Naruto Immersive Replay, The Curse of the Sharingan

The air in the hall seemed to freeze instantly. Hashirama noticed that the seat to his father's right was empty. It should have been Tobirama's seat, but he had chosen to stand in the shadows at the very end.

Chapter 53 Secular Life

Hashirama noticed that his father's left hand twitched unnaturally, an old wound he had sustained from his fight with Uchiha Tajima.

"The talent he has displayed..." Buddha paused for a moment, his hawk-like gaze sweeping over everyone present, "has become the greatest threat to the Senju."

The Third Elder slammed his fist on the table and stood up abruptly. "If that madman uses the Mangekyou Sharingan, we'll lose at least fifty Jonin!" He pointed his withered finger at Hashirama. "Unless the young clan leader can use Wood Release—"

"Wood Release is not a tool for killing." Hashirama calmly interrupted, but no one paid any attention, and the argument grew louder and louder until Tobirama suddenly let out a cold laugh.

"I have decided to hand over the position of clan leader to Hashirama." Butsuma's voice was exceptionally clear in the silence.

Like a boulder thrown into still water, the roar of the elders nearly lifted the roof off. In the pillar, he saw the First Elder, Senju Gensai, suddenly stand up, his aged finger pointing directly at his nose:

"He can't even recite the clan rules properly! Last month, he even let an Uchiha spy go without permission!"

"Lord Hashirama is too idealistic," the Third Elder sneered. "Having someone like that lead the Senju is worse than having Tobirama..."

"I object!" The young supporters of Tobirama slammed their fists on the table, "The Flying Thunder God Technique invented by the Second Young Master is sufficient..."

Amid the arguing, Hashirama turned to look at his younger brother. Tobirama, hidden in the shadows, was expressionless, but a complex emotion flickered in his eyes, a mixture of relief and deeper worry.

Hashirama's roar was accompanied by an explosion of chakra, and the shockwave caused the beams to scatter dust. To everyone's astonishment, this usually kind-hearted young man was now as imposing as a mountain.

"Let me finish." Hashirama's voice turned low. "War has eroded trust in the ninja world. The Senju and Uchiha have been fighting for a thousand years, but what do these hatreds have to do with us? They are nothing more than curses inherited from our ancestors."

He walked to the center of the hall, and vines fueled by chakra sprouted from the cracks in the floor, blooming into a white flower in the astonished gazes of everyone.

"Look at this." Hashirama held up a flower. "Wood Release can destroy cities, but it can also give birth to life. What is the meaning of our battles? To let our descendants continue to live in hatred?"

The council chamber was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Tobirama stared at the flowers in his brother's hand and suddenly remembered the black talismans that had gone berserk on Uchiha Nagi's body in the laboratory last night.

The eldest, Senju Gensai, suddenly coughed violently. Hashirama stepped forward and supported the old man's trembling shoulders, feeling the bony bones beneath the fabric.

"Elder Xuanzhai, how did your granddaughter die?"

The old man's cloudy eyes suddenly widened, "Uchiha's Fire Release..."

“No.” Hashirama shook his head. “They died on the way to transport the wounded, because all the medical ninjas were on the front lines.”

The council chamber was deathly silent. Hashirama looked around at everyone and saw countless evasive eyes. Everyone here had lost a loved one, but few asked why they were fighting.

"Lord Hashirama..." The youngest of the Ninth Elders suddenly stood up, his voice trembling, "If... if the war could truly end..."

"Absurd!" The Third Elder slammed his cane on the ground. "Making peace with the Uchiha? They killed you..."

Tobirama, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke. He walked slowly to his brother's side, and a scroll that had slipped from his sleeve was spread out on the table. It was a detailed map of the border defenses.

“Regardless of how the future unfolds,” he pointed to a spot on the map where the Uchiha patrol route was marked, “our top priority right now is to strengthen our defenses.”

