Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy

While the merchants helped several of the Uchiha children gather up their puppets...

Sara, clearly accustomed to the children occasionally suffering little setbacks, casually took out a few gifts from the caravan to comfort them before turning to Naruto.

"Naruto, aren't you coming too?"

"No rush."

Naruto smiled.

"Actually, I'm not the main character this time."

"Sasuke is finally meeting his clansmen again after all these years. He definitely needs a little private time."

"I'll stay out of the way for now."

Looking at the stubborn expression on Uchiha Tarō's face, Naruto couldn't help thinking the boy resembled Konohamaru.

He walked over, ruffled the child's hair, and asked with a grin,

"So..."

"What exactly have you all been told about the Uchiha outside?"

"Can you tell me in more detail?"

"I'll help you repair your puppets too."

Meanwhile...

Sasuke walked deeper into the settlement alone.

This had once been the ruins of the ancient Kingdom of Rōran.

Towering spires still stood proudly, and although most of the intricate carvings decorating the stone walls had long since been destroyed, the remaining fragments still revealed just how magnificent Rōran had once been.

Now...

Those ancient ruins had become the home of the survivors.

At first, Sasuke found it strange.

The commotion the children had caused earlier certainly hadn't been small.

So why hadn't any adults come to investigate?

However...

The moment he entered what resembled the settlement's main street and looked around...

He understood.

Contrary to his expectations, there weren't many clansmen living here.

Aside from a handful of elderly people sitting outside their homes, quietly studying the unfamiliar visitor...

There wasn't a single young adult in sight.

Most of the elderly had already reached an advanced age.

Even though some vaguely felt that Sasuke looked familiar...

None of them could quite remember who he was anymore.

Could it be...

Were only the elderly, women, and children the ones who survived back then?

Or... did something else happen afterward?

Sasuke's heart sank.

The houses built from the ancient ruins all bore the Uchiha clan crest.

It proved that they had never forgotten their family's honor.

But...

Calling these homes "simple" would have been giving them too much credit.

Everything Sasuke saw before him...

No longer resembled the once-proud Uchiha Clan that had stood among Konoha's most prestigious families.

Even the houses were separated from one another by noticeable gaps.

The residents didn't live together as one unified clan anymore.

Instead...

Farther away from this section of the ruins stood another cluster of buildings that had obviously been constructed much later.

Their architecture resembled the old Uchiha District in Konoha.

Viewed together, they looked much more orderly.

Curious, Sasuke walked over to inspect them.

Most of the houses appeared empty.

Only a few still showed signs that someone was living inside.

He eventually returned to the original street.

Looking at the elderly people standing in their doorways and the curious children secretly peeking out from inside their homes...

He tried to recognize even one familiar face from his childhood.

But it was impossible.

The people Sasuke had known as a child had mostly been neighbors around his own home or subordinates who occasionally visited his parents.

Every one of them...

Had died beneath Itachi Uchiha's blade.

None of the Uchiha living here were people he had once known.

"...Hello."

Sasuke gathered his courage and attempted to start a conversation.

But faced with the cautious expressions strangers naturally wore toward an unfamiliar visitor...

He quietly swallowed the rest of his words.

Then continued walking in silence.

The farther he walked...

The more disappointed he became.

He couldn't help wondering...

Whether he had never truly cared about his clansmen in the first place.

He had looked forward to this reunion for so long.

Yet after finally meeting them...

His heart felt strangely calm.

None of the emotions he had imagined—

Joy.

Sadness.

Happiness.

Relief.

None of them appeared.

Even though he knew these people were surviving members of the Uchiha Clan...

He found himself simply looking at them as strangers who happened to share the surname "Uchiha."

He even felt...

A faint sense of restraint.

A growing feeling of suffocation.

The farther he walked...

The stronger it became.

It was as though a voice deep inside his heart whispered to him—

"Don't stay here."

"The Uchiha Clan you've longed for only exists in your memories."

"You dreamed of their former glory."

"But now that they've fallen into hardship..."

"You can't even empathize with them."

"These people were never truly connected to you."

That thought terrified Sasuke.

Could it be...

Am I actually no different from Itachi...?

Suddenly...

Hearing voices nearby, Sasuke stopped walking.

He turned toward the sound.

"Auntie, your health isn't very good."

"The biggest reason is that you never go outside."

"I know there isn't much scenery around here..."

"But staying indoors all day is bad for you."

"I brought you some nutritional supplements this time."

"Make sure you take them."

"They're even more effective than ordinary medicine."

"Oh..."

The elderly woman sighed.

"Chief..."

"You really don't have to keep worrying about an old woman like me."

"I'm useless."

"There's no need for you to visit every single time..."

Before she could continue...

She met Uchiha Izumi's sincere eyes and warm smile.

Unable to say anything more, she simply sighed.

"Alright, alright."

"I'll go out and walk around more."

"I'll take a look around."

"You should head back too, Chief."

"Okay."

Izumi smiled.

"I'll also have the children come visit you more often."

"It's better having children around than staying alone all day, isn't it?"

At the mention of the children...

The elderly woman's eyes immediately brightened.

She nodded happily.

After comforting the recently ill elder...

Izumi watched her slowly walk away with the support of her cane.

Only then did she speak.

Without even turning around to look at the person standing behind her.

"...Well?"

"Quite different from what you imagined, isn't it?"

From Sasuke's perspective...

He could see only her tall back and long black hair.

Yet...

He recognized her immediately.

The gentle older sister from his childhood memories.

The woman Queen Sara had spoken of...

The true leader of the surviving Uchiha Clan.

She...

She was the one who truly carried the Uchiha Clan on her shoulders after its destruction.

Unlike me...

Unlike the fool who stayed in Konoha believing he understood everything...

She...

She is the true—

"...Clan Head Izumi."

The words escaped his mouth almost unconsciously.

Izumi froze.

She slowly turned around, genuine surprise appearing on her face.

Yet the only thing she heard afterward was—

"These past years..."

"You've worked hard."

"Clan Head Izumi."

Izumi blinked.

Looking at the blurry figure before her—whose face she still couldn't clearly make out—

She didn't smile the same warm smile she had shown the elderly woman earlier.

Instead...

She sighed softly.

"...You've grown up."

"Uchiha Sasuke."

There was unmistakable distance in her tone.

It was so obvious that Sasuke even suspected she was doing it deliberately.

After all...

To the Uchiha Clan as they were now...

The son of the former clan head...

The younger brother of the man who massacred their clan...

He was nothing more than an unwelcome visitor.

Sasuke's thoughts became so tangled that he had no idea how to begin speaking.

Fortunately...

Izumi seemed to know exactly what he wanted to ask.

"Not all of the survivors live here."

"There are still young people besides the children and the elderly."

"Then..."

Sasuke instinctively imagined the scene.

After surviving the massacre...

The elderly had lost hope and chosen to spend the rest of their lives quietly in this place.

But the younger generation...

Surely they couldn't accept it.

They must have left to seek revenge against Itachi Uchiha.

And...

Their targets wouldn't only include Itachi.

It would naturally include himself as well.

Uchiha Sasuke...

The younger brother of Itachi...

The one who had shamelessly continued living peacefully in Konoha...

Without doing anything for the surviving clansmen...

Surely he deserved to—

"Of course they left."

Izumi looked at him strangely.

"If they don't go to work early in the morning..."

"Should they all retire here too?"

"...I figured as much."

Sasuke nodded subconsciously.

"They must all have gone to..."

He suddenly froze.

"...Wait."

"...Gone to work?"

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