"Wait! She's mine."
A cold, commanding voice rang out, leaving no room for refusal.
Shisui turned, his gaze falling on a man wrapped in bandages, carrying a massive weapon strapped to his back.
Shisui's eyes lit up. This was his target—Momochi Zabuza.
That weapon on his back was unmistakable: the Kubikiribōchō, the Executioner's Blade.
Shisui's current appearance was thanks to his transformation technique. Without it, a man of his reputation would never have gone unnoticed by someone like Zabuza.
Slowly, his eyes shifted. The dark pupils transformed into three tomoe—his fully matured Sharingan.
This Sharingan had once been stolen by Naruto from Danzo's Root base. At that time, it had only held a single tomoe, but now it had evolved into three.
What an incredible genius…
Danzo had initially suspected Orochimaru for the theft. But since he was preparing for larger plans, he dismissed the loss of a single Sharingan as insignificant. Even so, he had executed the Root shinobi responsible for guarding it that night.
The moment Shisui revealed the fully matured Sharingan, Zabuza's expression shifted. The Uchiha name still carried heavy weight in the shinobi world. A three-tomoe Sharingan marked him at least at jōnin level.
Among all ninja, the Uchiha were feared most. Against the Sharingan, the best strategy was to avoid eye contact. But Zabuza had already seen them.
"Who the hell are you?" Zabuza demanded, his tone grim.
Known as the Demon of the Hidden Mist, he was not one to back down—even against a Sharingan wielder.
The massive Executioner's Blade was drawn with a grinding scrape of steel. At the same time, his hands subtly moved, forming seals. A thick mist rose instantly, smothering the battlefield until visibility dropped to nothing.
The Hidden Mist Technique.
A perfect countermeasure: it concealed his movements, erased line of sight, and rendered the Sharingan nearly useless. Here, Zabuza was in his element.
But Shisui only smirked.
"That won't work on me… Ninjutsu: Radar Detection!"
Forming a single seal, Shisui activated a sensory technique developed by Naruto himself. It was simple, but required immense chakra control—a requirement Shisui, a shinobi of Kage-level strength, easily met.
Through the mist, Zabuza's exact position appeared vividly in his mind.
In an instant, dozens of Shisui's afterimages burst forth, rushing toward him.
Feeling his opponent closing in, Zabuza's instincts screamed. Impossible! He doesn't have the Byakugan… how can he track me in this fog?!
He swung the Executioner's Blade, barely blocking the strike that would have pierced his chest. Sparks flared as steel clashed with Shisui's short blade.
Shisui immediately pressed the assault, slashing again—but the sensation felt wrong. With lightning-fast reflexes, he spun and redirected his strike behind him.
Steel met steel once more with a resounding clang.
The first "Zabuza" had only been a Water Clone.
Shisui chuckled, clearly impressed.
So this is the Demon of the Hidden Mist… no wonder he's feared. A shinobi like him would be the backbone of any village.
Though Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan lay beyond his current reach, his chakra reserves, skill, and taijutsu—further honed under Naruto's tutelage—were formidable.
"Fire Style: Great Dragon Fire Technique!"
"Wind Style: Gale Tornado!"
"Combination Jutsu—Wind and Fire Tornado!"
The two elements fused together, roaring into a devastating storm of flames and wind. The dense mist evaporated instantly, swept away by searing winds.
Zabuza was engulfed and hurled back violently, while Shisui darted to the side, shielding the small girl caught in the crossfire.
But suddenly—he froze.
The girl's body was encased in crystalline ice.
Shisui's eyes widened. A Kekkei Genkai… Ice Release?!
His heart raced—not with fear, but excitement. Such a bloodline limit had enormous potential. Properly nurtured, she could easily grow into an elite jōnin—or even beyond.
Meanwhile, Zabuza's body crashed hard into the ground. Blackened and charred from the combined jutsu, he lay motionless, unconscious.
