"Do you know what it means to take someone as your disciple?" Uchiha Jie asked softly after finishing treating Hinata's injuries.
He had never learned the Mystical Palm Technique. The Medical Ninjas at Konoha Hospital all avoided him as soon as they heard the name Uchiha. They were Princess Tsunade's direct disciples, and there was no way he could learn from them.
Besides, Hinata's injuries weren't serious. Even without treatment, she would recover on her own soon enough.
"Father told me, and Sister Yue just explained it to me too." Hinata nodded firmly.
The word "master" carried a special meaning among ninjas. Almost every Jonin had served as a team captain. Even on the battlefield, Chunin with combat experience could lead a squad of Genin on missions.
Some people might habitually call their captain "teacher," but that didn't make them true master and disciple. A captain might look out for you once or twice during a mission, but they certainly wouldn't teach you their secret Ninjutsu or the special techniques they relied on to make a living.
But a true master was different.
Hinata limped over to the dining table and took the tea Uchiha Jie had stashed in a drawer. She was still very young, but her tea-making was practiced and proper. It was obvious she'd trained beforehand.
Soon, she brought a cup of hot tea over to Uchiha Jie.
"Are you sure?" Uchiha Jie didn't take the tea Hinata offered. He smiled faintly and asked softly.
"I'm a missing-nin, and I'm an Uchiha. I'm a heartless dragon who kidnapped you from Konoha. Your father must be itching to chop me into sixty-four pieces with a kitchen knife, then hit each piece with Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms until I'm nothing but mush."
But Hyuga Hiashi wasn't thinking about his kidnapped eldest daughter at all. He was waiting anxiously for news outside the entrance to Konoha Hospital.
Hatake Kakashi had returned to Konoha empty-handed, shocking all the Jonin—and even the Hokage.
He was already among the strongest fighters in the village, second only to the Third Hokage.
But now he was lying in a hospital bed. Uchiha Sasuke lay in the bed beside him, while the Third Hokage, puffing on a pipe, and Shimura Danzo, wrapped in bandages, stood before them.
Everyone else, including the doctors and nurses, had been sent back to their offices by Danzo as soon as Kakashi's treatment was complete. Anyone else hoping to get information couldn't even enter the hospital.
That included Hyuga Hiashi.
"You're saying he had two intact Three-Tomoe Sharingan and kidnapped the Young Miss of the Hyuga Clan? What on earth is he after?" Shimura Danzo looked agitated. The information Kakashi had given him had left him completely confused.
The Third Hokage turned and examined Danzo's bandaged arm and eye. At that moment, he found himself suspecting Danzo again.
Danzo noticed at once.
"Hiruzen! You're still suspecting me?" he snapped. "Every Sharingan in Root passed under your eyes before it was put in storage!"
"And now I suspect you even more!" His voice grew louder. He strode forward to stand in front of Kakashi and ordered, "Hatake Jonin, describe that Sharingan Genjutsu again! The one that dragged you into the blood-red space!"
Kakashi looked just like Danzo, with even more bandages wrapped around him. But he was conscious and able to answer Danzo's questions.
He recounted the strange Sharingan Genjutsu again: the blood-red moon, the crosses, and the crows. As he listened, Danzo's expression as he looked at the Third Hokage grew inscrutable.
"Hiruzen! How do you explain this?" he demanded. "Don't think I don't know whose technique that is."
"After wiping out the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Itachi didn't leave Konoha right away. Was he acting on your orders, or on Hyuga Hiashi's, when he took Hyuga Hinata out of Konoha?" he asked in a low voice.
"But that person said, 'Teacher...'" Kakashi began, unable to stop himself from trying to explain what Danzo had said.
How could that person be Uchiha Itachi? He was definitely older than Itachi. Besides, he'd mentioned the Nine-Tails' attack and his teacher's death. On that night, Uchiha Itachi had still been just a little kid.
But Danzo immediately cut him off.
"Do you know how your teacher died?" Danzo's single eye fixed on the Third Hokage's aged face, hidden beneath his hat.
"Do you know? That Sealing Technique used to seal the Nine-Tails came from the Uzumaki Clan, but the Fourth Hokage wasn't the only one who knew how to use it."
He nodded toward Hiruzen Sarutobi, a smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
"Hiruzen knew that Ninjutsu too. But the one who offered his life to the Death God that day was Namikaze Minato—far younger, more talented, and more powerful."
A cloud of smoke drifted out from beneath the Third Hokage's hat. He drew in a long breath, his voice full of guilt and helplessness.
"This was my fault, Kakashi," he said quietly.
"Of course it was your fault, Hiruzen! And you keep making one mistake after another!" Shimura Danzo pressed on. "This time you let Uchiha Itachi take Hyuga Hinata. What exactly are you trying to do?"
Despite his harsh words, Shimura Danzo knew that Hatake Kakashi was one of the Third Hokage's people. He was just anxious because events had slipped beyond his control.
He'd thought that with the Uchiha Clan wiped out and its members dead, he could quietly transplant Sharingan, grow stronger, and steadily work his way toward becoming Hokage. He hadn't expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to spring something this huge on him after only a few peaceful days.
"That person wasn't Uchiha Itachi," the Third Hokage said slowly.
"But that Genjutsu belongs exclusively to Uchiha Itachi!" Shimura Danzo lowered his voice. "Each Mangekyo Sharingan has its own unique ability. Even another Mangekyo Sharingan couldn't use the technique that belongs exclusively to Uchiha Itachi."
"It could have been Genjutsu cast with an ordinary Sharingan, perfectly recreating the same scene." The Third Hokage shook his head, then looked at Kakashi and asked, "How long were you in that Genjutsu?"
"I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. I don't know exactly," Kakashi replied.
He had endured endless pain. Expecting him to keep track of how long it had lasted was asking too much.
"I kept trying to break the Genjutsu. All told, I think more than a day passed inside it," he recalled, then answered briefly.
The Third Hokage and Danzo exchanged a glance. They had clear information: Uchiha Itachi's Tsukuyomi lasted much longer than Kakashi's account suggested. Otherwise, Kakashi wouldn't have been able to use Ninjutsu after being caught in it.
And looking at Uchiha Sasuke lying nearby, they knew the two of them hadn't been injured by the same technique.
But then who could it have been?