Ch.15 Cat Fortress

Morning.

Uchiha Sasuke dragged his exhausted body out of the ANBU headquarters.

Having been mysteriously arrested the previous night, he had been interrogated by ANBU all night long.

"Infiltrating the ANBU headquarters..."

Thinking about the charges ANBU had pressed against him, Sasuke felt an overwhelming fury.

Before this, he didn't even know where the ANBU headquarters was!

These incompetent fools in the village let that bastard Itachi get away, and now they're accusing me—how infuriating!

...

Inside the ANBU headquarters.

Two ANBU shinobi stood by a window, watching Sasuke gradually walk away.

The ANBU wearing a hawk-face mask hesitated for a moment and then asked, "Is it really okay to let him go now?"

The ANBU with the dog-face mask calmly replied, "He seems to have been framed."

Through methods like checking for injuries and verifying alibis, the ANBU had screened all suspects last night.

Although Sasuke was caught holding the intruder's mask, that alone wasn't enough evidence to convict him.

"Who could have done this?"

"It's hard to say!" The dog-face mask ANBU paused before continuing, "The Root member who self-destructed outside the Hidden Sand encampment last night was reportedly sent by Lord Danzo to monitor Uchiha Shinji."

The ANBU with the hawk-face mask froze for a moment, then immediately realized, "Someone's targeting the remaining Uchiha clan members?"

"Yes, that's what the higher-ups believe too. In one night, Uchiha Sasuke was framed, and the Root shinobi monitoring Uchiha Shinji was assassinated. The attacker didn't bother hiding their motive—they want to see if we in the Hidden Leaf still trust the surviving Uchiha clan members."

The dog-face mask ANBU, however, didn't reveal everything.

He suspected that the real purpose of the attacker was to probe the truth behind the annihilation of the Uchiha clan, which was once the foremost noble family in the Hidden Leaf.

The hawk-face mask ANBU, also a sharp thinker, quickly grasped this and muttered indignantly, "This is too much—they're treating our Hidden Leaf Village like it's nothing!"

The dog-face mask ANBU sighed.

The village still hadn't fully recovered from the shadow of the Nine-Tails Incident, and now it had lost dozens of powerful dojutsu-wielding shinobi from the Uchiha clan.

On the surface, the Hidden Leaf still appeared to be the top of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

But in reality, only those within knew just how weakened it had become.

This was also why, despite the series of unexpected incidents last night, the higher-ups hadn't canceled the fireworks festival—because in times like these, it was essential to maintain the appearance of stability.

...

Shinobi Academy.

"What, you're leaving the village?"

Hearing Shinji's request, Iruka was taken aback.

Shinji nodded, "Yes, I want to take advantage of the academy break to visit the Cat Fortress and make a contract with a ninneko (ninja cat)."

"Cat Fortress?"

Iruka began to ponder.

The Cat Fortress wasn't far from the Hidden Leaf and often issued missions to the village, making it a close ally.

Remembering the special relationship between the Uchiha clan and the Cat Fortress, Iruka checked his schedule: "Alright, how about the day after tomorrow? I'll accompany you."

Shinji understood that Iruka's offer was out of kindness but still shook his head and declined: "Iruka-sensei, I can handle it on my own!"

After Shinji's repeated insistence, Iruka finally agreed to his request and issued him a temporary pass to leave the village.

Having secured the temporary pass, Shinji quickly returned to his apartment, packed his things, and set out immediately.

Last night, even though I gathered many alibi witnesses...

The Root shinobi monitoring me ended up dead under suspicious circumstances. Whether Danzo will use this as an excuse to act against me is uncertain.

So this trip outside the village served two purposes: preparing for the next step in obtaining Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan and testing Danzo to see if he would make trouble over the Root shinobi's death.

If Shinji stayed in the village...

Should Danzo decide to make a move, Shinji would either have to surrender and entrust his life to Danzo's mercy or be forced into a desperate fight, leaving his fate to chance.

But if he were outside the village...

Even if Danzo did act, it was unlikely he would send a Jōnin-level shinobi to deal with an eight-year-old academy student.

So even in the worst-case scenario, Shinji would still have the option to first eliminate the assassins sent by Danzo and then defect if necessary.

With these considerations in mind, he moved swiftly and soon arrived at the village gates.

Phew.

Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Shinji approached the gate's checkpoint.

If Danzo intended to act against him, this was the best place to do it.

However, when he presented his temporary academy pass, the shinobi at the checkpoint only asked a few simple questions before letting him through.

I got out so easily?

Even after passing through the village gates, Shinji found it hard to believe.

All the precautions he had prepared for ended up being unnecessary—a simple temporary pass from Iruka had resolved everything.

Could Danzo be planning to deal with me quietly outside the village?

Shinji grew more alert.

He couldn't afford to overestimate Danzo's morals—because Danzo simply didn't have any!

He then unfolded a map and double-checked the route to Cat Fortress.

After putting away the map, he took a deep breath and muttered, "Total Concentration!"

The journey was long, making it a perfect opportunity to train in Water Breathing.

Breathing Technique enhanced the body's capabilities, allowing better control over every ounce of strength.

In the world of Demon Slayers, the inherent fragility of a human body meant there was a limit to how much Breathing Technique could achieve.

Even at the peak, acquiring the rumored "Marks" only amounted to pushing the body to its absolute limit.

It was a forced enhancement, gained at the cost of shortening one's lifespan.

But the shinobi world is different!

With the existence of chakra, various ninjutsu, secret techniques, and even bloodline limits, shinobi bodies far surpassed ordinary humans in strength.

So for shinobi with chakra, the ceiling for Breathing Technique was far higher than that of the Demon Slayers.

Boom!

With a low rumble, Shinji's body shot forward like an arrow toward Cat Fortress!

A journey that would normally take an average person three to four days was completed in half a day at Shinji's full speed, enhanced by Breathing Technique.

As he walked through the streets of the Cat Fortress, every ninneko along the way stopped and stared at him, their eyes focused on the Uchiha fan crest on the back of his clothes.

The Uchiha clan had always been partners of Cat Fortress.

From contracting ninja cats to customizing ninja tools and gathering intelligence, there had been extensive cooperation between them.

So seeing a member of the Uchiha clan in Cat Fortress should have been a common occurrence.

But today, Shinji's presence was anything but ordinary.

Because he was the first Uchiha to set foot in Cat Fortress since the annihilation of the Uchiha clan.