"So the Uchiha… just like that, they were wiped out? It's hard to believe."
"Yeah. I heard only one child survived—he wasn't in the compound that night. Now the entire Uchiha clan is down to a single orphan."
"But the Uchiha were so strong. Who could have done something like that?"
"There were rumors they were planning a rebellion. They were confident they could fight the entire village."
"I heard it was the clan head's son. A ninja named Itachi. He's already defected and has been classified as an S-rank missing-nin."
"Why?"
The question wasn't why he was S-rank—that would have been idiotic.
It was why a clan head's son would annihilate his own clan.
"No idea… but maybe a clan like that being destroyed is actually for the best."
Conversations like this—full of speculation, confusion, and barely concealed relief—were happening all across Konoha.
The Uchiha had always been a strange clan in the eyes of the village.
People once resented their arrogance, envied their power, and feared their talent. Yet now, without warning, the clan had vanished entirely.
It was contradictory: people pitied the lone surviving child, yet simultaneously felt that the destruction of the Uchiha—long seen as out of step with the village—was inevitable.
After all, compassion only comes easily when the threat is gone.
Now that the overwhelming pressure of the Uchiha no longer existed, people finally allowed themselves to feel sympathy for Uchiha Sasuke.
The once-great Uchiha clan had been reduced to a single remaining branch.
Because such a catastrophic event could have caused mass panic, a perfectly reasonable narrative quickly spread throughout Konoha. To stabilize the village, Uchiha Itachi was designated the sole bearer of all blame.
This had been decided long ago.
Itachi himself would shoulder every sin.
The infamy of the massacre would belong to him alone.
With this narrative, the annihilation of the Uchiha became an entirely internal conflict. Any evidence of village involvement was erased.
As a result, Itachi's strength was exaggerated to near-mythic proportions.
After all—how many shinobi in the world could single-handedly exterminate the Uchiha clan?
Following the intense psychological trauma inflicted by Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke was hospitalized in Konoha's medical ward. It was clear he would remain there for quite some time.
In truth, Itachi's final threat to Danzō was somewhat unnecessary.
Because of Hagoromo's actions, Sasuke's situation in Konoha was—at least for now—safer than before.
Of course, safety always came at a price.
Temporary safety meant greater danger in the future.
The logic was simple:
Scarcity increases value.
Even without Itachi, Danzō would ensure Sasuke lived. In theory, Sasuke represented the only remaining obtainable Sharingan. Until those eyes fully matured, Sasuke would be protected.
If Sasuke never awakened the Sharingan, he could theoretically live out his life in peace.
Naturally, that was impossible.
The Sharingan awakened in response to intense emotional trauma—and in fact, Sasuke had already awakened it.
No one had noticed yet.
Not even Sasuke himself.
Even Mirai—merely a bystander—had been listless for several days after the incident. She hadn't returned to the Ninja Academy during that time.
Then, on the third day after the massacre, an ordinary ANBU operative entered Hagoromo's courtyard.
"Mirai," Hagoromo said calmly, pointing at the newcomer,
"memorize this man's chakra. Until you've grown stronger—strong enough to protect yourself—stay as far away from him as possible. He's an extremist. A fanatic obsessed with ninjutsu research."
The ANBU had barely stepped inside when he heard this.
"Hagoromo, isn't that a bit much?" the man said mildly.
"Do I really inspire that much fear?"
Yes.
Just your voice is terrifying.
That was the unspoken consensus of all three children present.
The man removed his ANBU mask, revealing pale skin and a pair of vertical, serpentine pupils.
Orochimaru had openly walked into Hagoromo's home.
"You really just stroll in like this?" Hagoromo said dryly.
"Are you sure that's wise?"
"You're overthinking it," Orochimaru replied with a faint smile.
"My current identity is flawless. And besides—this place is covered by your anti-surveillance barrier, isn't it?"
His gaze swept across the room, lingering briefly on the three children.
Compared to the barrier, they interested him far more.
At that moment, Mirai was two hundred percent convinced Hagoromo's warning had been justified.
Orochimaru could tell immediately—these children were exceptional. Each possessed abnormal potential.
Hagoromo was fortunate.
From Orochimaru's perspective, though, placing such talents in Hagoromo's care was a terrible waste.
But there was nothing he could do about it.
As for the barrier—Hagoromo had indeed set one up. Even if his home wasn't some secret clan compound, he had no interest in being monitored at all times.
So Orochimaru's visit, strictly speaking, was not a problem.
Hagoromo didn't dwell on the issue of exposure. Instead, he asked with mild curiosity:
"You weren't hiding in Konoha all these months, were you?"
If Orochimaru had truly managed that without being discovered—despite Konoha's security being at maximum alert because of the Uchiha—that would have been impressive even by his standards.
"Hardly," Orochimaru replied.
"This is Konoha, after all. I merely conducted a second infiltration recently."
Judging from their exchange, one would never guess they had once clashed fundamentally over Shisui's affair.
That was simply the nature of their relationship.
Not allies.
Not enemies.
Not partners.
Just familiar strangers who occasionally understood one another.
"Did you gain anything this time?" Hagoromo asked.
"Despite Amaterasu turning the Uchiha district into an inferno, someone like you might still have profited."
"I did gain something," Orochimaru admitted.
"But not a physical item. In truth… I've lost much of my interest in the Sharingan."
Hagoromo froze for a moment—this wasn't like Orochimaru.
Then he understood.
Orochimaru's interest had shifted to 'the Sharingan beyond the Sharingan.'
And by now, his eyes had already settled on Sasuke.
That made perfect sense.
Previously, Orochimaru had been fascinated by the Sharingan, even brushing against the secrets of the Mangekyō. But none of that compared to witnessing Amaterasu firsthand.
It was like this:
An iPhone 4 was great—
Until you saw the iPhone 8.
Who would still want the old model?
Orochimaru was, at heart, a rabid technology enthusiast.
There was only one regret—he couldn't act yet.
First, he suspected that Itachi was still lurking near Konoha. The Mangekyō was full of unknowns, and Amaterasu in particular posed a lethal risk. Orochimaru had no confidence he could survive it.
Second, Sasuke clearly mattered deeply to Itachi. Leaving only his younger brother alive made that obvious.
If Orochimaru abducted Sasuke, Itachi would intervene.
And third—
All of Konoha's attention was now fixed on Sasuke. Including that of Danzō.
There was simply no opportunity.
"You're really comfortable telling me all this?" Hagoromo asked.
"After all, you're not interested in the Sharingan."
That statement, strangely enough, was accurate.
Despite the lengths Hagoromo had gone to retrieve Shisui's eyes, Orochimaru's assessment wasn't wrong—Hagoromo truly had no interest in the Sharingan itself.
Orochimaru had merely been probing.
Now, he was certain.
Hagoromo genuinely did not care about the last Uchiha.
"In any case," Orochimaru continued,
"I'll be leaving Konoha again. But before that—what you asked me to do has been completed."
"Is that so?" Hagoromo nodded.
"That helps a great deal."
"It was only a summoning beast," Orochimaru said casually.
"And slugs—Katsuyu in particular—have incredible adaptability. Modifying them is far easier than human experimentation… though I failed many times."
In truth, it hadn't been that simple.
Only after countless failures had Orochimaru succeeded once by sheer chance. Hashirama's cells were far too aggressive—achieving balance required not just theory, but luck.
And the real reason Orochimaru had come—
Was to return the Katsuyu fragment that had successfully undergone Wood Release–based modification.
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