Orochimaru had always been someone who acted without hesitation. Once he set his sights on a goal, he moved immediately.
The moment he sensed the Uchiha approaching, he made a subtle hand signal to the Root operatives beside him.
Although he was ready to strike, he knew this wasn't the right moment yet. He needed to wait—wait until Uchiha Fugaku was fully in position.
These Uchiha shinobi were Fugaku's personal guards, loyal to the death. Their purpose in arriving ahead of him was simple: to secure the area.
This wasn't Orochimaru's first time scouting this location. He was already familiar with their patterns, so he remained perfectly still, suppressing any urge to act prematurely.
The Uchiha didn't conduct their inspection very thoroughly. Perhaps it was because this was their own territory, and they felt safe.
But that very carelessness gave Orochimaru an opening.
He had noticed this flaw during his earlier reconnaissance, and now he intended to make full use of it.
He waited silently.
The Root shinobi didn't disappoint either. The moment they received Orochimaru's signal, they had already begun preparing.
As the Uchiha guards moved in to inspect the area, the Root operatives quietly slipped out of their detection range.
When the inspection ended—brief and far from meticulous—they returned just as silently to their ambush positions and continued waiting.
Orochimaru observed everything calmly. Soon, Uchiha Fugaku entered his field of vision, and a faint smile curled across his lips.
Fugaku had come here once again to train his son.
Naturally, Orochimaru's gaze shifted to the child beside him.
That boy was clearly Uchiha Itachi—a prodigy of the clan.
"What a pity… I haven't heard of him awakening the Sharingan yet. Otherwise, he would have made excellent material."
Orochimaru mused silently.
By now, the father and son had reached the small lake, while the hidden Uchiha guards spread out within the very forest where Orochimaru and his men lay in wait.
Orochimaru licked his lips, his chakra already beginning to stir.
In his eyes, Uchiha Fugaku was already under Natsuhiko's control. There was no way he could use Fugaku as experimental material.
And if he wanted to continue his research, he would have to find suitable substitutes.
The best option available…
Was obvious.
These elite guards—tasked with protecting Fugaku—were strong, capable, and, most importantly, expendable.
Even if he didn't know how far their Sharingan had developed, or how powerful they truly were, Orochimaru had little room to be picky anymore.
At this point, he was almost desperate.
"Actually… they're quite a good choice. And there are plenty of them."
With that thought, Orochimaru slammed both hands onto the ground. His chakra surged downward into the earth, spreading rapidly.
The moment he finished, he shot forward like a streak of lightning.
"Hm?"
One of the Uchiha guards suddenly sensed something behind him. He spun around instinctively—
But it was too late.
A snake burst out of the ground and sank its fangs deep into his leg.
The sharp pain and immediate numbness locked his body in place, stealing his voice before he could even cry out.
In the next instant, Orochimaru appeared beside him.
With a swift chop to the neck, he ended it.
The guard hadn't even had time to activate his Sharingan, nor send out any signal.
He was eliminated without a sound.
Orochimaru didn't stop moving.
His earlier dash had created a slight disturbance, just enough to alert the other guards.
But a hint of vigilance meant nothing in front of him.
The moment Orochimaru appeared beside another target, a hidden snake erupted from beneath the ground.
That guard didn't even realize what was happening before he was taken down just as quickly.
Orochimaru repeated the same tactic again and again, but by the time he reached the fifth target, the man was clearly on guard.
After all, four of his teammates had already disappeared. No matter how confident he was in the safety of Uchiha territory, he could no longer ignore the unease creeping into his mind.
Swish!
The instant Orochimaru appeared, the guard's Sharingan activated. Scarlet eyes spun slowly, three tomoe rotating within them.
His blade flashed out of its sheath. In a split second, he cut down the snake that burst from the ground, then immediately turned and slashed toward Orochimaru.
There was no hesitation, no panic at recognizing his opponent. No unnecessary thoughts. He simply raised his weapon and attacked.
"Oh? So I've been noticed?"
Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, but soon a look of excitement spread across his face. Even though he had been exposed, he couldn't suppress the thrill rising within him.
A three-tomoe Sharingan.
This was exactly what he needed.
For his experiments, a subject with a fully developed three-tomoe Sharingan was ideal—and now one had appeared right in front of him. How could he not be pleased?
Before this, he had held some resentment toward Natsuhiko for taking control of the Sharingan resources and placing strict limits on his future research.
He hadn't dared to voice it, of course. In order to ensure things went smoothly after leaving Konoha, he had no choice but to agree.
