Chapter 16: Chapter 16 Susanoo
Inside the Hokage Tower, Hiruzen sat wearily in his chair.
Tonight, he wouldn't be getting any sleep.
During the day, he had been running around dealing with the Jinchuriki situation, giving speeches everywhere to barely suppress the villagers' complaints about Naruto.
At night, just as he was about to fall asleep, his old bones were dragged out of bed by Shisui.
Although he had long suspected the Uchiha Clan might attempt a coup, he hadn't expected them to actually go through with it. He wondered if the Uchiha Clan really didn't care about the village's safety at all.
After all, if the Uchiha Clan truly launched a rebellion, the other four great villages wouldn't stand idly by. They would surely seize the opportunity to attack Konoha, potentially triggering the Fourth Ninja World War.
In fact, Konoha had already suffered so much. First, the White Fang committed suicide. Then, Tsunade left the village due to her trauma. Jiraiya was wandering the world chasing a vague prophecy. The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato, sacrificed himself to seal the Nine-Tails. And finally, Hiruzen's favorite student, Orochimaru, had become a Missing-nin.
After all these events, Konoha was no longer the strongest village capable of challenging the four great villages on its own.
Having lost so many key figures, the village was experiencing a generational gap. Konoha simply couldn't afford another war.
'We had to strike first.'
'Is the Uchiha clan truly an inherently evil clan, as Tobirama-sensei said?
'Just like Shisui's Sharingan...'
When Shisui had revealed the ability of his Mangekyo Sharingan earlier, Hiruzen's heart had nearly jumped out of his chest.
'Kotoamatsukami could invade someone's mind without their knowledge and permanently, completely alter their will.'
'Didn't that mean Shisui could turn anyone into his puppet without anyone noticing?'
'Such a dangerous ability...'
Thinking back to all the times he had laughed and chatted with Shisui, Hiruzen couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.
'I... shouldn't be affected, right?'
Hiruzen exhaled a cloud of smoke, his expression unreadable, but the wariness in his eyes deepened.
'Shisui, I really approve of your Will of Fire.'
'However, having such power in the hands of an Uchiha is far too dangerous.'
"Someone!"
"Quickly call Elder Danzo to the Hokage's Office for a meeting!"
---
"Hmm?"
Naruto landed where Shisui had been moments ago, but he found no trace of anyone having landed there. However, the faint malice in the air kept shifting positions.
'Body Flicker Technique?'
No sound was made, but the speed at which the position changed made it difficult for Naruto to track, 'What an amazing Body Flicker mastery.'
'It seems to be Uchiha Shisui.'
'Let's play with him for a bit.'
'It seems opening the Mangekyo Sharingan does make people swell up easily.'
Naruto directly released the Transparent Release, and his transformed figure appeared out of thin air.
He had a tall, muscular yet agile build, wearing a long robe made of white linen with a hood that cast a shadow over half of his masked face. He wore a leather belt and greaves adorned with various tools and weapons, along with specially crafted gloves and boots. His appearance was completely out of place in the Ninja World.
From the start, Shisui had been circling him, looking for an opportunity to strike. It was clear that Shisui had already located him using the Sharingan.
Since his position had been discovered, Naruto knew there was no need to keep using this mediocre Kekkei Genkai's ability.
Besides, he had prepared multiple layers of Transformation Techniques.
While a normal Transformation Technique could be easily seen through, the one he used with the Mangekyo Sharingan wasn't so simple. Even Shisui, who also possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan, couldn't see through it.
As Naruto appeared out of thin air, Shisui's constant Body Flicker movements paused for a moment. Clearly, he was also surprised.
Then, a barrage of kunai and shuriken came flying from all sorts of tricky angles.
'The Uchiha Clan's Shurikenjutsu, by using the collision of shuriken and kunai in mid-air to change their trajectory, they can seal off all escape routes and left the enemy with no way to avoid them.'
