Cold killing intent wrapped in extreme fanaticism. The crimson in Uchiha Katsu's eyes almost overflowed, and there was not the slightest hesitation.
"Mio, I'm sorry. Forgive me."
Katsu pulled out the refined steel dagger hidden at his side with a reverse grip. A flash of cold light appeared as he fiercely stabbed it straight into Senju Mio's chest.
Chi!
The sound of the blade cutting through flesh was especially piercing as the cold metal sank into the warm body.
"Ah!"
Senju Mio's entire body suddenly stiffened. The redness on her face from suffocation instantly drained away, leaving it completely pale.
"Katsu…"
Mio lowered her eyes and stared fixedly at the steel blade buried in her chest. Her pupils shrank violently as scorching tears rolled down without warning.
They fell onto the cold floor and shattered into glistening drops.
He really… really stabbed her?
The Uchiha Katsu who had been entangled with her for half a lifetime in the chaotic world, the one who had always matched her move for move and understood her heart.
Even when they faced each other in battle, he had never truly struck with killing intent.
Yet now he had truly tried to kill her?
Hadn't they agreed?
Even if their clans stood against each other, even if war raged everywhere, they could never bear to hurt the other even the slightest bit.
Wasn't that the understanding between them?
Why?
Why now, and in such a cruel way, personally driving the blade into her heart?
"Katsu… you… you… could it be… you forgot…"
Her cracked lips parted. Broken breaths escaped from her throat. All the questions, confusion, and heartbreak she had accumulated over half her life gathered in her throat, but in the end she could not speak even a single word.
"I'm sorry, Mio."
Uchiha Katsu still gripped the knife handle tightly. His knuckles had turned white from the force. Two lines of hot tears slid down his cold face and fell onto Senju Mio's clothes, spreading into dark wet stains.
Where was the fanatic obsession for power in Katsu's eyes now?
Only overwhelming grief, despair, and the madness and helplessness of being forced into a corner remained. All those emotions tangled together and tore him apart.
The one person who had treated him kindly when they were young... Uchiha Katsu had killed her with his own hands.
The severe pain in her chest spread to her entire body. The light in Senju Mio's eyes gradually faded, and the fluctuations of her chakra quickly receded like a retreating tide.
Senju Mio looked at Katsu. Her body could no longer support itself and she collapsed softly onto the cold floor of the mourning hall.
Katsu did not dare to look into Mio's eyes. He did not dare face those eyes.
Mio's eyes, stubborn and filled with love and sorrow, closed forever.
Uchiha Katsu began trembling violently all over. He staggered two steps backward, his right hand clutching his aching chest. His legs suddenly gave out and he knelt heavily beside Senju Mio.
"Ahhh!!!!!!!!!"
Uchiha Katsu let out a frenzied scream.
At that moment, the three-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes suddenly began spinning wildly.
The crimson background looked like boiling waves of blood. The three tomoe twisted, deformed, and fused together at incredible speed, forming a brand-new, complex and eerie pattern that had never appeared in the ninja world before...
The Mangekyo Sharingan... It awakened completely.
The strange light of the pupils flowed within his eyes. Terrifyingly powerful ocular power instantly swept across the entire mourning hall. Yet Uchiha Katsu felt no joy at all, only endless desolation.
Katsu trembled as he reached out. His fingertips gently brushed across Senju Mio's cold face, wiping away the tears that had not yet dried at the corner of her eyes. His voice was hoarse beyond recognition and choked with sobs.
"Mio… it wasn't me who harmed you. It was this chaotic world that harmed you…"
"If I don't have power, I can't protect the Uchiha. I can't guard what I want to protect. I would only be crushed into dust by this chaotic world…"
"For myself, and for the entire Uchiha clan, I could only choose this path…"
Tears blurred Katsu's vision. The crimson glow of the Mangekyo mixed with the sorrow in his eyes.
Inside the mourning hall, the white mourning cloth still hung down, and incense smoke drifted in the air.
At that moment, voices were heard.
Urgent footsteps approached from outside the mourning hall. Several Uchiha ninjas with faint bloodstains on their bodies entered while bowing, then knelt on one knee.
"Clan Leader! The five Senju elites on the outer perimeter have all been dealt with!"
