Konoha Notes

Chapter 420 Shadow (Part 2)

A black substance fell into the shadows of the venue.

From the empty competition area below, intermittent sounds of instruments being tuned and someone rapping with excessive excitement could be heard.

Seven Jinchūriki, seven Tailed Beasts.

It seems that only two steps remain before all the tailed beasts are stuffed into the Gedo Mazo.

Wait for the Three-Tailed Fox to be reborn, then capture all seven below it.

These two steps are difficult, but Black doesn't think they will be more difficult than the thousands of years he has spent.

The Rinnegan has reappeared, the Gedo Mazo has been summoned to the mortal world, and the path for Mother's return has already been paved.

The obstacles we face right now... Konoha's united system, the concentrated protection of Jinchuriki, and that troublesome descendant of the Senju—these are merely necessary waiting before the harvest.

After eyeing it for a while, Black Zetsu slipped into the ground through a blind spot and stopped at the eaves of the side entrance of the venue, observing the situation.

Then, he saw the person coming out of the side door.

Uchiha Sasuke.

The reincarnation of Indrachakra in this generation.

He has been concerned with this bloodline for over a thousand years.

From initially expending considerable effort to induce Indra himself, to later discovering that there was no need to manifest, Indra's reincarnations would always collide with Asura's reincarnations.

This generation is somewhat different. Hagoromo's two sons, apart from not being blood brothers, seem to be just like the Sage of Six Paths in his time.

Originally, Black Zetsu no longer cared about these two reincarnated individuals who had not yet matured. He had the Rinnegan, and the plan was progressing; there was no need to waste time on them.

But given the current situation...

Perhaps, like a thousand years ago, we can find a breakthrough by looking at Indra again?
-
Sasuke's gaze fell on the stone path beneath his feet.

bother.

He couldn't figure out what was wrong with him.

When his father was challenged by his clan and forced to act by his clan members, he worked tirelessly at the Ninja Academy to protect the reputation of the Uchiha clan.

My brother left behind such brilliant achievements, so I gritted my teeth and chased after him, daring not to slack off in the slightest.

If Mr. Shuji has high expectations for me, then I will turn those expectations into reality and prove that I am worthy of them.

What's wrong with that?
What's wrong with pursuing power? What's wrong with wanting to become stronger? What's wrong with not wanting to be left behind?
Sasuke walked along the path outside the venue towards the village headquarters.

Then he stopped.

It wasn't a voluntary stop. My peripheral vision caught something unusual, and my body reacted before I could think.

In the shadows at the right-hand alley entrance, a shadow flickered.

The shadow quickly shrank back.

Sasuke stood still, his breathing becoming shallow. Several judgments flashed through his mind:
Not a Konoha ninja. The clothing is off—a dark cloak, a wide-brimmed hat, the style doesn't match any of the village's teams. He's rather short, possibly not an adult, or perhaps it's deliberate disguise.

The key point is that the direction the other party was spying on just now... was the headquarters of Konoha Village.

Since the venue area was built, the movement of outsiders has been strictly regulated. Tourists, merchants, representatives from various ninja villages... everyone has a clearly defined area of ​​activity, and no one needs to sneak around the village headquarters.

Unless there is another motive.

Sasuke's fingers twitched. The most sensible and correct course of action would be to immediately sound the alarm and notify the nearby patrols.

but……

He turned around.

The movement was natural, as if he had suddenly remembered something he had forgotten and needed to turn back to the venue. His steps were unhurried, but his direction subtly shifted, heading towards the fork in the alley.

He did not turn around when he passed the alley entrance.

But the Sharingan activated in an instant.

The single magatama slowly rotates against a deep red background, and everything in the field of vision suddenly becomes clear—light, shadow, dust floating in the air, and the outline of a small half-face vaguely revealed under a straw hat in the dimness deep in the alley.

And, on that face, a pair of eyes were fixed on the direction of the village headquarters...

Yellow eyes.

The other party noticed.

She became aware that she was being watched.

The shadows in the alley suddenly moved.

With a flick of the hem of his cloak, he quickly retreated into the depths of the alley.

Sasuke quickened his pace.

He didn't run, but lengthened his stride and quickly turned into the alley. His right hand reached behind his waist, his fingers touching the cold metal handle of the kunai.

First corner, second corner, third corner...

The surrounding buildings gradually became lower and sparser. The alleyway turned into a dirt road, which extended into the edge of a mixed forest. This was already the outer edge of the venue area, where only patrol teams would conduct regular inspections, and villagers almost never approached.

