I, Uchiha, will not be whitewashed!

After the Third Shinobi World War, Konoha enjoyed a long-awaited period of peace.

The gateposts at the village entrance have been repainted, and a new portrait has been added to the Hokage Rock—Minato Namikaze, his golden hair gleaming in the sunlight.

The streets are busier, the grocery stores are doing business again, and there are queues at Ichiraku Ramen again.

The children ran around on the playground, their laughter coming from the direction of the school, intermittent and like wind chimes.

Peace is real.

The five major powers were too exhausted to continue fighting. Treaties were signed, prisoners were exchanged, and most of the border outposts were withdrawn.

The Third Hokage abdicated, and Minato took over. The Konoha flag flew atop the Hokage Building, red with white lettering that read "Fire".

But in the shadows, there has never been peace.

Beneath the Rain Village, a man wearing an orange mask stood in the darkness. His eyes, visible through the holes in the mask, were blood red, and the three tomoe slowly rotated.

He stared at the map of the tailed beasts on the wall, his gaze landing on the location of the Land of Fire.

Nine-tailed.

His finger touched the map lightly, like a raindrop falling on a stone slab.

-

In the Hidden Leaf Village's secret police outpost, Sakugo sat at the end of the corridor, his mask tucked into his waistband and his sword resting beside him.

He had just returned from a mission, his clothes still stained with blood. Shisui's letter was still in his pocket; he hadn't opened it. He knew what it said—training, shuriken, waiting for your return.

-

On the top floor of the Hokage Building, Minato stood by the window, looking at Konoha Village under the moonlight.

Kushina is due to give birth in a month, and the Third Hokage said he would arrange the best medical care.

He smiled faintly.

He remembered what Lady Mito had said—"The seal weakens when a Jinchūriki gives birth." He looked down at the Flying Thunder God technique seal on his right palm.

Peace is real. But peace won't last long.

Outside the window, the moon is round and bright.

The moonlight shone on every street in Konoha Village, on the Hokage Rock, and on the bouquet of flowers that hadn't yet dried before the memorial stone. Everything was quiet.

But danger lurks in the darkness.

……

……

……

Late at night, in Konoha Village.

Shuoge was awakened by a tremor.

It wasn't an earthquake, but rather the vibration caused by something huge, heavy, like a mountain, hitting the ground.

He sat up abruptly, the knife already in his hand. Outside the window, the sky was red. Not a sunset, but flames, chakra, a gigantic fox that blotted out the moon.

Nine-tailed.

Shuoge remained calm. He had been waiting for this day for a long time. He put on his ANBU uniform, donned a white mask, slung his knife behind his back, and pushed open the door.

Zhi Shui stood in the courtyard, looking up at the giant red beast, its pupils reflecting the firelight.

"Go back. No matter what you hear, don't come out."

Zhi Shui looked at him, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but she swallowed it back. He turned and ran back into the house, closing the door behind him.

-

Shuoge ran towards the center of the village.

The road was littered with ruins, fires, and cries of agony. He didn't stop, not to rescue people, nor to kill the Nine-Tails—he couldn't.

He went to find someone.

Lin's residence is a small apartment near the medical department.

When Shuoge kicked open the door, Lin was standing by the window in her pajamas, looking at the Nine-Tailed Fox in the distance. She turned her head, saw Shuoge, and paused for a moment.

"Come with me."

Lin didn't ask. She grabbed a coat and ran out after Shuoge.

The two ran through the burning streets, avoiding the collapsed buildings, and headed towards the Fire Shadow Rock.

Lin didn't know where Shuoge was taking her, but she didn't ask.

She trusted him.

Below the Fire Shadow Rock lies a clearing shrouded in shadow.

Shuoge stopped and had Lin stand behind a large tree. "Wait here. No matter what you see, don't come out."

Lin looked at him. "What are you going to do?"

"To meet someone."

Sakugo removed his mask, revealing his face. His three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotated in the firelight. He turned and walked towards the Nine-Tails.

The nine-tailed fox wreaked havoc in the center of the village.

Minato stood on the Hokage Rock, his hands forming hand seals, ready to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport the Nine-Tails away. Kushina lay behind him, covered in blood, unable to speak.

The Third Hokage, along with the Anbu and Root, organized the evacuation of the village and directed the battle.

Sakugo did not go to Minato, nor did he go to the Third Generation.

He stood in the shadows below the Hokage Rock, looking up at the man wearing an orange mask in the sky.

