The moon was bright, the stars sparse, silvery moonlight washing over the land.
Deep within a secluded valley, Haori walked forward at a steady pace, a hoe and shovel strapped across his back.
The vegetation here was extremely dense—thick clusters of trees blocked most of the moonlight from reaching the ground.
Yet the dim environment posed no obstacle to him. His scarlet eyes constantly swept across his surroundings.
"This damn place is bigger than I expected."
By now, Haori had completed all his preparations for grave-robbing and had arrived at Akizuki Valley.
The only problem was that the area was far larger than he had imagined, forcing him to spend much more time searching.
Fortunately, he had already prepared himself mentally.
After all, the Uzumaki clan's records hadn't provided any precise location.
All he could do was rely on the Sharingan, carefully examining every trace left behind here.
"Good thing I have the Sharingan. Otherwise, I'd just be staring at the ocean in despair."
More than a hundred years had passed—there were very few traces left to begin with.
If he were relying on the naked eye alone, Haori might as well have given up. Natural changes had long since transformed everything in this place.
And that wasn't even considering the colossal battle between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama decades ago, which had affected the entirety of the Land of Fire.
Although Akizuki Valley was far from Konoha and hadn't suffered destruction on the scale of what would later become the Valley of the End, it was hardly strange for changes to have occurred here under such overwhelming power.
Finding anything at all was bound to be difficult.
That was precisely why the Sharingan mattered—its terrifying perception allowed him to uncover faint remnants of the past.
"Besides, my Sharingan isn't weak."
Even though he hadn't awakened it long ago, Haori's Sharingan was already fairly strong.
Thanks to his Yin Release training method, his eye growth rate wasn't slow either.
Still, it was far from enough for his standards.
After all, he was planning to become a rebel. Without overwhelming power, how could he ever feel secure?
Especially when Uchiha Fugaku possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan—and that old fox had never revealed what his dōjutsu actually was.
Intelligence was critical. With enough information, one could prepare accordingly and make victory far easier.
"Didn't he use something like Tsukuyomi on his precious son, to show him the future after the Uchiha seized power?"
Haori vaguely remembered such a scene, though he wasn't sure whether it truly counted as a dōjutsu.
Still, one thing was certain—
No matter what power others possessed, he needed to have corresponding power of his own!
"Let's see what kind of reward this turns out to be."
Shaking his head, Haori stopped overthinking it. He tightened the straps on his tools and continued his careful search.
The process was dull.
In the pitch-black forest, the only sounds were the rustling of branches in the breeze and the intermittent cries of birds perched overhead.
The silence felt peaceful—but Haori couldn't shake a faint sense of unease.
He didn't know why, but after surviving brutal battlefields, his mind had long since grown steel-hard.
"Even if this place saw countless wars and countless deaths…
I don't believe you can crawl up and bite me without Edo Tensei!"
With that thought, Haori continued deeper into the area, his crimson eyes faintly glowing in the darkness.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, as he emerged from the forest, Haori froze.
Before him lay a vast clearing. Pure moonlight poured down from the sky, making the area look dazzling.
Standing here, all it took was a slight tilt of the head to see the full moon—so close it felt within reach.
Under the silver glow, Haori's vision widened—
and to his surprise, he detected traces of chakra here!
"That is… sealing jutsu residue?"
His heart filled with confusion, but delight quickly followed.
He had searched for so long with no results, and now—finally—there were clues. Whether this was truly his target or not, it was worth celebrating.
At the same time, a question surfaced in his mind.
If this sealing jutsu truly belonged to what he was searching for—
just how deep must the hatred have been, to seal someone even after death, ensuring they would never reappear?
"A hundred years ago… there wasn't even Edo Tensei, right?"
Haori couldn't help but complain internally. Still, a discovery was a discovery—there was no way he would let it slip by.
He quickly moved forward, his eyes scanning the sealing formation.
The jutsu was extremely ancient, its structure unlike anything Haori had ever seen.
Still, he could confidently judge that it had been here for over a century.
"Whether it's right or not—open it first."
There was only one way to confirm.
Fortunately, the seal had weathered countless years. Even though it could probably last much longer, destroying its key nodes would render it completely useless.
"Good thing I got sealing jutsu rewards earlier—and I have the Sharingan."
Blue chakra gathered at Haori's fingertips as his eyes rapidly analyzed the formation.
Moments later, his finger snapped toward a specific point.
Instantly, the seal stalled—then shattered!
Fragments of sealing light scattered in all directions, dissolving into the moonlight until nothing remained.
Watching this, Haori nodded calmly.
"Just as expected."
"Now then—"
Grave-robbing time.
He created shadow clones, raised his hoe and shovel, and began digging furiously.
His motivation was sky-high. If this was the right grave, he would complete his task!
Even though the person was from a hundred years ago, someone labeled the Uchiha's ultimate weapon could only be terrifyingly powerful.
Perhaps—someone who had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
"I wonder what the reward will be. Don't tell me I'll get his eyes?"
Haori chuckled inwardly. He knew that was unlikely.
And he didn't need someone else's eyes anyway—he could improve himself through (Excellence Beyond Compare).
If he could obtain this person's dōjutsu power, or knowledge related to their eyes, that alone would be more than enough.
"Best case scenario—some Yin Release power to accelerate my eye growth."
With that thought, his digging sped up even more.
Eventually, he unearthed something resembling a coffin.
What's more, he could clearly sense sealing jutsu remnants on it—obviously linked to the formation above.
"Looks like this is it."
Suppressing his excitement, Haori reached out to open it.
He wanted to see for himself—
what kind of monster could force the Senju to unite multiple clans just to ambush them?
"And what exactly did you leave behind?"
With that thought, Haori flipped the coffin open—
and the moment it was fully revealed, he froze.
"Th-this is…"
Inside the coffin were no bleached bones.
Instead—
there lay a girl, dressed in traditional Uchiha robes, eyes closed, looking about the same age as Haori himself.
"This… this is the Uchiha's ultimate weapon?!"
Haori completely lost composure. This was nothing like what he had imagined!
And just as he stood there staring—
the girl suddenly opened her eyes.
Scarlet pupils gleamed beneath the silver moonlight, eerie and unsettling—
as her gaze locked directly onto Haori.
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