Chapter 500: Coordinates

Chapter 500: Chapter 500: Coordinates

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

A group of figures sped through the forest at astonishing speed, looking like ghosts that left nothing but afterimages in their wake.

If a dojutsu user with exceptional powers of perception were here, they would discover that this entire group consisted of fully armed elites from the Uchiha Police Force. Among them was even the current head of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Fugaku.

The person these Uchiha elites were pursuing was a member of the Akatsuki dressed in a black cloak patterned with red clouds. Judging by the scarlet eyes within the Akatsuki member’s sockets, he too was an Uchiha.

"Shinichi, stop running! Turn back!"

Fugaku’s three-tomoe Sharingan remained firmly locked onto the figure ahead as he shouted.

Without a doubt, the Akatsuki member being pursued by the Uchiha elites was none other than Uchiha Shinichi, who had defected from Konoha and joined the Akatsuki.

Shinichi glanced back at his clansmen but said nothing.

In truth, this entire chase had been deliberately orchestrated by Shinichi.

The moment he received Nagato’s order for everyone to retreat, he immediately realized that Nagato must be preparing to unleash some kind of massively destructive technique.

So he had deliberately shown himself in front of the Uchiha clansmen, luring the Uchiha elites into chasing him out of the village. By the narrowest of margins, they had managed to avoid the Shinra Tensei that the Deva Path had been preparing for so long.

At that moment, Fugaku called out from behind him once more, trying to persuade him.

"I know you still harbor resentment toward the village, but that’s no reason to defect! You saw what happened just now, didn’t you? The Akatsuki are all madmen! Nothing good will come from following them!"

When the Deva Path unleashed that large-scale Shinra Tensei, the two sides—one fleeing and the other pursuing—had just reached the village’s outer wall.

As a result, every one of them had witnessed that terrifying scene with their own eyes.

In just an instant, Konoha—the village that had stood at the pinnacle of the shinobi world for decades—had been reduced to ruins!

Fugaku, who also possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, had keenly noticed the look of shock that appeared on Shinichi’s face when he witnessed the scene. From that alone, he understood that Shinichi definitely hadn’t known about it beforehand.

Hearing Fugaku’s words, Shinichi curled his lips dismissively.

When he had first decided to defect, he truly had hated the village and the clan to the bone. He had felt as though everyone had betrayed him, and it was precisely because of this that he had even awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.

But after being defeated and subdued by Hyuga Kagami, and after learning that there was a possibility his beloved Uchiha Yui could be revived, the hatred he held toward the village and the clan gradually gave way to anger at having been manipulated by Obito.

By now, he no longer held much hatred toward either the village or the clan.

On the contrary, after learning the truth of what had happened and discovering that the mastermind manipulating everything from behind the scenes was the man in the Akatsuki who called himself ’Uchiha Madara,’ Shinichi—proud and unruly like every Uchiha—immediately redirected all of his hatred toward him and willingly became Kagami’s spy within the Akatsuki.

That was also why he had deliberately lured his clansmen out of the village, allowing them to escape the catastrophe that had just struck.

But he couldn’t tell them any of this.

Because from the shadows, a pair of eyes was constantly watching him.

Ever since the three Great Shinobi Villages had joined forces to launch a surprise attack on Amegakure, Nagato and Obito had tightened their surveillance within the Akatsuki. Perhaps sensing that Shinichi’s attitude was becoming increasingly perfunctory, Obito had even assigned a White Zetsu clone to monitor him twenty-four hours a day.

In the past, even though he had been under surveillance, Shinichi’s exceptional sensory abilities meant that the White Zetsu clone monitoring him didn’t dare get too close. This had given Shinichi plenty of opportunities to secretly pass Akatsuki intelligence to Kagami.

But now, under Obito’s orders, the White Zetsu clone monitoring Shinichi no longer cared whether Shinichi noticed him or not.

It simply watched him openly from the shadows.

As a result, Shinichi had no opportunity whatsoever to pass intelligence to Kagami, nor could he explain anything to Fugaku and the others pursuing him.

A short while later, Shinichi stopped in a relatively open clearing within the forest.

The elites of the Uchiha Police Force pursuing him also came to a halt one after another. They immediately spread out into formation, forming a circle around Shinichi and trapping him in the center.

At that moment, Fugaku stepped forward and said solemnly, "Danzo’s Root has already been disbanded by the village. Let go of what happened in the past. The village needs you now, and so does the clan! The Mangekyo Sharingan must not become a weapon for the enemy to use against the village!"

Fugaku had considered launching a coup, but he had never once considered defecting from Konoha.

In the original timeline, even after the coup failed, he had chosen to calmly accept death without ever showing the slightest intention of defecting. In the heart of this Uchiha clan head, the Uchiha and Konoha had long since become inseparable.

He would never allow an outside enemy to use the Sharingan to bring harm to the village.

Shinichi laughed. "Don’t you think it’s a little ridiculous to say all that now?"

Fugaku replied calmly, "There’s nothing ridiculous about it. The village has been destroyed, but it can be rebuilt. As long as the Uchiha remain, Konoha will never perish."

In a certain sense, this Akatsuki attack wasn’t necessarily a bad thing for the Uchiha clan.

With the village destroyed, the Hokage faction was bound to suffer a devastating blow. Meanwhile, as one of Konoha’s founding clans, the Uchiha would naturally be able to obtain greater authority within the village.

After all, because they had been pursuing Shinichi, the Uchiha elites had escaped the previous large-scale Shinra Tensei without suffering any losses.

Shinichi said mockingly, "With just the lot of you? You can’t keep me here!"

Seeing that Shinichi showed no intention of repenting, Fugaku shook his head. "As the clan head, I have no choice but to capture you myself!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Fugaku’s scarlet eyes suddenly changed.

The three tomoe transformed into a three-bladed shuriken pattern similar in shape to Itachi’s Mangekyo Sharingan, except the blades were somewhat thinner, with an additional black dot between each blade.

"Mangekyo Sharingan!?"

Shinichi froze for a moment before asking in surprise, "You have the Mangekyo Sharingan too? Why didn’t you say anything!?"

Fugaku crossed his arms over his chest. "I concealed it for the sake of the clan. I simply never expected that your generation would produce two outstanding clansmen with the Mangekyo Sharingan—you and Shisui. So if you return to the clan, our Uchiha clan will be able to try obtaining the position of Hokage through legitimate means."

After recovering from his initial surprise, Shinichi smiled.

"You’re still hung up on becoming Hokage?

"Clan Head, you have no idea what kind of power our leader possesses, nor do you understand what kind of enemy the village is facing!"

Fugaku’s expression turned solemn.

"In that case, we’ll have to settle this by force!"

Before Fugaku had even finished speaking, Shinichi suddenly realized that everything around him had turned black and white.

Even the boundaries between objects began to blur.

Everything was becoming indistinct.

"What a powerful genjutsu!"

Despite realizing that he had fallen into an illusion, the corner of Shinichi’s mouth curled upward instead.

He looked at Fugaku and gave him a set of coordinates.

Fugaku frowned in confusion. "Those are coordinates, aren’t they? Somewhere in the Land of Iron? What exactly are you trying to tell me?"

Shinichi replied, "The coordinates I just gave you are the location of the Akatsuki’s new hideout!"