Sasuke sat up slowly, still weak but able to speak clearly now. Everyone gathered close, waiting for him to explain. His voice was steady, though his face was tense.
"They… took Kiyomi north," he said. "Past the old river crossing… into the abandoned warehouses near the border."
The moment the words left his mouth, Izumi was already on her feet. Her mind was fixed on only one thing—getting to Kiyomi as fast as possible. She didn't care about anything else.
"We're going now," she said firmly, turning toward the path Sasuke had described.
But Tekka and Inabi didn't move; they just exchanged a glance, their expressions dark. They weren't swept up in the same rush of emotion as Izumi. They were thinking about what this meant—and who could be behind it.
After everything Sukuna had told them earlier, there was no doubt in their minds. This had to be Danzo's doing.
If that was true, then the danger wasn't just about fighting enemy shinobi. Danzo still had one of Shisui's eyes—and with it, the power of Kotoamatsukami, a genjutsu so strong it could control someone's will without them even realizing it.
And if Izumi confronted him… she could be taken over.
Anyone could have their will rewritten right now—but not her. She had awakened the Mangekyo. She was currently the only hope of the Uchiha clan.
"No," Tekka said firmly, stepping in front of her. "You're not going."
Izumi froze, staring at him in disbelief. "What are you talking about? Kiyomi's out there! We don't have time for this!"
"That's exactly why you're not going," Inabi said, moving to stand beside Tekka.
However, he didn't immediately speak; there were too many people here. He sighed for everyone to go, only to be glared at by the nurse—clearly telling him that if anyone was going, it was him and others.
Of course, the only two people she didn't mean to leave were the patient himself and Sukuna. The boy playing ninja with a mask had just done a miracle.
There was no way she would let him go without asking how. She was a medical-nin for a reason, dammit—this boy could be the next Tsunade Senju…
Irritated, Inabi dragged Izumi out with Tekka while the others also had to leave under the nurse's pressure.
Sukuna, however, wasn't that lucky.
After reaching an empty room, Inabi finally let Izumi go, who was already throwing a fit by now.
"What is it? Why are you wasting time? Kiyomi could be in danger if we don't hurry…" Izumi chided, clearly worried.
Inabi sighed.
"If this is Danzo's doing, and he uses that eye on you… we'll lose more than Kiyomi. We can't risk it."
Izumi had question marks in her head. 'What eye?' Unfortunately, she had already bolted from the room when Sukuna was talking and didn't know the entire thing.
Sighing again, Inabi explained the entire situation to Izumi—from reminding her that Danzo still had one of Shisui's Mangekyo to the possibility that Danzo might have already used this technique on Itachi to attack the Uchiha clan.
Izumi's mind buzzed.
She didn't care much about other things; her mind only locked onto the Uchiha and the possibility that Danzo was controlling him.
'Itachi was innocent.' Her mind locked in.
Someone said that love is blind.
But to this utter density that light started to bend around it?
Izumi, however, forcibly suppressed her feelings and emotions. Right now, the most important thing was saving Kiyomi.
Only then did her mind click on what Inabi was initially trying to say in the first place. And when she did, she exploded.
"I'm not going to just sit here while Kiyomi's in danger!" Izumi shot back, her voice rising. "I don't care if it's Danzo or anyone else—I'll fight him!"
Tekka's expression hardened. "This isn't about bravery. It's about protecting you from something you can't fight. You're not just another shinobi, Kiyomi. You're now our clan's hope. Our only hope. With your Mangekyo, we have an opportunity to grow strong again. We can't take this risk…"
Her hands clenched into fists. "And what, you expect me to let someone else save her while I hide?!"
"Yes," Inabi said bluntly. "Because if you're taken, Danzo wins twice. What if he did to you what he might have done with Itachi? Turn you against us? What if the next time you wake up, you find your hands drenched in the blood of your own kin? The children you're trying to save…" Inabi barked back.
One has to say, the older a person gets, the better they learn how to emotionally blackmail those younger than them. And here Inabi wasn't just bullshitting out of his ass—his points were legit.
Izumi, hearing this, deflated, her heart clenching.
The tension was thick. Izumi's breath was sharp and angry, but she wasn't completely unreasonable. She, too saw reason.