The figure ahead stopped under a large fir tree.

Sasuke stopped ten meters away, drawing his right hand from his ninja tool pouch. The blade of his kunai gleamed coldly in the sparse sunlight filtering through the trees.

"who are you?"

The figure in the cloak slowly turned around.

The wide straw hat was still pulled low, and even with the Sharingan's perception, only a blurry darkness could be seen beneath it, and—

Those yellow eyes.

In the dim light, they looked like two faint lamps.

"A clan with Sharingan would actually ask such a question? Can't you see that, Sasuke Uchiha?"

"An unknown person, pretending to be a ghost."

As Sasuke spoke, he tentatively threw a few shuriken with his left hand. The shuriken missed their target and embedded themselves in the tree trunk.

The cloaked figure melted into the ground beneath his feet and disappeared the instant the shuriken reached him.

The voice came from very close behind Sasuke without warning, almost touching his ear:

"Can't you see... the power you possess? Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke whirled around, swinging his kunai horizontally, the tip slicing through the air, but missing again. The cloaked figure appeared on a tree branch three meters to his left.

"How can I become stronger with the Sharingan? Has no one told you?"

Yellow eyes peered through the gaps in the straw hat.

"That doesn't surprise me at all."

"After all, the Uchiha clan is now completely domesticated. Their claws have been smoothed out, their fangs pulled out, and they willingly wear collars and wag their tails at their masters..."

"Shut up!"

Sasuke's anger finally erupted, and at the same time, his hands had already completed the Tiger Seal.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Scorching flames roared out, engulfing the surrounding space.

Sasuke, panting, stared intently at the center of the raging flames with his Sharingan.

There were no screams, no attempts to escape.

The flames gradually died down, and black smoke rose. The charred branches were deserted.

"anger?"

That calm voice rang out again from directly in front of Sasuke.

The black smoke dissipated slightly, and the cloaked figure stood unharmed in the center of the open space, as if the blazing fireball from before was merely an illusion.

"This level of anger is not worthy of the Uchiha clan, much less worthy of your eyes."

Sasuke's breath hitched for a moment.

"Do you know?" the cloaked man continued, "In recent years, your father, Fugaku Uchiha, and your brother, Itachi Uchiha, who was hailed as a genius, have personally sent countless Uchiha clan members to the Anbu's prisons in order to curry favor with the current Konoha leadership?"

"That's not ordinary detention."

"That was a purge targeting destabilizing factors. All those dissatisfied with the status quo, all those who still harbored illusions about the glory of the Uchiha, all... those whose eye power was so outstanding that it might threaten the status of certain people."

“They were all personally sent in by your father and brother.”

"shut up."

Sasuke's voice was as cold as ice.

"A rat in the gutter, thinking it can sway me with such a vile lie?"

He stepped forward, the tomoe in his Sharingan spinning faster. "The internal affairs of the Uchiha clan are none of your business, you cowardly coward."

The moment he finished speaking, he charged forward again!
This time, the cloaked figure did not dodge.

The kunai's tip pierced the cloak without any resistance, then passed right through it, as if it had pierced a viscous fog. Sasuke's wrist sank, and he staggered forward half a step due to inertia.

The cloaked figure materialized beside him, and a dark hand rested on Sasuke's shoulder.

"Go check it out."

The voice went straight into Sasuke's mind.

"See what is real and what is a lie. See what your so-called family really has left."

"We will meet again when you want to see the truth of the world, Uchiha Sasuke."

The hand let go.

The cloaked figure's silhouette spread and faded rapidly, like ink dripping into water, before finally disappearing into the deepening shadows of the forest.

Footsteps came from outside the woods, hurried and orderly.

Sasuke turned around.

Three ninjas appeared at the end of the path, all wearing dark green vests from the police department, with a four-pointed star surrounding the Konoha emblem on their armbands.

"There was an explosion and a flash of light over here just now—"

The leader was a young man from the Hyuga clan. His white eyes paused slightly when he saw Sasuke. He glanced around at the charred marks and the shuriken stuck in the trees, before finally fixing his gaze on Sasuke.

"You are... Uchiha Sasuke, right?"

Sasuke nodded silently.

"What happened?" asked another Inuzuka clan ninja, his ninja dog sniffing the air warily beside him.

“…There are suspicious individuals.” Sasuke heard his own voice, calmer than expected. “They escaped after the fight.”

"Suspicious person?" The young man from Hyuga frowned.

He immediately raised his hands and formed a simple mudra in front of his chest. His white pupils dilated, his vision penetrating the trees, soil, and rocks, taking in the entire forest area.

