Chapter 5: Dropping the Facade; Let Strength Do the Talking!
Panic!
Nara Shikaku's forehead was drenched in sweat. Faced with that cutting retort, the usually unflappable strategist went completely silent.
The friction between the Ino-Shika-Cho and the Village High Command was something everyone understood in their hearts, but it was a truth that was never supposed to be spoken aloud.
Damn it! Shikaku thought. Is this kid really an Uchiha?
As Shikaku withered under the pressure, the "Leaf High Command"—the quartet of Hiruzen, Danzo, and the two Elders—fell into a heavy silence.
Two minutes passed.
Hiruzen Sarutobi finally set down his pipe, his voice flat. "Shikaku, you should head back first."
"I—Understood!" Shikaku blinked, startled, and then left without a second word. His retreating figure looked uncharacteristically frazzled.
Once the door clicked shut behind Shikaku, Hiruzen's face gradually darkened. The warm, grandfatherly mask shattered. "Now that we are alone, let's stop playing games. Uchiha Jin, what exactly do you want?"
In an instant, the quartet shed their pretenses. Their eyes were filled with disdain, irritation, and a bone-chilling killing intent.
They had seen through Uchiha Jin. This wasn't someone who could be swayed or "re-educated." He was a die-hard Radical through and through.
Faking a friendly atmosphere was now a waste of time.
Jin's response was like a sharpened blade. "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Blood for blood."
Hiss!
The High Command drew in a sharp breath. Koharu Utatane spoke up in a rage, "Insolent! Are you planning a rebellion?"
"I'd love to, but I lack the capability for now," Jin shrugged. "I have to admit, the methods you lot use are quite impressive."
"The Uchiha's reputation is already a pile of rotting filth, and you've manipulated the clan until it's nothing but a heap of loose sand. Your prestige in the village might not be what it once was, but it's still far beyond what a 'notorious' clan like the Uchiha can match."
His voice was calm, almost detached, as if he were discussing someone else's misfortune.
The Elders found his composure unsettling. Homura Mitokado asked, genuinely puzzled, "If you understand the situation in the village so clearly, why join the Radicals? Why take this stand that leads only to a fight to the death?"
The others were curious as well. If Jin were as reckless as other Uchiha, his behavior could be explained as simple hot-headedness. But since he understood the politics, why choose this path?
Jin gave a sharp, sudden laugh. "It's precisely because I see everything so clearly that I know I have no choice but to fight!"
"Oh? That is interesting," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, his smile not reaching his eyes. "Would you care to elaborate?"
Jin didn't bother hiding his thoughts. "From my perspective, you plan to massacre the entire Uchiha Clan sooner or later. Your current 'patience' is merely a way to clip our wings, one by one, preparing the stage for the final execution."
"Hashirama Senju didn't care about the Uchiha's strength because he was stronger. Tobirama Senju used schemes and systems to suppress us. But you four? You have neither the strength of the First nor the wisdom of the Second, yet you desire to hold the reins of Konoha's power for all eternity."
"Therefore, you only have one option: make the Uchiha disappear entirely, perhaps leaving only one or two bloodlines as 'specimens.'"
Hiruzen Sarutobi let out a soft sigh. His gaze was incredibly complex. "You really are unlike any Uchiha I've ever met."
"Hiruzen, we cannot let him live," Danzo said, his face cold and his eyes overflowing with killing intent. "He must die today."
"Afterward, we will simply report that Uchiha Jin lost his mind and attempted to assassinate the Hokage in his office. When it comes to a Radical Uchiha, people will believe anything."
Hiruzen remained silent, his head lowered as the brim of his Hokage hat cast a shadow over his eyes. He slowly reached for his pipe and took a puff.
Danzo's heart leaped with joy. He understood Hiruzen perfectly—silence was a green light.
As he began to unseal the bindings on his right arm, Danzo looked at Jin with a predatory sneer. "I admit you have a brain and the means to use it, but unfortunately, in this world, strength is king."
"You are far too arrogant! Did you truly believe that awakening the Mangekyo made you invincible?"
Thud!
The seal on Danzo's right arm hit the floor. He flicked up the bandage over his right eye, revealing a spinning, crimson Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Tsukuyomi!"
In an instant, Jin felt the world shift. He was standing on a vast, blue horizon. The air was sweet with the scent of flowers and birdsong; it felt like a paradise.
To his surprise, countless familiar faces appeared. These were people Jin recognized and cared for in his heart, all of them reaching out, trying to pull him further into this heavenly realm.
"So, this is the ocular power of Uchiha Kagami?" Jin murmured.
Though it shared the name of Itachi's technique, it was fundamentally different. Where Itachi's Tsukuyomi was a crimson hell of torture, Kagami's was a "Heavenly Realm."
It made sense. The Mangekyo reflects the heart. Itachi had lived his life in a personal hell, so his eyes reflected that. Kagami, however, was a disciple of Tobirama Senju and a close friend to Hiruzen and the others; his life had been, by his own estimation, nearly perfect. His world was one of beauty.
"Truly... a pity," Jin sighed. "Even though this place is beautiful, a lie is still a lie."
"Susano-no-Mikoto!"
As Jin spoke, his own eyes transformed. His pupils bloomed into the crimson, six-pointed star pattern of the Mangekyo.
Like Sasuke Uchiha, he possessed the Straight Tomoe Mangekyo!
The moment his ocular power surged, the paradise around him shattered like glass. The scenery dissolved, returning instantly to the Hokage's office.
"Wood Style: Piercing Tree Spears!"
The moment Jin broke the illusion, he heard Danzo's roar. Danzo's right arm had transformed into a massive, surging tree, lunging toward Jin like a lightning strike.
Danzo was wary of Jin's unknown Mangekyo abilities, so he had wasted no time. He had started with Kagami's Tsukuyomi to trap him and followed up immediately with his most lethal killing move.
"Susano-no-Mikoto!"
Jin didn't hold back. A line of blood wept from his left eye as his Mangekyo spun violently, consuming massive amounts of ocular power.
In an instant, Danzo's Wood Style collapsed. Not only the tree spears, but Danzo's Sharingan-embedded arm and his entire torso began to disintegrate, piece by piece, as if being erased from existence!
"AGHHH!"
Danzo let out a horrific scream before his body was completely snuffed out.
Hiruzen and the Elders felt their scalps go numb. They stood up instinctively, their eyes wide with terror. They couldn't believe it—was Danzo really dead?
But a second later, Danzo's "corpse" vanished into thin air. Jin immediately shifted into a defensive stance.
"Izanagi."
He knew that powerful Uchiha kinjutsu well. He wasn't surprised.
Swish!
Danzo's figure reappeared directly behind Jin, a sharp kunai plunging into Jin's back, piercing through his chest.
"Hahaha!" Danzo roared, his eyes filled with mocking triumph. "Uchiha Jin! Die!"
But his victory was short-lived. With a poof, Jin's body dissolved into a cloud of white smoke.
Danzo's eyes widened in disbelief. "A Shadow Clone? How is that possible? When did he weave the signs?"
Just as the realization hit him, Jin appeared like a ghost behind Danzo.
In a perfect mirror of Danzo's attack, Jin's kunai drove straight through Danzo's heart.