But now, with such a perfect specimen right before him, that dissatisfaction had almost completely vanished, replaced by a quiet, growing excitement.
With this man—and the other guards—what was there to worry about? His experiments would proceed just fine.
In an instant, Orochimaru's speed increased again. He no longer cared about being exposed.
The Root operatives also realized that they had to finish this quickly. If this dragged on even a little longer and Uchiha Fugaku either left or sent out a signal, everything would fall apart.
Buzz!
In the next moment, all the Root members leapt out at once. Kunai flew, blades were drawn, and they charged forward together.
Orochimaru frowned slightly at the sight.
He had no intention of killing this one.
His movements became even faster.
Ignoring the incoming slash entirely, Orochimaru stepped forward instead, leaving the guard no time to react.
Clang!
In an instant, he caught the man's blade with his bare hand. Blood immediately began to drip from his palm, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest as chakra surged through his body.
A small snake shot out from his sleeve like lightning and sank its fangs deep into the guard's wrist.
Pain and numbness spread instantly through the man's body, and Orochimaru slipped away like a serpent, effortlessly leaving the range of the blade.
"Damn it…"
Facing the kunai that were already flying toward him, the guard twisted his body sharply, dodging as best as he could.
But the faster he moved, the stronger the numbness in his body became.
Standing off to the side, Orochimaru revealed a chilling smile.
...
"Today, I'm going to test your Fire Release. Are you ready?"
"Yes, Father."
Uchiha Fugaku brought Uchiha Itachi to their usual training ground. As he looked at his son, a trace of helplessness flickered in his eyes.
This child was… different.
Too different.
Itachi's intelligence was so overwhelming that even Fugaku sometimes found it troublesome.
No matter what he learned, he picked it up at an astonishing speed—so fast it almost felt unreal. Even mastering something rarely took him much time.
Such talent filled Fugaku with pride. A genius like this would undoubtedly become the pillar of the Uchiha clan in the future, reaching heights that others could never touch.
And yet, that same brilliance brought its own concerns.
For example, the boy seemed somewhat withdrawn. At the academy, he didn't appear to have made any real friends.
Even more troubling was something Fugaku had recently discovered—
At times, this genius son of his had been using Shadow Clones to attend classes in his place… while his real body disappeared somewhere unknown.
To Uchiha Fugaku, this kind of behavior was unacceptable.
Even though, deep down, he never really expected his son to learn much from the academy.
In truth, most of the great clans didn't send their children to the academy with the expectation that they would gain real knowledge there. Every clan had its own unique techniques and traditions, things they would never hand over to Konoha. Those were passed down privately, taught within the clan itself.
The real purpose of the academy was different.
It was a place for children to build connections—to make friends. Whether it was talented civilians or members of other clans, these were people worth knowing. In the future, those relationships could become valuable assets, not just in life, but in matters involving family, politics, and influence.
Bonds formed at that age were the strongest.
Of course, there could be complications—like children from rival clans becoming close—but once they grew older, developed their own judgment, and became entangled in family and personal interests, forming such bonds would become far more difficult. Even if they did, those connections would rarely carry the same weight.
Itachi was incredibly intelligent, but in this area, he was lacking.
Perhaps he was simply too smart. Maybe that was why he couldn't truly connect with other children.
Still, no matter how things had been before, Fugaku had already decided to correct this.
Bringing him out today wasn't just to test his training—it was also an opportunity to talk about this properly.
"Hm?"
As the two of them reached the lakeside, Fugaku suddenly frowned, a sense of alertness rising within him. He turned sharply, looking back toward the forest behind them.
Itachi followed his gaze, curiosity flashing in his eyes, though he didn't yet understand what was happening.
But soon, the answer became clear.
A man dressed in black, wearing a mask, came flying out of the forest, his body tumbling through the air before crashing to the ground.
In that instant, Itachi realized—
They were in trouble.
"Father, what is—" Itachi began softly.
But Fugaku didn't answer. He immediately pulled Itachi behind him, shielding him with his body.
The atmosphere grew heavy.
Fugaku stared ahead with a calm, unreadable expression as a figure slowly emerged from the trees. But within his eyes, a trace of anger flickered.
Orochimaru.
He recognized him instantly.
And it was precisely because he recognized him that his expression turned so grim.
The rumors… the suspicions…
They were true.
That missing Uchiha child—there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that Orochimaru had taken them.
And now, this man had come here so brazenly.