Later, Zabuza would recall bitterly: he had only sought a promising subordinate that day. Instead, he had nearly lost his life.
—From the memoirs of Momochi Zabuza.
...
Konoha Village
Naruto knew very well that the coming days marked the Uchiha clan's downfall.
The massacre was imminent.
And though he couldn't stop the tide of history, he felt he had to act. At the very least, the Sharingan should not be left to rot in the hands of Danzo and Obito.
To men like Danzo, the Sharingan was nothing more than a disposable tool—cheap resurrection coins to be hoarded and squandered.
So far, Naruto had gone through his school days as if nothing was amiss. But today, when the academy announced there would be an additional practical class, he immediately sensed something was wrong.
Instinctively, he turned his head. His pineapple-haired classmate—Nara Shikamaru—wore an uncharacteristically grave expression. Clearly, Shikamaru had learned something from his clan, though likely not the whole truth.
Without hesitation, Naruto left a Shadow Clone behind in his seat. His real body slipped away unnoticed, racing toward the Uchiha compound.
The Uchiha district was built at the far edge of Konoha, a deliberate decision that had long fueled their resentment toward the village.
The contrast was clear: powerful clans like the Hyūga, Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi occupied prosperous central districts. The Uchiha, however, were banished to the outskirts, cut off and isolated.
Naruto dove into the earth using Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique, tunneling with an ease that no ordinary shinobi could match.
Over time, he had refined Earth Release into something monstrous—its practicality multiplied through his modifications. The drawback, of course, was chakra consumption. But if there was one thing Naruto never lacked, it was chakra.
He tunneled hundreds of meters beneath Konoha, extending his senses with Kagura's Mind's Eye. The deeper he went, the greater the strain on his chakra reserves. For others, such exploration would be madness. For Naruto, it was routine.
At last, he reached the underground beneath the Uchiha compound. A barrier stretched above him, extending even dozens of meters into the soil. It would have thwarted almost anyone else. But Naruto's Earth Release was… abnormal. Slipping through unnoticed, he surfaced within Uchiha territory.
He hadn't told Shisui of his plan. Shisui's chakra signature was too distinct; if exposed, it would only create future complications. Better for Naruto to act alone.
Through Kagura's Mind's Eye, he scanned for weaker life signatures. His intent was clear: rescue the youngest members of the clan.
The minds of Uchiha adults were too rigid, too tainted by arrogance and obsession with their eyes. Few among them were like Shisui or Itachi—shinobi who could rise above the curse of their bloodline. To Naruto, most were hardly worth saving.
Sasuke was the only Uchiha in his class at the Academy. The rest were trained privately within the clan, yet very few stood out.
Naruto couldn't stop the massacre—it was far beyond his power. But he could preserve the bloodline, ensuring the Uchiha name did not vanish entirely from the shinobi world.
Slipping underground again, he located the Uchiha training grounds. A group of more than a dozen children were sparring under the supervision of senior clan shinobi. These were clearly the more talented heirs.
Naruto's hands blurred. With a pull of Earth Release, the supervising jōnin was yanked waist-deep into the ground, immobilized with only his head above the surface. Before the man could shout, Naruto knocked him unconscious. It was shockingly easy—no one ever expected an intruder within Uchiha territory itself.
In the distance, Naruto felt a surge of killing intent, heavy and suffocating. The scent of blood reached his senses.
The slaughter had begun.
"Earth Release: Subterranean Submarine!"
The ground shifted as Naruto shaped an enormous, earth-formed vessel. Like a massive submarine, it swallowed the children one by one, pulling them safely underground.
For a moment, he hesitated. Then he seized the unconscious jōnin as well. Opening his eyes, Naruto invoked Soul-Severing Control, binding the man's will. Only after securing his mind did Naruto pull him into the earth.
With his passengers hidden, Naruto directed the submarine deeper into the ground, away from the bloodbath erupting above.