Read ahead of public release on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley
Check out Chapter illustrations on Pixiv at unhinged_uchiha
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"Summoning Jutsu!"
Poof!
White smoke billowed outward, and when it dissipated, it revealed a young woman with dark violet, almost maroon, hair.
She bowed respectfully. "Kanzou-sama… it's been a long time."
"Yeah," Kanzou replied with a chuckle. "It really has been a while, hasn't it, Natsuhi?" He stepped closer and added casually, "Come here… let me have a taste of you."
Her face flushed instantly, but she didn't resist. She stepped into his arms and looked up at him as her lips were devoured by him in a wet, dominating kiss.
Chu… slrrrp…
"Haan… Kanzou-sama~" she murmured softly, exhaling as his tongue slipped into her mouth. She yielded completely, letting him do as he pleased.
"Still as submissive as ever, hm?" he murmured between kisses before pulling back and looking into her jade-green, pupil-less eyes.
"It's how you trained me to be," she replied quietly, gazing at him with eyes filled with devotion, submission, love, and desire.
"Fufu… that's right," he chuckled, pulling her into a tight embrace. She returned it without hesitation, clinging to him just as closely.
As for who this woman was and how she came to be this way, let's rewind three years into the past.
…
Three Years Ago, somewhere in the forests of the Land of Fire
"Sensei… where are we going for this mission?" Shin (Eleven years old) asked as he leapt from tree to tree.
Shin wasn't the only one curious. Hazuki and Souta, both the same age as Shin, also glanced toward Kanzou's back as they moved through the forest.
"It's not a mission, the Police Force doesn't usually take missions outside the village," Kanzou replied. He was fourteen, and his tone remained calm as he continuously scanned the surroundings with his sensory chakra, ensuring they weren't being followed or walking into an ambush or something.
Being tailed, or ambushed, was hardly unusual for him. The people who wanted him dead weren't limited to enemy villages; some of the most dangerous threats came from within Konoha itself, especially from the Uchiha Clan.
Kanzou was a thorn in the side of the current patriarch, Dōma. As long as Kanzou existed, Fugaku's standing suffered. Despite being seven years older, Fugaku's strength, talent, and reputation all paled in comparison to Kanzou's who is considered one of the heroes of the Second Great Shinobi War, making Kanzou an obstacle Dōma was eager to remove.
Because of that, Kanzou has to stay alert at all times… and was doing the same even now, keeping his chakra senses sharp.
"If it isn't a mission, then where are we going?" Souta asked.
"You could call it a training exercise for the three of you," Kanzou replied. After a brief pause, he added with a shrug, "Or rather, that's the excuse I used to come out this time."
Shinobi weren't free to leave the village whenever they pleased. Any departure required a valid reason, usually a mission assignment. Leaving without justification could even lead to accusations of desertion or treason. For that reason, stepping outside the village always demanded a proper explanation.
For Uchiha clansmen, especially those serving in the Police Force like Kanzou and his three students, it was even more restrictive. They didn't receive standard missions that would normally allow them to leave the village, making travel beyond the gates far more complicated.
That didn't mean Uchiha were forbidden from leaving entirely, but any excursion required a carefully constructed and acceptable pretext. Since this wasn't an official mission, Kanzou had used a 'training exercise' as the justification to bring his students out this time.
"Then… where are we really going?" Shin asked again.
Hazuki, having had enough of Shin and Souta pestering Kanzou, snapped at them. "Alright, you two. Can you stop bothering Kanzou-sama for once?"
"I was just curious—" Shin protested with a pout.
"Curiosity isn't always a good thing," Hazuki replied flatly. Then, before either of them could press further, she added, "We are headed to the Land of Bears. As for the objective—" She hesitated, glanced at Kanzou's back, and fell silent instead of continuing.
"What? What's the objective?" Shin asked at once. He knew Hazuki had to be aware of it, certainly more than he was.
