"This is… the Three Tomoe?"
"How's that possible? Wasn't Uchiha Kai supposed to be trash?"
"You've been hiding your strength on purpose? But why?"
"…!"
The moment they saw the three-tomoe Sharingan in Kai's eyes, Uchiha Yoshio and his two cronies trembled all over, as if even their bones were leaking cold air.
This was terrifying.
In the Uchiha clan, the Sharingan was everything.
And anyone who awakened the Three Tomoe was absolutely not a weakling. Only a fool would still believe Kai was trash.
But what baffled them was why.
Why would Uchiha Kai hide his power?
In their minds, if you had strength, you should flaunt it. That was how you received the clan's support, earned resources, and slaughtered enemies on the battlefield, raising the clan's honor.
But Kai had no interest in explaining.
The dead didn't need to know.
"Navy Six Styles—Soru!"
In a blur, his feet stomped dozens of times in an instant.
With a loud boom of air, his figure vanished.
His speed was so fast that even their Sharingan could barely glimpse a shadow.
The next second—
Effortlessly dodging the fireball and the hail of kunai, Kai reappeared behind Yoshio.
"Navy Six Styles—Shigan!"
Bang!
Kai's right index finger shot out, chakra compressed at the tip. The strike landed with bullet-like force, shattering bone and punching a gaping hole through Yoshio's chest.
His heart? Reduced to minced meat in an instant.
Uchiha Isamu: "…"
Uchiha Ryo: "…"
Both of them nearly jumped out of their skin, trembling like leaves in a storm. Their Sharingan spun wildly in sheer terror.
Even when they saw Kai's Three Tomoe earlier, they hadn't been this afraid. Sure, it was shocking, but in their minds, if they couldn't beat him, at least they could still run.
After all, their elder brother Yoshio was one of the clan's elites, among the strongest of the Chuunin in all of Hidden Leaf Village.
But now?
Kai had killed him in a single move, without giving him the slightest chance to resist.
The gap was too vast.
At this point, both of them wanted to cry.
If they'd known Uchiha Kai was this terrifying, they would've been insane to provoke him!
They truly couldn't understand—
You're this strong, so why the hell didn't you say so earlier?
What kind of broken logic was this?!
But now was not the time to complain. Their faces quickly shifted to desperate pleading.
"Uchiha Kai, please spare us!"
"We were forced into this, it was all Yoshio's idea!"
"We're just small fry, don't lower yourself to our level!"
"We swear, on the name of Sage of Six Paths, we won't breathe a word of this!"
They weren't stupid.
They knew with Kai's speed, they had zero chance of escape. The only hope of survival was to beg.
But—
It didn't work.
In the blink of an eye, Kai vanished again.
Within ten seconds, both of them collapsed lifelessly to the ground, just like Yoshio—chests hollowed out, hearts shredded.
Kai stood among the three corpses, his gaze calm and indifferent.
To him, killing them was no different from crushing three ants.
"Hmph, begging for mercy?"
"If begging worked, what's the point of learning ninjutsu?"
"Enough. Time to leave."
Muttering to himself, he disappeared again.
The Forest of Death returned to silence.
Time passed.
Two hours later, a pale white figure emerged from the ground like a sprouting plant.
He glanced at the corpses, mumbling to himself.
"What a pity, holes right through the chest."
"But this taijutsu… frighteningly strong. Was that brat really an Uchiha?"
"Heh, another promising seed from Madara-sama's clan."
"Didn't expect this kind of surprise."
"I'd better report this to Madara-sama right away."
With that, White Zetsu prepared to leave.
But just then—
A figure streaked past at near-invisible speed.
"Navy Six Styles—Rankyaku: White Thunder!"
Spinning into a perfect 180-degree backflip midair, Kai's foot unleashed a pale blue slash of light.
White Zetsu froze, stunned.
But before he could even react, his body was cleaved clean in half.
The next moment, Uchiha Kai stood calmly where he had been, arms folded across his chest.
Glancing down at the bisected creature, he let out a cold sigh.
"Damn it, I knew it."
"With Uchiha Madara still alive, there was no way the Uchiha clan—or Hidden Leaf Village itself—wasn't being watched by Zetsu."
"Good thing I've been cautious… mastering the Way of Cowardice pays off."
"Otherwise, I really might've ended up in that old fossil's sights."
Kai shook his head. Then he looked at the corpse and called inwardly:
"System, get out here."
"Don't even think about fooling me. I know a storage space is standard. Hand it over already!"
In truth, Kai was nervous.
He wasn't sure if this half-baked system of his even had a storage function.
He was basically bluffing.
[Ding! Host, you sure nag a lot.]
[Storage space granted. Now quit bothering me.]
[I'm out.]
Hearing that, Kai finally relaxed.
His guess had been right.
Without wasting words, he stored White Zetsu's remains away and left.
The Forest of Death fell silent once more.
Hours later, Kai returned.
"Not bad. This time, I really don't think I was spotted."
"Now then—time to get down to business."
Heading straight to his backyard, he began to dig.
Ten minutes later, he unearthed…
A corpse.
More precisely, a body encased in ice, with a forehead protector from the Hidden Cloud.
Kai stared at it in thought.
This was from two years ago.
Back when he was just a third-year student, a Cloud ninja had broken into his home one night.
After capturing him, Kai had learned from interrogation that the team's mission was to kidnap bloodline clans—both the Uchiha and the Hyuga were targets.
But this particular Cloud ninja had the misfortune of running into Kai—who, though still pretending to be weak, had already chosen the path of "cowardice cultivation."
Kai killed him, but instead of reporting it, he froze the corpse, sensing it might come in handy one day.
And now, that day had come.