309 - Naruto: The Tenseigan Ascendant (Patreon)

309 - A New Member

Naoki set aside his thoughts. "Who else knows you awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan?"

"Only you, Senior," Itachi replied calmly.

Naoki was surprised. "You haven't even told Shisui?"

"During the assessment, I'm not allowed to tell Shisui anything related to it. Senior Homura said that was your rule. Otherwise, it would count as cheating." Itachi paused. "Awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan is a condition for taking part, so I haven't mentioned it to him yet."

Naoki smiled faintly. "Then why not tell your father? He's the head of the Uchiha clan. Don't you trust him either?"

Itachi considered his answer. "Right now, the Uchiha and the village need each other. That has eased the tension between them. This isn't the time for the clan to reveal another Mangekyo wielder."

Itachi's sharp eye for detail had not missed the delicate state of relations between his clan and the village.

The God Organization and the Akatsuki had both demonstrated terrifying power. Faced with those threats, the Uchiha and the village had been forced to set aside their internal conflict and stand together.

If the clan's strength appeared to grow further now, it could upset that hard-won balance and bring their differences back into the open.

"You made the right choice," Naoki said.

"Senior Homura had to reveal her identity to drive Shinno back. If I reveal my Mangekyo as well, Lord Hokage might tolerate it, but our clansmen may not be content to leave things as they are. The divide between the Uchiha and the village runs too deep to heal in a year or two."

Then Itachi asked, "Senior, did my father really train Homura in secret as one of the clan's elite?"

"Ahem..." Naoki cleared his throat. "Homura Uchiha is an orphan from outside the village. She grew up beyond Konoha. Your father didn't train her."

Itachi nodded. "That explains why I'd never heard of her within the clan."

His question gave Naoki an idea. Smiling, he said, "Though it might not be a bad idea to give Homura that identity."

Itachi looked concerned. "Wouldn't that make Lord Hokage think the Uchiha are plotting something?"

"Does he need another reason to suspect that?" Naoki chuckled. "Making him a little more wary of your clan might not be a bad thing."

Itachi fell silent, considering that.

"Now then," Naoki said, "since you've awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, I'm formally admitting you to the God Organization. Your codename is Flame Demon."

Itachi's face brightened. "I passed?"

Naoki nodded. "With the Mangekyo, you qualify." As Homura, he had set a deliberately higher bar for Itachi's assessment, not an inviolable rule. The final decision to admit him was his.

"What about Senior Homura?"

Naoki waved a hand. "She passed too. Her codename is the same as yours: Flame Demon."

At Root's headquarters.

Danzo stared at the two severed feet in a glass vessel, his eyes intent.

His ambush of Shisui had brought him closer than ever to obtaining a Mangekyo Sharingan. Another moment, just one more moment, and he could have taken Shisui's eyes and wielded Kotoamatsukami to bend other people's will.

Instead, he had failed at the last instant.

At least he could tell himself there had been grounds for the attack. At the time, Shisui really had been suspected of attempting to assassinate the Third Hokage. Danzo had received a reprimand afterward, but no real punishment. His position and influence in the village remained largely intact.

A researcher in a white coat approached. "Lord Danzo, here's the test report you requested."

Danzo took it, skimmed the results, and frowned. "These numbers are all wrong. How did you botch such a simple test?"

The researcher wiped the sweat from his brow. "My lord, we've checked them repeatedly. The numbers are correct. The tissue we extracted from those feet doesn't resemble human tissue at all. It's almost..."

He opened his mouth, but no word seemed adequate.

Danzo's face darkened. He studied the report again and muttered, "Cells with readings like these shouldn't even be alive. How did he do it?"

When Danzo had learned that Hiruko had perfected a forbidden technique for stealing other people's Kekkei Genkai, and now possessed five of them, including the Sharingan, jealousy had nearly driven him mad.

To him, letting a failure like Hiruko wield that power was an appalling waste. He had obtained the severed limbs Hiruko left in the village and gathered researchers to examine them.

But the report left him baffled. The readings were far outside the range for normal cells.

Beep. Beep. Beep...

An alarm suddenly sounded in the laboratory.

Danzo did not panic. He could see that it had been triggered by the vessel holding Hiruko's severed feet.

Through the glass, he watched them swell. Within moments they were four or five times their original size, and still growing.

Bang!

The two bloated masses of flesh exploded inside the vessel.

The only clues Hiruko had left behind had just burst into charred ruin before Danzo's eyes. His face went rigid with fury. With a vicious sweep of his cane, he shattered the glass vessel.

The researchers beside him stood frozen, too afraid to speak.

After a long silence, Danzo dismissed them all and summoned a Root shinobi. "I want to know where Hiruko is."

"We're already investigating, Lord Danzo. The moment we find him, we'll arrange an assassination."

"Who said I wanted him killed?" Danzo roared. "I want his technology! I don't care how you get it. Buy it from him if you have to!"

The Root shinobi paused, then answered, "Yes, sir. We'll see to it immediately."

"And Orochimaru?" Danzo demanded. "Why hasn't he finished what I asked him to do?"