"Hmph. Do you really think I'd tell a loudmouth like you?" Hazuki snorted. She did know their objective; Kanzou had told her beforehand. But given how serious the matter was and how many problems it could cause for Kanzou and the three of them if it were heard by anyone, she knew it was best to stay quiet about it.
Shin pouted even harder. "I'm not a loudmouth…"
Hazuki only snorted, which made him even more annoyed. He turned to his other teammate. "Hey, Souta… I'm not a loudmouth, right?"
"Uh… well…" Souta hesitated, then shrugged a bit cluelessly, "I don't know."
"What? How do you not know something like this?" Shin looked both shocked and wounded. "You're hurting my feelings, man. I thought we were best buddies… b-but you're not siding with me?"
Souta merely shrugged and didn't reply. Instead, his gaze shifted to Kanzou's back as Hazuki's words echoed in his mind, the Land of Bears.
'The Land of Bears… isn't that country quite far away? What does it have that would interest Sensei?'
Noticing Souta ignoring him, Shin turned to Kanzou instead. "Sensei… I'm not a loudmouth, right?"
"I suppose not," Kanzou replied casually.
"Hah!" Shin puffed out his chest and shot Hazuki a smug grin. "See? Sensei knows best. He knows I'm not a loudmouth. I know when to speak and when not to."
This time, Hazuki was the one left pouting. 'Onii-chan… y-you traitor,' she thought bitterly. 'You were supposed to agree with me!'
Shin pressed on, curiosity getting the better of him. "So… Sensei… um… why are we going to the Land of Bears?"
Souta also fixed his gaze on Kanzou, watching him closely. He was also very interested to know.
Kanzou remained silent for a moment before replying calmly, "We're going to the Land of Bears to steal the most precious treasure of their shinobi village."
Shin blinked in confusion. "The most precious treasure of the shinobi village in the Land of Bears…?" He tilted his head, then asked with growing excitement, "What is it? What's their most precious treasure?"
At that, Kanzou turned to Hazuki. "Hazuki… explain it to the two of them…"
"I… I understand, Kanzou-sama." Hazuki nodded as Shin and Souta both paid attention to her. "The most precious treasure of Hoshigakure, the shinobi village of the Land of Bears, is something called the Star. It's a meteorite that fell there a few hundred years ago—"
This was the same artifact involved in the Star Guard mission from the Naruto anime, the one Uzumaki Naruto, Hyūga Neji, Rock Lee, and Tenten had once taken part in. Back then, Konoha's squad had been sent to protect the so-called Star.
Kanzou's intentions, however, were entirely different.
Unlike Naruto and the others, Kanzou wasn't leading his team to Hoshigakure to protect the Star. He intended to steal it and to make use of it himself.
And the reason was simple.
According to legend, the meteorite was capable of boosting a person's chakra to unnatural, even monstrous levels.
For someone like Uchiha Kanzou, who had not been born with any special cheat, hidden advantage, or System, and who believed himself incapable of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan through conventional means, such an artifact could be considered invaluable.
If he could not reach greater power through destiny or emotion, then he would seize it through other methods available in the shinobi world.
At present, he stood at the level of an elite jōnin. To be fair, that was already an impressive level of strength for someone who was only fourteen. But was elite jōnin enough to survive in this world?
Obviously not.
Setting aside monsters like Madara, Obito, and the Ōtsutsuki, Kanzou wasn't even confident about how long he could remain alive in Konoha itself. Dōma seemed to have intentions of getting rid of him. He has managed to remain alive up until now because of his cautiousness and unexpected hidden cards, but how long will that last? As long as that threat loomed, complacency was not an option. If he wanted to survive, he had to find other ways to increase his strength.
Ideally, he would have preferred to become the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. That was, without question, the fastest and most straightforward path to super Kage-level power, so long as he reaches an agreement with the Nine-tails or subdues the beast. But was that realistically possible right now? Of course not. At best, he could only consider that option when the Nine-Tails' seal breaks during the birth of Uzumaki Naruto. Until then, he would have to rely on other methods.
