After a heart-wrenching cry, the three tomoe in Uchiha Shinichi's Sharingan began to slow their spin. Tears welled up in his eyes, trickling down and falling, one by one, onto Uchiha Yui's lifeless body.
From a distance, Zetsu, watching the scene unfold, spoke with a tinge of regret. "What a pity. It still didn't work."
But the masked man was unfazed. "No need to rush."
Zetsu turned to him. "But your plan failed."
"This is just the beginning," the masked man said with a faint smile. "Do you think Uchiha Shinichi will let that Root ninja go after what happened?"
Zetsu shook his head.
It was obvious—anyone in Shinichi's shoes would seek justice. Let alone someone as direct and straightforward as him.
The masked man continued, "And do you think Danzo would hand that Root ninja over?"
Zetsu paused.
Given Danzo's dominance in the Leaf, even if that Root ninja *was* guilty, he would never bow to the Uchiha clan.
"No wonder you told me to let that Root ninja live!" Zetsu exclaimed, then added with concern, "But wouldn't Danzo realize we're behind this?"
"They already suspect it," the masked man said indifferently.
During the Nine-Tails incident, he had clashed with the Fourth Hokage, leaving traces behind. The village's higher-ups were already aware that someone had been orchestrating events behind the scenes. What they didn't know was whether the perpetrator came from outside the village or was hidden among the Uchiha.
As for Danzo, his hostility toward the Uchiha was blatant. Often, he would feign ignorance or fabricate reasons to target them.
"So what now?" Zetsu asked.
"We sit back and enjoy the show," the masked man said, his tone laced with mockery. "Uchiha Shinichi won't be able to avenge this. Nor will his clan help him."
Zetsu pressed, "Then what will he do?"
"He'll hate. He'll hate Danzo, hate the Leaf, hate the Uchiha, hate everything."
The masked man's words rang with certainty, as if he had already glimpsed the future.
Zetsu glanced toward Shinichi, who was now walking toward the village carrying Yui's body. "But what if he never awakens the Mangekyo Sharingan? This feels like a waste of time."
Still watching Shinichi's silhouette, the masked man murmured, "A pawn that useful is worth the investment."
...
Land of Wind.
Amid the endless desert, Hyuga Kagami trekked forward, silently calculating the journey.
It had been ten days since he'd left the village. He estimated another three days would see the convoy of Roran survivors safely into the Land of Rain. That would leave him seven days to return to the village.
"Good thing I made that twenty-day arrangement with Shisui."
Just as he was feeling relieved, a sharp cry of a hawk echoed through the skies.
He looked up. A hawk was circling high overhead, clearly searching for something. Judging by its flight pattern, it wasn't an ordinary bird—it was a trained ninja beast.
Smirking, Hyuga Kagami muttered, "As expected of Sunagakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Their reaction speed isn't bad—they've already tracked us down."
He didn't move. Instead, he stood calmly, as if waiting for someone.
Soon, a figure landed before him, kneeling on one knee and speaking in a cold, mechanical voice. "Master, a four-man Suna team is approaching from behind."
It was the puppet of the Third Kazekage.
Over the past few days, during breaks while escorting the convoy, Hyuga Kagami had taken time to reinitiate the jinchuriki sealing ritual. With it, he truly became the Dragon Vein Jinchuriki.
Only after this transformation did he fully understand how different the Dragon Vein chakra was.
First, it was rich in geomantic energy, or natural energy. Its quality far surpassed normal chakra. This made it difficult for his Tenseigan chakra to instantly fuse with it, so every time he wanted to use it, he had to gradually convert the Dragon Vein chakra into Tenseigan chakra—much like how Naruto absorbed natural energy to use Sage Mode.
But this high-quality chakra came with rewards: the resulting Tenseigan chakra was immense.
Second, Hyuga Kagami discovered an innate self-healing ability within the Dragon Vein chakra. Perhaps due to the source's desire to restore itself by absorbing geomantic energy over centuries, even severe wounds healed several times faster without medical ninjutsu or even bandages.
Lastly, the new Dragon Vein core was like a newborn—naive, gentle, and far easier to tame than a tailed beast. Controlling it was simple, though its massive chakra reserves required careful handling.
After gaining this immense chakra, Hyuga Kagami's first move was to infuse the Third Kazekage puppet with a large amount of Tenseigan chakra.
He had only hoped to enhance its intelligence a bit.
But to his surprise, the puppet not only gained self-awareness, it even began to speak.
Hyuga Kagami had studied this puppet before. It had no vocal mechanism in its throat, so its ability to talk shocked him. Upon activating his Tenseigan and inspecting it closely, he realized the puppet used chakra to mimic vocal organs.
Its voice was cold and mechanical—like a ghost returned from the dead.
In the past, he would have hated wasting chakra this way. But now, as the Dragon Vein Jinchuriki, such losses no longer bothered him...