Chapter 114: Is It Really That Hard to Be Accepted?
Deep within the subterranean levels of the Konoha Police Force dungeon, Uchiha Kou sat confined in the very last cell of the corridor. This particular enclosure was a high-security vault designed exclusively for the village's most dangerous criminals.
Beyond the heavy iron bars, the stone walls hummed with the Police Force's proprietary sealing formulas. Layers of complex chakra scripts crawled across the floor and ceiling, while a dedicated squad of elite Uchiha clansmen stood guard at the outermost perimeter. The security was absolute, effectively suffocating any thought of escape.
The truth of Kou's lineage—the fact that she possessed Uchiha blood—remained a tightly guarded secret among Konoha's upper echelon. Only the high-ranking officials, Team Sarutobi, and Hatake Sakumo knew the reality of her origins. Following the incident in the district, Uchiha Kagami had personally escorted her back to the clan's compound. Fearing that the emotional whiplash of the day's events might force her to awaken the Sharingan, Kagami had deliberately isolated her in this maximum-security cell, severing all contact with the outside world.
Inside the dim enclosure, Kou sat with her back pressed against the cold, damp stone. She stared blankly into the empty air, her eyes hollow and unfocused.
"I clearly didn't intend to kill him..." she murmured, her voice trembling just enough to echo in the quiet space. "He ran into the blade himself..."
She pulled her knees to her chest, burying her face in her remaining arm. "There was definitely something wrong with his identity. Why didn't anyone investigate him first? Why did they just arrest me?"
A choked, pathetic sound escaped her throat. "Is it really that hard for me to be accepted by everyone?"
Hidden in the shadows, a presence listened intently. Zetsu, who had smoothly bypassed the exterior guards and infiltrated the cell, felt a surge of dark satisfaction. Hearing those broken whispers confirmed that his psychological seeds were taking root.
Someone raised as a living weapon from childhood was inherently unstable. Being suddenly thrust into the light, treated as a normal human being, and showered with superficial affection was nothing but a fragile illusion. As long as the weapon behaved flawlessly, the illusion held. But the moment a single mistake occurred, the facade would shatter, inviting endless suspicion and tearing those pathetic ninja bonds to bloody shreds.
Trust between humans was a laughable, brittle thing, built entirely on a foundation of paranoia and wariness. Over the past thousand years, he had watched it crumble time and time again. With just a slight push, he could mold this girl into the perfect pawn.
A puddle of pitch-black substance seeped upward from the stone floor. It bubbled and writhed like a dark, formless mollusk before stretching upward, twisting its mass until it solidified into a humanoid silhouette.
"Uchiha Kou..."
Black Zetsu looked down at the girl huddled on the floor, his raspy voice dripping with an ancient, unfathomable mystique.
The sudden noise triggered an immediate, violent reaction. Kou's head snapped up. Her hand instinctively slapped her hip, grasping at empty air where her sword usually rested. Driven by pure combat reflex, she launched herself backward, flipping through the air to land defensively near the far wall.
She crouched low, her eyes widening as they locked onto the dark figure. A sharp gasp escaped her lips. "Lord... Black Zetsu..."
The ancient mastermind's carefully constructed aura of mystery nearly shattered on the spot.
What in the world was going on? Was he, the hidden manipulator of history, suddenly as common as cabbage sold by the roadside? This person recognized him. That person recognized him. He had lurked in the shadows for over a millennium without a single soul discovering his existence, yet in this specific era, it felt like every random child on the street knew his name!
"Lord Black Zetsu, are you here for me?" Kou asked, her voice laced with a desperate, fragile hope.
She took two hesitant steps toward him, then suddenly froze. Her expression shifted, morphing into a mask of sudden realization and deep disappointment.
"No... this isn't the world I belong to. This Lord Black Zetsu isn't the Lord Black Zetsu I know."
Hidden within his inky form, Zetsu's mind raced. Excellent. She had just handed him critical intelligence without any prompting. This confirmed that the Black Zetsu of whatever alternate world she hailed from had already established contact with her. It seemed this child possessed immense, cross-dimensional value.
"It seems you recognize me, visitor from another world," Black Zetsu said, keeping his tone smooth and authoritative.
"How did Lord Black Zetsu know I'm not from this world...?" Kou looked up, her eyes wide with shock. Before Zetsu could even formulate a convincing lie, she answered her own question, her voice dropping into a tone of absolute reverence. "Of course. Lord Black Zetsu truly knows everything."
Such high praise. The fanatical gleam in her eyes and the blind trust radiating from her posture were unmistakable. Had the Black Zetsu of her original world already brainwashed her completely? He decided to observe a little longer before making his move.
Black Zetsu steered the conversation back to the immediate trauma. "Are you still troubled by today's events?"
At the mention of the incident, the fanaticism in Kou's eyes dissolved, replaced instantly by a heavy, suffocating distress.
"I didn't intend to kill that man," she pleaded, looking at him as if begging for validation. "I had my Sharingan active. I saw it clearly. The micro-movements of his muscles, the shift in his expression—he was preparing to slide to the ground. He intentionally threw himself onto my sword."
"Whether you killed him or not is no longer important," Black Zetsu replied smoothly.
"Why?" Kou blinked, her face a portrait of naive confusion. "How could the truth not be important?"
This was exactly the routine Black Zetsu excelled at. He glided forward, his dark form shifting across the floor until he loomed right beside her. His raspy voice slithered directly into her ear.
"Because sometimes, the actual truth does not matter in the slightest. People only believe what they see with their own two eyes. They saw you strike a man down in the street. Therefore, in their minds, you are a murderer. That is their reality."
He drew upon centuries of watching ignorant masses turn on each other. He did not even need to invent a lie; he merely had to present the ugly, inevitable nature of human society.
