Inside Root, Danzo Shimura had already learned that Uchiha Fujie had returned from the dead.
What he did not know was that one of Uchiha Fujie's Sharingan was already in his possession, embedded in his arm as a disposable tool for Izanagi.
The Root ninja who had taken the eye never reported the matter to Danzo Shimura.
Then again, from that Root operative's point of view, Uchiha Fujie was already dead.
And no matter how gifted a genius might be, once dead, he was worthless.
There was simply no need to report it to Lord Danzo.
As fate would have it, that Root ninja had gone on a mission with several others two days earlier and had been killed.
"So there is still another survivor from the Uchiha clan?"
"Sasuke Uchiha cannot be touched, but this one can be recruited into Root. Hopefully, he has some potential. Root's strength has been lacking lately."
With Shisui Uchiha dead and Itachi Uchiha having defected, Root no longer had anyone capable of standing on equal footing with a Kage.
In recent days, Root had found it much harder than before to face the Hidden Stone Village and Hidden Cloud Village ninja along the borders.
Danzo Shimura had not yet realized that he had already begun falling under Uchiha Fujie's influence.
In the end, the blame rested on Danzo Shimura's own greed.
He had implanted far too many Sharingan into himself, including Shisui Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan.
That greed had given Uchiha Fujie an opening.
Before climbing out of the coffin, Uchiha Fujie had already activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and pushed its power to the greatest extent he could currently manage.
Using that power in combination with the Sharingan implanted in Danzo Shimura's arm, he had briefly controlled him for five full seconds.
It was only a Sharingan.
But to Uchiha Fujie, even a single cell could eventually grow into a brand-new version of himself.
And so, Uchiha Fujie had used his power on Danzo Shimura.
At present, even defeating a jonin head-on would be difficult for him.
Yet the ocular power of his dual Mangekyo Sharingan was actually superior to Danzo Shimura's.
That was the reason why, despite being far weaker overall, he could still slowly assimilate Danzo Shimura into one of his clones.
Five seconds sounded insignificant.
But for Uchiha Fujie, it was more than enough.
In that instant when Danzo Shimura fell under his control, Uchiha Fujie used the Mangekyo Sharingan in Danzo's right eye—the one that had originally belonged to Shisui Uchiha—to cast another layer of influence on him.
He understood very well that Mangekyo abilities were not absolutely invincible.
He could not guarantee that he could fully dominate Danzo Shimura with complete certainty.
So he did not directly rewrite Danzo Shimura's will or force him into unquestioning obedience.
Instead, he planted a command deep within Danzo Shimura's thoughts.
From now on, whenever something related to Uchiha Fujie came up, Danzo Shimura would subconsciously lean in his favor.
In any case, within a year or two, Danzo Shimura would be completely assimilated and turned into a new Uchiha Fujie.
There was no need to rush.
Trying to forcibly twist Danzo Shimura's mind too much right now would only risk exposing flaws.
The current arrangement was perfect.
Danzo Shimura was already preparing to head to the Hokage Building.
His intention was to bring Uchiha Fujie into Root and train him personally.
Uchiha Fujie had made multiple preparations.
He had planted one trap on Danzo Shimura's side.
Another on Hiruzen Sarutobi's side.
And on top of that, he had already split off a new Tomie body and hidden it with the Transformation Technique.
Back in the Hokage's office, after Uchiha Fujie had been gone for a while, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly felt that something was off.
Why had he let that child go so easily?
"Was it genjutsu?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned serious.
But a moment later, he laughed at himself.
Was he getting too paranoid?
Uchiha Fujie was only eight years old.
How could a child like that possibly place him under genjutsu?
Forget Uchiha Fujie—even Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha would not have been able to do that without using the Mangekyo Sharingan.
In the end, Hiruzen Sarutobi could only sigh.
"I truly am getting old. My heart has softened."
"It was the same with Orochimaru. And now this."
"It seems I really do need to bring Jiraiya back and make him the Fifth Hokage."
