The dark halls of Root were slick with blood, headless corpses scattered across the floor.
Splash!
Shion's boots struck the crimson puddles, sending droplets flying. The squad assigned to guard this sector had already been wiped out.
Uchiha Shion sheathed his blade and continued deeper inside.
Rumble…
A sudden grinding noise drew his attention. From what looked like a solid stone wall, a hidden door slid open, and three figures in white medical uniforms stepped out.
The man in front frowned and asked, "Who would dare to break in here? Has the intruder been dealt with already?"
From beneath his cloak, Shion lifted his head slightly. "The intruder… are you talking about me?"
Swish!
The words had barely left his lips when three crimson lines flashed across their necks. Blood sprayed as the medics collapsed.
Ignoring their bodies, Shion stepped into the hidden chamber.
But what he saw made his brows knit tight. His grip on his long blade tensed until veins bulged across his hand.
"Uchiha… Hinokazu…"
Memories stirred—when he was still a child who had just moved with his mother into the Uchiha compound. The clan hadn't openly rejected them, but neither did they treat them as family. He and his sister had lived like outsiders, saved only by the kindness of a couple who ran a small pancake shop.
And the reason for that kindness… was their son, Uchiha Hinokazu.
The husband and wife had no shinobi talent themselves. They named their boy after an ancestor, hoping he would grow strong enough to bring pride to their line.
Hinokazu had not disappointed them. He graduated early during wartime, and by eleven years old had awakened the double tomoe Sharingan.
But…
Shion remembered the shopkeeper's sorrow. The old man had once confessed to him that his son had died on the battlefield. They had never even recovered the body. He had shown Shion a photo of the boy—a boy whose smile resembled the twisted figure now floating in the tank.
Could it be… for the sake of the Sharingan?
Shion's eyes locked on the abomination in the container. The body was swollen with grotesque tumors, but the face—just barely—was still recognizable. It was the same boy from the photo, grinning brightly with his parents.
Tap… tap…
A cane struck against the stone floor behind him. Shion did not turn.
Swish, swish, swish!
Shadows moved around him as Root operatives encircled the chamber once again.
"Do you find it beautiful?"
The voice was hoarse, but commanding. Danzō Shimura stepped forward with his cane, not waiting for an answer.
"The three-tomoe Sharingan is not the true limit of the eye. Uchiha Madara's eyes were different from the rest. The Mangekyō Sharingan… a power that manifests as chakra giants—Susanoo. Konoha requires the strength of the Senju's Wood Release, but it also requires the might of the Uchiha's Sharingan."
Danzō's gaze flicked toward the mutated body in the tank. He sighed in disappointment.
"When I first had this genius under my watch, his eyes did evolve. But they stopped at the three tomoe. His bonds, his growth, all cultivated for over a year—only to end here. Hinokazu was once considered a prodigy of the clan, but it seems the three tomoe were his ceiling."
He glanced down at his bandaged right arm. "Later, I considered whether Hashirama's cells could stimulate further growth. But…"
He let the thought trail off.
Shion knew exactly what had been left unsaid. Hashirama's cells and the Uchiha's eyes did complement one another. But Hinokazu's body had failed to endure the strain. His Sharingan had never gone beyond the three tomoe. He was not a Mangekyō wielder—let alone an Eternal Mangekyō bearer with Indra's chakra.
"Danzō…" Shion's voice was low. "You should already know why I'm here."
The old warhawk narrowed his eyes. "For the Uzumaki, killing me will not change anything. Your clan has always intermarried with the Senju. Uchiha Shion, you already possess the power of Wood Release. If you gained the Mangekyō as well, then with my help, restoring Uzushiogakure would not be impossible.
As long as I become Hokage, the Uzumaki will rise again as one of the great clans of the shinobi world. You could even become the new Daimyō of Uzushiogakure."
A new Daimyō?
Shion's eyes shifted to Hinokazu's mutilated body, barely clinging to life in the tank. He closed his eyes for a brief moment.
When they opened again, the Mangekyō whirled to life in his gaze.
"This power… is this what you meant?"
In a blur, Shion vanished.
Danzō barely managed to leap back, only to feel cold steel bursting through his chest from behind. He turned his head in shock, staring at the Mangekyō gleaming beneath Shion's hood.
"Mangekyō…?!"
Shion said nothing. His blade carved sideways, splitting Danzō's body at the heart.
But the corpse vanished.
Not far away, Danzō reappeared unharmed. His single visible eye gleamed. "So, it's just as I thought. Your body can harmonize both Senju and Uchiha bloodlines. A perfect vessel. And it shall be mine."
Bang!
His cane slammed against the ground. The silent Root operatives moved instantly.
"Four Purple Flame Formation!"
Walls of violet fire erupted, sealing the chamber into a burning square barrier.
Clang!
Shion's blade intercepted a charging Root shinobi. A flash of movement later, his weapon pierced through the man's chest.
He glanced around. "The Four Purple Flame Formation? It doesn't stop the Flying Thunder God. What's the point?"
He hurled six marked kunai in rapid succession—but every single one was intercepted midair, clattering down uselessly inside the fiery barrier.
They had anticipated him.
In the distance, Danzō slowly unwound the bandages from his right arm. His concealed eye opened, gleaming with power.
Izanagi… he's already used it once. How many does he have left? Three? In this timeline, without the Uchiha Massacre, he must have stolen them during the war.
Hinokazu's pair… and perhaps others.
"Uchiha Shion…" Danzō's voice echoed. "Without the Flying Thunder God, and with your limited control over Wood Release, you cannot kill me. Only I can help restore the Uzumaki."
A wind blade tore toward him, but Shion sidestepped effortlessly. His Mangekyō spun.
"Not skilled in Wood Release, am I?"
It had been over a year. Did they really think his Mokuton was still fit only for swatting insects?
Clap!
His hands came together in the Seal of the Ram.
"Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees!"
The ground convulsed. Gigantic trees erupted, twisting upward like a swarm of serpents, filling the entire chamber.
Crack, crack, crack!
Branches lashed out in perfect rhythm with his foresight, impaling shinobi in an instant. Corpses dangled from the newly born forest, blood dripping onto the roots below.
Screams filled the air. In a single move, nearly all the fodder had been obliterated.
Yet Danzō did not recoil. His single eye burned not with fear, but with hunger.
"So this is the power of the Wood Release…! Combined with the Mangekyō Sharingan, this strength could unify the entire shinobi world!"
…
Uchiha Hinokazu—once a prodigy of the Uchiha clan, now reduced to a failed experiment.