The First

Miwa Masayo accepted her owner's explanation, but there was one detail she still cared about:

"Why did you say you'd only act once you could kill the Third Hokage with one hand?"

"Because Hiruzen Sarutobi is the Third Hokage, but the Hokage is more than just Hiruzen Sarutobi. If I want to use force to take down the Hokage, I have to consider the power behind that position."

Uchiha Yu said with a sigh, "The Hokage represents Konoha, and Konoha represents a whole host of powerful people, including Shimura Danzō, the Konoha Sannin, Kushina Uzumaki, Namikaze Minato, more than a dozen veteran Kage-level ninja, and over three hundred Konoha jonin."

"If I want the Third Hokage dead, the best time to strike is when everyone has turned against him. Then I would only need to deal with a single Kage-level ninja."

"When I say one hand, I mean I need to be strong enough to destroy Konoha with a casual backhand, so I won't need to consider all those factors behind him."

Miwa Masayo's eyes were filled with spiraling patterns as she meowed, "Too complicated, I don't understand, meow. Yu, just tell me what you want me to do?"

"Stupid cat." Uchiha Yu gently stroked the Tabby Cat's head. "I never expected you to understand."

"Your task is to cover for me. Make people think I finished my late-night snack here, then went home to sleep."

"That's easy. Leave it to me, meow. Nothing will go wrong."

"So, the noodles left in the bowl and these skewers of Tempura are yours to deal with."

"...Burp!"

Miwa Masayo covered her mouth with both paws to stop herself from throwing up.

"Yu, you know I ate three bowls of noodles tonight. My stomach is still so full..."

"Please!"

The moment he finished speaking, Uchiha Yu vanished from before the Tabby Cat.

He had not disappeared by swiftly leaving with the Body Flicker Technique. Instead, he slowly faded away in warped transparency. It was a clone.

Miwa Masayo stared dumbfoundedly.

The Tabby Cat had not noticed at all. Uchiha Yu had left at some unknown time, and the one talking to her had actually been a clone.

A clone created by the ordinary Clone Technique could naturally speak, but either the original body had to be nearby and use ventriloquism, or it had to play back a prerecorded voice.

The Tabby Cat touched her ears with her white-gloved paws, then smoothed her long whiskers, using the real sensations to steady her emotions.

That was terrifying for a cat.

Miwa Masayo was certain that Uchiha Yu had used the Clone Technique and slipped away without a sound right after saying, "Stupid cat."

The Tabby Cat was not frightened by her owner's strength.

What frightened her was that every word afterward had been a recording played by ninjutsu, while every movement had been a preset Sequence.

Everything had fit together flawlessly, without the slightest crack.

That meant he understood Miwa Masayo down to her bones, could predict every one of her thoughts, and accurately foresee every word and movement she would make.

Miwa Masayo could not help shuddering.

"From now on, I need to be careful around this guy. If he ever tricks me... meow..."

"I'm doomed, meow."

The Tabby Cat rubbed her round belly with her paws, took a deep breath, and began slurping noodles with the solemn resolve of someone marching to her death.

The Genjutsu Uchiha Yu had left behind covered Miwa Masayo and synchronized with her movements, slurping noodles along with her. No one noticed anything unusual.

The two Root ninja monitoring her also failed to notice that their target had become a Genjutsu illusion.

Uchiha Yu suppressed his chakra and mobilized the Natural Energy circulating within his body, erasing every trace of himself and blending perfectly into the earth.

This was not Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique, but an Earth Style technique activated through Earth-Attribute Natural Energy.

Earth Style meant traveling through the earth.

Yet in the Ninja World, the term had been borrowed as the category name for chakra-based earth-element ninjutsu.

After Uchiha Yu completed Foundation Establishment today, he discovered that once Fire-Attribute Natural Energy became saturated to its limit, it would naturally draw yellow Earth-Attribute Natural Energy into his body.

Natural Energy drawn in this way caused no pain whatsoever, though it also lacked the exhilarating sensation associated with the fire attribute.

When he went out for a walk later, Uchiha Yu could feel a pleasure similar to that of the fire attribute beginning to sprout within him—a satisfying, heavy sense of exhilaration.

Without a doubt, this was Earth-Attribute Natural Energy.

All of this vividly demonstrated the evolution of fire giving birth to earth, further confirming the correctness of the Five-Element Cycle Theory from his memories.

By that reasoning, his Earth Style chakra was likely beginning to emerge as well.

As a ninja of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Yu had mastered quite a few ninjutsu and possessed many methods for concealing his tracks.

But in Konoha, which was filled with ninja, using ninja techniques instead made it easiest for others to discover him.

Konoha's area of influence was only about ten kilometers across, yet it had as many as eight thousand registered ninja, with as many as forty thousand more able to answer a summons.

With so many ninja gathered in Konoha, and so many sharp eyes familiar with chakra watching, only truly elite and powerful ninja could move in secret.

Anbu and Root ninja were nowhere near as hidden as they imagined. When they carried out covert operations within Konoha, ordinary ninja discovered them in most cases.

However, when Konoha ninja saw masked ninja, they knew they were Anbu representing the Hokage, or even Root representing Shimura Danzō. To avoid trouble, they would proactively keep their distance and pretend not to see anything.

Within the village, there were two greatest methods of concealment. One was called "power," and the other was called "the unknown."

Uchiha Yu had no power, so he chose Sage Art: Earth Style, which he was unfamiliar with, blending himself into the earth and using a method ninja did not understand to evade the ever-present eyes.

Though his speed underground was not fast, his target was not moving quickly either.

Shimura Danzō styled himself as the shadow beneath the Hokage and strictly adhered to the principle of "covert action."

He demanded much from his subordinates. If a Root ninja was discovered by another ninja during an operation and reported, the one discovered would be punished.

If ordinary villagers discovered them, they might even be executed.

Although Root ninja knew that ninja who spotted them would usually avoid them on their own, Konoha had tens of thousands of ninja. There were always a few stubborn fools among them, and running into one would mean terrible luck.

So he carefully avoided people's gazes, leaping from one shadow to another, unable to move quickly at all.

The Root ninja slipped sideways through the gap between two houses. Just as he was about to leave the narrow passage, a pair of large hands reached out from the ground and precisely clamped around his throat.

Uchiha Yu's upper body emerged from the ground after them. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan was already activated.

The Root ninja was only a chunin, and not a particularly capable one at that. The instant he met the Three-Tomoe Sharingan's gaze, his will collapsed.

Uchiha Yu had no intention of interrogating him for information. He directly snapped the ninja's neck, then silently sank underground with the corpse.

Since he had decided to kill, he could not think too much.