Walking out of the Root headquarters clutching the scroll containing the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Jutsu, Ren Uchiha suddenly felt a bit lost in the direction of his life.
Taking stock of his current inventory, he realized he had accumulated a massive backlog of techniques waiting to be mastered.
Setting aside Orochimaru's Snake Style: Substitution Jutsu—which he had already effectively mastered thanks to the Heaven's Cursed Seal—he still had a mountain of scrolls to climb.
First, there was the Heaven's Cursed Seal Experimental Secret Volume Orochimaru gave him to help master his transformed states. Then, there was the Ninjutsu: Needle Jizo (Wild Lion's Mane) from Jiraiya. From the Uchiha Clan, he had the pending requirement to master the Forbidden Jutsu: Izanagi. And now, Danzo had handed him the Reverse Four Symbols Seal.
Given the current trajectory of the Third Great Ninja War, the next major campaign would likely erupt within a few months.
At this moment, Konoha and the Sand were still locked in a stalemate in the Land of Rain after their massive clash. Elsewhere, the Stone's revenge strike against the Mist—which, in the original history, should have been a decisive victory at the Green Ridge Reef near the Mist's home islands—had been dragged into a long-term conflict due to the "butterfly effect" caused by Ren.
The Stone, possessing the greatest war potential of the Five Great Nations, was now bogged down in a logistical nightmare across half the elemental nations. This exhaustion had given Konoha the opening to raid the Sand and push them back to the borders of the Land of Rain.
Four of the five great nations were already in motion. Only one remained officially on the sidelines: The Land of Lightning, Kumogakure.
In the original timeline around Year 47 of the Konoha calendar, Kumo would send a force led by the A-B Brother duo to launch a surprise raid on the Land of Fire, crossing the Land of Frost and the Land of Hot Water to invade Konoha from the direction of the Land of Sound. It was during this crisis that Minato Namikaze would be dispatched to the border, leading to his first legendary encounter with the future Raikage and Killer B.
Currently, Kumo was hesitant only because the Land of Hot Water had temporarily become a bridgehead for the Stone's campaign against the Mist. The path was blocked. But as the Stone-Mist conflict turned into a war of attrition, the Stone would eventually look for an exit.
Ren predicted his window of peace would be short. Once Kumo saw an opening, they would strike.
After mulling over the strategic situation, Ren found himself walking through the streets of Konoha. A lonely moon hung high, its silver light reflecting off the brightly lit village. From above, the streets formed glowing rivers of light in the night.
The noise of the crowds and the laughter of academy students chasing each other through the alleys pulled him back to reality. He looked down at the scrolls in his hands and felt a mounting headache.
Needle Jizo and Izanagi weren't so bad; they were standard shinobi arts. As long as he mastered the hand signs and the chakra flow, his current foundation—combined with the system panel to track proficiency—would allow him to reach a combat-ready level relatively quickly.
But the other two?
Orochimaru's Cursed Seal manual was just like the Substitution scroll: a dense collection of experimental logs and biological data. To understand it, he'd probably need to spend weeks in the library studying anatomy, medicine, and genetics just to make sure he didn't accidentally mutate his limbs into tentacles.
As for Danzo's Reverse Four Symbols Seal... that was pure Uzumaki sealing theory. To Ren, it looked like a mess of demonic scribbles. He only recognized it as a sealing technique because of his basic knowledge of the "Super Death-Match Barrier." To actually learn this self-destructing seal, he'd need outside help—perhaps some private tutoring.
These techniques were like high-maintenance beauties with wildly different personalities, all waiting for his attention. Thinking about how much mental energy these "vixens" would drain over the next few months, Ren rubbed his temples.
Suddenly, a soft, alluring voice drifted from a nearby building, making his heart skip a beat. Ren looked up and realized that, without noticing, he had returned to a place of "humiliating" memories: Konoha's Red Light District.
Gazing at the peach-pink glow of the lanterns and the silhouettes of elegant figures moving behind the screens, Ren swallowed hard. Then, he straightened his back and let out a disdainful snort.
"Hmph! Mere demons, trying to break my path to enlightenment!"
He paused, the pink light reflecting in his eyes. "But... a true villain must get back up where they once fell. Besides, cultivation requires a balance of labor and rest."
His face hardened with a look of absolute, "hard-boiled" resolve.
"I am definitely not going in for fun. I am... challenging my own weaknesses! I'm going to be an 'Evil Uchiha,' after all. This time, I'm going to find that person who kicked me out last time and settle the score! A ninja must have no openings!"
With that thought, for the sake of reaching a state of "flawless perfection"—Tonight, I shall set sail!
Ren gathered his courage, his heart thumping as he stepped toward the forbidden territory. He pushed against the doors, letting the gap widen until the peach-colored light began to swallow him whole. A grin began to spread across his face.
However, in the next instant—
SNAP!
The lights vanished. Everything plunged into pitch-black darkness. A playful, mocking voice rang out from the shadows:
"Captain, I told you! As long as we used this genjutsu, the kid would definitely fall for it!"
In the endless dark, over a dozen pairs of crimson Sharingan suddenly ignited, staring at Ren. From the depths of the building, a heavy thud, thud of footsteps approached.
A face, half-lit and half-shadowed, with sharp, stern eyes, appeared before Ren.
It was Fugaku Uchiha.
Ren's eyes went wide, his triumphant smile freezing on his face. Fugaku stared at the teenager with a mixture of exasperation and resignation.
"Young Clan Head," Fugaku said quietly. "I think it's time we talked about the fact that you demolished our ancestral shrine."
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