Beyond the Nine-Tails, there were still many possible paths, transplanting Nagato's Rinnegan, implanting Hashirama's cells, mastering Sage Mode, or making use of Hiroku's Chimera Jutsu, among others. Unfortunately, most of those options were simply unavailable to him at the moment.
If Kanzou so much as got close to Nagato and laid a hand on the Rinnegan, Madara would come after him without hesitation. Kanzou had no confidence in facing Madara, nor was he certain he could even use Madara's Rinnegan properly. The risk was far too great.
Implanting Hashirama's cells was no better an option; it was simply too early. The research available at this stage remained incomplete and unstable, nowhere near reliable enough to ensure his survival. As for learning Sage Mode, he had no access to any of the sacred training grounds. He was not a disciple of any of the Sannin, which meant he had no path to the Three Holy Lands at all.
He could try to ask the Sannin to lend them to him… but they are also not fools and would never grant an Uchiha access to something so precious.
That path was closed to him as well.
That left the Chimera Jutsu.
'I wonder if that weirdo Hiroku has made any progress on it,' he thought. He doubted it. In canon, Hiruko only made meaningful advances much later, when Naruto had already grown. At this point in time, when even Naruto's mother was only twelve, what progress could Hiroku possibly have made?
With all these options effectively unavailable, Kanzou had no choice but to seek out more obscure paths to power, and he tried to remember other things in the canon that could be helpful to him. That was why the Star of Hoshigakure had caught his attention; it might be one such method.
In fact, Kanzou doesn't really know just how strong this Star of Hoshigakure can actually make him. But he certainly has some hopes.
Even if it didn't elevate him to super–Kage level, it should push him into true Kage or at least Quasi-Kage territory, right?
At least… that was his hope.
Shin and Souta froze when they heard about the Star in Hoshigakure.
"There's something like that in a backwater shinobi village?" Shin blurted out too shocked.
"Yes," Kanzou replied with a nod.
At present, the existence of the meteorite in Hoshigakure was not widely known across the shinobi world. The village had deliberately kept the information concealed, and for good reason. Hoshigakure was a small shinobi village. While it possessed some military strength, it was nowhere near enough to compete with the Five Great Shinobi Villages, or even certain smaller but dangerous ones like Amegakure, Kusagakure, or Takigakure.
Because of that imbalance, Hoshigakure's leaders had chosen secrecy. If word of the Star leaked out, those hungry for power would inevitably come to seize it. Concealment was the village's only real defense.
Eventually, knowledge of the meteorite would spread, but that would likely happen only after the Third Great Shinobi War. For now, it remained hidden.
Naturally, Kanzou already knew all of this. He had seen it in the anime, and that knowledge guided him now.
Hungry for power, he was already on his way to steal it.
With that resolve, he led his three students toward the Land of Bears, a journey that would take them far from Konoha or the Land of Fire.
…
Several days later, inside an underground cave hidden deep within the forests of the Land of Bears—
"It's been so long, Sensei… how much longer do we have to wait?" Shin complained while circulating his chakra through a wooden ball. "Why don't we just sneak into the village and steal that Star already?"
"It's not that simple," Kanzou replied, shaking his head.
Souta, who was performing the same exercise, nodded and added, "Hoshigakure is surrounded by a canyon filled with poisonous gas. It's called the Devil's Ravine, and dealing with it won't be easy. On top of that, Hoshigakure's shinobi are skilled in sensory techniques, and they're not weak either."
"That doesn't matter," Shin scoffed. "Sensei and Hazuki-chan both have the Sharingan. What could they possibly do against us?"
Kanzou glanced at him calmly. "Plans matter. I also need someone from Hoshigakure, someone who understands the Star and knows how to use it. Stealing it blindly isn't the goal. We need knowledge as well." He paused, then added, "So we wait. We wait for information from Hazuki."
