The next few days were peaceful for both the Hidden Leaf Village and the Hyūga Clan. The members of the branch family, who had been expecting a storm, were surprisingly met with no retaliation. It was as if Hiashi Hyūga was truly afraid.
Although the investigation into the culprits was still ongoing, it was limited to the most basic and routine inquiries, without the aggressive and overbearing tactics from before. Even the main family members had softened their attitudes considerably, and no one was verbally or physically abusive anymore. Even when some would habitually adopt their former high-and-mighty demeanor, the arrogance and haughtiness would gradually fade as a branch member bravely looked up and stared at them.
The branch members were ecstatic at these changes and credited them entirely to what Hinata Yunchuan had said that day. His status among the branch family was completely solidified. The looks they gave him now, in addition to the respect they once held for Hizashi Hyūga, also held a fanaticism that even Hizashi had never enjoyed.
However, while the branch family rejoiced over their improved treatment, they failed to notice a hidden undercurrent stirring in the Hidden Leaf Village. This undercurrent wasn't only affecting the Hyūga Clan, but also the Uchiha Clan.
The moonlight struggled to pierce the thick clouds, stingily outlining the silhouettes of the trees and casting a distorted, swaying shadow.
Tsk!
With a short, subtle muffled sound, a figure in the woods stiffened. Warm, sticky fluid gushed out, carrying a nauseatingly sweet and pungent smell that splattered on Fugaku's face.
Fugaku Uchiha stood there expressionlessly, withdrawing the kunai that had pierced his clansman's heart.
Thump.
Losing his support, Tatekka Uchiha, whose face was filled with disbelief and fear, fell forward onto the ground. The life in his wide eyes extinguished. As the body hit the ground, a pale-skinned Zetsu appeared silently. Soon, a figure that looked exactly like Tatekka Uchiha, with every minor detail perfectly replicated, emerged and walked toward the direction of "home."
The entire process was smooth and chillingly efficient, as if it had been rehearsed countless times.
"Hehe, you're getting better and better at this. We'll be able to kill them all soon."
Zetsu's strange laughter came from behind. In the shadow behind Fugaku, a tall figure stood motionless. Itachi Uchiha watched everything happen silently, the pale moonlight outlining the cold profile of his face. He ignored Zetsu's taunts and mockery, instead looking down at the small notebook in his hand and lightly drawing a line with a pen.
Tsk.
A brutally cold red line neatly crossed out the name written in black ink.
—Tatekka Uchiha.
In the faint moonlight that was barely visible in the night sky, one could vaguely see a list of names. "Tatekka Uchiha" and all the names before him had been lightly crossed out by Itachi Uchiha with a line. This represented that all those living lives had been physically erased. The red lines crossing out the black names seemed so thick and viscous that they could bleed.
Itachi Uchiha's gaze swept over the names that hadn't been crossed out, as if he were reviewing a simple to-do list. Soon, he looked up, his eyes on his father's back. The moonlight pierced through the swaying leaves, illuminating half of his face. Beads of blood slowly slid down Fugaku Uchiha's calm face, leaving a streak of dark red that looked like a tear.
And at this very moment, inside Fugaku Uchiha's spiritual space, there was no longer the struggle of heartbreaking rage. No more painful and desperate questioning.
Here, there was only a deathly silence.
A bottomless, bone-chilling silence.
Under Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan, which hung in the sky like the sun, the ocean that was supposed to be green had now turned into a sea of blood.
"Tatekka..."
"Who's next?"
"Is it Nobuhiko? Or Chusuke?"
Fugaku knelt on the black reef. He no longer roared or struggled, his eyes vacant as he looked at the sea of blood before him. He was like a rock that had lost all its luster, numbly experiencing everything that was happening to him.
Aside from not being able to control his body, he could feel everything his body was doing. Killing one life after another with his own hands, watching them fall, feeling the warmth of life draining away on his hands... Seeing the clansmen who once respectfully called him "Lord Fugaku," seeing those familiar faces freeze in shock and fear...