The masked man floated above the Nine-Tails, controlling its movements with his right hand and holding an iron chain in his left.

Sakugo's Sharingan detected that person's chakra—a familiar Sharingan chakra, carrying a chilling aura. Obito.

He took a deep breath and ran towards the masked man. He moved quickly, avoiding the ANBU's sight and the area of ​​battle, and circled around to the back of the Hokage Rock.

The masked man seemed to sense something, turned his head, and the Sharingan in the hole of his mask met Sakugo's eyes.

"Obito." Sakugo's voice wasn't loud, but it was clear.

The masked man's body stiffened for a moment. He didn't speak, but the fluctuations in his chakra betrayed his emotions.

"Lin is still alive." Shuoge's voice was calm.

These four simple words are like a spell that freezes you in place.

The masked man's Sharingan contracted violently. His fingers trembled, and his control over the Nine-Tails briefly faltered. He didn't speak, but his body vanished into thin air.

The next moment, he appeared in the shadows beneath the Hokage Rock. Rin stood under the tree, watching him.

The masked man froze.

Lin took a step forward. Her lips trembled, and her eyes were red, but she didn't cry. She looked at the orange mask, at the blood-red eyes through the holes in the mask.

"Obito. Is that you?"

Obito didn't speak. His hands were trembling, and his chakra was surging. He thought he was seeing a genjutsu, an illusion, part of the "false world" Madara had mentioned.

But he could hear Lin's breathing, see the tears glistening on her eyelashes, and smell her scent—it was her. It was real.

He took off his mask.

His face was covered in scars; the right side of his face had been crushed by rocks. Although it had been repaired by White Zetsu, the marks could never be erased.

His eyes were red, and his Mangekyou Sharingan slowly rotated in his eye sockets.

He looked at Lin, his lips trembling.

"Lin...is it really...you?"

"It's me," Lin said softly. "It really is me. Shuoge saved me."

Obito turned his head and looked at Sakugo, who was standing not far away.

The man was wearing an ANBU uniform, a white mask tucked into his waistband, a sword on his back, and his three-tomoe Sharingan slowly rotating in the firelight.

Of course he knew this guy.

A classmate at the Ninja Academy, a member of the Uchiha clan, and Rin's deskmate.

That cold, aloof guy who never speaks.

Kai chased after him, Kakashi challenged him to a sword fight, and when Rin changed his bandages, he didn't even flinch.

His name is Sakugo, Uchiha Sakugo.

On the eastern front, he single-handedly held off the Raikage and saved Rin. Now he stands here, wearing the uniform of the Anbu, now a member of the Anbu directly under the Hokage.

"You saved her..." Obito's voice was hoarse. "Thank you."

A crack appeared in my long-sealed heart, like a layer of ice.

"..."

Shuoge didn't speak; he wasn't good at this kind of "emotional appeal."

Obito remained silent for a long time. He turned his head and looked at Rin, at the traces of tears on her face. He remembered Madara's words—"This world is false," "Only the Eye of the Moon can create true peace," "Rin is dead; what you see is all an illusion."

But Lin is here. She can cry, she can laugh, she can breathe. She is real.

"Obito." Rin reached out and took his hand. His hand was cold and rough, but Rin's hand was warm. "What happened to you...?"

Obito lowered his head, looking at Rin holding his hand for a long time, but he didn't answer.

He lingered on the feel of his hand, greedily refusing to pull it away.

He looked up at Shuoge.

"What do you want me to do?"

He knew that Shuoge's presence here was no coincidence, and Shuoge's presence here with Lin was even less of a coincidence.

-

Sakugo walked up to Obito, his three-tomoe Sharingan meeting Obito's Mangekyou Sharingan. Their eyes met in the firelight, their red pupils reflecting each other.

"Kill someone."

Obito didn't speak, he just looked at him.

"Who?"

Shuoge didn't answer immediately. He turned his head and glanced at Lin.

That glance was faint, but Obito understood—he shouldn't let her hear what he was about to say.

He didn't ask why, nor did he hesitate.

The Mangekyou Sharingan slowly rotated in its socket, and Kamui was activated.

The space beneath Lin's feet distorted, and before she could even cry out, her figure was sucked into the spiraling void and disappeared before the two of them.

She was left alone in the gray-white alternate dimension, safe and isolated, unable to hear anything she shouldn't.

Shuoge then turned around, his voice calm. "The Third Hokage."

Obito looked at him, without asking why or what the reason was. He simply nodded.