He glanced at the elders, his gaze lingering on his father's face for a second longer. "I support my brother's decision."

Buddha's eyebrows rose high, his deep gaze shifting back and forth between his two sons before finally settling on the white flower in Hashirama's hand.

That pure white stood out so starkly against the somber atmosphere of the room, yet it inexplicably brought tears to my eyes.

"The succession ceremony will be held in three months." Buddha suddenly turned around. "Before that, I need to see a concrete plan."

As the elders filed out, Hashirama noticed his younger brother staring intently at the location of the Uchiha clan's territory on the map.

Sunlight streamed through the window lattice, casting interlaced lines of light and shadow on his white hair, obscuring his expression.

After the meeting, Tobirama was adjusting his new Flying Thunder God kunai. Hearing footsteps, he didn't even look up. "Your speech today was excellent."

“You don’t agree.” Hashirama sat down next to his brother and keenly noticed an unfamiliar rune on his kunai, which was definitely not the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Tobirama suddenly threw a kunai, instantly shattering a target a hundred meters away. As he turned, his red eyes flashed with emotions that Hashirama couldn't decipher.

“I saw Uchiha Nagi last night.”

“There’s something… about her.” Tobirama carefully chose his words, “something even the Six Paths Seal couldn’t suppress. If Madara also…”

He didn't finish speaking. The two brothers silently gazed into the distance, towards the Uchiha clan's territory. In the twilight, a crow swept across the Naka River, its feathers gleaming blood-red in the setting sun.

Night rain pattered against the blue tiles of Wochao Village. Xuanwo Luming was reviewing the last few volumes of clan affairs documents. The candlelight cast his hunched shadow on the wall, like a fading raptor.

The knocking started at that moment.

Without looking up, Lu Ming replied, his brush tip spreading ink over the words "border defense deployment." When he saw the man's red hair, his brush fell into the inkstone with a thud.

"Mito? What are you doing here!"

The daughter standing at the doorway resembled a burning flame. Rain dripped from her hair, forming small puddles on the expensive rosewood floor.

What alarmed Ashina even more was the dark figure behind her, with a pale chin faintly visible beneath the cloak.

“Father, I am here to recommend myself.”

Mito's voice was clear and sharp, like a drawn sword. She stopped three meters away from the traditional etiquette line. This subtle distance made Ashina's temples throb. She was both observing etiquette and carrying a silent provocation.

"What do you mean?" Ashina deliberately slammed the inkstone down.

“The various ninja clans are all undergoing a power transition.” Mito raised his chin. “Mizusawa is only twelve years old and cannot shoulder the heavy responsibility of clan leader. Only I can.”

The crisp sound of the teacup being swept to the ground startled the guards outside the door, but when they peeked out, they saw the old clan chief raise his hand to signal them to step back.

A few shards of porcelain flew and landed near Mito's feet, but she didn't even flinch.

"Nonsense!" Ashina slammed her hand on the table, the wind from her sleeve nearly overturning the lamp. "A mere woman dares to dream of becoming the clan leader?"

Mito stepped forward, bracing herself against her father's rage, raindrops dripping from her clothes. "So what if I'm a woman? I can break the seven-layered barrier of the ancestral shrine, I've improved thirty-seven sealing techniques, and three months ago I repelled the Kaguya clan's sneak attack..."

She suddenly ripped open her collar, revealing a bone spur scar on her collarbone that had not yet healed. "I used the Vajra Lock to hold them off for three hours."

Ashina's pupils contracted; if the wound had been just half an inch off, it would have pierced his heart.

Of course he remembered that the battle report that day stated that Lord Mito was guarding the east gate alone, and at the time he even circled the word "Lord" in red ink and ordered it to be changed.

"So what if you have the ability?" Ashina's voice suddenly sounded much older. "Do you think you can defy a thousand years of worldly customs?"

He pointed to the ancestral shrine, faintly visible through the rain outside the window, and said, "Apart from that Uchiha Showa who fell into darkness, when has a woman ever held power in the ninja world?"

