After returning home, Makoto went into the bathroom and stuck out his tongue in front of the mirror.
Just as he expected, a black curse mark was engraved on it.
This was the mark every Root member carried—the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
If Makoto remembered correctly, the seal's effect was that if the bearer attempted to speak about certain confidential matters, their entire body would become paralyzed, preventing them from revealing any secrets.
Naturally, the seal placed by Danzo was tied to information related to him and the Root organization.
That way, even if a member were captured or betrayed the organization, they wouldn't be able to leak information.
If that were the only effect, it wouldn't be such a big problem.
Makoto had no intention of exposing Root's secrets anyway.
But what worried him was something else—
If Danzo could actively trigger the seal, then it would become a fatal weakness completely under Danzo's control.
Makoto thought carefully, trying to recall whether the original story had mentioned any way to break the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.
After thinking for a long time, he sighed.
"Seems like… the only solution is for Danzo to die."
As far as he remembered, no one had ever broken the seal.
Those transferred out of Root by the Third Hokage might have had their seals removed by his order.
Otherwise, the only time the seal lost effect was when Danzo himself died.
Unfortunately, Danzo wasn't some fragile MOBA-style marksman who would collapse on his own if ignored during a fight.
That old schemer was extremely cautious.
He usually hid inside the Root headquarters, rarely going out—and he might even have extra lives up his sleeve.
Dealing with him would be extremely difficult.
Thinking about his current strength, Makoto temporarily abandoned the idea of killing Danzo.
"Looks like my only options are Orochimaru… or researching it myself."
But in reality, that was basically just one option.
There was no way he could get in contact with Orochimaru right now.
Makoto checked the time.
It was about right.
He activated his sensory ninjutsu and detected Shisui approaching.
Walking outside into the courtyard, Makoto couldn't help but think that Danzo must have trusted the original owner of this body quite a lot.
After using sensory techniques many times, he had never detected any Root operatives monitoring him.
When he sensed that Shisui was about to enter the courtyard—
Makoto suddenly formed hand seals.
His chakra erupted instantly.
A gigantic a massive, house-sized fireballburst into existence.
The blazing flames instantly turned the training dummy in the courtyard into ashes, while scorching the ground into blackened earth.
Just as Shisui stepped into the courtyard, he witnessed the scene.
The sheer power of the Fire Release technique left him stunned.
The Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique was technically only a C-rank ninjutsu.
But a technique's rank only reflected how difficult it was to learn, not necessarily its destructive potential.
Many Uchiha jōnin frequently used the Great Fireball Technique.
Yet Shisui was certain that even the jōnin in his clan couldn't produce such terrifying power.
Because they couldn't convert such a massive amount of chakra into flames in such a short time.
"Teacher Hosokawa , I'm sorry for disturbing your training."
After snapping out of his shock, Shisui quickly apologized.
"It's fine. I just finished anyway," Makoto said with a relaxed smile as he invited Shisui into the house.
"The current situation of the Uchiha clan is actually closely related to your former clan leader, Uchiha Madara."
Makoto poured two cups of water—one for Shisui and one for himself.
Then he began telling the story of the Uchiha.
"You know that Madara eventually defected from Konoha, right?"
Shisui nodded.
"The clan's records say the clan leader left the village."
"If he had merely left, things wouldn't have turned out this way," Makoto said.
He explained how Madara once returned and attacked Konoha, and that if Hashirama Senju hadn't been powerful enough, the village might have been destroyed.
Shisui fell silent.
But Makoto continued.
"That wasn't the end of it."
After that incident, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, who already distrusted the Uchiha, became even more wary of them.
After becoming Hokage, he introduced various policies specifically meant to monitor and control the Uchiha clan.
Those policies eventually angered the hawkish faction within the Uchiha, who began entertaining the idea of seizing power through force.
The ANBU later discovered their plans, and those involved were imprisoned.
All these events gradually caused the Uchiha's negative reputation to overshadow their past contributions, leading many villagers to dislike them.
"So… that's what happened…"
Shisui realized he had oversimplified the situation.
"Of course, there were also Uchiha who tried to change this situation," Makoto continued.
"For example, Uchiha Kagami was one of the most successful."
He deliberately steered the conversation toward Kagami.
"Teacher Hosokawa ," Shisui suddenly asked curiously, "what kind of person do you think Uchiha Kagami was?"
He had never personally met his grandfather.
Everything he knew about him came from stories told by other clan members—about his great strength and his genius talent.
But he wondered how Makoto saw him.
Makoto thought for a moment before answering.
"An Uchiha who possessed the Will of Fire."
"He turned himself into a bridge, connecting the Uchiha clan and the village, easing the tension between both sides."
Makoto's words didn't contain exaggerated praise.
But to Shisui, it was the most fitting description he had ever heard.
"I want to become an Uchiha like my grandfather!"
Shisui declared with determination.
Only then did he realize he had accidentally revealed something.
"Grandfather?" Makoto asked with mild confusion.
Shisui realized he had misspoken.
