Capture Yamato

"Wood Release ninja and the Jinchuriki together... looks like I'll have to find the right opportunity."

The lessons of the Nine-Tails Night were still fresh. What Konoha feared most right now was the Uchiha getting close to the Jinchuriki.

The Uchiha clan wasn't even allowed to approach Uzumaki Naruto, let alone make contact with the Wood Release ninja specifically assigned to protect and restrict him.

But Uchiha Shūichi didn't mind. Yamato couldn't monitor Naruto twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Even a ninja was still human—he simply didn't have that kind of stamina. He would have to rotate shifts with other ninja.

Besides, Yamato was only sixteen or seventeen years old, right in the golden period for improving his strength. And as a highly valued Wood Release ninja, he also needed sufficient training time.

Sure enough, according to Kakashi's description, Yamato only needed to protect Naruto for eight hours a day. The rest of the time was his own to arrange. Generally, Yamato trained at the Anbu training grounds, and his residence was also very secluded.

Fortunately, Kakashi also knew where Yamato lived. And since the location was hidden, that meant there wouldn't be many people around. All he had to do was set up an ambush there.

Kakashi's Kotoamatsukami definitely had to be undone. As the leading ninja of Konoha's younger generation and a genius qualified to inherit the position of Hokage, Kakashi was under close scrutiny in the village.

Knowing that one of Uchiha Shisui's Kotoamatsukami Mangekyo was unaccounted for, Konoha's current leadership was certainly projecting calm on the surface while tightening security internally. Important ninja like Kakashi would definitely be checked regularly.

Kotoamatsukami might be incredibly powerful, but it wasn't without countermeasures. The Hyuga clan's Byakugan could easily detect whether someone was under control. Uchiha Shūichi didn't want to leave any loose ends here that could be traced back to him.

Uchiha Shūichi first controlled Kakashi, healing all the minor injuries he'd left around his eyes, wiping away the blood, and guiding him back to bed.

Finally, while dispelling Kotoamatsukami, he erased Kakashi's memory of this period and silently withdrew without a trace.

"Mm..."

In the early morning, Hatake Kakashi opened his eyes. A persistent soreness in his left eye and an unusual lightness in his body left him puzzled.

"What's going on..."

A flicker of alarm passed through him. Hatake Kakashi quickly stood up, walked to the mirror, and looked at the Three Tomoe Sharingan in his eye. Only then did he breathe a slight sigh of relief.

"The Sharingan hasn't changed... so it doesn't seem like someone tampered with my eye. But why has the chakra it drains decreased so much?"

"Could it be that after all this time draining my chakra, this eye of Obito's has finally synchronized with me, our bloodlines merging, reducing the burden?"

"If that's the case, the soreness in my eye just now makes sense too. It must be because of the bloodline fusion."

Touching his eye, Hatake Kakashi made a guess in his mind. Of course, he couldn't be certain his guess was correct.

But after checking himself over and finding no problems besides the Sharingan's burden being lighter, Kakashi had no choice but to let it go.

All of this was within Uchiha Shūichi's expectations. After all, aside from leaking information, Kakashi had suffered no real loss.

And since Kakashi didn't even know about Kotoamatsukami's genjutsu, let alone the existence of the Mangekyo, he would never suspect he'd been hit by a genjutsu.

Yamato's residence was quite secluded, near one of the Anbu's exits at the edge of the forest.

As a Wood Release ninja, the forest environment could both enhance his strength and facilitate his training.

Wood Release ninja were regarded by Konoha's leadership as a hidden trump card. To prevent intelligence leaks, training in the forest was the best choice.

As night fell, Uchiha Shūichi looked at the wooden house before him and understood why, in the later manga, Yamato's Four Pillar House Technique was so practiced.

"He even set up traps nearby? Pretty cautious."

Approaching the house, Uchiha Shūichi frowned. Around the wooden structure were some tripwires and pitfalls—nothing too dangerous, but very cleverly concealed.

This area was outside Konoha's residential district, so there was no worry about accidental injuries. To prevent Konoha ninja from blundering in, these traps were also non-lethal.

Fortunately, Uchiha Shūichi had prepared himself mentally, and with his highly observant Sharingan, these traps were no obstacle.

A moment later, Uchiha Shūichi stood at the wooden door. After changing back into Root ninja attire, he casually knocked.

His sensory ability had already detected the powerful chakra inside the room. Yamato was a few years younger than Kakashi, yet his chakra reserves were already three or four times greater.

Even if he couldn't compare to Senju Hashirama, Yamato had still integrated Hashirama Cells. This level of chakra was actually somewhat underwhelming.

Still, it was fortunate that Yamato had only inherited about twenty percent of Senju Hashirama's Wood Release ability. If he'd inherited twenty percent of his chakra reserves, that would have been truly terrifying—probably only the Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails among the tailed beasts would surpass him.

At the knock, the seamless wooden door trembled for a moment before sliding open. A very young-looking ninja with a slightly wooden expression stepped out.

"You're... a Root ninja? No!"

The familiar mask confused Yamato for a moment, but he quickly snapped out of it.

This Wood Release ninja, who had once walked out of Root, didn't sense the cold, numb, blade-like aura of a Root ninja from the visitor. He instinctively determined the other was an impostor.

But that brief hesitation was enough. Red light flashed from the eyes behind the mask. A chill ran through Yamato's heart as he formed hand seals:

"Wood Release—Jade Vine Jutsu!"

Thick vines covered in thorns burst forth, instantly riddling the impostor Root ninja with holes. Yamato breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The next moment, everything before him shattered. Yamato snapped awake, only to realize he hadn't moved at all—everything just now had been nothing but a genjutsu.

But it was too late now. A sharp pain shot through the back of his head. Yamato's vision went dark, his body went numb, and he collapsed to the ground.

With a thud, a massive python materialized inside the tree house. It slithered slowly up to Yamato, opened its enormous mouth, and swallowed him whole.