"What's with that look? Why are you all staring at me like that? What did I do?"
Jiraiya wiped the tears off his face and tried to force out a grin, but the usual goofy expression wouldn't come.
He had just watched his student and his student's wife die.
There was no way he could feel okay.
"But who exactly is that guy? Is he really Uchiha Madara? Kaede Kitahara never once called him that in the diary."
Jiraiya's expression turned serious.
Kitahara had mentioned Uchiha Madara more than once in his entries. He clearly knew who Madara was.
Yet when referring to the masked man, he had never used that name.
He called him Uchiha Kenji.
The ones calling him Uchiha Madara were the people inside the video.
Kaede Kitahara himself never did.
"So who the hell is this Uchiha Kenji?"
Jiraiya frowned.
"I'll check the archives later. The Uchiha Clan's records should still be there. Let's see if there was ever someone by that name."
Normally, the village wouldn't have a complete roster of an entire clan.
But the Uchiha Clan had been wiped out.
Their accumulated records over the years, aside from core ninjutsu and secret techniques, included personal files on clan members.
Compared to ancient techniques and classified jutsu, those personal files rarely drew attention.
Still, they existed.
"He's definitely not some nobody," Jiraiya muttered. "Anyone who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan can't be insignificant."
The Mangekyo Sharingan wasn't something an average shinobi could obtain.
Uchiha Kenji had to have left some kind of mark.
"What's strange is this. If he truly wanted to destroy Konoha from the start, why did he go silent for twelve whole years after the Nine-Tails incident? And then he joined Akatsuki?"
Jiraiya's thoughts aligned with Minato's earlier judgment.
If this man made a move, it wouldn't be half-hearted.
So what had he been doing during those twelve years?
Why join Akatsuki?
There had to be something hidden beneath it all.
Tsunade remained silent for a long time.
If she had been in the village that night, could she have changed anything?
She wasn't sure.
Even against the Nine-Tails, she didn't have a clear answer.
In Senju Hashirama's notes, the Nine-Tails was described as dangerous, but it never sounded insurmountable. The First Hokage had subdued not only the Nine-Tails, but all nine Tailed Beasts, and then distributed them to the other villages.
It seemed almost effortless in the records.
Because of that, she had never truly grasped how terrifying the Nine-Tails was.
Tailed Beasts were strategic weapons. Nuclear deterrents. They weren't casually deployed onto battlefields.
Now she understood.
That monster was on another level.
Even the Fourth Hokage had relied on Kushina's Adamantine Sealing Chains to restrain the Nine-Tails first. Without that, he wouldn't have even had the chance to perform the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.
To use that jutsu, you had to completely immobilize your target.
If it had been her, she doubted she could have done it.
Her monstrous strength punches probably wouldn't have caused meaningful damage to the Nine-Tails.
In fact, thinking about it carefully, even the three Legendary Sannin as a whole didn't have a reliable method to deal with it.
Even their large Summoned Beasts would have struggled.
One Tailed Beast Bomb and they would be blasted apart.
How had her grandfather managed it so smoothly?
Was it because of the Uzumaki Clan's sealing techniques?
Her grandmother, Uzumaki Mito, had been a princess of the Uzumaki Clan.
That made sense.
Against a Tailed Beast, sealing was the most effective solution.
Minato had been right.
If Konoha had lost the Nine-Tails that night, the following twelve years would not have been peaceful.
It would not have been limited to friction with Kumogakure.
Another Great Ninja War might have erupted.
For Konoha, losing the Hokage was tragic.
Losing the Nine-Tails was catastrophic.
A Hokage could be replaced.
A Tailed Beast deterrent could not.
"So who is this Uchiha Kenji?"
Tsunade narrowed her eyes.
"If he awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, he can't be ordinary."
She resolved to search through the Senju Clan's records as well.
Hatake Kakashi stood quietly.
"Sensei… Kushina-san…"
He hadn't known any of this back then.
He hadn't known what Naruto carried.
What kind of resolve had his teacher and Kushina possessed to entrust that burden to their son?
And he had failed to protect Naruto properly for twelve years.
The only small comfort was that Naruto hadn't fallen into darkness.
If he had, Kakashi wouldn't have known how to face his teacher in the afterlife.
"It's over. Completely over."
Uchiha Itachi's reaction was different.
He wasn't focused on the emotional farewell.
Instead, he finally understood why the Uchiha Clan had been pushed to the brink of change, and why the village had grown so wary of them.
He had always known about the Nine-Tails incident. He knew the Sharingan had appeared in its eyes.
But knowing that and witnessing the destruction were two entirely different things.
He had just seen the Nine-Tails level buildings, slaughter countless Konoha shinobi, and turn the village into a battlefield.
How many parents, children, friends had died?
Even the Fourth Hokage and his wife had given their lives to seal it.
He could imagine the resentment festering in the village.
Look at Sasuke.
After witnessing their parents' deaths, Sasuke's entire world revolved around revenge.
Now imagine the villagers who believed the Uchiha Clan had caused the Nine-Tails' rampage.
To them, the clan would be unforgivable.
Especially to those who had lost loved ones.
From the moment the Nine-Tails attacked, the wound had been carved too deep.
No amount of denial could erase the sight of that massive Sharingan in the beast's eyes.
No wonder Danzo had never listened.
No wonder Itachi's efforts had changed nothing.
Step by step, the path had led to the clan's destruction.
Worse still, during the Nine-Tails incident, the Uchiha Clan had not been deployed to the front lines.
There had been orders from the higher-ups, yes.
But the fact remained.
They hadn't been there.
Itachi felt an exhaustion settle deep into his bones.
And all of this traced back to Uchiha Kenji.
He wanted to kill him.
Yet he had no way to.
Then a thought struck him.
Kaede Kitahara never called him Uchiha Madara.
He called him Uchiha Kenji.
Had they all been wrong from the beginning?
There was no concrete evidence that the masked man was truly Madara.
Even the diary's tone when referring to the real Uchiha Madara felt completely different.
"In other words… is it possible this Uchiha Kenji has been impersonating Uchiha Madara?"
Itachi's eyes narrowed.
Why assume the name of a long-dead legend?
Was it a whim?
Or was there some deeper connection to Madara himself?
He didn't know.
But he was certain there was something hidden.
"He tried to lure me. In the future, he even targeted Sasuke. I need to find a way to stop him."
Just as he prepared to close the diary, new text appeared.
"It updated again?"
Itachi looked surprised.
Kaede Kitahara's updates were unpredictable. Sometimes they were just a few casual lines.
But today's volume was unprecedented.
"That brat is really free today, huh?" Tsunade muttered, yet she kept reading.
[No matter how many times I watch it, it still leaves a bitter taste. After this, they won't meet again for many years.
Thankfully, Uzumaki Naruto turned out well. He didn't fall into darkness and become Uzumaki Menma. But with Naruto's personality, that was never likely. No matter how much he suffered, he wouldn't lose himself.
Still, people nowadays have it good. If you want to see something, you just edit it yourself. Regrets? What regrets? Bitterness? None at all.]
"Uzumaki Menma? Who's that?" Jiraiya blinked.
"Did Minato have another kid?"
He looked genuinely confused.
Was Uzumaki Menma another member of the Uzumaki Clan?
There weren't many left in the world.
They weren't much better off than the annihilated Uchiha Clan.
Half a catty, eight ounces.
"'Naruto's personality isn't his own?'" Tsunade frowned.
Before she could make sense of it, a new video appeared in the diary.
[IF Route: The Nine-Tails Incident]