But he wasn't someone who would act guilty over such a matter.
So he simply admitted it honestly.
"Teacher Hosokawa , you don't need to worry too much about repaying any supposed debt," Shisui said.
"If you ever have time to visit my grandfather's grave and pay your respects, I think he'd be very happy."
"How could I ignore the kindness of someone who saved my parents' lives?" Makoto replied seriously.
"In that case… Shisui, would you be willing to become my disciple?"
Shisui understood what Makoto meant.
He felt that accepting such a request would put Makoto at a disadvantage.
But he also didn't want to make such a sincere and grateful person feel troubled.
Besides, becoming the disciple of a teacher as knowledgeable and powerful as Makoto didn't sound bad at all.
After thinking for a moment, Shisui nodded.
"Teacher Makoto."
[Do you wish to establish a Master–Disciple relationship with Shisui Uchiha?]
The system prompt appeared immediately.
Makoto selected Yes without hesitation.
After all, this was a genius disciple he had worked hard to recruit.
[Relationship Established]
Current Trust Level: 2
Unlocked Abilities:
Disciple Training Feedback
Teaching Return Reward
After reading the descriptions, Makoto was overjoyed.
Disciple Training Feedback meant that when his disciple grew stronger through training, Makoto would also become stronger.
The higher the trust level, the greater the feedback.
At Trust Level 2, the return was double.
If Shisui gained 1 point of chakra, Makoto would gain 2 points.
The second ability, Teaching Return Reward, meant that whenever Makoto gave a gift to his disciple, the system would return a random reward.
Higher trust meant better rewards.
This ability could trigger once per day.
Makoto thought for a moment before taking out a small booklet and handing it to Shisui.
It was a Fire Release chakra nature transformation training manual he had written that afternoon.
Originally he had planned to give it to Shisui later to build goodwill.
But now he wanted to test the Teaching Return Reward.
"This is a training manual I compiled for Fire Release chakra nature transformation," Makoto said seriously.
"Take it home and study it carefully."
"I'll regularly check your progress."
"As your teacher, I'm very strict. I won't lower my standards just because of a personal debt."
After all, when Shisui grew stronger—
Makoto would grow twice as strong.
Naturally, he intended to supervise Shisui's training seriously.
"Thank you, Teacher Makoto. I'll train diligently," Shisui said sincerely.
To him, Makoto's strictness was actually reassuring.
It meant that Makoto truly regarded him as a disciple, not merely as a way to repay a favor.
[You gifted your disciple a Nature Transformation Training Manual.]
[Because the disciple is extremely grateful, reward critical triggered.]
[Reward Obtained — Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique (Proficient)]
The moment Makoto accepted the reward, a flood of memories appeared in his mind.
It felt as if he had practiced the Dragon Flame Technique thousands of times.
This was a B-rank Fire Release technique.
Unlike the Great Fireball Technique, which focused on raw explosive power, the Dragon Flame Technique emphasized control and flexibility.
The user could manipulate fire dragons to pursue and attack enemies.
Once mastered, the hand seals could even be simplified to a single seal, and multiple fire dragons could be released simultaneously.
Since the system granted the technique at the Proficient level, Makoto could already perform it with a single hand seal and instantly summon three fire dragons.
At this point, the way Makoto looked at Shisui had changed.
He wasn't looking at a person anymore.
He was looking at an endless gold mine.
The kind that produced coins every single day.
Noticing that the sky outside had grown dark, Makoto said:
"It's getting late. Let me walk you home so your family won't worry."
"Thank you, teacher, but I can walk home slowly by myself," Shisui replied while waving his hand.
"At home… it's just me."
Makoto suddenly remembered.
Shisui's parents had never appeared in the original story.
They probably died not long after he was born.
That realization made Makoto pause.
Between the two of them, they couldn't even piece together one set of parents.
What an unusual pair of master and disciple.
"But my uncle comes to check on me often," Shisui quickly added, worried that Makoto might be concerned.
Makoto nodded.
He didn't insist on escorting him.
After all, this was only their first day meeting.
There would be plenty of opportunities later to build trust.
On the way home, Shisui flipped through the training manual Makoto had given him.
Thinking back to the massive fireball he had seen in the courtyard earlier, his curiosity about Makoto only grew.
As a well-known prodigy of the Uchiha clan, and the grandson of Uchiha Kagami, Shisui had met many powerful Uchiha ninja.
His perspective far surpassed that of ordinary children his age.
Which made something feel strange.
With Makoto's strength, he shouldn't merely be a chūnin.
And staying at the Ninja Academy as a teacher was even stranger.
The academy didn't need teachers that strong.
After all, ninjutsu lessons there mostly covered just the Three Basic Techniques.
Meanwhile, Makoto watched Shisui's departing figure.
His anticipation for tomorrow only grew stronger.
He had classes both in the morning and afternoon.
Who knew what kind of rewards he might receive?
And in the afternoon—
He would be teaching the class that included Might Guy and Obito Uchiha.
He wondered what potential ratings those two might have.
(End of Chapter)