Was he targeting his son next?
And this matter… Konoha was likely involved as well.
Fugaku's gaze shifted past Orochimaru, landing on the line of shinobi behind him. They wore standard ANBU uniforms, moving forward slowly in formation.
His expression darkened further.
They could be ANBU… or Root.
As the clan head, he was well aware of Root's existence.
But whether it was Root or ANBU, the truth was the same—they were weapons controlled by Konoha.
And now, those weapons were aimed directly at him.
What that implied… didn't need to be said.
Is Konoha planning to make a move against the Uchiha? Fugaku thought grimly.
In the next instant, his eyes turned a deep crimson. The three tomoe spun slowly within them.
"Orochimaru-sama, what exactly do you mean by this?" Fugaku asked. Though he already had his suspicions, he chose to probe further.
"What do I mean?" Orochimaru licked his lips, his tone casual. "Isn't it obvious? Why bother asking?"
"No… what I mean is—" Fugaku's chakra began to circulate through his body, his voice growing colder, "is this Konoha's decision?"
"Konoha?" Orochimaru raised an eyebrow, a hint of amusement flashing across his face.
He found it rather interesting.
Surrounded by him and so many shinobi, Fugaku still had the mind to worry about something so… irrelevant.
Was it confidence… or simply a desire to understand everything before facing death?
Or perhaps, from the perspective of both the village and his clan, he wanted to clearly grasp the true relationship between the Uchiha and Konoha?
Orochimaru quietly watched Uchiha Fugaku. Then, he slowly licked his lips. Since Fugaku wanted answers, there was no real reason to hide anything.
After all, once this was over, he would be leaving Konoha. There was nothing left to keep secret.
With that thought, Orochimaru crossed his arms, his gaze filled with mockery, his voice as hoarse and low as ever.
"This attack on you… it wasn't my teacher's idea," he said with a faint smile. "It's just that someone else wants to make use of your body."
"Shimura Danzo?" Fugaku's eyes sharpened the moment he heard that, especially after noticing the ANBU-style uniforms. A name immediately came to mind.
"Who it is doesn't really matter anymore," Orochimaru replied calmly, neither confirming nor denying it. He raised one hand slightly and asked, "Are you ready?"
"Why do you think…" Fugaku let out a quiet sigh. By now, he already understood.
He slowly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again—
The crimson within them had changed.
The three tomoe were no longer separate. They had merged together into a single, complex pattern.
"You think you've already won?"
"These eyes…"
The moment Orochimaru saw the transformation in Fugaku's gaze, his heart trembled.
At that instant, he could clearly feel a terrifying aura radiating from those eyes.
It was overwhelming… suffocating… carrying a faint but undeniable sense of destruction that lingered in the air around him.
"The Mangekyō Sharingan…"
In a flash, fragments of knowledge surfaced in his mind. As a disciple of the Third Hokage, he had access to information others would never know.
For example, even the Uchiha clan themselves no longer fully remembered that beyond the three-tomoe Sharingan, there existed an even more powerful and feared form—
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
Orochimaru had no interest in why the Uchiha had buried this truth. The power of those eyes was undeniable—far beyond what ordinary people could handle.
Even he, standing here now, felt an indescribable fear creeping into his heart.
Still… perhaps it was better that the truth had been hidden.
At least the Uchiha, as they were now, weren't as terrifying as they could have been.
"Move!"
Facing Fugaku in this state, Orochimaru immediately ordered the Root operatives to attack.
He had no intention of rushing in himself—not when there were other things he needed to do.
The Root shinobi clearly didn't understand what Fugaku's transformation meant. Upon receiving the order, they charged forward without hesitation.
They split into groups of three, attacking from different directions and surrounding Fugaku within a tight encirclement.
"Watch carefully," Fugaku said softly to Itachi beside him, his eyes shifting slightly. "The true strength of the Uchiha comes from how we use the Sharingan."
In the next instant, he moved.
He carried no weapons—after all, he had only brought his son out for training. There was no reason to come fully armed.
But for him, his greatest weapon was his own eyes. Everything else was ultimately irrelevant.
In an instant, Fugaku closed in on one of the Root shinobi. Facing the unstoppable slash of the man's sword, Fugaku's eyes began to turn.
The Root shinobi's body suddenly stiffened. He seemed to lose focus for a moment. Fugaku Uchiha swiftly disarmed him.
With a slight shift of his body, he dodged a kunai from behind as if he had eyes on his back.