Not only did he kill his clansmen with his own hands, but Itachi also erased their existence. Using one shoddy imposter after another to replace the lives of those clansmen, deceiving their loved ones who were waiting for them to come home, completely oblivious...
Now, in the sea of blood before Fugaku, dozens of figures floated, each one a clansman he had personally killed. The faces beneath the water's surface looked up, staring intently at him as he knelt on the reef. They were twisted, pained, hateful, and ferocious... These were the souls of the clansmen who died with hatred and anger. Hinata Yunchuan had used the Paradise Box to send them here, so Fugaku could feel the pain and despair they experienced.
This twisted guilt and pain were about to exceed Fugaku's limits. The immense mental trauma made his consciousness numb. The only things that remained clear were the constantly repeating and overlapping faces of death, and the sensation of blood, still warm with life, splashing onto his face.
"I killed them, with these hands..." Fugaku murmured. "Why? Why won't it stop..."
"Itachi, Shisui, isn't this enough? Isn't this enough?"
He slowly looked up at the Mangekyō Sharingan in the sky, his voice hoarse, then looked down at his own trembling hands slowly raising.
"How much more blood must my hands be stained with before it stops..."
"It was me, I harmed you all..."
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
And in the air above him, Hinata Yunchuan's consciousness looked down on Fugaku and the souls of the Uchiha clansmen floating in the sea of blood.
"Now, all that's left is to wait for that day to come."
Hinata Yunchuan thought this to himself, then connected to the scroll Orochimaru was carrying and paid close attention to his progress. Through the scroll, he could see that Orochimaru had already crossed the sea by boat and arrived on another continent. As soon as Orochimaru found the Glory ruins and the "Space-Time Hole" within them, Hinata Yunchuan would immediately act to seal and control it.
Only when the Uchiha's hidden undercurrent completely burst could Orochimaru open the "Space-Time Hole." At that point, Hinata Yunchuan would make the existence of the "Void Realm" a reality, causing the "Hollows" to appear in the Hidden Leaf Village and throughout the ninja world. The Hidden Leaf Village would be the most prominent stage in the grand play he had personally orchestrated.
Root headquarters, the cold and desolate human experimentation lab.
A pale light poured down from the ceiling, making this underground space as eerie as a morgue.
Danzō Shimura lay alone on a cold operating table, turning his head to look at his bare arm. It was a bizarre arm that seemed to be a twisted fusion of wood and muscle, with a human face protruding from the bicep. The skin had an unhealthy, bloodless pallor and was covered in textures that looked like old tree roots. A complex seal covered the arm's surface, and several shackles firmly locked away its power.
But Danzō could clearly feel the First Hokage's cells in the arm stirring, pushing against the shaky seals and shackles. Each push brought a piercing, bone-gnawing pain. It was a torment that came from the constant erosion at a cellular level, causing the muscles on Danzō's wrinkled face to twitch slightly and fine beads of cold sweat to form on his brow.
"Lord Danzō," a researcher in a white coat wiped his brow and whispered. "The First Hokage's cells are too corrosive. This is the best we can do."
Danzō's eyes became sinister upon hearing this, but he didn't scold them. He knew that as he grew older, the corrosion from the First Hokage's cells in his arm would only get stronger, and his aging body wouldn't be able to handle it for much longer. If he removed the arm, it might solve the problem. But how could Danzō give up the power of Wood Release and the Sharingan?
Getting a new arm would also be an option. But he couldn't contact Orochimaru. That bastard had vanished into thin air as if he had evaporated, and all contact with him had been lost for a long time! Without Orochimaru to prepare a new arm for him and unwilling to give up his great power, Danzō Shimura had only one choice left. He needed to transplant more Sharingan to suppress the First Hokage's cells!
Just then, a ghostly black shadow appeared silently in the shadows a few steps behind him and knelt on one knee.