Souta nodded immediately. Shin hesitated, but eventually nodded as well and returned his focus to training.
After some time, Hazuki appeared at the cave entrance. "Kanzou-sama," she reported, "my ravens have spotted a shinobi squad from Hoshigakure."
Kanzou straightened at once. "How many? And are they returning to the village or leaving it?"
"Three," Hazuki answered promptly. "Two men and one woman. They're heading out of the village."
A faint smile crossed Kanzou's face. "Perfect. That gives us enough time." He clapped his hands once. "We move now. Our objective is to ambush them and capture them alive."
Shin, Souta, and Hazuki rose immediately, ready to act.
…
In the forest—
"Tch… that stupid old man," a bony-faced boy with lilac hair muttered irritably. He looked to be in his late teens. "If he'd just let me use the Star the way I suggested, we'd all be far stronger by now. We'd probably be jōnin already, and—"
"Akahoshi-kun," a black-haired boy of similar age interrupted sharply, stopping him mid-complaint. "You shouldn't talk about Hoshikage-sama like that. And more importantly, you shouldn't discuss that outside the village."
"Relax, Hotarubi," Akahoshi scoffed with a shrug. "There's no one here but us. You worry too much."
Before the argument could continue, the third member of the squad, a brown-haired girl with jade-green eyes, suddenly stopped walking. "Shh… both of you," she whispered. "Someone's here."
Akahoshi and Hotarubi froze at once. "What?" Akahoshi hissed. "Natsuhi, what do you mean? An enemy?"
Both boys quickly scanned their surroundings, trying to detect whatever she had sensed. They strained to feel for a foreign chakra, but nothing clear registered. Their sensory abilities were nowhere near as sharp as hers.
Then—
Fla… fla… fla…
All three snapped toward the sound, weapons raised.
A moment later, they paused.
"Caw~"
Akahoshi blinked, then smirked. "What? That's just a crow." He glanced at Natsuhi teasingly. "You sensed that?"
Natsuhi frowned but kept her guard up. Hotarubi noticed her tension and did the same; he trusted her instincts.
Seeing both of them on edge, Akahoshi let out an annoyed sigh. "We're practically at the village already. There's no way anyone would attack us here." He drew a kunai and added, "Fine. I'll kill that crow. If you still sense something after that, then we'll talk."
He had barely finished speaking when more caws echoed through the forest.
"Caw~"
"Caw~"
"Caw~"
"Caw~"
"Caw~"
The sound came from every direction.
The trio froze as they realized it wasn't just one crow anymore. Dozens, no, hundreds, of crows perched on the surrounding trees, their dark forms blotting out the branches as they stared down at them in silence.
"Hey… hey…" Akahoshi muttered uneasily. "Aren't there way too many crows?"
His instincts screamed that something was wrong. There shouldn't be this many birds gathered in one place.
He swallowed hard and tightened his grip on his kunai, bracing himself for a confrontation, when suddenly, a pair of hands burst from the ground beneath his feet and yanked him down.
"Wha—!" was all Akahoshi managed to shout before he vanished completely.
"Akahoshi!" Hotarubi cried out, panic flashing across his face as he stared at the spot where his teammate had disappeared. There was nothing there, just undisturbed earth.
Then—
Sharp whistles of cutting wind rang out.
Hotarubi and Natsuhi reacted instantly. They leapt away and landed on nearby trees just as a swarm of crows crashed into the ground where they had been standing moments earlier. Without hesitation, both formed hand signs and attempted to activate the Peacock Method against the unseen enemy.
But something was wrong.
For some reason, their chakra refused to respond.
"—What?!" Hotarubi exclaimed, his eyes widening. "I can't use my chakra!"
"M-me too…" Natsuhi said, her voice tight with alarm.
Another wave of cawing erupted around them as the crows fixed their gazes on the two shinobi like predators eyeing trapped prey.
