The Uchiha in the Vessel

The gloomy Root Division was flowing with blood, and decapitated heads rolled across the floor.

"Snap!"

Footsteps landed in the pooling blood, splashing it upward; the squad responsible for guarding the area had already been slaughtered to the last man.

Uzumaki Sora sheathed his blade and continued walking deeper inside.

"Boom..."

The sudden sound made Sora look over, only to see a door appear on the original stone wall, from which three people dressed in white medical robes emerged.

The one in the lead looked at Sora and asked, "How could anyone dare to invade this place? Has the intruder been dealt with?"

Sora, face hidden beneath his cloak, tilted his head slightly: "You... are you talking about me?"

"Swish!"

Before the words had even finished falling, the necks of the three were sliced open, and blood sprayed out.

Ignoring the three who had already collapsed, Sora walked into the laboratory hidden within the stone wall.

But the scene that met his eyes made Sora knit his brows tightly, the veins bulging on the hand gripping his long sword.

"Uchiha... Kohaku..."

When he was a child, he had just moved to the Uchiha Compound with his mother; for certain reasons, the Uchiha had neither rejected his family nor welcomed them.

But the feeling of living under someone else's roof didn't last long; the owner of the pancake shop and his wife had been very kind to both him and Izumi.

And the reason for that was Uchiha Kohaku.

The uncle and aunt, who possessed no talent for ninjutsu, had named their son after an ancestor in the hope that he would one day become a powerful ninja.

Uchiha Kohaku had not disappointed them; he graduated early during the war and had already awakened his Two Tomoe Sharingan by the age of eleven.

But...

Uncle Teshio had once spoken to him about how his son had died on the battlefield, his body never even brought home.

The photograph he had taken out bore a three-tenths resemblance to the body of the monster before him, now grown.

Was it for the Sharingan?

Sora looked at the monster in the container before him; massive tumors covered its entire body, and only one face remained recognizable... he was the same boy from the photograph, smiling brightly as he posed with his parents.

"Tap, tap..."

The sound of a cane striking the floor echoed, but Sora did not turn around.

"Swish, swish, swish!"

As black shadows flickered in the surroundings, the Root Division ninjas had already surrounded Sora once again.

"Is it beautiful?"

Without waiting for Sora to answer, Danzo continued: "The power of the Three Tomoe is not the end of the Sharingan; the eyes of Madara Uchiha are different from ordinary Sharingan."

"The power of the Mangekyou, that giant formed by the manifestation of chakra—Susanoo. Konoha needs the power of the Senju Wood Release, and it also needs the power of the Uchiha Sharingan."

Danzo looked up slightly at the monster in the container, sighing with considerable disappointment: "Initially, under my arrangement, this Uchiha genius's Sharingan did indeed evolve. But it stopped moving once it reached the Three Tomoe."

"The bond he had cultivated for over a year died, and even though this Uchiha Kohaku was an Uchiha genius at the time, it seems the Three Tomoe was his limit."

Danzo looked at his own bandage-wrapped right arm: "For certain reasons, I later believed that Hashirama Cells might facilitate the birth of such power. However..."

The words fell, and for a long time, there was silence.

Uzumaki Sora knew very well what he hadn't said: Hashirama Cells did indeed complement the Uchiha Sharingan. But Kohaku could not withstand such cells, and his Sharingan was only Three Tomoe—not a Mangekyou, and certainly not an Eternal Mangekyou Sharingan possessing Indra Chakra.

"Danzo... you should know why I've come, shouldn't you?"

Behind him, Danzo narrowed his eyes slightly: "For the Uzumaki Clan, killing me will not change anything."

"The Uzumaki Clan has always had a tradition of intermarriage with the Senju Clan, Uzumaki Sora... you already possess the power of Wood Release. If the power of the Mangekyou Sharingan can also be obtained, with my help, the restoration of the Uzumaki Clan is not impossible."

"As long as I can become Hokage, the Uzumaki Clan will once again become a great clan in the Shinobi World, and you will be able to become the new Daimyo of the Land of Whirlpools."

The new Daimyo?

Looking at the miserable Kohaku, covered in tumors and on the verge of death, Sora closed his eyes slightly.

When he opened them again, the Mangekyou spun rapidly within his eye sockets.

"Is this... the power you were talking about?!"

As the words fell, Uzumaki Sora vanished in a Body Flicker.

And even though Danzo retreated at high speed, it was as if he had thrown himself onto the blade, his chest pierced through by the sharp edge from behind.

Struggling to turn his head, Danzo looked at the eyes beneath Uzumaki Sora's cloak: "Man... ge... kyou?!"

Uzumaki Sora did not speak; the long sword in his hand swept horizontally, bisecting Danzo right through the heart.

Yet, the next moment, Danzo's corpse vanished into thin air.

Not far away, the reappearing Danzo looked at Sora: "Is it just as I suspected? Your body can accommodate the powers of both the Senju and the Uchiha. A perfect body—I shall take it for myself."

"Bang!"

As the words fell, accompanied by the heavy thud of Danzo's cane hitting the ground, the Root Division ninjas who had been silent until now moved in an instant.

"Four Violet Flames Formation!"

In a heartbeat, purple flames rose from all sides, forming a square that enclosed everyone within.

"Bang!"

Uzumaki Sora casually parried a charging melee fighter from the Root Division with his long blade, then, after a Body Flicker, pierced the man's chest.

Uzumaki Sora glanced around. The Four Violet Flames Formation? What was the point if it couldn't block the Flying Thunder God?

He threw six Flying Thunder God Kunai in two volleys, but before they could even alter their trajectories, they were swatted away by Root Division members who had been standing ready.

The spots where the kunai fell were precisely within the flames of the Four Violet Flames Formation.

Targeted, huh...

In the distance, Danzo slowly unwrapped the bandages on his arm, revealing the right eye he had kept hidden until now.

He's already used Izanagi once; are there three left? Compared to my memories, since the Uchiha Massacre never happened, did he acquire these during the war?

Uchiha Kohaku's pair, and are there other Uchiha?

"Uzumaki Sora..."

Danzo's voice rang out: "With your Flying Thunder God countered, you cannot kill this old man while your Wood Release remains unrefined. And as for those who can help the Uzumaki Clan, only this old man can!"

Sora used a Body Flicker to dodge a Wind Blade, the Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes rotating slightly.

Unrefined?

It's been over a year; do you still think my Wood Release can only kill small insects?

"Clap!"

He pressed his palms together to form the Snake Seal.

Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!

In an instant, surging giant trees, like countless pythons, filled the entire space.

"Pfft, pfft, pfft..."

The massive branches, coordinated with the prophecies of the Word God, instantly hoisted corpses upon the countless trees that had erupted from the ground!

"Ah..."

Screams rang out incessantly; with this single strike, nine-tenths of the small fry were wiped out.

Yet, even so, Danzo in the distance felt no fear toward this power; instead, his eyes were filled with longing.

"This is the power of Wood Release! Combined with the Mangekyō Sharingan, this power is enough to unify the entire Shinobi World!"

Uchiha Kohaku, an Uchiha from the Warring States period in the original work, ancestor of the Hawk Faction.

Changed the ending of Chapter 47; Yun's reaction was off, so I adjusted it.