"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."
— Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight
--
[Third Person POV]
The group followed the bear as it lumbered through the forest, each step heavy enough to make the earth tremble. Sasuke, Sayuri, and Hinata trailed close behind, their eyes darting at every snap of twigs and whisper of wind. The woods felt alive, watching.
What none of them noticed was the additional shadow trailing them. Blonde hair peeked out between the branches, blue eyes narrowed with determination. Naruto moved clumsily but stubbornly, keeping pace just far enough back to avoid notice.
Shisui noticed him almost immediately. His eyes flicked toward the boy, then away, as if nothing was there. He made no move to stop him.
Let the kid follow. Maybe he'll learn something or maybe he'll just get scared enough to stop doing reckless things later.
Back in the village, an ANBU dropped to one knee in Hiruzen's office.
"Hokage-sama. Uzumaki Naruto is following Shisui's group. He's crossed the walls."
Hiruzen exhaled a long stream of smoke from his pipe, " Let him go. Shisui is with them, and that's enough. Besides…" He tapped the pipe against his desk. "There are some truths Naruto will only understand if he sees them with his own eyes."
The ANBU bowed. "Yes, Hokage-sama." Then vanished.
Then hiruzen called
From the shadows, another figure appeared in the shadows of the office. silent, but unmistakable—Kakashi Hatake. His posture was rigid, professional, but Hiruzen caught the darkness that still clung to him. Recently transferred from Root. Root had left its mark. Guy had begged for his release, worried his friend was sinking too deep into the abyss.
(Pic)
Hiruzen's eyes softened for only a moment. "Kakashi."
The silver-haired shinobi stepped forward.
"Follow Naruto. Protect him from the shadows," Hiruzen ordered quietly.
Kakashi bowed once, then flickered away
***
[First Person POV – Otis]
Danzo leaned in again.
His face was so close I could've bitten his nose off if my teeth weren't already loose. His one visible eye stared into mine — cold, calculating — and then, with deliberate slowness, he reached up and tugged at the bandages wrapped around the eye.
The cloth unraveled. Layer after layer of cloth fell away, until at last I saw what was hiding beneath.
Not an empty socket. Not some dead orb.
But a Sharingan. No—worse. A FUKCING Mangekyō Sharingan.
The tomoe twisted and shifted in patterns I didn't recognize, burning with that cursed red light.
My blood went cold.
Shisui's still alive. Which means… this isn't his… no, it can't be his.
That leaves only two options—Fugaku… or Kagami Uchiha.
Danzo's lips curled into something between a sneer and a grin, like he was savoring my realization.
"You recognize it, don't you?" he rasped, voice dripping with sick pride."Fugaku was a problem. Always standing against me. But look what happened to him. Dead. And when his body was found…" His voice dropped lower, savoring every word. "…his eyes were missing. Hiruzen believed it was the enemy shinobi. Fugaku tried so desperately to destroy both. But the fool only managed to crush one. The other… was mine to claim."
His words were like knives. I could almost see it—Fugaku bleeding, struggling, clawing at his own face in desperation, only for Danzo to pluck away his last defense like a thief.
Danzo's teeth showed in a grin that didn't reach his eye.
"You… will follow the same path. Your mother thought she could humiliate me, boy—" his cane jabbed against my chest, hard enough to bruise — "you will pay. Piece by piece. For every scar, every failure, every humiliation she inflicted on me."
His voice deepened,
"Hiruzen thought he could keep your mother's origins secret from me. But I am the darkness of Konoha. No one keeps secrets from me. I know everything that happens in this village. I couldn't touch her… but you will be the one who suffers."
And there it was again. The tremor. The faint, involuntary shake in his hand when he spoke of her. My mother.
Even saying it cracked him.
I started laughing again.
Not the smile of a victim. Not the grin of someone resisting. It was darker than that. Twisted. A smile that even I could feel looked wrong. Eerie.
My lips peeled back, blood slicking my teeth crimson. My eyes stayed wide, unblinking—locked onto his single eye.
Danzo froze. For the first time since he stepped into the room, he didn't look like a predator staring at prey. He looked like prey realizing the cage wasn't locked the way he thought.
And then it happened.
CRACK.
A sharp crack, wet and sudden. His Mangekyō Sharingan burst into blood.
Danzo screamed like an animal howl that shook the room. He clawed at his face, blood streaming from his ruined eye.
The object that destroyed it?
My tooth.
I had clenched so hard, laughed so hard, that I cracked the root of one of my own molars, felt it loosen, twist, and come free with a gush of blood and with every ounce of force I could muster, I spat.
It found its mark.
Buried itself into the eye of the monster before me.
The shard of bone and enamel cut through the air like a bullet.
It hit dead center.
Right into that stolen Mangekyō.
(Pic)
The scream Danzo let out could have woken the dead. His hand shot to his face as blood burst down his cheek. He staggered backward, clawing at the ruined socket, howling like an animal. The Mangekyō was gone. Destroyed by a single tooth.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHHHGHG! My eye! My Mangekyō!" Danzo shrieked, thrashing.
I threw my head back and laughed louder, my voice jagged and manic.
"Ahhh… much better. Asymmetrical at LAST! One empty socket—just like it should be!"
He lost it.
Danzo howled, fury overtaking the pain. He snatched a kunai from his robes and lunged, his body moving faster than his age should've allowed. The blade flashed, a whisper away from my throat.
"I WILL ERASE YOU!"
The blade, I could see—just centimeters from tearing my neck open. I could see the glint of steel, smell the iron on the weapon. I had a single thought in that frozen second
So this is it, huh?
And then time itself seemed to slow.
--
THE END
--
(A/N)
Join my Patreon, where future chapters already exist—and yes, you'll get to see chaos before anyone else.
Biggest motivation? Watching those numbers rise. Stonks 📈. Every patron adds fuel to my ego and keeps the chapters coming.
Or just support me here if you prefer
patreon.com/pacifist01