Naruto had nowhere to dodge, but he didn't need to. The shuriken and kunai Shisui threw from every angle seemed almost frozen in his vision. This was the enhanced perception brought by the Mangekyo Sharingan.
At the same time, coupled with the amplification fed back to him by the Mangekyo Sharingan, the hidden blade in his hand popped out.
Ding!
Ding!
Ding!
A series of metallic clashes rang out, and sparks flew in the dark, silent forest. Naruto deflected all the shuriken and kunai with just his hidden blade.
But Naruto didn't stop moving, and his body swiftly turned, his arms raised to block as his wrist blades crossed in mid-air, deflecting a strike from Shisui who had lunged from the shadows.
In the darkness, two pairs of three-tomoe Sharingan reflected each other's figures.
One pair was filled with shock, anger, and confusion, while the other was completely calm.
Their clash was brief, and Shisui immediately retreated after his attack failed, stopping several meters away.
He glared at the tall figure before him, the fury in his eyes almost tangible, as if it could burn Naruto to ashes.
"Why are you doing this?" Shisui gritted his teeth, his expression filled with pain, "Do you have any idea how your actions will push the clan and the village to complete opposition?"
"What did you do to 'Cat'?"
Shisui recognized the mask on Naruto's face, and the three tomoe in his eyes led him to believe that Naruto was a member of the Uchiha Clan.
"Heh, are you talking about the owner of this mask?"
Naruto's throat emitted an unpleasant laugh, his voice hoarse and broken, like the sound of rough sandpaper rubbing together.
Shisui couldn't match the voice to any face within the Uchiha Clan.
"His Kekkei Genkai is quite interesting, I borrowed it to play with, but it seems that's all it's good for."
Shisui's eyes widened in shock, the three tomoe in his eyes spinning rapidly and forming a straight line. His voice was filled with barely contained rage.
"You bastard! How dare you steal a fellow villager's Kekkei Genkai!"
"Oh? Is this what makes you so angry?"
"I'll capture you here and then take you to Sandaime-sama to face judgment."
The three tomoe in Shisui's eyes morphed into the shape of a single-edged shuriken.
"Is that so? It seems you care more about the village than your own clan." Naruto retracted his hidden blade and drew the long sword from his waist.
"You think that I am unforgivable for stealing the Kekkei Genkai from a fellow villager, but have you seen what Shimura Danzo looks like under the bandages?"
"What are you trying to say?" Shisui's face was cold. While he appeared to be responding, he was actually looking for an opening in Naruto's defenses. However, he found that Naruto's stance was full of openings, making it impossible to gauge the situation. He didn't dare to act rashly.
"You really don't know, do you? Under those bandages lies Sharingans!"
"Wh-what? That's impossible!"
Naruto's hoarse words caused Shisui to momentarily lose focus. He knew how fiercely the Uchiha Clan guarded their bloodline.
'If what this guy said was true, and the clan found out that Danzō had an Uchiha's Sharingan…'
'Then the entire clan would definitely riot.'
Naruto seized the moment of Shisui's distraction, swinging his long sword at the stunned Shisui.
'I can't dodge this!'
Shisui snapped back to reality, but the blade was already in front of him. Naruto's sword was wrapped in Wind Nature Chakra, making it impossible to block directly.
Clang-
"Susanoo?!"
Naruto looked at the green ribs that blocked his attack with some surprise. It was the first stage of Susanoo.
'That's so cool.'
He quickly retreated several meters.
"You have no chance of winning in front of these eyes."
Shisui looked at Naruto coldly, "I'll defeat you and make you tell me everything."
He decided to go all out, resolving the situation before either the village or the Uchiha Clan could react. He needed to prevent the news of an Uchiha killing an Anbu from spreading and to keep the clan from learning about Danzo's actions.
Then, a large number of tendons and muscles grew out of the skeleton that wrapped Shisui, and the skeleton transformed into a majestic warrior wielding a spiral sword.
The second stage of Susanoo.