I, Uchiha, will not be whitewashed!

It was already late at night when they returned to the secret service's base. Shuoge handed the intelligence scroll to the Eagle Mask captain, who read it and remained silent for a while.

"Don't tell anyone about this." He locked the scroll in the drawer. "The three of you, today's mission is classified as top secret."

"Yes," all three answered at the same time.

Shuoge stepped out of the secret police hideout and removed his mask. Moonlight shone palely into the corridor. He tucked the mask into his waistband, slung his knife over his back, and headed towards home. Shisui was already asleep; the courtyard was quiet. He pushed open the door, leaned his knife against the wall, and sat down.

The contents of the intelligence scroll were still swirling in his mind.

Iwagakure's intelligence network, the border of the Land of Fire, an abandoned supply depot. The war is over, but the covert struggle has only just begun.

-

After discovering the Iwagakure intelligence scroll at the resource recycling point, the Anbu followed the clues and identified an Iwagakure spy network on the border of the Land of Fire.

Intelligence indicates that the head of this spy network, codenamed "Mole," is actually the village chief of the border village of Iwami—a veteran informant who provided logistical support to Konoha during the war.

The eagle-masked captain pushed the mission scroll in front of Shogo. "The Mole has been exposed and is fleeing to Iwagakure. He has a complete list of spies. Get the list and eliminate the targets."

Shuoge unrolled the scroll and glanced at the coordinates. Iwami Village, on the northwestern border of the Land of Fire, less than fifty miles from the last supply depot.

"A three-person team, you lead it." The eagle-masked man looked at him. "Crow and Fox will go with you."

Shuoge didn't say anything, folded the scroll, stuffed it into his pocket, and turned to leave the operations room.

Crow and Fox were already waiting in the corridor. Seeing Shuoge emerge, Crow nodded, but Fox remained silent. The three of them left the village through the underground passage and hurried northwest.

-

We arrived at Iwami Village early the next morning.

The village is built in a valley, distributed along a stream, with about forty or fifty households.

Shuoge stood at the village entrance, his three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotating behind his mask. He smelled blood, a strong stench emanating from the village.

"It's too late," Raven said in a low voice.

The three men entered the village. Corpses lay scattered on the road, under the eaves, and beside the well.

Men, women, the elderly, and children were all killed with knives; some even bore marks from explosive tags. Fox crouched down, examined a corpse, and turned its wrist over.

—The ninja world is just that cruel, or rather, this is the most accurate portrayal of the ninja world.

"The villagers were caught off guard," the fox said calmly. "The knife wound was from behind; it was an inside job."

Crow walked to the door of a house, pushed it open, and inside lay two corpses, a man and a woman, with no external injuries, but blood at the corners of their mouths—they had been poisoned. He stepped out and shook his head.

Shuoge didn't look at the corpses. He went straight to the largest house at the very back of the village—the village chief's house.

The door was locked, but he cleaved the lock open with a single stroke and went inside.

The room was tidy, with no signs of disturbance, but there was a pile of burnt ashes on the table. Shuoge squatted down, used the tip of his knife to brush away the ashes, and found a fragment of a partially burned scroll.

There is a rock-hidden mark on it.

"The mole did it. He massacred the village to silence them, then ran away." Shuoge stood up and stuffed the shards into his pocket. "Chase them."

The three of them followed the direction the mole had fled.

The mole was cunning, leaving fake footprints and scattering scent-eliminating powder on the road, but Sakugo's Sharingan could detect the residual chakra—those tiny, almost invisible specks of light that slowly dissipated in the air.

They chased each other for a day and a night, until they reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth.

The mole clearly wanted to escape back to Iwagakure.

But he hadn't expected the Dark Guard to catch up so quickly. At the entrance to a canyon, Shuoge and his two companions blocked his way. Two more members of the Rock Anbu Dark Guard were with Mole—they were there to meet him.

"Konoha's Anbu."

The mole's voice was hoarse, and the wrinkles on his face looked as if they had been carved by a knife. He was dressed in tattered traveler's clothes and held a short knife in his hand.

"You've been chasing me for two days, aren't you tired?"

Shuoge remained silent. His sword was already drawn.

Two members of the Rock Hidden Army rushed forward. They were fast and coordinated perfectly, blocking Shuoge's path from the left and right.

The crow and the fox went to meet them—the crow against one, the fox against the other. The four of them clashed, sparks flying from the colliding kunai in the canyon.

The mole turned and ran. He wasn't a combat-type ninja, but he was very fast.

