Konoha. The Uchiha District.
Inside the clan head's estate, Uchiha Fugaku's hearty laughter echoed through the halls. "Hahaha! Truly worthy of being my son!"
Fugaku gazed at the pair of scarlet, two-tomoe Sharingan in Uchiha Itachi's eyes, his face beaming with pride. He was so consumed by the sight of his son's growth that he failed to notice the boy's hollow gaze or the suffocating gloom swirling in the depths of his pupils.
Itachi, having just returned from his mission, stood with bloodshot eyes. His mind was a chaotic loop of the moment his teammates and teacher were slaughtered.
Specifically, he saw Tenma. Tenma, who had lunged forward to protect him, screaming for Itachi to run even as blood sprayed across the forest floor. Just days ago, they had been chasing cats together; Itachi had finally been accepted by Tenma and Shinko. They had become friends.
Now, of that small squad, only he remained.
In the crucible of extreme terror and the grief of losing his comrades, Itachi's Sharingan had matured to two tomoe. In that heightened state, he had glimpsed the single, scarlet eye behind the tiger-masked man's visage.
He couldn't understand. Why was there an Uchiha wandering outside the village? And why would a kinsman strike down Leaf shinobi so ruthlessly?
Fugaku's laughter continued. Itachi was eight years old—a genius of his caliber not having awakened his eyes yet had been a quiet source of concern.
But to Itachi, his father's laughter felt like glass shards against his skin. He clenched his fists, his heart churning with a dark, bitter emotion. His teammates were dead. His teacher was gone. Was this pair of eyes truly worth celebrating?
Shuu—!
An Anbu operative suddenly appeared atop the courtyard wall. "Clan Head Fugaku! The Hokage has issued an emergency summons for you at the Konoha Hospital!"
"Hmm? The hospital?" Fugaku's smile vanished instantly. His brow furrowed as he asked, "Can you disclose the nature of the situation?"
"You have the clearance," the Anbu whispered, his voice low. "Uchiha Shisui has failed his mission. He has returned with severe injuries."
The air in the courtyard froze. Fugaku's expression turned grim, and Itachi's head snapped up.
Shisui!
The man widely considered the greatest prodigy in the clan... had failed? And was injured?
"I'm leaving immediately," Fugaku declared.
As the Anbu vanished, Fugaku caught sight of his son's trembling lip. "Stay here and rest," he commanded. "I'm going to see Shisui."
Itachi opened his mouth to speak, but his hand froze at his side. He simply lowered his head. "Yes, Father."
Konoha Hospital.
Following the Anbu's lead, Fugaku went straight to a third-floor private room. Upon knocking, the Third Hokage's voice drifted from within: "Enter."
Fugaku pushed the door open. Inside the sterile room, Uchiha Shisui lay in bed, his left eye obscured by a thick wrap of white gauze. The air was heavy with the sharp scent of disinfectant and a faint, metallic trace of blood.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, clad in his Hokage robes and hat, sat in a chair by the bedside, his features etched with worry.
"Fugaku, you're here," Hiruzen noted, looking up.
"Lord Patriarch..." Shisui called out weakly, struggling to sit up.
Fugaku stepped forward, gently pressing Shisui back down before taking a seat across from him. "Lord Hokage."
He stared at the bed-bound youth, then at the bandages over Shisui's eye. "Shisui's eye..."
"The enemy took it," Shisui said softly.
Fugaku's pupils contracted in shock. What kind of monster could physically rip an eye out of Shisui?
"Who was the enemy?" Fugaku's voice was a low, dangerous rumble. When had the Uchiha Clan ever endured such a blatant insult?
"That... is why I asked you here, Fugaku," Hiruzen sighed.
Fugaku looked at the Third Hokage, confused by the weight of the old man's gaze.
"The enemy in Hoshigakure..." Shisui turned his remaining right eye toward his clan head, his voice strained. "There was an Uchiha among them. One who has awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan."
Fugaku sat petrified. A stray Uchiha bloodline—one with the Mangekyo!
"Are you certain, Shisui?" Even coming from Shisui, the claim felt impossible.
Shisui nodded. "She looked to be about my age, but she was terrifying. My squad didn't last a single round before Baiyun-senpai and Hyuga-senpai were incapacitated."
"Even after I activated my own Sharingan, I was completely suppressed."
As he recalled the dark-red skeletal giant looming over him like a mountain, Shisui's right pupil trembled.
"If her teammate hadn't been occupied with the Stone shinobi, giving me a chance to lure her away and escape, none of us would have made it back."
Fugaku didn't need the details; he could already imagine the sheer lethality of the encounter.
"What is her name?" Fugaku asked sternly.
Shisui hesitated. "She calls herself 'Nanashi' (The Nameless). She claimed she was once a 'weapon' of the Uchiha, only to be discarded. She harbors a profound hatred for our clan."
Nameless? Weapon? Discarded?
Fugaku crossed his arms, his brow deepening into a map of confusion. An Uchiha this powerful couldn't have lived in obscurity, and the idea of the clan "discarding" such a talent was nonsensical.
He looked up and met Hiruzen's gaze. He understood why the Hokage had called him.
"Lord Hokage," Fugaku began, his voice firm. "Since I took over as Patriarch, every Uchiha who has awakened their eyes has been accounted for. Even those born to women who married out are brought back the moment their eyes manifest."
Fugaku emphasized the word since.
Then, he offered another possibility. "However... when that man left the village all those years ago... whether he took other clansmen with him... remains unknown."
He didn't say the name, but Hiruzen knew exactly who he meant: Uchiha Madara.
"I believe you," Hiruzen sighed, before adding one more piece of the puzzle. "Aside from this Uchiha girl, there was also an individual suspected of being an Uzumaki survivor."
"The Uzumaki!" Fugaku thought of Kushina, who had died years ago, and Mito Uzumaki before her.
The clan had been wiped out for over a decade. A stray Uchiha and a stray Uzumaki? What kind of dangerous alliance was this?
Hiruzen's aged voice grew raspy. "The situation in Hoshigakure is far worse than I anticipated. According to Shisui's report, the mastermind behind the Hoshigakure rebellion is too powerful for a mere squad to handle. Resolving this... would require a full-scale war."
And currently, neither Konoha, Suna, nor Iwa had the strength left to wage one.