extinguished lights.
The seven-year-old original owner standing on the street corner watched helplessly as the screams got closer and closer, and the lights went out one by one towards his direction.
"Damn it, what exactly happened!"
The original owner roared tremblingly, the ink-colored pupils in his eyes dyed red in this instant, followed by the appearance of a conspicuous tomoe.
Undoubtedly, he had awakened his Sharingan.
On any other day, awakening at seven would be enough for the original owner to earn the title of 'genius' and receive the attention of the whole clan.
But on this night, the original owner who awakened was weak, helpless, hesitant, and at a loss!
Itachi, walking out of a house, noticed the original owner standing on the street corner. Without hesitation, he swung the long sword in his hand immediately.
Clang!
A piercing sound of metal clashing rang out. The seven-year-old original owner, having awakened his Sharingan, used a kunai to block Itachi's casually slashed sword.
Itachi was stunned, a look of surprise flashing in his eyes.
The seven-year-old original owner roared at Itachi: "Why!"
As the young patriarch of the Uchiha clan, no matter how many labels were attached to Itachi, in the eyes of the Uchiha youths, Itachi was a role model to catch up to.
So the seven-year-old original owner could not understand why the one laying murderous hands on the Uchiha clansmen would be the young patriarch who was his role model.
Following the confusion was infinite anger and the hatred of betrayal!
At this moment, the newly awakened Sharingan of the seven-year-old original owner spun rapidly, and a second tomoe slowly appeared in the scarlet eyes.
The death of a large number of clansmen and the hatred of being betrayed by his most respected role model allowed the seven-year-old original owner to activate the two-tomoe Sharingan.
Looking at the spinning Sharingan in the seven-year-old original owner's eyes, the hesitation in Itachi's eyes flashed by, then coldness reoccupied his face. Swinging the long sword in his hand, he slashed ruthlessly at the seven-year-old original owner's chest.
Although the seven-year-old original owner had already activated the two-tomoe Sharingan, facing Itachi who possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, he was still unable to resist. With a thud, he fell into a pool of his own blood.
Itachi dared not look, moving his gaze away from the seven-year-old original owner, and hurriedly went to the next house.
...
Just as the seven-year-old original owner was struck in the chest and fell into his dying moments, no one noticed that the spinning Sharingan in his eye sockets not only didn't stop but spun faster and faster. In an instant, the two-tomoe Sharingan turned into a three-tomoe Sharingan, then the three tomoe merged on the red pupil, finally transforming into a pattern of three intertwined circles arranged in a triangle.
An accident happened at this moment. No one expected a dying seven-year-old Uchiha boy to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan at the last moment of his life.
However, the awakening of the Mangekyō Sharingan could not change the boy's impending fate of death. His scarlet pupils gradually turned back to ordinary ink color, and then his breath slowly ceased.
In the air.
Witnessing all this, an inexplicable emotion surged in Shinji's chest: "So that's how he died..."
At this moment, he finally truly knew how this most familiar stranger to him died.
Itachi continued his slaughter.
At this point, he could no longer turn back, only constantly swinging his sword, slashing at familiar faces one by one.
Not long after, the clansmen in the grounds were slaughtered completely. Itachi had to face the family members he least wanted to face.
Carrying the sword, he walked into the Clan Head's mansion and saw his parents who had been waiting for him for a long time.
Uchiha Fugaku, possessing 'Izanagi-no-Mikoto', had long used his dojutsu to spy on his fate. He knew he was powerless to stop his eldest son assisted by Obito. Father and son turning swords against each other would not change any situation but would instead injure his son and consume precious Mangekyō pupil power.
With the facts already destined, he chose to stretch out his neck for the slaughter, leaving the impression of a coward to the world.
Itachi, having killed his parents, did not leave. He waited quietly beside his parents' bodies for his younger brother Sasuke's return.
When Sasuke returned to the Uchiha clan grounds from the ninja academy, the grounds had long fallen into dead silence.
Although young, Sasuke still sensed the anomaly, ran back to the mansion, and saw Itachi standing beside their parents' bodies with a sword.
Stimulate, then leave.
Itachi left all his pity for his brother Sasuke. Finally, after warning the Konoha higher-ups, he quietly left Konoha with Obito, leaving behind the mess of the Uchiha clan grounds.
Danzo led the Root into the Uchiha clan grounds first, began to clean up the battlefield, and collected the bodies of the Uchiha clansmen. Then the Third Hokage arrived with the Anbu, reprimanded Danzo away, and took over a batch of Uchiha clansmen's bodies from Danzo's Root. The body of the seven-year-old original owner was taken over by the Anbu at this time and moved to the morgue.
Itachi's defection, the infighting among Konoha higher-ups, and the aftermath of the Uchiha clan grounds were proceeding simultaneously at this moment.
But Shinji's gaze did not pay attention to these odds and ends. instead, he followed the body of the seven-year-old original owner all the way to the morgue.
Suppressing his curiosity, he wanted to know exactly how he transmigrated here.
"Eh..."
Shinji suddenly let out a soft sound of surprise.
Because just a moment ago, the body of the seven-year-old original owner on the morgue table, which had long ceased breathing, suddenly resumed breathing and heartbeat.