"Lord Danzō." The newcomer's voice was low and cold, with the unique tone of a Root ninja.
Danzō didn't turn his head or even move his gaze. His voice was cold. "Bakuretsu, what are the latest movements of the Uchiha Clan?"
"The discontent within the Uchiha Clan continues to grow, and their suspicion and hostility toward the village are deepening, but there have been no extreme actions recently," said the Root ninja codenamed 'Bakuretsu' calmly. "The Third Hokage's move to transfer Itachi Uchiha into the Anbu and entrust him with important missions has appeased some of the Uchiha clansmen."
"Especially Fugaku Uchiha. His attitude has softened. Although the radicals are still discontent, they are temporarily holding back under Fugaku's suppression."
"..."
Danzō Shimura was silent for a long time, only coldly scanning the Root ninja with his gaze. As if he had noticed something, his eyes flickered slightly. After a moment of silence, he sat up, put on his clothes, and said, "Go change your clothes and come with me to see the Third."
'Bakuretsu,' kneeling on the ground, stiffened, as if a bit surprised by the order. But he didn't hesitate for a moment and immediately responded, "Yes, Lord Danzō."
Hokage Tower, Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was buried in a mountain of documents. The fatigue on his face was obvious, and the ember of his pipe flickered in the dim light.
Knock knock knock.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Enter," Hiruzen Sarutobi said without looking up.
Click.
Danzō Shimura was the first to enter. Hiruzen Sarutobi, smelling the familiar scent, instinctively frowned. While he was used to his "old friend" visiting, this guy always brought him trouble.
However, when he saw the figure with a cold aura following behind Danzō, who was dressed as a Hidden Leaf ninja, Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand holding the pipe paused.
A Root ninja?
Realizing the person's identity, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes narrowed. Danzō had brought a Root ninja directly to him? He knew Danzō just as Danzō knew him. In Danzō's mind, Root ninjas were shadows that couldn't be exposed to the light. They should be hidden as roots beneath the tree that was the Hidden Leaf Village for their entire lives.
So Danzō would never proactively bring a Root ninja before him, the Hokage. In Danzō's eyes, getting too close to the "light" would only make these shadows have unrealistic desires.
But now...
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank, but he remained calm on the surface, even feigning a hint of confusion. "Danzō, what's so urgent that you have to come so late?" he asked.
"I came to report on the latest movements of the Uchiha Clan, of course," Danzō said hoarsely. He then turned slightly, revealing the Root ninja behind him, and said, "Let him tell you the specifics..."
'Bakuretsu' seemed to pause for a moment. He subconsciously took a step forward, and just as he was about to speak.
Pfff!!
With a dull thud of flesh being pierced, 'Bakuretsu' stiffened, his body filled with utter shock and confusion. He slowly and stiffly lowered his head to look at his chest, only to see a staff piercing it. Blood seeped out, staining his dark clothes red.
"You..." 'Bakuretsu' opened his mouth as if to say something else.
But Danzō, who was standing behind him, emotionlessly pulled his staff out. Blood instantly gushed from his chest, and his body went limp as if all strength had been drained from him. He fell forward onto the ground, lifeless.
"..."
Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow furrowed. Although he had already guessed Danzō had an ulterior motive, he never expected Danzō to kill someone right in front of him.
"A spy? Or what?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked. "How did you find out?"
"He talked too much."
"No one in Root would use such subjective language in front of me."
Danzō explained calmly as he knelt down and pinched the man's cheeks, revealing his tongue.
"Hmph, as I thought, he was being manipulated by a genjutsu or a secret jutsu."
Looking at the Tongue-Cursing Seal on the tongue, Danzō's eyes narrowed. He let out a cold snort and said, "The Uchiha aren't all brainless fools..."
Just as he was about to say more, a strange change suddenly occurred in the next second. The Root ninja, who had been pierced through the chest and was already dead, had his skin, muscles, and bones twist and deform like melting wax.