Then, with a precise chop to the neck, he knocked the shinobi unconscious and caught a falling kunai in one smooth motion.
"Not willing to kill?"
Orochimaru licked his lips. Although Uchiha Fugaku's movements were unbelievably fast, he could still follow them clearly.
This man was holding back.
There was hesitation in his heart—but that worked out perfectly for Orochimaru. It made it much easier for him to quietly retrieve the Uchiha bodies he had already paralyzed with poison.
Meanwhile, Fugaku's battle continued.
After casually blocking an incoming strike with his kunai, another Root shinobi's blade slipped in from his side without warning.
More importantly, several shinobi had already moved into position behind him, lunging forward without hesitation to strike him down from the rear.
Are they trying to kill me outright?
The anger in Fugaku's chest continued to rise, but he knew he had to stay in control.
The Mangekyō in his eyes spun slowly. The incoming attacks were fierce, but to him, their trajectories were perfectly clear.
At the last moment, he shifted his body slightly and reached out with his left hand, grabbing the attacking shinobi's wrist.
Crack!
The sound of bone breaking echoed sharply.
Fugaku twisted the man's arm without hesitation, snapping it cleanly.
At the same time, he pulled the shinobi backward, using him as leverage to turn around in one smooth motion. With both the captured kunai and the one in his own hand, he faced the attackers behind him.
Clang!
The sharp sound of metal clashing rang out as their weapons collided.
With a powerful kick, Fugaku sent one of the Root shinobi flying backward.
In the same motion, he hurled his kunai. It shot forward and pierced straight through another shinobi's left shoulder.
Leaping back slightly, he quickly formed hand seals. His chakra surged wildly, building up in an instant.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
A massive fireball burst from his mouth, blazing forward. It was at least two to three meters wide, roaring as it surged toward the remaining Root shinobi.
The speed of the technique was overwhelming.
They didn't dare face it head-on.
The Root operatives scattered in all directions, but the distance between them was too small—they couldn't fully escape the blast radius.
Boom!
A deafening explosion rang out as flames lit up the area, turning the nearby lake into a reflection of blazing red.
Standing to the side, Itachi watched everything quietly.
This was the first time he had truly seen his father fight.
Even though he had followed him to the battlefield in the Land of Grass before, Fugaku had mostly been directing troops back then.
But now…
Seeing him fight in person—the terrifying speed, the flawless timing, the precise execution, and that overwhelming Fire Release—it made the young Itachi realize just how powerful his father truly was.
It was awe-inspiring.
And at the same time… frightening.
Fugaku, however, had no idea what his son was thinking. He calmly looked at the fallen Root shinobi, then shifted his gaze toward Orochimaru, who still hadn't made a move.
Frowning slightly, he spoke in a low voice, "You're not going to act? I've held back, but that doesn't mean I'll tolerate this. They may very well die here."
"Heh… if they're weaker, then death is only natural."
Orochimaru licked his lips indifferently. He had already collected all the Uchiha bodies he needed—now he could finally stretch himself a little.
As for the lives of these Root shinobi…
He didn't care in the slightest.
He never had.
"To be a shinobi—especially one from Root—if you fail your mission, it's better to die with honor than to live on in humiliation, spared out of pity."
"If they don't even have that level of resolve, then they don't deserve to be Root shinobi."
As he spoke, Orochimaru's chakra began to surge wildly.
"After all… this is an order personally given by Danzo-sama."
...
"If nothing unexpected happens, today should be the day he makes his move. Orochimaru doesn't have much time left."
Sitting in the ANBU commander's office, Natsuhiko flipped through a stack of documents while quietly thinking to himself.
The deadline he had given Orochimaru was today.
Starting tomorrow, Kakashi would return to active duty, and once that happened, the surveillance on Orochimaru would become extremely strict. Under those conditions, unless Orochimaru was reckless enough to attack Kakashi directly—and provoke Natsuhiko in the process—he would have no choice but to complete everything within the given time.
"I wonder how things are going on his end."
Natsuhiko tossed the finished documents onto the desk. He had already gone through most of them. Recently, the shinobi world had been relatively stable, without too many complicated matters.
The only headache was the activity from Kumogakure, but for now, it was just movement—not yet something suffocatingly serious.
Besides, that wasn't something he needed to handle personally. Hiruzen Sarutobi and the administrative division would surely keep a close eye on it.
"In that case… I'll go take a look at Orochimaru's performance."
Natsuhiko was genuinely curious.
What kind of eyes did Uchiha Fugaku possess?