The candlelight suddenly flickered violently, and you appeared beside Mito without her noticing, a strange golden light flashing beneath her hood.

Ashina then noticed the kunai hanging at the other's waist, the blade of which was clearly engraved with the Flying Thunder God Technique of the Senju Clan.

“My father knew perfectly well that I was more suitable than any of my brothers,” Mito stated the fact.

Ashina slumped back into his chair; of course he knew.

Last year, the envoy sent by the Daimyo Prefecture was won over by Mito's perfect etiquette, and it was also she who saw through the enemy's bloodline disease trap in advance.

His daughter inherited all his political talents, and even surpassed him.

“You will be written into history.” Ashina stroked the family crest engraving on the table, “not as a wise leader, but as… a rebellious outcast.”

Mito suddenly laughed. She turned around and opened the window, and the torrential rain immediately poured in, soaking the documents on her desk.

A flash of lightning in the distance illuminated the twelve stone statues standing in the direction of the ancestral hall, their majestic faces flickering in the lightning.

"So what?" She untied her hair rope, and her red hair fluttered like a banner in the wind. "When I lead the Uzumaki clan to end the war, history will be rewritten."

A thunderclap boomed, and Ashina then noticed something flickering in his daughter's eyes that he had never seen before, something even more terrifying than the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan.

That was an ambition that transcended gender and time.

"What is the father worried about? His daughter's allies can ignore all of this."

Ashina's gaze was fixed on the dark figure.

"Lord Ashina," you said, deliberately lowering your voice to conceal your true gender, "with my assistance, you can rest assured."

The tone sent a chill down Ashina's spine. "...You're a tanuki?"

The teacup on the table suddenly shattered, and the flying shards of porcelain drew a line of blood on Mito's cheek, but she remained motionless, letting the blood droplets roll down to the corner of her lips.

"Father, with Tanuki's assistance..." Mito licked away the blood, revealing sharp canines, "How can the Uzumaki clan not rival the Senju Uchiha?"

She stepped forward, her wooden clogs crunching over the shards of porcelain on the ground. "This was your lifelong wish."

Ashina placed his hand on the sealing scroll. Of course, he remembered the mission report from the Land of Lightning five years ago. Tanuki had single-handedly slaughtered eighteen Jonin, and strange golden chakra was mixed in with the scorched marks left on the battlefield from Lightning Release.

And now, this dangerous weapon is standing in his daughter's shadow.

"How could you know..." His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed back the words "such a dangerous monster," and the sealing talisman on the scroll began to glow faintly.

“Three months ago, Kaguya launched a night attack.” Your voice seemed to come from a great distance. “When all the guards at the East Gate were wiped out, it was Princess Mito who bought time with the Kongo Lock.”

You point to the emblem on the kunai, "This kunai is the one I stuck in Chief Kaguya's spine."

Ashina suddenly coughed violently. He remembered that after that battle, the Kaguya clan had indeed suddenly withdrawn their troops, and among the bone spikes left on the battlefield, fragments of kunai that appeared to have been melted by the high temperature were indeed found.

“You taught me…” Mito had somehow gotten behind her father and gently placed her fingers on his trembling shoulder. “The value of an ally lies not in good or evil, but in whether they can bring victory.”

Her fingertips suddenly tightened, "Just like when you secretly contacted the Hyuga to fight against the Senju back then."

These words pierced Ashina's heart like a kunai. The secret pact from twenty years ago was the biggest stain on his life, something that should have been known only to the clan leaders of each generation.

He turned his head sharply and saw the same burning ambition in his daughter's eyes as he had in his youth.

"Lady Tanuki promises..." Mito whispered in her father's ear, her red hair falling to obscure their expressions, "As long as I become the clan leader, the Uzumaki will receive the full support of the Land of Wind."

