Chapter 946

"Is that all the techniques you have? Fourth Hokage? Then I declare you defeated."

Over the years, Zhìmèng had grown increasingly adept at wielding her ocular power, gradually uncovering the Mask ability once exclusive to Uchiha Fujiang's Sharingan; her Mangekyō Sharingan patterns began to shift, locking onto Mizuna, who had maintained distance all along.

"Surrender now!"

"Dōjutsu: Dan Kū!"

Mizuna suddenly found herself collapsing uncontrollably—when had her arms… wait, no blood, no pain, she could still move her fingers, but her limbs had separated from her torso.

She could only lie on the ground, watching helplessly as the masked man extended his hand, wrapped entirely in bandages, toward her.

"I'll let you live until the end, Fourth Hokage—your Nine-Tails chakra is extremely valuable to me."

Without resistance, Zhìmèng sucked in Mizuna—along with her limbs—and finally exhaled a sigh of relief; she had won this battle entirely because Mizuna's subconscious had been preconditioned.

"Hehe, Teacher Mizuna, too much peace has dulled your blade!" She stared at Uchiha Fuyaku, now entangled by the Assassins, with the gaze of one watching a corpse; having wasted so much time, she only wanted to finish this quickly.

After returning, she planned to properly discipline this overly complacent teacher of hers.

"Dōjutsu: Dan Kū!"

The following week, after that night.

After spending a full week in a hospital bed, then another week secluded in a new residence arranged by Konoha high command, Uchiha Sanae returned alone to her former routine, backpack slung over her shoulder.

"That's… hey, did you hear?"

"Yeah, I know! I can't believe something like that happened!"

"So tragic—it seems she was the only survivor from the whole clan."

"Tch, even if it's cruel to say it, even the Fourth Hokage has vanished."

Don't listen, don't listen to these people, don't listen!

Sanae walked down the street, and the villagers on either side seemed to be watching her, whispering about her.

Why must it be like this? She had already lost everything—why further trample the Uchiha's dignity?

Forcing herself to ignore their murmurs and strange glances, Sanae gritted her teeth and took one step after another toward the Ninja Academy; she had promised that person, so she must keep her word.

Yet this newly forged resolve shattered the moment she entered the classroom and saw Naruto.

"Sanae, I… I mean, about the Fourth Hokage that night… I know this is hard for you. But please, Sanae, can you tell me what really happened that night?"

For two weeks, Sanae had been numb, drowning in grief over her slaughtered clan and murdered kin—until this moment, when Naruto stood before her, utterly devoid of her usual brightness and cheer, her smile obscured by thick clouds, her blue eyes brimming with sorrow on the verge of spilling over.

The Fourth Hokage, Mizuna?

Sanae's thoughts were dragged back to that blood-soaked night two weeks prior; the suppressed rage and pain, now mingled with fear, finally tore through her feeble facade.

"I don't know, I don't know!"

By simply saying "I don't know," Sanae had utterly refused to answer Naruto's question—and yet, for some reason, seeing Naruto's pain finally unmasked, her anguish mirroring her own, Sanae felt a strange, inexpressible pleasure rise within her, a fragile anchor for her crumbling mind.

"Look, that's right! Yes, suffer with me—don't leave me alone."

The Uchiha clan was wiped out; when discovered, the sole survivor was Uchiha Sanae, yet the identity of the attacker remained a mystery.

As a powerful bloodline clan renowned throughout the entire Shinobi World, the Uchiha's name had echoed across the land—yet in a single night, they were exterminated without a trace, even the Fourth Hokage who had visited that night vanished without a word.

Even the Land of Earth and Lei Zhiguo, enemies of the Land of Fire, could do nothing.

For a force capable of silently annihilating the Uchiha could just as easily wipe out their villages—no one dared take advantage in such a moment.

But this wasn't the most troubling issue; even the disappearance of Mizuna paled beside what troubled Konoha high command: the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had claimed to be "on his deathbed," had suddenly become active again.

Even the elders of the Elder Council and Danzō of Leaf Anbu unusually had no desire to oppose him; all cooperated wholeheartedly to minimize the impact of this clan annihilation.