"But how am I supposed to persuade him?"
Just then, the office door burst open without even a knock.
An ANBU operative rushed in, immediately dropped to one knee, and delivered his report.
"Lord Hokage, many people in Konoha are discussing Naruto Uzumaki's background. They are saying he is the son of the Fourth Hokage. Senior Kakashi Hatake is currently investigating who spread the information."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind buzzed.
What was going on?
His first thought was Uchiha Fujie.
The moment that boy came back to life, something like this happened.
Could it be connected to him?
No.
That made no sense.
Uchiha Fujie could not possibly know Naruto Uzumaki's background.
He was only a year older than Naruto Uzumaki. There was no way he could know the truth.
"Who was it? Danzo Shimura? Who else would dare do something like this? Or perhaps one of Minato Namikaze's old subordinates? Or is it possible the one investigating this matter—Kakashi Hatake himself—is the one who spread it?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's thoughts raced at lightning speed.
He immediately gave an order to the ANBU.
"Bring Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane here at once."
As for Uchiha Fujie, Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly ruled him out.
After all, he was merely an eight-year-old student at the Ninja Academy.
His performance in school was only at the level of a fairly talented Uchiha child—not even close to monsters like Itachi Uchiha or Shisui Uchiha.
An ANBU operative was assigned to escort Uchiha Fujie back to the Academy.
Since there were matters to coordinate with the teachers, Hiruzen Sarutobi specifically sent one ninja for the task.
Once everything was settled, Uchiha Fujie returned to class.
At this time, Sasuke Uchiha was a first-year student, while Uchiha Fujie was in his second year.
The ANBU operative did not leave.
From this point on, his job was to watch Uchiha Fujie from the shadows.
It could only be said that Hiruzen Sarutobi truly distrusted the Uchiha.
Even after Uchiha Fujie had amplified the goodwill in his heart, it was still like this.
Without that influence, Hiruzen Sarutobi might have directly summoned someone from the Yamanaka clan to read Uchiha Fujie's memories.
Inside the classroom, the students were utterly stunned when they saw Uchiha Fujie return.
Some rubbed their eyes repeatedly, unable to believe what they were seeing.
Wasn't the Uchiha clan supposed to be gone?
Wasn't Sasuke Uchiha the only survivor?
So how had another one appeared after all this time?
"That's great! Fujie is fine! That's wonderful!"
"Tch. Someone like him actually managed to survive."
"He probably hid like a coward and only came out after everyone was dead."
"How did he even survive? Even the Uchiha clan head died, yet this guy somehow lived?"
Different people had different reactions.
Some hated Uchiha Fujie for no real reason other than the fact that he was an Uchiha.
Others liked him.
Even though he looked almost like a girl, his appearance was simply too beautiful.
Even without activating Desire of Beauty, he had already attracted plenty of admirers.
Not just fangirls, either.
There were even a few fanboys.
There was also a member of the Nara clan in the class.
The Nara were known for being intelligent, so his thoughts were somewhat different.
He was wondering how exactly Uchiha Fujie had survived.
Sasuke Uchiha surviving made sense, since he was Itachi Uchiha's younger brother.
Even a madman might leave a trace of mercy for his own sibling.
But Uchiha Fujie surviving?
That made no sense at all.
Unless…
Could it be that Itachi Uchiha liked men and had spared Uchiha Fujie because of his beauty?
The Nara student quickly shook his head and threw that absurd thought out of his mind.
He felt he was overthinking things.
Even if Itachi Uchiha really did have that kind of preference, he would have taken Uchiha Fujie with him rather than leave him behind.
Uchiha Fujie had no idea what his classmates were thinking, nor did he care about these children.
He returned to his seat and maintained a cold, aloof posture.
The original owner of this body had been a proud, distant Uchiha with no friends at school.
Uchiha Fujie found that rather convenient.
This way, he would not have to deal with any troublesome relationships.
Instead of listening to the lesson, he simply sat there, thinking about what would come next.
And about revenge.