“Three days from now,” Ashina Uzumaki finally spoke, her voice barely audible in the rain, “At the shrine ceremony… I will announce the successor.”

Mito bowed deeply, the curve of her bow flawless. By the time she straightened up, you had vanished, leaving only a water-stained kunai on the windowsill.

"Does Father know?" Mito, who had turned to leave, suddenly stopped. "The last of the Uchiha Showa era..."

Her figure was blurred in the rain. "But you forgot, thirty years after Showa's death, the Uchiha clan still used the clan rules she set."

The sound of the wooden door closing was drowned out by the downpour. Ashina sat there blankly for a long time, when he suddenly noticed that the clan emblem document on the table had been blurred by the rain, and the vermilion character "女" (woman) had bled like blood on the paper.

When you wake up in a daze, the first thing you feel is the coldness of the metal on your wrist. You struggle instinctively, and the clanging of chains echoes eerily in the enclosed space.

"Anagi, you're awake."

The breath near your ear was incredibly hot; you were all too familiar with the suppressed emotions contained in that voice, like the thick air before a storm.

"spot..."

Your voice was hoarse in your throat, and the black runes on your collarbone suddenly began to writhe like living things, as if sensing the violent fluctuations in your emotions.

Only then did I realize that the neckline of my kimono was wide open, and my exposed skin was covered with suspicious red marks.

The shackles suddenly tightened, the clanging of the chains deafening in the confined space. Something warm pressed against your trembling lips—it was Ban's index finger, the tip carrying a faint taste of blood. "Shh, I don't want to hear your explanation."

Calloused hands slide under the kimono's obi belt, the sound of tearing fabric reminding you of the sound of kunai slicing through throats on the battlefield.

Even though it was just a dream, Madara's chakra felt terrifyingly real, completely enveloping me with its unique aura, a mixture of gunpowder smoke and the moisture of the Naka River.

"I will let you see with your own eyes the beauty of Infinite Tsukuyomi."

A stinging pain shot through your lips as Ban's canines bit through your lower lip. The sensation of blood being drawn away by his tongue sent shivers down your spine. Suddenly, the hand that had been roaming around your waist gripped your ribs with such force that it almost crushed the bones.

"Just stay obediently by my side..."

The chains rattled as you were lifted up and slammed against the wall, the cold, scaly armor pressed against your inner thighs. "I will forgive your betrayal."

Warm liquid kept dripping from your chin. You belatedly realized you were crying. The tears were roughly wiped away by Ban's gloved thumb, and the pain from rubbing against your eyelids was unusually clear.

This realization makes you even more terrified. As the leader of the suicide squad, how many years has it been since you shed a tear?

"Why are you crying?" Ban's voice suddenly softened, his nose brushing against the black curse mark behind your ear. "I didn't bully you."

Chapter 54 Warning

The last syllable disappeared into the entwined breaths, and in the suffocating kiss, her eyes widened. In that instant, you saw clearly the shattered emotions in Ban's eyes.

It contains both a devastating rage and a deeper, more painful obsession.

"You can't escape." Madara's lips almost touched your trembling eyelashes. "This time I'll lock you up..."

You wake up with a start in your bed in reality and find an Uchiha clan crest lying quietly beside your pillow. Familiar cracks remain on the metal surface. You struggle with it in your palm, but finally put it down gently.

The carriage swayed slightly on the muddy road, and outside the curtain came the shouts of Lu Helin directing the procession.

Mito Uzumaki, under the guise of organizing the map, steals a third glance at the Flying Thunder God kunai at your waist.

“I remember the second young master of the Senju clan is not yet married,” Mito suddenly said, her red hair falling down to cover her cunning eyes.

Your fingertips rest on the short knife you are wiping, the blade reflecting your slightly furrowed brows. Morning light filters through the car window, casting dappled patterns on your profile, making the black runes appear even more eerie.

"Ahem, I was just curious..." Mito covered half of her face with a scroll, "What would that guy be like with a wife?"