Shuoge chased after him.

The canyon is very long, with steep rock walls on both sides and only a narrow path in the middle.

The mole ran ahead, with Shuoge chasing behind, the distance between them gradually decreasing. Suddenly, the mole stopped, turned around, and held an explosive tag in his hand.

"Don't come any closer!" His hands were trembling. "If you come any closer, I'll detonate it! This canyon will collapse, and you won't be able to escape!"

Shuoge didn't stop. He continued walking, at a moderate pace, as if he were going to the river to practice his swordsmanship.

The mole's eyes widened; he hadn't expected this masked brat to be so fearless. His fingers trembled, and the explosive tag slipped from his hand, falling to the ground without detonating.

Shuoge's knife was held to his neck.

Where is the list?

The mole's lips trembled. "I...I'll hand it over, can you spare my life?"

Shuoge did not speak.

The mole took a scroll out of his pocket and handed it over.

Shuoge took it, unfolded it, and glanced at it—a dense array of names, code names, and contact information, covering the entire intelligence network along the northwestern border of the Land of Fire. He stuffed the scroll into his pocket.

"Did you kill the villagers?"

The mole's lips trembled. "If they don't die, I'll be exposed. If I die, Iwagakure will kill my family. I have no choice."

Shuoge looked at him. There were tears, fear, guilt, and something else indescribable on that old face—despair.

"Just a high-sounding excuse." Shuoge's knife slashed across.

The mole collapsed, blood gushing from his throat, staining the pebbles beneath his feet. His eyes remained open, staring at the sky, a hazy gray, devoid of anything.

Shuoge sheathed his sword. He turned and walked out of the canyon. Behind him, Crow and Fox had already dealt with the two Rock Hidden members and were walking towards him.

"Did you get it?" Crow asked.

Shuoge patted his pocket. "Hmm."

"Did someone kill him?"

"Um."

The fox glanced at him, seemed about to say something, but then swallowed it back.

The three retraced their steps. After walking for a long time, the fox suddenly spoke. "Did he beg for mercy?"

Shuoge did not speak.

"Please," the crow said for him.

The fox was silent for a moment. "We were worried that you might be soft-hearted and influenced by what the other person said."

Shuoge did not answer. He walked at the front, his pace neither fast nor slow, his knife behind his back and his hands hanging at his sides.

Soft-hearted? Not at all.

Although he wasn't a bloodthirsty person, since he had become a ninja, he had to be prepared to kill and be killed.

-

Back at the secret service's base, Shuoge handed the list to the Eagle Mask captain. The captain read it and nodded.

"This matter is classified." He locked the list in the drawer. "You did a good job."

Shuoge didn't say anything, turned around and walked out of the operations room.

He took off his mask, tucked it into his waistband, hung the knife on his back, and walked towards home. Moonlight shone palely into the corridor. He pushed open the courtyard gate; Zhishui was already asleep, and the courtyard was quiet.

He went inside, leaned the knife against the wall, and sat down.

The mole's words were still echoing in his mind—"I had no choice."

He thought of the corpses in Iwami Village—men, women, the elderly, and children.

They had no choice.

The mole chose to kill them; he chose to kill the mole.

There is no right or wrong. There is only mission completion or incompleteness. There is only the law of the jungle, where the weak cannot even control their own lives.

He closed his eyes, and his chakra flowed slowly through his meridians.

The sun will rise again tomorrow.

-

Three days later, based on the list brought back by Sakugo, the Anbu captured the remaining members of the Iwagakure spy network within the Land of Fire. The bodies in Iwami Village were buried, and the village disappeared from the map.

No one mentioned that place anymore, and no one mentioned the mole anymore.

The mission log of the Dark Division contained only one line: Target cleared, list retrieved.

Shuoge didn't look at the record again. He sheathed his sword, removed his mask, and knew he would soon have another mission.

……

……

……

The Uchiha training grounds are located on the east side of the clan's territory, in a clearing surrounded by trees.

When Shuoge arrived, Zhishui was already practicing.

The shuriken flew from his fingers, one after another, striking the bullseye in the distance. Ten hits, bullseye. He withdrew his hand, turned around, and saw Shuoge; his eyes lit up.

"Brother Shuoge".

Shuoge nodded, walked to the center of the open space, and leaned the knife against a tree trunk.

Today, we won't use a knife, we'll use our eyes.

Shisui had already opened his eyes; a single tomoe slowly rotated in his eye socket, like a newly lit charcoal. He opened his eyes earlier than Shuoge, and his talent was no less than Shuoge's.