As soon as the body began to change, Danzō instantly shunshined away from the corpse and appeared next to Hiruzen Sarutobi, his pupils constricting as he watched the body's transformation.
And under the stunned gaze of the two men, what finally appeared before them was a pale-skinned humanoid creature.
"Danzō, what is that?!"
The calmness on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face vanished, replaced by an unprecedented shock and gravity. But the Danzō next to him was also staring intently at the white humanoid creature, the muscles on his face twitching violently with extreme shock and rage!
"It's not genjutsu manipulation! It's not even human!" his voice was hoarse. "This means..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression instantly changed. A sense of crisis unlike any he had felt before welled up in his heart. He said solemnly, "This monster can perfectly mimic a person's appearance and even their aura. Even I couldn't sense it!"
And even Danzō's Tongue-Cursing Seal had been perfectly replicated by this thing. So, what in the world was this monster? Was there only one of these humanoid creatures, or were there more?
If even the most heavily guarded Root had been infiltrated, then how much of the Hidden Leaf Village had been infiltrated by these monsters?! Realizing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi felt a cold chill instantly run through his entire body.
"Danzō!"
He took a deep breath, forcing down the turmoil in his heart. His eyes pierced the equally grim Danzō, and he asked in a low, serious voice, "What's going on?"
"..."
Danzō's one eye flickered, meeting Hiruzen Sarutobi's serious gaze.
"The ninja this monster was disguised as was one I sent to monitor the Uchiha Clan," he said coldly. "Now that he's been replaced, what do you think that means?"
"Furthermore, that ninja was only one of several people assigned to monitor the Uchiha. To prevent any mistakes, I had several people take turns."
"But, no one discovered any anomalies, from beginning to end. What does that mean?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned grim as well. An unprecedented sense of crisis welled up in his heart. He, of course, knew what this meant. It meant there wasn't just one of these white creatures. Everyone who had been sent to monitor the Uchiha had been replaced!
It meant that the Uchiha Clan was trying to hide something, had already succeeded, and had even begun to infiltrate Root and the higher-ups in a reverse fashion! With the horrifying disguise ability of this white creature, who knew if he, the Hokage, had been infiltrated?!
And most importantly, Itachi Uchiha and Shisui Uchiha hadn't reported this at all! Were they completely unaware, or were they intentionally hiding it?
Considering Shisui Uchiha's strange behavior these past few days, Hiruzen Sarutobi already had his answer. But he still held on to a glimmer of hope. He opened his mouth to call for the Anbu, but was interrupted by a dull sound.
Thump thump thump!!
"Hiruzen!"
As if reading his mind, Danzō stomped his staff on the ground. His voice, raised in shock and anger, asked, "Do you still not understand?"
"My 'eyes' were replaced right under my nose, without a sound. But am I the only one whose Root has been infiltrated? What about your Anbu? Who can guarantee that they haven't been replaced?! Do you think the Uchiha will be completely oblivious just because one of these white creatures was killed? As long as the other white creatures aren't all killed, they'll be informed immediately!"
"When they realize their secret has been exposed, do you think they'll just sit and wait, or will they lash out like a cornered dog and launch the coup they've been secretly planning for a long time?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's throat moved as he swallowed. He could only argue in a hoarse voice, "Shisui and Itachi wouldn't do that. There must be something else we don't know..."
"Hiruzen!"
He was cut off by Danzō before he could finish. Danzō's heart was filled with rage at Hiruzen Sarutobi's indecisiveness, but he still managed to suppress his voice and growl, "Are you willing to bet the entire Hidden Leaf Village on their loyalty?"
"Once they truly take the initiative, how will you tell the difference between a real Hidden Leaf ninja and a white monster in human skin in all that chaos?!"
"The Anbu you trust, do you still dare to use them? My Root, how many can I trust? At that point, you and I will be surrounded by enemies, with no one we can trust, completely isolated and helpless!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's brows furrowed tightly. The scenes Danzō described flashed through his mind, and the immense sense of crisis was almost suffocating.
