Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 147 Obito: What a madman!
The setting sun was gradually swallowed by the night, leaving only a last ray of afterglow.

Itachi Uchiha's figure was stretched long by the red light, his steps carrying an indescribable weariness, but the physical exhaustion was far less than the heaviness in his heart.

“Kohinata Mukai…” he murmured softly.

After tomorrow, Kohinata Mukai will take a month-long break. After learning about this from Shimura Danzo, he and Shisui have decided to take action tomorrow.

Although he didn't tell anyone his thoughts, Danzo Shimura seemed to have foreseen everything, as both his mission schedule and Shisui's mission schedule were cleverly cleared.

In other words, Danzo has paved the way for this assassination, and tomorrow will be the best opportunity to kill the ninja from his own village.

Although the other party is a traitor, he is still one of my compatriots and still a partner in the village.

It would be a lie to say that there was no hesitation whatsoever.

But this was the most important mission he had ever undertaken since becoming a ninja, far more important than any mission he had ever experienced.

Itachi Uchiha knew that this was a test.

Therefore, he could not refuse, nor should he refuse.

"Kohinata Mukai has been secretly contacting Kirigakure and has been leaking the village's important secrets for a long time. He is a traitor, a spy, and is no longer an ally..."

Uchiha Itachi repeatedly recited the words from the intelligence report in his mind, barely managing to suppress the surging sense of guilt in his heart.

A cold rationality replaced the last vestige of emotion.

"call……"

Before he knew it, he had reached his front door, exhaled a slightly cool breath, and opened the door.

The living room was dimly lit, but you could still see a figure sitting in the shadows.

"came back?"

The deep, resonant voice reached Itachi's ears, causing him to pause, a mixture of resistance and irritation quietly rising within him.

Without a doubt, that was his father, Uchiha Fugaku.

When exactly did it begin that being alone with his father made him feel so suffocated and unbearable?
"Ah."

Uchiha Itachi responded calmly, his voice flat and unwavering. He didn't stop walking, wanting only to walk straight through the living room back to his room and get away from that uncomfortable gaze.

"Wait." Fugaku's tone was firm and unyielding, his deep gaze almost tangible in the dim light. "I have something to tell you."

"..."

Itachi Uchiha stopped in his tracks, turned around, and silently looked at his father.

The light outlined Fugaku's sharply defined profile, making his eyes appear particularly sharp in the shadows.

"It'll be tomorrow, right?"

Fugaku Uchiha asked in a calm tone, but it was like a boulder crashing into Itachi's heart.

How could Father have known?
Itachi's breath hitched almost imperceptibly as he tried to keep his face calm, but all the muscles in his body tensed up instantly.

How much did the father actually know?

From whom did you hear about the mission?

The source of the information can only be Danzo, but why would Danzo leak the mission to his father?

Doubts clung to him like a spiderweb, leaving him momentarily confused and disoriented.

"hehe."

Fugaku Uchiha chuckled softly, his tone tinged with barely perceptible pride: "As expected of my child, he's only been in the Anbu for a short time, and he's already going to carry out such an important mission."

His words made it sound as if Itachi was embarking on a glorious road leading to the core of power, rather than carrying out an assassination mission with an uncertain fate.

Uchiha Itachi remained silent, but his lowered eyes grew increasingly gloomy.

"Itachi, it seems the village leadership really values ​​you." Fugaku lowered his voice even further. "If this mission succeeds, you'll gain their trust."

"This is an unprecedented opportunity for our people."

Uchiha Itachi looked up in astonishment, only to be met with a pair of burning eyes, a flame he least wanted to see.

why?
Why did even the father, who maintained a neutral stance,...

“We have always done our best for the village, but we have not received the reward we deserve.”

Fugaku's voice was heavy as he slowly said, "Our people have been enduring this for a long time, but that endurance has now reached its limit."

enough.

Stop.

Please stop talking, Father...

Itachi Uchiha opened his mouth, but his throat was tightly gripped by an invisible force, preventing him from making a sound.

"I am prepared to endorse the actions of the Eighth Hokage and his team, and I have decided to fight to win the rightful voice for the Uchiha clan."

Finally, Fugaku Uchiha uttered his words, each one like a cold shackle, making Itachi almost unable to breathe.

The things he hated most resurfaced in his mind.

Meaningless disputes.

A meaningless war.

Meaningless death.

"Itachi."

Fugaku Uchiha called out his son's name again.

But Itachi felt like an outsider, coldly listening to his name being called.

“I need you to gather intelligence in the shadows and report back to us,” Fugaku said, staring at his unresponsive son. “The intelligence you bring will affect the fate of our clan.”

Traitor...spy...

Two cold yet familiar words crashed into Itachi's mind, making him seem to see Kohinata Mukai's face, as if a strong sense of dizziness and nausea was coming over him.

They are all companions from the same village, but they are passing on information from one side to the other. How is this behavior any different from being boundless?
"Will I also become one of those boundless beings?" Itachi asked himself.

No, he joined the Anbu not to fulfill the Uchiha clan's ambitions.

From the moment his father took him to the battlefield and he witnessed the horrific tragedy it brought, he vowed to become a ninja who could change the world and eliminate unnecessary conflicts.

He loathed pointless fighting and death. Joining the Dark Side was merely a small step towards his goals.

Konoha is already mired in war, and if the village were to descend into internal strife at this time...

Moreover, the Anbu are now monitoring the Uchiha clan 24 hours a day, and their every move is under the village's watchful eyes and ears.

Therefore, the path that my father and his companions have embarked on is one destined to fail.

"Itachi."