Were they the three-tomoe Sharingan from the manga, or the Mangekyō Sharingan with those bizarre patterns from the anime?
Since his rebirth, Natsuhiko had interacted with quite a few Uchiha. He had even encountered the Mangekyō Sharingan before.
But Obito only had one eye. No matter how powerful it was, it couldn't fully bring out its true combat potential. That was also why Natsuhiko had made sure to prevent Obito from going after Kakashi to reclaim the other eye.
Fugaku, however, was different.
He clearly possessed a complete pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
There was no way Natsuhiko wouldn't be curious about the abilities and limits of those eyes.
With that thought, he slowly closed his eyes. In an instant, he locked onto the mark he had placed on Orochimaru.
"That direction... the Uchiha compound?"
Natsuhiko was slightly surprised, but he quickly calmed down.
As the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku rarely spent much time outside the clan's territory. Calling him a shut-in wouldn't be entirely inaccurate—his range of activity was almost entirely within the clan.
Still, Natsuhiko needed to be cautious.
If Orochimaru decided to play tricks, things could get troublesome.
When it came to Orochimaru, Natsuhiko's stance had always been clear—
Useful, but never trustworthy.
After all, Orochimaru's intelligence and his tendency to switch sides at critical moments were both top-tier.
He had assassinated the Kazekage, launched an attack on Konoha, and later even provided key support during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
And yet, what was truly absurd was that someone like him—who could easily be described as irredeemably evil—ended up walking away clean in the end.
The reason was simple.
At the final moment, he had aligned himself with Sasuke Uchiha.
And Sasuke, as one of the saviors of the shinobi world and Naruto's closest bond, made it impossible for the other villages to act against him, no matter how much they resented it.
"So… necessary precautions are a must," Natsuhiko thought calmly. "Orochimaru's danger isn't limited to just his combat ability."
Thinking quickly, Natsuhiko left behind a Shadow Clone and immediately activated the mark he had placed near Orochimaru.
In the next moment, he arrived at the outskirts of the Uchiha clan.
After finding a concealed spot, he wasted no time in activating his Jōgan.
His vision pierced through layers of obstacles, finally settling on a small river at the back of the Uchiha compound.
There, dozens of Root shinobi lay scattered across the ground, completely incapacitated.
However, they were still alive.
It was obvious that Uchiha Fugaku had held back and spared them.
Whether it was out of caution… or some genuine sense of restraint, Natsuhiko couldn't say.
Not far from them, Orochimaru and Fugaku were already locked in battle.
Both of them possessed immense chakra, and their speed and strength were nothing short of terrifying.
What interested Natsuhiko even more was that, aside from spotting Uchiha Itachi nearby, he also noticed something crucial—
Fugaku's eyes.
"That is… the Mangekyō Sharingan?"
A faint blue glow shimmered in Natsuhiko's eyes as he clearly saw the strange patterns within Fugaku's gaze, along with the overwhelming power spilling out from them.
From his perspective, Fugaku's eyes were constantly releasing a dark, almost black chakra.
Under the influence of that chakra, Orochimaru was clearly struggling. He was being suppressed at every turn, steadily pushed back without any chance to regain control.
More alarmingly, Natsuhiko noticed that the same strange chakra seemed to have begun seeping into Orochimaru's body, causing visible disruption.
"A Genjutsu?"
Natsuhiko muttered softly.
That dark chakra moved erratically inside Orochimaru, stirring and distorting his own chakra flow until it became unstable.
From what Natsuhiko could tell, only genjutsu could produce such an effect.
He didn't know how Fugaku had awakened his Mangekyō, nor what emotions had driven that moment.
After all, the Sharingan was a reflection of the heart. The power it granted was shaped by the user's thoughts and feelings at the moment of awakening.
Is it another Genjutsu-based eye? Or something more technical?
After a brief moment of thought, Natsuhiko made his decision.
Orochimaru was clearly reaching his limit.
And Fugaku's eyes had completely captured Natsuhiko's interest.
The influence and deterrent power of the Mangekyō Sharingan within the Uchiha clan was beyond imagination.
Natsuhiko couldn't allow Fugaku to rely on those eyes to completely disrupt his plans.
He had to act.
For example… personally taking one of those eyes.
That way, he could obtain valuable experimental material while also weakening Fugaku's influence. Only by breaking that sense of awe—by shattering the myth of the Mangekyō Sharingan—could his arrangements within the Uchiha proceed smoothly and remain under control.
...
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