"The Sharingan isn't just for throwing shuriken."

Shuoge's voice was calm. "You can see the flow of chakra, you can see the contraction of your opponent's muscles, you can see the direction of the attack in the next second. But seeing it doesn't mean you can dodge it."

Shisui looked at him intently.

"The body must keep up with the eyes. If the eyes see something but the body doesn't move, it's as if you didn't see it at all." Sakugo pulled a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and held it in his hand.

"Come."

Shisui pulled out his kunai and assumed a fighting stance.

Shuoge thrust forward.

Not fast, but with a tricky angle.

Shisui's Sharingan caught the trajectory, but his body was a beat too slow. The kunai grazed his sleeve, tearing a gash. Shisui looked down at his sleeve, then looked up again, his eyes showing no frustration, only focus.

"Again."

The second time, Shuoge was a bit faster.

Shisui's body caught up, and his kunai blocked Sakugo's kunai, the sound of metal clashing crisply.

But with a flick of his wrist, Shuoge sent the dagger from the still water sliding down to a spot three inches in front of his throat.

"Your eyes are on my knife." Shuoge withdrew his hand. "But my body is moving. You need to look at my shoulders, look at my feet. The knife can lie, but the shoulders and feet cannot."

Zhi Shui nodded.

"Take a break." Shuoge walked to the tree trunk and sat down. Shisui followed and sat down next to him, twirling a kunai in his hand.

Footsteps echoed through the woods.

A boy, about four or five years old, with black hair and big eyes, peeked out from behind the bushes. Behind him followed a girl of the same age, with her hair in a ponytail and holding a bunch of wildflowers.

"Brother Zhishui!" The boy ran over, but slowed down when he saw Shuoge. He looked up at Shuoge, his eyes filled with curiosity and a little fear.

"This is Itachi," Shisui introduced. "This is Izumi."

Itachi. Uchiha Itachi. Sakugo looked down at the child, four years old, not yet fully grown, with chubby cheeks.

He remembered the boy in the original story, standing in the moonlight, his face streaked with tears, the man who killed his entire clan on the night of their extermination. Now, he was just a child, an ordinary child who could run, laugh, and hide behind Shisui.

"Hello," Itachi said softly.

Shuoge nodded.

He wasn't very good at taking care of children, and the person in front of him wasn't an ordinary child either.

Izumi handed the wildflowers she was holding to Shisui. "Here you go."

Shisui took it, paused for a moment, then smiled. "Thank you."

Shuoge looked at them.

Shisui smiled, Itachi stood timidly to the side, and Izumi lowered her head and played with her hair.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, falling warmly on the three people.

He thought of Jing, and of how, when Jing was still alive, they would sit in the courtyard like this, drinking tea and not saying a word. Those days would never return.

But at least, these children don't have to go through what he went through.

A distant cry of an eagle could be heard—not an eagle, but a signal from the secret service.

Shuoge stood up, picked up his knife, and slung it behind his back. "That's enough for today."

Shisui looked at Shuoge and understood that there was a mission. That was the downside of the Dark Division; unexpected missions could come up at any time.

"When are you coming back?"

"have no idea."

Sakugo left. Shisui sat under the tree, holding the bunch of wildflowers in her hand, watching his figure disappear into the woods. Itachi stood beside her, watching as well.

"Who is Brother Zhishui?"

"My brother."

"Is he very good?"

"Hmm. Very impressive."

Itachi didn't ask any more questions. He lowered his head and looked at his hands. His hands were small, his fingers short, but he clenched his fist and then relaxed it. He wanted to become as powerful as that person.

Izumi stood to the side, unaware of what they were talking about, and simply looked down at her hair.

The signal from the Dark Guard came from the west side of the village. When Shuoge arrived at the rendezvous point, Crow and Fox were already there. The Eagle Masked Captain stood before them, holding a scroll in his hand.

"Orochimaru's whereabouts. Someone discovered one of his laboratories on the southwestern border of the Land of Fire." The captain handed the scroll to Sakugo. "Mission objective: Clean up the laboratory, leaving no trace."

Shuoge took the scroll, glanced at the coordinates, and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Set off."

The three people disappeared into the night.

Shisui was still practicing his shuriken in the training ground. Itachi sat beside him, watching him. Izumi had already gone home; she had arranged wildflowers in a vase and placed it on the windowsill.

The moonlight shone on the petals, giving them a soft glow.

The village was very quiet.

Shisui threw the shuriken, which landed on the target and made the iron ring on the bullseye clang.