Half a month later, the Uchiha Elite Squad members who had been carrying out missions in secret returned one after another. This time, however, none of them looked particularly pleased.
After all, for scions of noble houses like them to be assigned the task of finding children with Chakra-bearing constitutions was simply beneath their status.
And it was a confidential mission at that. Though everyone felt stifled, fortunately, they did not need to find many children, so it was completed quickly. Still, some people secretly discovered something: this mission seemed to be connected to Lord Orochimaru.
After all, the children were not brought back. Instead, they were gathered at a certain location and handed over to Shisui, who was, after all, the commander on the surface.
"Shisui, we have enough. Let the clan's shinobi return to camp and get some proper rest."
Seeing that the mission was complete, Uchiha Yoru sighed inwardly. He had no choice but to drag the entire Uchiha Clan into this. Otherwise, once Orochimaru defected, would he not be the only one singled out? And whether the Uchiha Clan would protect him for his sake alone was hard to say.
But this time, so many Uchiha elites had been dragged in. Konoha could not possibly arrest all of them over mere suspicion, could it? There were quite a few of them, and every one was an elite. The Uchiha Clan would not agree to it either. Anyway, once you owed enough debts, one more made no difference. Do whatever you wanted.
"Brother Yoru, I'll head back to camp first."
Once the mission was over, Shisui seemed to have cast off a burden of guilt. He quietly let out a breath and bid Uchiha Yoru farewell. After all, he knew what awaited those children: human experimentation. The words alone said enough.
Before they parted, Uchiha Itachi seemed to see something different in the hazy road ahead. He could not help looking at Shisui and Yoru.
"Brother Yoru, I'll take Itachi back to the clan head."
"Go on." Uchiha Yoru smiled casually and waved him off. But when he saw a certain emotion in Itachi's eyes, he smiled inwardly. The seed had been planted. He refused to believe that Itachi, after having the door to Konoha's ugly side opened before him, would still be so easily brainwashed.
Moreover, he had never said how Konoha exploited them. Instead, he told them to believe in Konoha, to believe in the future Fifth Hokage, Lord Orochimaru. Those ugly, sinful things were merely the acts of certain corrupt individuals. Heh.
"Uchiha Yoru!"
A voice thick with anger rang out. Uchiha Yoru turned around and found Mitaraishi Anko staring straight at him with furious eyes.
Seeing this, Shisui guiltily shrank his neck. He immediately prayed that she would not find out, then hurriedly took Itachi away from the area.
"Brother Shisui, what is this?"
At this moment, the young and innocent Uchiha Itachi still could not understand such a scene. Shisui felt even guiltier, since he knew the whole story. Brother Yoru had approached her for the clan's sake. If that were exposed, Shisui would feel too ashamed to show his face. Right now, he only wanted to run away.
"Itachi, let's head back first."
Shisui simply brushed Itachi off, then led him toward the clan's camp. Meanwhile, young Itachi frowned as he pondered what had just happened. The clan seemed rather strange.
Elsewhere, after being caught by Anko, Uchiha Yoru immediately put on a gentle, innocent smile. "Isn't this Anko? What's wrong with you?"
Looking at Uchiha Yoru's punchable face, Mitaraishi Anko bared her teeth in resentment and snorted coldly. "Looks like there's something I need to remind you about! Two hundred thousand! Where's the two hundred thousand you promised?"
Realization dawned on Uchiha Yoru's face. "Oh, that. I was wondering what had happened to you, Anko. Come on, let's go back and talk this over properly."
Though Uchiha Yoru wore a relaxed smile, he was groaning inwardly. Two hundred thousand! How was he supposed to bluff his way through this? How could money that had already landed in his hands be handed back? No! Absolutely not.
Thus, Uchiha Yoru led Anko into a forest behind the camp with a light smile on his face. He then teased, "Oh, right. I nearly forgot. Teacher Orochimaru told me to come back and check whether your training has fallen behind, Anko."
"What!" The moment she heard that Teacher Orochimaru wanted to inspect her training, Mitaraishi Anko became excited. The two hundred thousand she was owed was immediately thrown to the back of her mind.
"How could it have? I've been training hard all this time. I've already mastered Hidden Shadow Snake Hands and Shadow Multiple Snake Hands."
As Orochimaru's signature techniques, they were ninjutsu that required a contract with a Snake Summoning Beast. Hidden Shadow Snake Hands was a C-Rank Ninjutsu, while Shadow Multiple Snake Hands was a B-Rank Ninjutsu. They were versatile techniques suited for ambushes and restraint.
Anko looked utterly proud. At this point, she was still immersed in the glory of being the disciple of Orochimaru, one of the Sannin. She was not yet the Anko who had gone through everything in the future.
Seeing Anko's smug smile, Uchiha Yoru merely chuckled. He raised a hand, and nine dark greenish-black snakes shot out from the broad white sleeve of his robe to Anko's cry of alarm. Each opened its bloody maw and lunged at her with bared fangs.
Shadow Multiple Snake Hands!
It had to be said that Anko's status as a Chunin was no fluke. Even when caught off guard by the ambush, she leaped backward and swiftly formed hand seals, instantly using the same technique.
Five long snakes shot from Anko's arm. She was thoroughly outmatched in numbers, and even the size of her snakes was inferior.
As their Shadow Multiple Snake Hands clashed, five of the snakes conjured by Uchiha Yoru coiled around and restrained Anko's five snakes. The remaining four caught Anko off guard and wrapped around her slender body.
"Bastard! Uchiha Yoru, you ambushed me! If you've got the guts, let's do that again."
Anko glared at Uchiha Yoru indignantly, her face full of frustrated anger. Yet she did not realize that as the snakes tightly bound her young body, the budding curves on her chest became noticeably more pronounced. Uchiha Yoru's eyes widened at the sight. Good grief, how old is she?
No wonder the original story had described her this way: before Hinata had grown up, Anko was known as Konoha's Second Tsunade. There were only mistaken names, never mistaken nicknames.
Naturally, Uchiha Yoru's gaze did not escape Anko's notice. Following his line of sight, she saw the way the bindings emphasized her chest, and her face immediately flushed with embarrassed fury.
"Uchiha Yoru! Where are you looking!"
"Sorry, sorry. It's not like I wanted to look at that, but what can I do? You're just so well-nourished."
Looking at the bound Anko, Uchiha Yoru laughed awkwardly. Anko snorted in dissatisfaction, but her attention soon shifted. Looking at him, a complicated expression appeared in her beautiful eyes.
"Are all Uchiha who awaken the Sharingan really geniuses? Why did you learn this technique later than I did, yet end up more proficient than me?"
The legend that those who awakened the Sharingan were geniuses was known not only in Konoha, but throughout the Shinobi World. Once a shinobi awakened a Kekkei Genkai, they would instantly become a genius. That was an indisputable fact.
Seeing Anko's complicated eyes, still filled with unwillingness to admit defeat, Uchiha Yoru smiled.
Monday! Please keep reading, sob~ If I don't get a trial recommendation this week, I'm really done for.
Before you continue