"Hmm, quite a pickle you got yourself in, huh…"
That's when Sukuna strolled in, with a little irritation hidden away behind his mask. That nurse had almost chewed his mind out.
If not for Kamui, he doubted he would have gotten out of that room in one piece.
Everyone turned to him, eyes narrowing—a little part of their minds telling them that this happening right after he showed up wasn't a coincidence.
However, they had no proof or even the right clues to suspect him outside the coincidence of timing itself.
Sukuna too was helpless about this. He just acted like the entire thing had nothing to do with him. Hands in his pockets, he strolled as if walking in the park.
"What do you want?" Izumi asked with narrowed eyes.
"All I want is just some Genjutsu training, is that really too much to ask?" Sukuna almost spoke with a fake teary voice.
Making others speechless.
'Little brother, you're still going about that—we've got a child missing here…' They had no idea what to make of this eccentric boy.
"You helped Sasuke. And you're still here lingering around. You definitely have something in mind," Izumi huffed, clearly seeing through the fake pitiful façade of his.
"Oh well, it was worth a try, right?" He shrugged—he just wasn't built for this kind of underhanded tactic.
At this complete 180 change, others had their brows twitching.
"While it's true I want that training sooner or later, the real reason I'm still here is because I want to take care of Danzo. With that Mangekyo in his hand, he's dangerous. I doubt even Konoha would stand still for long with what that man is capable of doing with that eye," Sukuna finally spoke. This was indeed the reason why he was lingering here and why he even bothered telling them the truth.
He needed help. He had his chance to kill Danzo, however, he couldn't if he wished to get his hands on Kamui. But Danzo now knew what kind of attack he could do. Until Danzo existed, an invisible sword would be dangling above his head.
It wasn't just him who was in danger—anyone near him, close to him, was at risk.
No matter how confident he was in his improved strength and the inclusion of Kamui in his arsenal, going inside Root's base alone was dangerous.
He had been thinking of ways to bring Danzo out somehow to end the old goat once and for all but couldn't find any chances.
However, that day, after seeing Izumi's Susanoo and that black-hole-like ability, he had the idea. With another strong person like Izumi, he might just have a chance to go inside the rat's nest and not get bitten.
He had thousands of things already prepared that he planned to say to convince her—but that old war hawk did most of the work for him.
As for healing Sasuke, well, that was just out of concern for the boy. He wasn't completely heartless; he considered the boy his friend.
It had nothing to do with the first time getting to test his Curse Technique Reversal on others.
Not at all…
Hearing Sukuna's words though, Izumi's eyes lit up. If someone like this annoying but quite powerful little brother worked with her, their chances of saving Kiyomi would drastically increase.
Both Inabi and Tekka were having a headache though. Should they believe this boy?
"It's impossible—taking care of Danzo. Do you think we Uchiha never wanted to?" Inabi snorted, making both Izumi and Tekka raise their eyebrows in shock.
The fact that their clan was even suggesting assassinating one of the higher-ups of the village was insane.
Sukuna wasn't surprised. He knew the bad blood that ran between the Uchiha and everything related to Tobirama—especially his students.
"You'll have better chances assassinating the Daimyo of Fire than that old fox," Inabi snorted—and Sukuna had to agree.
Root wasn't a place just anyone could infiltrate.
"What choice do you even have? There's almost certainly a trap waiting for you where that boy Sasuke told you they took that little girl…
I doubt they will even have that girl there in the first place. There's a big chance that while you play into Danzo's trick there, that old fossil plucks out that little girl's eyes and does whatever other nasty business those old bones of his are into." Sukuna shrugged, though as he spoke, he himself found that might very well happen.
Now he too was worried for Kiyomi—as a classmate, or as someone who knew what kind of life that girl lived in her previous life. He felt bad.
This was one of his problems. He was a bleeding heart no matter how much he tried to stop himself.
His words acted like fuel on fire—Izumi's Mangekyo Sharingan was roaring by now. Good thing there were no unwanted eyes around.
Inabi and Tekka, defeated, finally gave up. They knew their own genes best—once a Uchiha set their mind on doing something, they do it, no matter the case.
"I believe you have a plan…" Inabi asked, with hesitation.
Sukuna, at this, smirked.
'Time to cook…'
xxx
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