A few seconds later, he shook his head.

"No trace was found. The other party is very good at hiding, or... has a special escape technique."

He looked at Sasuke, his tone softening slightly, but still maintaining a businesslike seriousness: "Even for a genius of the Uchiha clan, it's still too early for him to face an unknown enemy alone at this age. Next time you encounter this situation, please prioritize issuing an alarm signal."

“If something happens to you, we won’t be able to face your father and brother.”

It's out of concern, it's a duty, it's something any police officer would say to villagers, especially underage villagers—it's a matter of course.

But as Sasuke listened, he felt something pierce his chest.

He lowered his gaze, looking at the kunai in his hand. The blade reflected his own deep red eyes, which were still open.

"I see."

He didn't say another word, put the kunai back into his ninja tool bag, and turned to walk out of the forest.

The young man from Hyuga seemed to want to say something, but in the end he just watched his back and made a gesture to his companions to call it a day.

The wind blew through the woods again, carrying the lingering smell of scorched earth.

Sasuke walked back along the path, his pace neither slow nor fast.

His mind was in turmoil.

Those words should have gone in one ear and out the other.

But they just happened to get stuck somewhere.

Father.

brother.

The secret prison.

Members of the Uchiha clan.

No.

He shook his head, trying to banish the sounds. But the images from before kept replaying in his mind.

They were the three police officers from the previous incident.

Hinata. Inuzuka. And another one, judging from the sunglasses, should be from the Aburame clan.

There is no Uchiha.

not a single one.
-
Two days later, at the end of August in the 59th year of Konoha.

With three days left until the start of the Ninja Academy, Shuji had originally planned to visit the academy.

A piece of news disrupted his plans.

Uchiha Enjin is dead.

When did this happen?

"About two hours ago. The guards found him during shift change; his body was already cold."

"……cause of death?"

"The initial assessment is natural organ failure. However, his medical report from last week showed all indicators were normal, so..."

Therefore, this is abnormal.

Shuji picked up his coat from the back of the chair and put it on as he walked out.

"I gonna go see."

"Yes. Should we inform Lady Tsunade?"

"Not for now. Let me confirm the situation first."

When Shuji walked out of the Hokage Building, the August sun was blazing, the streets were bustling with people, children were running and playing wildly in the last few days of their holiday, and the cries of vendors rose and fell.

Everything seemed ordinary.

Aside from the unusual location where the accident occurred.

Uchiha Enjin had been imprisoned in the Anbu for several years. As a contact person directly related to Uchiha Obito, even though there was no further news and he was no longer under Shisui's personal supervision, he was still under strict surveillance.

Such a person, who was under close surveillance, suddenly died.

And it happened at this specific time.

Shuji entered the Anbu prison, and Uchiha Enjin's cell was at the very back.

When Shuji entered, two members of the medical team had already completed their initial examination and were talking in hushed tones. Upon seeing him, they immediately stood up straight and bowed.

"Lord Shuji."

"Condition."

"Yes. The deceased is Uchiha Enjin, male. There are no external injuries, no signs of poisoning, and no signs of chakra rampage. His pupils are dilated, his breathing and heartbeat have stopped, and lividity has begun to form. The estimated time of death is four to six hours ago."

"cause of death?"

"...Based on the current physical signs, it is a case of natural organ failure. However..."

The young medical ninja hesitated for a moment, but then spoke:
“This is unreasonable. Last week’s comprehensive physical examination showed that although he had been malnourished for a long time, the functions of all his organs were within the normal range and there were no signs of acute disease. This kind of sudden, systemic, synchronous organ failure should not happen in theory.”

Xiu Si walked to the center of the cell.

Uchiha Enjin lay on the hard bed, covered with a white sheet. Shuji lifted the sheet, revealing the face beneath—pale, thin, with sunken eyes and dry hair.

Years of imprisonment left deep marks on his face, but even so, he shouldn't have died so suddenly.

He reached out, put his index and middle fingers together, and gently pressed them against the side of the deceased's neck.

The skin was cold and there was no pulse.

Everything was clean.

It was abnormally clean.

"Medical examination record".

"Here."

Another medical ninja handed over a folder. Shuji quickly flipped through it, his eyes scanning the lines of data: blood pressure, heart rate, blood routine, organ function indicators... all within the normal range. Apart from mild malnutrition and vitamin deficiency caused by long-term imprisonment, there were no fatal problems.

He closed the folder, his brow furrowing slightly.

This was not the place he had anticipated trouble would arise.

(End of this chapter)