Seeing that Itachi hadn't responded yet, Fugaku Uchiha's voice was very low, almost like he was begging him.

"……Yes."

The pain in Itachi's heart turned into calm, and he naturally uttered the lie: "I will do it."

At this moment, neither Itachi Uchiha nor Fugaku Uchiha, this father and son, truly realized each other's true intentions.

Fugaku Uchiha may have harbored a sliver of hope that Itachi would rise to the upper echelons of Konoha, and that Itachi's return with the information was merely a means to maintain order among his clansmen.

Nowadays, Konoha's prejudice against the Uchiha clan is growing deeper, with some even calling them a "clan that is dragging us down."

This made Fugaku Uchiha suspect that it was the higher-ups who were instructing him to send Itachi back with information, at least to confirm that the village's higher-ups did not intend to take action against them.

Unfortunately, Fugaku Uchiha was still hesitant and one step away from siding with the radicals, but in Itachi Uchiha's eyes, this was tantamount to betrayal.

Not only did he send himself to gather intelligence on high-level officials, but he also wanted to gain control of the narrative through struggle. What else could this be but preparing for a coup?
In his view, his father, who had always been neutral, had also been blinded by hatred and could not see the way forward.

Therefore, Itachi Uchiha had already made up his mind at this moment.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to either of them, two figures were hidden in a tree some distance away.

"Hmph." Obito Uchiha sneered, "Danzo's brainwashing ability is really impressive. It seems that Itachi Uchiha will make his own choice without our guidance."

After saying that, he turned to look at the black and white Zetsu beside him and asked, "Was Madara Uchiha's personality this twisted back then?"

Black Zetsu also felt a little strange, not expecting the plan to proceed so smoothly.

This Uchiha Itachi was so cold and rational that it was almost twisted, completely different from the emotional, impulsive, and clan-loving Uchiha Madara.

However, this does not mean that Itachi Uchiha had no emotions.

On the contrary, in Black Zetsu's view, this guy was the most extreme and obsessive Indra reincarnation he had seen in the past thousand years. The more his emotions were suppressed by reason, the stronger they became when they erupted.

“I’m certain now,” Black Zetsu said in a hoarse voice, “He definitely has the potential to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan.”

Obito Uchiha, who had been skeptical, no longer doubted him and simply asked, "The Mangekyou Sharingan isn't important; what's important is whether he can awaken the Rinnegan."

"Heh heh." Black gazed at Uchiha Itachi in the distance, as if he could see the darkness in his heart, and chuckled softly, "Then we'll see how far our plan can go."

It must make Itachi Uchiha obtain the Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan, and then let him see the stone tablet that it had altered in the underground of the Naka Shrine, just like Madara Uchiha had done before.

Until then...

Black Zetsu could already imagine the scene of him regaining the Rinnegan.

------

In the early morning, a thin mist hangs in the air, and the damp, cool scent of grass and trees permeates the forest.

Itachi Uchiha set off very early and arrived at the agreed meeting point almost at the same time as Shisui Uchiha.

"Itachi," Shisui greeted first, smiling, "Are you ready?"

Uchiha Itachi nodded, his eyes extremely calm.

Seeing this, Shisui, who knew Itachi very well, immediately guessed that something must have happened to Itachi after he returned home last night...

"Itachi, what happened?" Uchiha Shisui's smile vanished, and his expression became serious and solemn.

Itachi Uchiha opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything for a long time. Seeing this, Shisui walked up to him and smiled, "You should understand that I feel the same way you do."

Itachi certainly knew this; they shared the same ambition.

The atmosphere at the secret monthly meetings held at the Nanga Shrine grew increasingly tense, with both men believing that the villagers' resentment and anger towards the village had reached its limit.

We must do everything we can to prevent the discontent among our clansmen from erupting completely.

If the Uchiha clan rebels, the village will be dragged into conflict and once again shrouded in death.

This was a shared idea between them; they had both transcended the limitations of their own kind and were able to see further.

“Father said,” Itachi said in a deep voice, “that he is prepared to agree with the radical clansmen’s ideas at the next meeting and take control of the Uchiha clan’s voice from the higher-ups through a struggle.”

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shisui's expression changed slightly, and he frowned, saying, "How could this be? Didn't Lord Fugaku maintain neutrality and try his best to eliminate the dissatisfaction of the clan members?"

“It’s because of me,” Itachi Uchiha said, revealing his guess. “I joined the Anbu, which gave my father hope. He wanted me to gather intelligence on the higher-ups and work from the inside out.”

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shisui fell silent.

He knew very well that once Fugaku Uchiha, as the clan head, clearly sided with the radical clan members, the already fragile balance within the clan would be completely shattered.

Even those clansmen who were initially undecided would side with the radicals; a coup d'état within the Uchiha clan was already foreseeable.

"Itachi, actually..."

Uchiha Shisui's eyes flickered, and he opened his mouth as if to say something.

rustle.

It wasn't deliberately concealed; it was just normal footsteps, treading on fallen leaves in the woods, approaching from afar.

Itachi and Shisui instantly became alert, their eyes fixed on the source of the sound.

Two figures slowly emerged from the swaying shadows of the jungle.

One of the men was nearing middle age, swaggering around with a bottle of liquor in his hand, his eyes only revealing a faint white depth.

This is precisely what Shisui and Itachi are targeting this time.

Kohinata Mukai.

And the other person...

"first meet."

He stopped and stood in front of the two men, a slight smile on his lips, and said in a gentle tone, "I was temporarily sent by the Third Generation Lord to join this mission."

"My name is Hinata Kumokawa."

(End of this chapter)