Chapter 7

The flames continued to spread through the forest, and Kazuya had no intention of stopping them. It was this forest's misfortune to encounter Kazuya.

Putting Naruto, who was still unconscious, on the ground, Kazuya decided to cut down a tree to sit on. He knew that the 'superiors' from Konoha would take some time to arrive at this place.

"Frankly, why can't the superiors of this village be a bit more friendly?"

Muttering quietly, Kazuya sat down to rest.

Despite not appearing so, he was exhausted. Fighting against so many elite ninjas had nearly drained all his chakra, and even though he hadn't suffered any serious injuries, the feeling of running out of chakra was terrifying.

"If I had awakened my Mangekyou..." Kazuya murmured while sitting.

He knew that until he awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, his capabilities would be limited. Not to mention fighting the main antagonists of this world, he probably wouldn't survive Itachi and Obito's attack on the night of the Uchiha massacre.

Of course, due to his intrusion, he wouldn't allow Shisui to commit suicide. At least, he wouldn't let Shisui lose his eye to Danzo and give the other to Itachi. If, by the fateful night of the Uchiha massacre, he hadn't awakened the Mangekyou or become strong enough, then...

Drastic measures would be taken!

Kazuya hoped it wouldn't come to that, but if the worst happened, then only his family would survive.

Unfortunately, he didn't have a system; otherwise, his life would probably be easier. After all, many systems he had seen in his past life could awaken the Mangekyou in their host. And since he didn't have a system, he would have to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan in the traditional way.

"Mangekyou Sharingan... if I'm not mistaken, to activate it, I would need to experience trauma as strong as losing someone very close to me... Of course, just losing the person isn't enough since I would have to feel the emotion of losing a friend or family member...

The emotion of losing someone..."

The only people who could make him feel the emotion of loss were his parents and siblings. Of course, if he had to lose any of those three, he would prefer never to awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Ahh... I need to find Orochimaru; maybe he has some solution..."

Orochimaru... He could probably help, the only problem was how to get him to cooperate. After all, it's known that Orochimaru is a cunning and treacherous person; dealing with him is like walking on a tightrope where if you fall, you'll die painfully.

"If I play the right cards at the right time... luring him won't be a problem, I just need Shisui's cooperation..."

Deciding on his next steps, Kazuya smiled as he stood up to greet the person who had arrived. He had sensed movement from behind and quickly turned to see Shisui, with a small katana on his back, entering his field of vision.

"It looks like someone has arrived."

"Kazuya, what's going on here?"

"Shisui, you took too long. You didn't live up to your title 'Shisui of the Body Flicker.'"

"Stop talking nonsense, Kazuya. What exactly is happening here? Why did you use such a powerful fire jutsu inside the village?" Shisui, who had arrived in haste, looked at the scene in front of him and was momentarily stunned, then began to anxiously ask, "What are you doing? And the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki... Right, is the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki okay?"

"You know that's impolite, right?"

Kazuya interrupted Shisui as he approached Naruto. "Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki, Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki... that kind of treatment is very rude. This boy has a name, the name his parents gave him. What's with the Nine-Tails Jinchuuriki? That's not his name."

"Ah-"

Shisui, losing his momentum, opened his mouth, looked at Naruto, who was lying unconscious on the grass, and took a step back. "I'm sorry; that was rude of me."

"That's more appropriate."

Kazuya nodded, satisfied.

At that moment, Shisui frowned, realizing that something was amiss. Looking at Kazuya's satisfied expression, he realized he didn't need to apologize to him but to Naruto. After all, the one he had been rude to was Naruto, so why should he apologize to Kazuya?

This is really frustrating!

"Kazuya, stop this. What really happened here?"

"What happened?"

Kazuya gave a wry smile. "Shisui, haven't you realized yet? Don't try to deceive yourself! If you keep acting this way, I'll lose all respect I have for you."

Shisui fell silent.

He looked around, seeing kunais and shurikens scattered in the bushes, marks on the ground from ninja attacks, and unrecognizable decapitated bodies due to sealing techniques.

