Setting fire to a residential district was never difficult—no matter whose land it was.
But the fire Hagoromo released was on an entirely different level. If he truly wanted to burn everything to nothing, it would be effortless.
The real difficulty came afterward.
He had to move constantly, suppressing the spread of the flames and keeping them contained within the barrier. If Amaterasu were to run wild and ignite the entirety of Konoha, Hagoromo would undoubtedly be remembered among the Ten Most "Moving" Figures in Shinobi History—
From the perspective of the other villages, at least.
If Root's operatives inside the barrier were decisive enough, withdrawing in time was still possible. They might even manage to take one or two Sharingan with them.
But large-scale collection was out of the question. Carefully selecting pristine three-tomoe eyes?
What did they think this was—a marketplace?
If they clung too rigidly to their orders and insisted on harvesting eyes, the outcome would be far simpler:
They would be burned without leaving even ash behind.
No matter how one looked at it, the annihilation of the Uchiha clan fulfilled the desires of many—including Danzō.
Danzō could never be called a good man, but neither was he evil for evil's sake. His primary objective in eliminating the Uchiha was undeniably public: ensuring Konoha's stability and erasing the threat of rebellion once and for all.
From that standpoint, this was official business.
And that business had been completed—perfectly.
But as for Danzō's private ambitions?
Thanks to Hagoromo's sudden intervention, he had suffered catastrophic losses.
He had wasted a precious pair of three-tomoe Sharingan.
He failed to obtain the god-tier technique Kotoamatsukami.
And the large cache of Sharingan he hoped to collect had been reduced to nothing but scorched void.
One had to wonder—
Late at night, staring up at the stars…
Did this old man feel like crying?
Perhaps he should.
After all, there was a saying: Once you cry it out, it hurts less.
Amaterasu was a nightmare for Danzō.
His face usually looked like the world owed him eighty thousand ryō.
Now?
Eighty hundred thousand.
"Itachi. Completely burning the Uchiha district was not part of our agreement. You went beyond the terms of our deal."
Danzō's expression perfectly embodied the color iron-blue.
He firmly believed that the fire had been Itachi's doing.
This was their final exchange—after Itachi had completed his mission, and just before he left Konoha.
"I fulfilled everything required of me by the agreement," Itachi replied coldly.
"You have no room to renegotiate."
"As for the fire… that was White Yaksha," he continued evenly.
"I attempted to kill him earlier. The result was that my dōjutsu was sealed instead."
Itachi did not posture unnecessarily. He stated facts.
As he spoke, his gaze remained fixed on the distant, indistinct sea of black flames in the night.
For the first time, he felt a trace of gratitude toward Hagoromo.
Danzō was right—because of the deal, Itachi himself could not be the one to set the fire.
Regardless of any resentment he felt toward his clan, was killing his parents and relatives truly his wish?
One matter was one matter.
Another was another.
Itachi did not want his family's eyes harvested like merchandise after death.
"So… that fire really is your dōjutsu?" Danzō asked grimly.
"Yes," Itachi answered calmly.
"A fire that never extinguishes once ignited. Even I cannot control or dispel it—unless one possesses sealing techniques like White Yaksha's."
"Which means…"
His voice sharpened.
"As long as it lies within my line of sight, I can burn it once—and burn it again."
This was an unmistakable threat.
The two Root operatives behind Danzō moved instinctively, but Danzō raised a hand, stopping them.
Itachi had just revealed partial intelligence on Amaterasu, and its destructive power was already on full display.
From this point on, even if Itachi could never approach Danzō again, Konoha itself was too large a target to ever escape him.
Danzō had no choice but to honor his promise.
Otherwise—
Itachi would burn the village.
"Trying to detain me is impossible," Itachi said flatly.
"Remember what you promised."
With those words, his body dispersed into a flock of crows and vanished into the night.
"…A clone," Danzō muttered.
Of course it was.
Itachi was not foolish enough to meet Danzō in person after everything was finished. With Danzō's personality, discarding a tool once its usefulness ended was practically guaranteed.
Itachi exterminates the Uchiha.
Danzō eliminates an exhausted Itachi afterward.
What better outcome could there be?
But Danzō had underestimated him.
Itachi's mind was far sharper than that.
By now, Itachi had already left Konoha.
As long as he lived, Danzō had no choice but to fulfill his obligations—
Or truly risk seeing Konoha engulfed in black flames.
Amaterasu burned for hours.
Hagoromo stood there all night, unmoving—like a stone statue gazing into the distance.
Eventually, Mirai fell asleep.
Witnessing something so overwhelming would keep any child awake—unless assisted.
So Hagoromo used a mild genjutsu, easing her into deep sleep.
Sleep, at least, might soothe her emotions.
When the flames finally died out, the result was absolute.
The Uchiha district—once expansive—was gone.
By morning, only a vast, sunken expanse of scorched earth remained. No buildings. No ruins.
Not even ash.
If efficiency were the metric, this was the most thorough "demolition" imaginable.
Thanks to the barrier, the clan's disappearance occurred without sound or spectacle—at least for ordinary villagers.
At dawn, most people had yet to realize what had happened.
After returning Mirai home, Hagoromo instructed Kimimaro to request leave from the Academy on her behalf. Haku was also told to stay behind to look after her.
If Mirai woke up, she shouldn't be alone.
Hagoromo, meanwhile, still had a report to deliver to the Third Hokage.
Letting a child witness last night's events was cruel—he knew that.
But this was the world they lived in.
She needed to understand it correctly.
And compared to someone who would later subject his younger brother to repeated Tsukuyomi reenactments of this very night…
Hagoromo considered himself merciful.
Hagoromo met the Third Hokage alone.
Danzō was conspicuously absent.
Probably for the best.
If those two crossed paths right now, Danzō might actually try to claw his eyes out.
"The Uchiha have been completely erased," Hagoromo reported.
That was all he truly needed to say.
"The Fire Release last night—was that your doing?" the Third Hokage asked.
"Why destroy the district so thoroughly?"
He looked… noticeably older.
But what bothered Hagoromo was something else.
There was no way the Hokage didn't already understand why it had to be burned so completely.
So why ask?
"The Uchiha are gone," Hagoromo replied evenly.
"Allowing Sharingan to continue circulating would only create further instability. Destroying them entirely was the safest course."
"And that Fire Release?"
"I released it, yes—but it wasn't my technique. It was a Mangekyō dōjutsu belonging to Uchiha Itachi, previously sealed by me. A one-time use."
As Hokage, large-scale, difficult-to-counter techniques were naturally a concern.
But Hagoromo's meaning was clear:
If anyone warranted fear, it was Uchiha Itachi.
Not him.
After all—
Amaterasu was a Mangekyō Sharingan technique.
Hagoromo had merely borrowed it once.
And Uchiha Itachi…
Was now officially a missing-nin.
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