The sun had climbed high into the sky by the time Uchiha Souji finished adjusting his stance. His voice muttered small complaints while he repeatedly swung the Third-Generation Ghost Blade.
Ever since that strange day, the sword spirit inside the blade had gone completely silent.
No mocking.
No guidance.
No sarcastic remarks.
Just… watching him.
Whenever Souji caught his reflection on the blade, he could feel the sword spirit staring back—quiet, expressionless, unreadable. The silence was so heavy it made him uncomfortable.
Souji kept wondering:
"Did he figure out I cheated him before?"
But of course, he couldn't just ask.
He couldn't look at the sword and say:
"Hey, senior, did you catch me cheating during our last encounter?"
If the spirit didn't know, he would expose himself. If the spirit did know, he would die of embarrassment.
So he did the smartest thing—
He said nothing.
He stood straight, corrected his posture, tightened his grip, and kept swinging. If he focused on training, maybe the sword spirit would stop staring like a disappointed teacher watching a child pretend to read.
That's exactly how Souji felt.
Like one of those students who pretends to study, only to look up and see the teacher staring at him from the window.
So he forces himself to stare harder at the book.
Neck stiff.
Hands sweating.
Heart pounding.
Awful. Completely awful.
He chose to train outside the village today—not because he wanted peaceful nature, but because the training grounds inside Konoha were overflowing with people. And worse,
the Uchiha clan wasn't welcomed there.
If someone put up a sign saying "UCHIHA AND DOGS NOT ALLOWED", Souji wouldn't even be surprised.
While Souji focused on his swings, something completely unrelated—and dangerous—was happening deeper in the forest.
---
A DESPERATE CHASE
Not far away, a pale, exhausted young man wearing a Konoha Jōnin vest sprinted through the woods. Blood stained the ground behind him, and his breaths were short and frantic. His eyes were unfocused, his steps uneven.
If not for the ninja chasing him, he probably would have collapsed already.
Suddenly, he staggered to a halt in a small clearing.
"Ahem—!"
He covered his mouth with his hand. A splash of blood appeared across his palm, making his already pale face turn ghostly white.
At that very moment—
"RAIKIRI!!!"
Lightning exploded through the trees.
A flash of white hair.
The shriek of thunder.
Kakashi, wearing an Anbu mask, lunged out from the shadows with lightning flickering violently in his right hand—fast enough to cut through thunder itself.
The fleeing ninja dropped his head instantly, the bolt grazing past his skull.
He grabbed something at his waist—
A kunai.
Sharp, perfectly balanced.
He swung upward with terrifying precision.
The blade sliced Kakashi's Anbu mask clean in half.
Pieces fell away—
revealing Kakashi's scarlet Sharingan.
His single eye widened with shock.
But Kakashi's instincts kicked in. He leapt back, sliding into a guarded stance, kunai ready in hand.
The pale man stared directly at Kakashi's Sharingan.
"You have nice eyes…" he said coldly.
"…but fakes don't interest me."
Before Kakashi could react, a faint sizzling sound filled the air.
The man ripped off his Jōnin vest and threw it aside.
A massive explosion detonated instantly—
BOOOM!!!
The shockwave slammed into both men. Dust and leaves exploded into the sky like a storm.
The rogue ninja hit the ground, rolled, then regained his footing. He winced and clutched an earlier wound, coughing harshly.
But in his eyes, there was no fear.
Only emptiness.
A disregard for life itself.
He walked right past Kakashi—within arm's reach.
Kakashi did not move.
Not a twitch.
Because now… he understood.
This man was Orochimaru.
---
THE TIMELINE OF BETRAYAL
(A simplified explanation)
Kakashi never joined Anbu until Minato became Hokage.
Orochimaru did not defect when Minato was alive; otherwise Minato would never stay idle.
When Orochimaru finally fled the village, the one who issued the pursuit order was Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had already resumed the Hokage position after Minato's death.
So the only possible time for this chase was after Minato's death, during the Third Hokage's second term.
---
BACK TO THE FOREST
While Kakashi remained frozen in place, Orochimaru slowly turned his head toward a certain tree.
Kakashi blinked in confusion and also looked in that direction.
A small, nervous voice emerged.
"Umm… can I pretend I didn't see anything and just… leave?"
Uchiha Souji dropped down from the tree, scratching the back of his head like the world's most embarrassed cat.
He wanted to slap himself.
Why did he look???
Why was he curious???
Why didn't he stay where he was???
One moment he was training, the next he heard explosions. Curiosity took over.
"Let me just take a small peek," he thought.
"It won't hurt."
BIG mistake.
He peeked… and saw Orochimaru, looking like a ghost straight out of hell.
Then Kakashi arrived at lightning speed.
They fought.
The fight ended instantly.
And Souji?
He was stuck there with no way out.
He had prayed silently, "Please don't notice me, please don't notice me…"
And Orochimaru had turned his head, stared at him, and basically said:
"I see you."
Great.
Perfect.
Exactly what he never wanted.
Souji felt a chill run down his spine.
The moment Kakashi saw Souji, Kakashi's eyes shrank like needles.
He flickered forward, arriving in front of Souji and shielding him with a kunai raised high.
Kakashi didn't say it out loud, but the message was clear:
Orochimaru said he doesn't care for fake Sharingan.
So he must be interested in the real one.
Souji had not awakened his Sharingan yet.
But Kakashi believed it was inevitable.
And if Kakashi knew…
Then Orochimaru definitely knew.
The forest went silent.
The air turned sharp.
Three people stood locked in a deadly triangle.
Curiosity had indeed killed the cat—
And this time,
Uchiha Souji was the cat.
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