"Monster…!"
The Root jonin's voice trembled with raw terror as he stared at the massive shape materializing behind him.
A giant, snow-white lizard—tens of meters long—emerged silently from the shadows. Its long tongue coiled around the Root ninja's body, suspending him helplessly in mid-air.
"Chūbei-maru. Increase the paralysis effect."
Shien's voice was calm, almost bored, as he gave the order.
Yes—this enormous creature was none other than his second summoned beast, the Great Shuzaki Lizard, Chūbei-maru.
It didn't wield blades like Gamabunta, nor could it shed its skin like Manda, nor divide and heal like Katsuyu. But it had its own terrifying advantages.
First—camouflage. Its white scales could shift color to match its surroundings, and the more complex the terrain, the more perfect the disguise.
Second—its tongue. It carried a potent paralytic toxin. Against similarly large creatures, it merely slowed them down—but against humans, even shinobi, the effect was devastating.
A born hunter. The Shuzaki Lizard was perfectly suited for ambushes in dense forest terrain.
That was why the remaining Root operatives had each managed only a single scream before falling silent— They'd been ambushed by this invisible predator.
Unlike Taiyi, Shien's first summon, Chūbei-maru was larger, stronger, and far more adept at using chakra—its unique abilities even allowed it to contend directly with the Sannin's own legendary summons. Taiyi still had some growing to do before it could reach that level.
"Yes, Master Shien."
Chūbei-maru's tongue glistened with fresh saliva, the paralytic venom quickly robbing the captured jonin of consciousness.
"Uchiha Shien… Lord Danzo… will avenge us…"
Those were the Root jonin's final words before his body went limp.
Moments later, the entire pursuit unit lay annihilated.
It wasn't as though they had come unprepared.
By Root's assessment, Shien's strength—though impressive in the Chunin Exams—was still only at a Special Jonin level. They'd attributed his victories to clever taijutsu tricks and surprise tactics.
Their team—a jonin leader and four chunin—should have easily captured him.
But no one had expected Shien's rapid growth, nor the addition of a colossal summon like Chūbei-maru to his arsenal.
"I held back to keep a low profile before. But now I can't even lie low anymore—and you still think I'll just take it?"
Shien's tone was cold as he looked down at the unconscious Root ninja.
Once, he'd suppressed his temper to "live peacefully." But when peace was no longer an option—why continue to endure?
If someone came for him, he'd strike back—no hesitation. He had no "Will of Fire" compelling him to sacrifice himself for Konoha.
That so-called Will of Fire—it was nothing but a slogan, a tool for manipulating ordinary shinobi into dying for the village elites.
Repeat a lie a thousand times, and it becomes the truth. They even made "The Will of Fire" a mandatory course in the Academy exams.
And the sad part? It worked. Plenty of people actually believed it—especially the Uchiha. The stronger the talent, the easier they were to fool.
Tragic, really.
As Shien grumbled internally, Chūbei-maru's tongue began to roll up the unconscious Root members one by one, swallowing them whole.
Don't misunderstand—it wasn't eating them.
It was storing them alive in its stomach to preserve their condition for later retrieval.
After all, shinobi made excellent experimental material.
Before, Shien had acquired test subjects through Uchiha connections. Now, he was becoming self-sufficient.
And until now, he'd mostly experimented on genin. Mid-rank or high-rank shinobi had been out of reach.
But this time, he had several Root chunin and even a jonin. Plenty of premium test subjects.
Yes, these men were brainwashed tools of Root—innocent in a way.
But so what?
Shien wasn't some bleeding-heart saint. As long as their hands were stained with blood, that was reason enough.
He'd given up on pretending to be virtuous. If you had no morals, you didn't need to worry about being called immoral.
Now that he had real power, his pre-transmigration personality was resurfacing— A bit of a troll, a bit of a chaos-lover.
Without power, those traits would've gotten him killed. With power—they were simply… charisma.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"
Once Chūbei-maru had carried off the "specimens," Shien began burning the scene to ashes.
He couldn't erase all traces, but he could at least obscure the details—enough to leave Root guessing.
Cleanup techniques were part of the Academy curriculum, after all. He might've been a slacker, but he'd still paid attention.
"Hm… at a time like this, the proper line would be—'Let the flames consume everything.'"
Satisfied, he watched the flames devour the clearing, then leapt away cloaked in his blazing armor—the Flame Mantle.
He kept it active not only to avoid leaving scent or residue, but also to guard against poison, parasites, or any underhanded tricks. Ninja weren't knights; they killed with whatever method worked, and plenty of them died from carelessness.
Fortunately, Shien's chakra reserves had grown immensely, and with the Flame Fist Gauntlet assisting him, he could maintain the Mantle indefinitely.
Two hours later—
A few shadowy figures appeared at the still-smoldering site.
"Too late," said the unmasked leader, frowning at the scorched remains.
He'd only come to check because the capture team had lost contact—but clearly, something had gone very wrong.
"Should we pursue the target?" one of the Root operatives asked.
"No. We have a more important mission. Suspend the capture. I'll explain to Lord Danzo myself."
The leader shook his head firmly. They couldn't compromise their assigned mission for Root's vendetta.
"Yes, sir."
The squad acknowledged the order and vanished into the forest.
——
Meanwhile, Shien had already caught up with a merchant caravan—a convoy of horse-drawn wagons escorted by one chunin and three genin.
"Who's there!"
The leading chunin sensed movement and turned sharply.
But when he spotted the Konoha forehead protector gleaming on Shien's brow, he relaxed slightly.
"I'm Uchiha Shien, Konoha chunin," Shien announced, holding up a mission scroll.
"Assigned to reinforce your escort."
Killing Root was one thing. But abandoning an official village mission? That was another matter entirely. He wasn't about to make himself a missing-nin.
Once, the thought might have tempted him. But after seeing the brutal reality of the Shinobi World, he'd abandoned the idea.
No matter how dangerous Konoha was, it was still safer than the world beyond—and it was the only place where one could easily access knowledge, jutsu, and materials.
For instance, the ingredients for his Clarity Formula—outside Konoha, even in the other Great Nations, such materials were nearly impossible for an ordinary person to acquire.
Beyond the Five Great Villages? Most settlements barely managed to feed themselves, let alone sustain trade or commerce. And even if they had, it wouldn't benefit a shinobi.
After confirming the forehead protector and mission scroll, the escort leader—a chunin named Yamashita Satoru—relaxed.
Through conversation, Shien also learned why the man didn't recognize him. During the joint Chunin Exams, Satoru had been on assignment outside the village.
And besides, the higher-ups had intentionally suppressed Shien's fame. Outside of those who had actually witnessed the exams, few people even knew his name.
Konoha's leadership had long mastered information control.
Just ask the late White Fang. He was the perfect example of how easily they could turn a hero into a villain.
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