"They will naturally fear you. Even if the truth is eventually dragged into the light, those who cannot comprehend the facts will only speculate wildly. They will fill the gaps with their own dark imaginations, breeding suspicion that will inevitably lead to your complete alienation."
The ancient entity was actively subjecting her to textbook psychological manipulation, layering suggestion upon suggestion to break her spirit.
Kou shrank back against the wall, her shoulders trembling as if terrified by the bleak future he painted. She had worked so hard to carve out a place for herself, bled so much to earn the right to have companions and a home. Was she truly going to lose it all over a setup?
She shook her head vigorously, her breathing ragged. "No. Jiraiya said that no matter what happens, he will believe in me. Even if the rest of the village turns their backs, he will stand by me."
"Is that so?" Black Zetsu's voice dropped to a mocking, venomous whisper. "Then tell me, child... how exactly did you lose your right arm?"
The atmosphere in the cell plummeted to freezing. The memory of that horrific day seemed to violently project itself across Kou's vision. The sensation of being pinned to the dirt. The crushing grip around her throat. The sight of Jiraiya questioning her repeatedly, his eyes burning with an intensity that suggested he might snap her neck at any given second.
Kou's face drained of all color, turning a deathly, sickly pale. Her lips parted, but she could not find a single word to defend herself. The bloody, obvious truth of her past trauma was staring her right in the face. How could she possibly argue against her own scars?
Yet, as she remembered how Jiraiya had firmly planted himself between her and the angry mob earlier that afternoon, a stubborn light flickered in her eyes.
"Jiraiya will believe me," she whispered, though her voice lacked its previous strength.
"Then continue to use those eyes of yours to observe," Black Zetsu sneered softly, melting back into the shadows. "Watch closely, Uchiha Kou, and see just how cruel this real world truly is..."
Like ink soaking into parchment, his dark form seeped into the stone floor and vanished without a trace.
Kou remained frozen against the wall for several long seconds, ensuring the chakra signature was completely gone.
The moment she was certain she was alone, the terrified, trembling expression on her face instantly evaporated. Her shoulders slumped, and she let out a long, exhausted breath. Raising her remaining hand, she vigorously rubbed her cheeks, massaging the stiff muscles.
Maintaining that level of intense, tragic acting was incredibly draining. She really needed a nap.
While Kou was busy putting on a masterclass performance in the dungeon, Uchiha Kagami had been working relentlessly through the night.
He had mobilized his forces to investigate every single villager present in District One during the incident, paying special attention to the deceased's social network and background. Following a careful, aggressive inquiry, the Police Force unearthed a startling reality. Not only was the deceased villager an active spy planted within Konoha, but the hysterical woman who had loudly accused Kou in the street was also an enemy operative.
Kagami had suspected foul play from the start. If someone as sharp as Kou had sensed something fundamentally wrong with the man's movements, there had to be a reason. A thorough interrogation of the network cleared away the fog entirely.
By the time dawn broke over the village, Kagami had officially posted the truth on Konoha's central bulletin board and dispatched officers to publicize the findings across the districts. Within hours, the entire village knew that the man Uchiha Kou had struck down was a foreign spy attempting to frame her.
Consequently, the heavy iron door of the high-security cell swung open, and Kagami's subordinates formally released her.
Stepping out of the Police Force headquarters, Kou squinted against the bright morning sunlight, her mind wandering as she adjusted to the glare.
"Kou! Over here!"
The familiar shout pulled her from her thoughts. She looked down the street to see the members of Team Sarutobi standing near the intersection. Jiraiya was waving his arms frantically, while Tsunade and Orochimaru stood close behind him.
The events of yesterday had exploded without warning. By the time Tsunade and Orochimaru had received word of the commotion, Kou had already been dragged into the Police Force's custody, and Kagami had strictly forbidden all visitors. Plagued by worry, the two of them had woken up at the crack of dawn, dragging Jiraiya along to wait outside the headquarters.
Seeing the three of them waiting for her, the lingering distress on Kou's face melted into a genuine, relieved smile.
She knew they would believe in her.
A heavy, suffocating weight seemed to lift from her chest. Her smile widened, and she broke into a run, hurrying toward them with an urgent, clumsy eagerness. As she closed the distance, a rush of emotions swelled in her throat. She wanted to say something deep, to express just how much their presence meant to her.
But having spent her entire life hiding behind masks and manipulation, she had absolutely no idea how to articulate such raw, sentimental feelings.
She skidded to a halt in front of them, her cheeks flushing a deep red. She stammered for a moment, her eyes darting between their faces. Finally, she decided to just open up about the terror of yesterday's incident. They were her companions. She should be able to share her darkest fears with them openly. She didn't want to explain herself; she just desperately needed to talk to them.
"Um... about yesterday, I..."
"Kou, are you hungry? Let's go eat quickly! I'm buying you your favorite buns!" Tsunade suddenly boomed, her loud voice completely drowning out Kou's hesitant words.
"Ah..." Kou blinked, startled by the sudden volume. "Okay. I am hungry."
Swallowing the heavy words back down her throat, Kou allowed Tsunade to grab her arm and lead her down the street. Her steps felt strangely mechanical as she was pulled along.
She stared at the back of Tsunade's head, a quiet shadow falling over her eyes. Tsunade didn't want to hear about yesterday. Was she deliberately avoiding the topic?
[Inorin's Note:
Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the novel! A quick Power Stone, comment, or review really helps the story grow and keeps me motivated.
Hate waiting for updates and cliffhangers? You can skip the line, avoid all those annoying ads, and binge 50 chapters ahead by supporting my work here:
🌐 Read on our site: Search for Elysian Reads on Google or Check the link in my Webnovel Profile bio!
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters & Ad-Free): Search InorinTL on Patreon
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]