Chapter 034: The Night of Expulsion

“Only a portion will be withdrawn,” Orochimaru sighed. “Most of the Uchiha forces still want to take their chances, but Fugaku doesn’t wish for the clan to perish entirely. With both of us persuading him, and given your relationship with Sasuke, he finally agreed to evacuate the elderly, the weak, and the women.”

He paused, then lowered his voice to a near whisper as he spoke to Naruto, “You have no idea. When I was in the Land of Fields, I came across information that’s inaccessible within the Land of Fire.”

“To be precise, there are details deliberately concealed from the Five Great Nations.”

“The Land of Rain has undergone dramatic upheaval, and the one who instigated it harbors fierce hostility toward the Five Great Nations, especially the Land of Fire.”

“There’s someone at his side—a man wearing a mask over a single eye. He’s the mastermind behind a series of events. Reportedly, he claims to be Uchiha Madara…”

Within Naruto, the Nine-Tails listened to Orochimaru’s words. Upon hearing this, the beast snorted disdainfully.

“It’s impossible for that brat Madara,” it scoffed. “Madara is far too proud; he would never wear a mask or lurk in the shadows.”

The Nine-Tails went on, “That masked man appeared in the village once, seizing your mother during her childbirth and releasing me. But your father drove him off with his Flying Thunder God—second stage. It’s laughable, really. How could Madara be chased away by anyone? He’d rather die than flee, even if his opponent was that brat Hashirama.”

Naruto nodded in understanding: there was a man claiming to be Uchiha Madara—a sworn enemy who had murdered his parents—stirring turmoil throughout the ninja world. That man was now on Naruto’s list of those he must defeat.

As spring gave way to summer, the Land of Fire enjoyed gentle weather and held countless festivals. Across its skies, fireworks blossomed in vibrant colors, illuminating the night.

Even though the Hidden Leaf Village was a vast military complex, it could not quell the people’s longing for celebration. Gazing at the dazzling night sky in the distance, the villagers of Konoha shared in the joy brought by the festivals, even from afar.

Yet, for the Uchiha clan, this summer was shrouded in an ominous shadow.

No one dared approach them. It wasn’t simply their growingly tarnished reputation; strange tales now circulated among the clan. It was said that since the New Year’s bell rang, Uchiha members had begun to mysteriously vanish.

Most of those missing were ordinary civilians, powerless and unable to become ninja or join the Konoha Police Force. They seemed insignificant, their only distinguishing mark the fan emblem on their backs.

But to the Uchiha, every member was a treasured part of the family.

Within the clan's domain, the angry shouts of Fugaku and the elders echoed daily. This string of disappearances enveloped the entire compound in sorrow and tears.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other Konoha leaders felt unprecedented pressure. The Uchiha had sent no representatives to confront them, but everyone knew—their silence was the grief that comes when hope is lost.

They would not ask. They were certain the Konoha leadership was behind it, though that was untrue—and it mattered little now.

The Uchiha were preparing for something momentous. Every Konoha official understood this. Everyone knew it would only take a spark for the Uchiha to raise their flag of rebellion. And the spark had appeared—the mysterious disappearances.

The tension soon reached its breaking point.

Fugaku dispatched the clan’s elite shinobi to investigate and rescue their kin. Yet these ninja vanished as well, as if swallowed by the earth.

Not only the shinobi disappeared—even Fugaku’s wife, Lady Mikoto, vanished one day without a trace.

Left with no choice, Fugaku himself led a team of elite ninja to uncover the hidden truth. Among them was Shisui the Teleporter, acclaimed as the clan’s greatest genius.

No sooner had this investigation team set out, than a large number of Konoha’s Anbu gathered near the Uchiha compound. They were on guard, fearing the remaining Uchiha leaders might lose control and launch their plan outright.

But then, something uncanny occurred.

Amidst the deep night of the Uchiha territory, a figure appeared, ghost-like and silent.

“Who are you?” a fully-armed Uchiha ninja blocked the path, drawing his blade.

From his eye sockets gleamed two scarlet eyes, each adorned with two tomoe.

Yet the stranger strode past the guard, steps steady and unwavering, as if each stride heralded the end of someone’s fate.

“Hey! You—!” The Uchiha reached to seize him but suddenly screamed in agony. His body erupted with wooden spikes, piercing him through like a sieve.

His shrill cries tore through the night. In the next moment, several Uchiha shinobi appeared atop the buildings flanking the street.

“Who are you?”

“Are you from Konoha?”

“So you’ve finally acted against us!”

Voices rang out in accusations.

But the stranger remained unmoved.

“Konoha? What concern is that to me?” came a cold, resonant voice from beneath the single-eyed mask.

“I’ve come simply to collect, lest truly precious things fall into the hands of the greedy and incompetent.”

As he spoke, a blood-red eye emerged from the mask’s socket.

Three tomoe spun rapidly, transforming into three whirling wheels.

“That’s the Mangekyo Sharingan! Madara! Madara has returned!” cried an Uchiha shinobi with special markings at the corners of his eyes—a member of the Eighth Generation, and a jonin in the Konoha Police Force.

The name he called out sent a shudder through every Uchiha present.

Uchiha Madara—a name etched deep into the clan’s history.

He was once the pride of the Uchiha, but now he was their greatest fear. Everyone knew: it wasn’t so much that the Uchiha had cast Madara out, as it was that Madara, an unparalleled force, had abandoned the Uchiha.

The current turmoil in Konoha proved Madara’s foresight. Yet his return was certainly not to save the clan.

As he’d just declared, he was here only to reclaim everything.

“The Uchiha of today—how shameful. I don’t recall taking your courage with me when I left.”

Madara ignored their fear, making his proclamation.

His voice echoed through the night, cold and merciless, as if a decree from another world:

“If you cannot bring the Uchiha the honor it deserves, so be it. But now, you can’t even protect your own kin. Worthless fools who cannot defend their comrades have no reason to live—let me send you on your way.”