Chapter 9: Stop, Danzo

Chapter 9: Stop, Danzo

"A seven-year-old with three-tomoe Sharingan… How long are you going to let this go on?!"

In the Hokage's office, the four leading figures of Konoha gathered.

At the head was Hiruzen Sarutobi, with his advisor, Danzo Shimura, and the two high-ranking councilors, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.

"That child is attending the academy like any other student," Hiruzen said firmly. "Danzo, I've told you to stay out of academy affairs."

Danzo gave a sinister smile. "Have you forgotten what that means?"

"Have you forgotten those eyes?!"

"Mangekyou…" Koharu murmured, looking to Hiruzen. "With Uchiha Kagami's talent, the right stimulation could very well awaken the Mangekyou."

"That power… it's too uncontrollable!"

Hiruzen took a deep breath, releasing a cloud of smoke as his face darkened. "I have plans."

"What kind of plans? You should let me train him. I guarantee he'll be completely on our side!"

"Hiruzen…" Koharu and Homura exchanged glances, clearly tempted.

They had lived through the era of Madara Uchiha and were well aware of the Mangekyou's power.

The idea of a controllable Mangekyou was enticing.

Seeing his old friends leaning toward Danzo's suggestion, Hiruzen finally relented, saying, "I've already called Jiraiya back. I'll arrange for Uchiha Kagami to follow him."

"Jiraiya…" Koharu and Homura exchanged approving nods.

To them, Jiraiya was the ideal candidate to groom the Fourth Hokage. They trusted him implicitly.

But Danzo was not convinced.

"How could we let that rule-breaking wanderer handle the Uchiha?"

Hiruzen cast him a sidelong glance. "He trained Minato."

With that, even the slightly hesitant Koharu and Homura were reassured.

Minato Namikaze—their ideal choice for the Fifth Hokage.

"That was because of Minato's own talent, not your student's teaching!" Danzo made one last attempt.

"If it comes to that, I'll train him myself. I trained the Sannin, after all—there shouldn't be a problem."

…

"You're raising a tiger here! That brat is bound to harm the village. I can see the darkness in him!"

"You…"

"I won't regret this, Danzo," Hiruzen said firmly.

"That child has done nothing wrong. I'll ensure he grows up to be a ninja who values his comrades."

"And as for you… Don't think I don't know what you're up to. Stop what you're doing with Sakumo."

The aged tiger, though weakened, still had its bite.

Danzo said nothing in response to Hiruzen's steely gaze, but the office door took the brunt of his frustration.

Bang!

"Really, at his age, and he still doesn't know how to close a door quietly."

---

Nightfall.

In the Uchiha clan compound.

After stepping out of his medicinal bath and washing up, Kagami's grandmother informed him of a visitor.

"Kagami, sorry to disturb you."

"Clan Leader, please come in," Kagami replied formally. As part of the radical faction, he didn't hold much respect for Fugaku, who leaned more toward appeasement.

Obito and Itachi were responsible for the massacre, but Fugaku's inaction had led to it.

Circumstances beyond control, not an individual's fault?

Perhaps, but as the Uchiha leader, failing to change anything was its own kind of failure.

"No need; I just came to deliver an invitation." Fugaku, usually stoic, handed over an invitation with a rare smile.

"Tomorrow is my son's seven-day celebration. I hope you can attend."

Kagami accepted the invitation, looking up. "Have you decided on a name?"

"Itachi. Uchiha Itachi. He's a boy!" Fugaku smiled with the pride of a new father.

Thank goodness Sasuke inherited his mother's looks, Kagami thought; otherwise, like Itachi, he'd look old before his time.

"Alright, I'll be there."

…

Watching Fugaku walk away, Kagami's expression darkened.

Itachi's birth marked the countdown to the Uchiha's demise.

Ten years… should be enough.

Lying down, already well-rested from the day, Kagami let his consciousness sink into his mental space.

"Kid, that guy you saw today—how strong is he in this Konoha village?"

Sukuna's voice echoed.

In the last two years, the strongest person he'd encountered was Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Even in his thousand-year life, such a strong opponent was rare.

Unfortunately, his life force was already fading; otherwise, Sukuna might have wanted to test him.

As for Sakumo Hatake… his strength likely didn't match that old man's, though his blade's sharpness, even with his frail body, still caught Sukuna's eye.

Sukuna had always admired strong people, especially those with pure conviction.

Reflecting on Sukuna's question, Kagami considered that Sakumo was likely a bit stronger than the Sannin currently but not at the level of the Third Hokage.

And then there was the wildcard: Kushina Uzumaki.

A complete Nine-Tails would exceed the current power levels, only able to be contained through sealing techniques.

To curb Sukuna's arrogance, Kagami factored in past and future Konoha elites.

After all, he'd asked about Konoha in general.

"Outside the top twenty. That old man you saw before? Politely put, he's the village head, but there are plenty who surpass him."

…

"Interesting!"

Among the blood-red sea of corpses, Sukuna sneered, "Kid, let me borrow your body for a bit!"

"Just five minutes of activity each day, and I'll teach you how to use my power!"

Kagami grabbed a large lump of black energy from a gap in the seal, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed.

Casting a dismissive glance at Sukuna, he said, "Do I need you to teach me? A few more years, and I'll have you stripped bare."

…

"How are you even siphoning this?!" Sukuna was baffled. He hadn't sensed any reduction in his power.

In fact, within this mental space, his cursed energy was still growing.

In just a few years, he'd accumulated more than the Jujutsu world had in centuries!

He was now stronger than his original peak, yet he had no way of breaking this bizarre seal.

Even his spatial slash couldn't cut through it!

Swallowing the black energy, Kagami felt that once he fully absorbed this batch, his use of "Release" would be far smoother.

With enough chakra, he might even make it a regular attack.

Activating his Sharingan to aid in his training, Kagami began refining chakra with fire nature transformation.

Over the last two years, with the aid of medicinal baths, his physical energy was about that of a 13 or 14-year-old Uchiha.

Uchihas naturally had more chakra than ordinary ninjas, thanks to their vast spiritual energy.

But chakra capacity depended on physical energy.

Some members of the Senju and Uzumaki clans could have chakra reserves rivaling the Tailed Beasts.

Compared to those clans, the Uchiha were always weaker in chakra; even Madara had needed the Nine-Tails as a power source to battle Hashirama for days.

Thinking about it, Kagami glanced at Sukuna with disdain.

The Tailed Beasts were Yin-Yang creations of the Sage of Six Paths; each could act as a power source, though to varying extents.

But Sukuna only had a Yin attribute. Kagami's spiritual energy already far exceeded his physical energy, so he had plenty of Yin-attribute chakra.

"Hey, kid! What's with that look?"

Kagami shrugged. "Your power isn't all that impressive. I'm wondering if I should catch a neighbor for you."

"Bastard! What do you mean by that?!"

Shut.

Kagami tightened his control over the seal, silencing Sukuna's rants.

Extending his palm, a blue chakra sphere appeared, and Kagami attempted to add fire nature transformation.

The moment a spark touched the chakra ball…

Boom!

A loud explosion, as expected—failure.

Kagami couldn't do what Naruto would eventually achieve with his multiple shadow clones. He could only try, again and again, without losing patience.

A Rasengan infused with wind chakra becomes the Rasenshuriken. So, what would it become with fire chakra?

---

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