As the sole ANBU member of the Uchiha clan at the moment, he knew what was happening with these strange bodies. Only ninja implanted with self-destruct sealing techniques would become unrecognizable after death.

"I was escorting Naruto home, right here when we were attacked. I don't know the exact number, but I believe there were more than twenty attackers, all skilled. By my estimate, most were Jounins with a few special ANBU... They ambushed us together, and some of them even had secret techniques.

You must understand, I had no choice but to use all my strength to kill them."

"Secret techniques?"

Shisui raised his eyes to look.

"Nara, Yamanaka, Aburame."

"Are you sure?" Shisui asked with difficulty.

"Humph! Do you think I'm blind? Naruto passed out because of that Yamanaka's mind transfer technique, and I was immobilized by the one from Nara. If it weren't for my quick reaction... Shisui, if you had taken longer to arrive, you might not have found my body to bury."

Shisui's expression became severe. He knew why Kazuya had said that.

If what Kazuya said was true, then these people likely belong to the Root. Danzo is probably already heading to this place, and if he found Kazuya alone...

Shisui didn't want to imagine what could happen.

"You must have figured out what's going on. All these dead people on the ground have seals on their tongues; that's characteristic of the Root. The reason no superior has appeared yet is to wait for the seals to disappear so we won't have a chance to incriminate them.

Humph! Even the Third Hokage might be involved in this matter. After all, it's impossible for him not to know about an operation that moved so many elite ninjas..."

Kazuya was about to continue speaking, but before he could, more people arrived from the direction of the Uchiha clan's territory.

"Kazuya!"

"Brother Kazuya."

"Are you hurt? Kazuya."

The number of people who had arrived wasn't large; five in total, three men and two women, all dressed in traditional Uchiha clan attire. Furthermore, they all had characteristic black hair and eyes... Undoubtedly, they were from the Uchiha clan, and all of them were Jounin.

They were young Jounin, with ages close to Kazuya's. The oldest among them couldn't have been more than twenty years old.

"But Masaki, Yakumo, Hiroji, Miwa, Suzuko... Why did you come?"

"It was Elder Yoshiaki."

The one who spoke was Uchiha Masaki.

He was a distant cousin of Kazuya, three years older than him, and was the eldest in this group. Before Shisui and Kazuya stood out, Uchiha Masaki was considered the prominent genius of the family but was overshadowed by the subsequent brilliance of Shisui and Kazuya.

However, silver will always be silver, and even if overshadowed by gold, it doesn't turn into bronze. After all, this is not a cultivation world where a genius, once surpassed by the protagonist, becomes complete trash and is ridiculed by those around them.

Being promoted to Jounin at the age of thirteen proved his talent.

"The clan leader is not in the clan territory tonight, so the elders are coordinating things. Elder Yoshiaki heard that you were here, Kazuya, and sent us to support you... But it seems Shisui also came, so it looks like we don't need to worry anymore." Uchiha Masaki scratched his head and greeted Shisui.

Kazuya quickly understood.

It was no wonder that those who came were Masaki and the group of young ones, rather than the veteran Jounin of the clan.

Compared to those elders who demanded to be called uncle or great-uncle and were difficult to command, Masaki and his group were the foundation that Kazuya had recruited. They all knew about Kazuya's ambitions to take the clan leader's place and were firm supporters of Kazuya. They were the 'we' Kazuya had mentioned to Shisui.

Looking at these five young individuals, Kazuya had a refreshing smile on his face.

His efforts in cultivating these five had not been in vain; all of them were rare talents of the clan, second only to himself, Shisui, and Itachi. In fact, if Masaki were to fight the current Itachi, the chances of winning were not low since the current Itachi had not awakened his Mangekyou Sharingan.

In a battle between three-tomoe Sharingan users, the winner would be the one with more experience, and Masaki had plenty of battle experience.

Another thing he realized was that his grandfather was really considerate, sending these five would prevent Danzo from trying to silence him because if Danzo attacked him, these five could help him defend himself.

Of course, Kazuya would love it if Danzo attacked him.

For a long time, he had been preparing a counterattack that would shock everyone in Konoha.