"What do you want to do?" he asked in a low voice.
Danzō said coldly, "We must act now! Immediately! We must use discreet methods to find the people who haven't been replaced yet, and find the white creatures hiding among them."
"Before the Uchiha Clan realizes that their secret has been discovered, we will blockade the Uchiha compound, sever all their ties to the outside world, and take control of them!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi pursed his dry lips. He knew that once he did this, the Uchiha and they would be completely at odds, and there would be no possibility of mending their relationship.
"Sarutobi, how much longer are you going to hesitate?"
Seeing that they were just one step away, Danzō asked in a deep voice, "Will you only come to your senses when you're surrounded by a bunch of white monsters wearing familiar faces, with a kunai to your throat tomorrow morning?"
"Will you only give up on those ungrateful, greedy people after the Uchiha Clan strikes first, plunging the Hidden Leaf Village into a civil war, with corpses piled up everywhere?!"
Danzō understood Hiruzen Sarutobi too well, so he deliberately brought up the disaster that would befall the Hidden Leaf Village. This sentence finally made Hiruzen Sarutobi close his eyes, completely extinguishing the last bit of hope in his heart.
"...Alright."
His voice was hoarse, every word seemingly squeezed out from between his teeth. "I allow you to take people to the outskirts of the Uchiha compound for a strict deployment and blockade."
With that, before Danzō could show any joy, he opened his eyes again. His eyes were full of fatigue, but also a hint of ruthlessness. He said, "But, don't do anything unnecessary."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stared intently at Danzō's face, emphasizing each word seriously. "Remember! It's a 'blockade,' not a 'rebellion suppression'!"
"Until you receive my explicit order, no one is allowed to enter or leave the Uchiha Clan, including you and your Root. Absolutely no unauthorized armed conflict is allowed!"
"What I want is to control the situation, prevent the riot from spreading and the infiltration from worsening, and gather evidence. I want the truth of the whole incident, not blood and corpses! Understand?"
This was the bottom line! It was also the last bit of hope that Hiruzen Sarutobi had reserved for the Uchiha Clan out of necessity.
"Hmph!"
Danzō narrowed his eyes and snorted. "You better pray that our search for the imposters isn't discovered by the Uchiha first, or whether or not we take action won't be up to us!"
No bloodshed? No conflict?
Hiruzen is still so naive.
Things have progressed to this point. This time, no matter what, I must get enough Sharingan.
With that, Danzō glanced at the white corpse on the ground, took a scroll from his pocket, sealed it, and slowly turned around and walked out the door.
Watching his figure disappear into the shadow outside, Hiruzen Sarutobi subconsciously raised the pipe in his hand, only to find that his fingers were trembling uncontrollably. He turned to look out the window. The lights of the Hidden Leaf Village were still peaceful, but he knew that this peace might soon be shattered.
At this point, no matter how unwilling he was, to prevent any accidents in the Hidden Leaf Village, Hiruzen Sarutobi had to take control of the Uchiha Clan.
But...
"How can I find the hidden imposters without alerting them?" A now-calm Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned.
Danzō could rely on activating the Tongue-Cursing Seal to identify them. After all, those white creatures could only mimic the appearance but not the true effect of the Tongue-Cursing Seal. But his Anbu ninjas didn't have the Tongue-Cursing Seal. If they couldn't find all of the white creatures at once, the ones who survived would likely attack others, which could easily cause a riot or a crisis of trust in the Hidden Leaf Village.
Finally, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly thought of Hinata Yunchuan and his genjutsu ability. "As long as I gather all the Anbu ninjas together and have Yunchuan use genjutsu to bring them all into an illusion to test them, then I'll be able to know who the imposter is."
At this thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes flickered, and he made up his mind. His figure instantly disappeared from his spot, heading toward the Hyūga Clan compound.