"it is good."

This is not a transaction, not coercion, not even cooperation.

This is a thank-you gift—a true and unique thank-you gift.

He saved Rin. When Obito thought Rin was dead and was completely desperate about the world, it was Sakugo who brought the living Rin to him.

This kindness deserves to be repaid at any cost.

Even if that person is the Hokage.

-

The battle area for the third generation was on the west side of the village, near the memorial monument.

He was leading the Anbu to evacuate the villagers and directing the ninjas to resist the Nine-Tails.

There was blood on his face, not his own, but from when he was saving people. He had used up most of his chakra, but his movements were still quick and steady.

Obito's figure appeared behind him. Kamui. The space around the Third Hokage distorted, and before he could react, he was sucked into another dimension.

When the third generation was born, they found themselves standing in a gray, boundless space.

There was no ground, no sky, only countless square-shaped rocks floating in the air.

He turned around and saw two people standing in front of him—a man wearing an orange mask and a boy wearing a white mask and an ANBU uniform.

"Who are you--"

The Third Hokage's pupils contracted. He recognized the mask. The masked man above the Nine-Tails. And that Anbu member—that figure, that sword, that scar on the mask.

"Shugo." The third generation's voice was very low.

Shuoge removed his mask.

The Third Hokage looked at his Sharingan with its three tomoe and remained silent for a while.

Why?

"Danzo is a true villain. You are a hypocrite. You are the Hokage of Konoha, but you have tacitly approved of everything." Sakugo's tone was calm, but it was his truest thought at this moment.

"Aren't the Uchiha clan members of Konoha?"

The third generation's lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but he didn't say anything.

"Make your move." Shuoge drew his sword.

Obito charged in from the side. Kamui sucked the Third Hokage's kunai from his hand, and his right hand gripped the Third Hokage's neck.

The Third Hokage struggled, his chakra surging within him, but Obito's other hand was already pressed against his chest—Wood Release: Wood Splinter Technique. A tree branch pierced through the Third Hokage's chest, blood spurting out.

The third generation's pupils dilated. He looked at Shuoge, his lips still moving. Shuoge walked up to him, the tip of his knife pressed against his throat.

"You have no right to speak of the Will of Fire."

The knife slashed across.

The third generation's body fell down, lying on the rubble of the other dimension, his eyes still open.

Obito released his grip and took a step back. Sakugo sheathed his sword; there was no blood on the blade. He looked down at the Third Hokage's corpse for a few seconds, then turned away.

"What should we do with the body?" Obito asked.

"Throw it back. Make it look like it was killed by the Nine-Tails."

Obito nodded. He used Kamui to send the Third Hokage's body back to the ruins of Konoha, throwing it under a pile of rubble. The Nine-Tails' chakra would cover up all traces.

"I'm going back." Shuoge put on his mask.

Obito didn't dwell on the Third Hokage's death. His death was irrelevant; it held no meaning. He activated Kamui again, and the two figures reappeared beneath the Hokage Rock.

Lin was still standing under that tree when she saw Shuoge appear, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Are you alright?

"It's alright." Shuoge tucked the mask back into his waistband.

Rin's gaze passed over Sakugo and landed on Obito. The man wearing the orange mask stood a few steps away, his Sharingan peeking out from the mask's holes and staring at her.

"Obito..." Rin took a step forward.

Obito didn't back down. He reached out and grasped Rin's hand. His hand was cold, but his grip was tight.

"I have to go." Obito's voice came from behind the mask, hoarse. "Madara placed a cursed seal on my heart. And Black Zetsu is watching from the shadows. If I stop now, they won't let me go, and they won't let you go either."

Lin's lips trembled. "Then you—"

"The plan will continue." Obito released her hand. "But the objective has changed."

He didn't explain what had happened. He turned his back to Lin.

"Shuoge." He didn't turn around. "Keep an eye on her for me."

Kamui activated. His figure vanished into the distorted space.

Rin stood there, looking in the direction where Obito had disappeared, and tears finally streamed down her face.

Shuoge walked to her side, offering no comfort or hand her a handkerchief, but simply standing there.

"Let's go. I'll take you home."

Lin nodded, wiped away her tears, and followed behind him.

The two walked through the burning streets, avoiding the collapsed buildings, towards the medical department. Behind them, the Nine-Tails' roar gradually subsided; Minato's seal was nearing completion.

The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, its pale light shining on the ruins.

Everything is ending, and everything is beginning.