Caw—caw—caw—
Standing back to back, weapons drawn, the pair braced themselves. Above and around them, the crows flapped from tree to tree, their restless movements weaving a suffocating tension through the forest. The air grew heavy, pressing down on their chests as unease gnawed steadily at their nerves.
After a brief, dreadful silence, they reached the same conclusion.
"Let's run…"
The village wasn't far. If they moved quickly, they could make it back.
As for rescuing Akahoshi… they'd do so after figuring out what's going on and who the enemy is…
The moment they turned and sprinted toward their village, the sky seemed to collapse. The swarm of crows descended, engulfing them, Hotarubi more completely, as his pace faltered almost immediately. In that instant, he noticed something deeply wrong.
The crows' eyes weren't black.
They were blood-red, each marked with three swirling tomoe.
'What kind of eyes are those…?'
The thought flickered through his mind. He was sure he had read about them somewhere, long ago, but before he could recall anything, his gaze locked onto one of those crimson eyes.
The moment he stared into it, his body betrayed him. His movements slowed, his limbs grew heavy, and the swarm closed in completely, blotting him from view.
Only Natsuhi kept running.
She pushed herself forward, heart pounding, until the forest thinned behind her. Then she realized—
Hotarubi wasn't there.
"Hotarubi-kun?" She glanced back, scanning the trees in panic, hoping that he'd also made it. But he hadn't—
Then she heard it, "Save me… someone…!"
Her breath caught. She recognized the voice instantly.
Fear surged through her, but she hesitated. She didn't know how many enemies were out there, or where they were. Shouting back would expose her position. Under normal circumstances, she would have stayed silent.
But this wasn't normal.
Hotarubi was the man she loved. The man she wanted to marry.
"Hotarubi-kun!" she cried, turning back and running toward his voice, only to stop short as she spotted someone standing within the forest.
It's just that the person standing before her wasn't Hotarubi at all.
"W-who are you?" she demanded, instantly raising her guard again as she once again tried to bring out her Chakra using the Peacock Method.
"Me?" the man replied lightly, stepping forward with an amused smile. "I'm Uchiha Kanzou. But I suppose you can call me your worst nightmare~"
'Uchiha…? Worse nightmare?' Her eyes widened in sudden realization. 'Genjutsu?!'
She immediately tried to dispel it, "Hm? So you figured it out," Kanzou chuckled. "What a shame… you realized it a little too late."
He flicked a finger.
And in the very next instant, Natsuhi's consciousness faded into darkness.
…
Inside the underground cave—
"All right. The three of them have been secured in separate rooms, so there won't be any issues for now," Kanzou said as he stepped out and closed the door behind him.
Shin, Souta, and Hazuki glanced toward the three iron-barred chambers where Hotarubi, Natsuhi, and Akahoshi were being held. Souta hesitated before asking, "They won't break out… right?"
"They won't," Kanzou replied calmly. "I've sealed their chakra."
As a member of the police force, Kanzou was well-versed in sealing techniques. Fuinjutsu that suppressed or locked chakra was something he used routinely, on prisoners and suspects alike.
Hearing that, the three let out quiet sighs of relief.
Hazuki then asked, "So… infiltration comes next?"
Kanzou shook his head. "No. Next comes interrogation."
His tone remained flat as he continued, "We need to extract information from them and break at least one of their spirits, enough to make them reveal everything about the Star, how it's used, and any details about their shinobi village that will help us steal it."
"Torture for information… understood," the three of them nodded. This was clearly the next step.
"Since none of you have any experience with this," Kanzou went on calmly, "I'll use this opportunity to teach you how to properly torture out information from captured prisoners. So, follow me."
The three exchanged uneasy glances, swallowed hard, and then followed him in silence.
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Hurry up and drop your Power Stones!
Read ahead of public release on P atreon at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley
Check out Chapter illustrations on Pixiv: unhinged_uchiha
If you like this story, then you might also like my other story: One Piece: The Incubus' Adventure. Give it a try.