"You just said… you could do what with those eyes?"
Looking up, Itachi saw Yuahara and Shisui walking side by side, with the fully equipped Uchiha elites following behind them.
Those scarlet eyes glowed eerily under the moonlight, a chilling aura blanketing the clan grounds—and weighing heavily over Uchiha Itachi.
"Come out. We've long since noticed you." Yuahara glanced at Itachi, then turned toward the side.
Previously, Yuahara wouldn't have been able to sense someone hiding in a pocket of space. But ever since he obtained Voidstep, his spatial awareness had sharpened, and he easily picked up on the spatial disturbance.
"My, aren't the kids these days impressive? You found me, huh?" a voice echoed from the void.
The air twisted into a spiral, and from within it, a masked figure emerged.
He looked at Yuahara, visibly surprised. It was the first time someone had pulled him out of his hiding like that.
"Sharingan… those patterns… Mangekyō?"
Yuahara's gaze locked on the figure. Then he shifted to Itachi.
"Itachi, I'm truly disappointed in you—disappointed in your choices, in your actions. You don't deserve to be called one of us."
"What do you even understand about the meaning of clan and village, Yuahara? What right do you have to lecture me?"
Itachi frowned, keeping most of his attention on Shisui and his father. As for Yuahara—he honestly didn't care.
Yuahara might be a genius, but compared to Shisui? No contest. And Itachi had disliked him from the start—Yuahara's way of thinking was too different. He clearly wasn't someone loyal to the Hokage.
"As a jōnin of Konoha, I do have that right. And as the new Uchiha clan head, I have even more."
Yuahara calmly raised his hand. The elites behind him immediately fanned out into a loose semicircle, surrounding Itachi and the masked man.
They knew full well they probably couldn't intervene in this kind of fight. But if their clan head was moving against the one trying to destroy the clan, they wouldn't sit idle.
"New clan head…?" Itachi and Obito both frowned. Itachi instinctively looked to his father.
But to his shock, Fugaku didn't object—he simply stood there in silent agreement.
When had the Uchiha changed leaders?
"Interesting," Obito chuckled, mockery dripping from his voice. "Seems I've been gone too long. The clan's gotten even worse. Now even a brat like you can be clan head?"
"I became clan head because I earned it. You, on the other hand, disgust me."
Yuahara arched an eyebrow, then looked straight at Obito and said meaningfully,
"You may be Uchiha, but I don't recall anyone like you in the clan. You must be one of the exiled. But really, your identity doesn't matter. Call yourself Madara or whatever—it means nothing."
He cut off Obito's possible theatrics.
"What does matter… is the Nine-Tails incident eight years ago. I wonder—do you all still remember it?"
The moment the words left his mouth, the Uchiha present—including Fugaku—had their expressions twist.
The Nine-Tails attack was the beginning of their fall. No one could forget it.
And they all hated the one who had controlled the beast.
All eyes turned to Obito, now burning with killing intent.
Itachi, meanwhile, remained calm. He'd suspected this from the moment he met this self-proclaimed Madara. But he'd chosen not to speak of it—he wanted to confirm it himself.
"Oh? Took you long enough." Obito said indifferently. "Yeah, I controlled the Nine-Tails back then. Thought you'd all forgotten."
"Forget something like that? Never."
Yuahara locked eyes with Itachi.
"The Nine-Tails attack made the village leaders decide we were behind it. For eight years, we've suffered suspicion and discrimination. That's what made us lose faith in the Hokage. That's why some of us thought of rebelling. And that same attack killed the Fourth Hokage and his wife."
"And you, Itachi—you're working with him? Wow. You're so noble."
His Sharingan began to spin, a sharp coldness rising in his presence.
Fugaku and Shisui also glared at Obito with murderous intent. Their looks toward Itachi had lost all trace of compassion—only icy detachment remained.
In an instant, all three of them activated their Mangekyō Sharingan before Itachi's stunned eyes and Obito's slight scowl.
"You said your eyes were enough. That you weren't alone."
Yuahara's voice rang out again, cold and calm, as chakra surged around him.
"Then let's see how you two stand against three Mangekyō."
"And Itachi… from this day forward, by my right as clan head—I strip you of the Uchiha name. You are no longer part of this clan."
"Hand over your eyes. And…"
In a flash, Yuahara appeared before him, blade gleaming with killing intent.
"Your life!"