Uchiha Katsu slowly withdrew his gaze from Senju Mio. The grief and trembling that had been in his eyes vanished completely, replaced once again by a layer of icy coldness.
He silently stood up and walked step by step to the coffin. Bending down, he gently lifted the lifeless Senju Mio and steadily placed her inside the coffin that had originally been prepared for himself.
The person inside the coffin looked the same as before, but she would never open her eyes again, never confront him again, never leave him trapped between love and hatred.
Katsu closed the coffin lid. His voice was calm and carried not the slightest ripple, filled with unquestionable resolve.
"Pass down my order... under the cover of night, cross the river in white clothes. Take the South Naga River and the North Naga River directly. Launch a full-scale general attack on the Senju clan!"
Several Uchiha ninjas trembled all over. Fanatical flames instantly ignited in their eyes as they knocked their heads heavily to the ground.
"Yes, sir!!"
They had long grown tired of keeping a low profile for so long. Tired of moving step by step with endless restraint.
Uchiha Katsu had ruled for ten years. During that time he had kept a low profile and developed the clan steadily, bringing them back from decline to the peak. Everyone had been waiting for this day...
Waiting for the clan leader to give the order to strike with full force and sweep across the ninja world.
Not long after, low horns echoed through the Uchiha clan grounds.
The entire clan did not even have time to change out of their mourning clothes. Everyone wore white mourning cloth and filial headbands, holding ninja tools as they gathered with murderous intent.
The plain white mourning garments connected together in the night like a surging tide. The solemn funeral instantly turned into an oath ceremony before war.
Uchiha Katsu stood at the very front of the formation. The Mangekyo Sharingan glowed with a cold crimson light in the darkness.
"The entire army attacks. Fight until the very last moment!"
"Long live the Uchiha!"
With that command, the Uchiha army surged forward like blades leaving their sheaths. Under the cover of night they moved swiftly and silently, charging toward the Senju clan lands.
The Uchiha army, dressed in white, rushed forward like a group of Asura emerging from the underworld.
With the cover of night, they silently pounced toward the defensive lines the Senju had set along the South and North Naga Rivers.
The Senju clan was completely unprepared.
They were still certain that the Uchiha were trapped in grief over their clan leader's sudden death. It was impossible for them to launch a war at this moment.
The defenses along both banks of the river were extremely loose. Some clan members were even chatting casually about the details of the Uchiha funeral and the rumors between Mio and Katsu.
They had no idea about the catastrophe that was about to descend.
Only when fire release techniques filled the sky and burned through the night, when kunai rained down like a storm, and when the mourning-clothed Uchiha clan members charged fiercely forward did the Senju guards suddenly wake up.
White mourning cloth fluttered through the air as cold blades flashed.
The mourning clothes that should have symbolized grief had now become the most striking battle uniforms.
With the pent-up fury of ten years of restraint, the Uchiha clan tore through the Senju defenses like a force that could not be stopped.
The Senju warriors were completely stunned.
It was clearly the funeral of the Uchiha clan leader. How had a fully armed Uchiha army suddenly appeared?
Wasn't Uchiha Katsu already dead?
And where was their Elder Mio?
Before their questions could be answered, cold blades had already reached them. Screams instantly echoed across the South and North Naga Rivers.
The Senju war machine that had dominated the ninja world did not even have time to fully activate or gather their clan members before the Uchiha surprise attack smashed it to pieces.
The Senju warriors who rushed into battle in haste fell into complete chaos. They could not withstand the Uchiha clan, who had been preparing for this moment for years and whose combat power was overwhelming.
They could only retreat step by step.
After a night of bloody battle, corpses covered the ground and the waters of the Naga River were dyed crimson.
The two strategic strongholds, the South Naga River and the North Naga River, were completely taken by the Uchiha clan.
The Senju clan suffered a crushing defeat with heavy casualties. The remaining clan members no longer had the strength to resist.
Only then did the higher-ups realize that all of this had been an Uchiha deception.
The Senju's strongest combat force, Senju Mio, was missing and her life or death was unknown.
Left with no choice, the higher-ups urgently ordered a full retreat. Gathering the last strength of the entire clan, they pulled back their defenses and desperately fortified the core area of their clan lands.