Bloodline organs like the Sharingan could be transplanted with ease, but transplanting bloodline abilities based on nature transformations was much harder. Konoha had spent decades trying and still hadn't managed to replicate Wood Release.
That was Sarutobi Hiruzen's ingrained belief.
In the end, people were pitiful creatures, bound by their own experiences and understanding.
Whenever Wood Release came up, the first thing Sarutobi Hiruzen thought of was the Senju Clan.
Even though every record said that Senju Hashirama was the only person capable of using Wood Release, Hiruzen couldn't help starting his investigation with the Senju Clan.
Nawaki fit some of the criteria, but he should have been dead—unless his death had been faked.
Besides that, there had been Wood Release replication experiments during the Second's time and in the early years of Hiruzen's own rule. Most of the volunteers had come from the Senju Clan, and some had survived.
And Danzo and Orochimaru had been up to something lately, too. Could the culprit be one of their earlier test subjects?
Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes flickered, but he kept his expression calm as he asked, "Chen, do you have any evidence?"
Uchiha Chen smiled faintly, summoned a piece of wood, and tossed it to Hizashi Hyuga, who was following behind the Third.
"Senior Hizashi, take a look at this piece of wood with your Byakugan!"
The wood had come from the ultimate, heavily weakened Wood Release that Chen's clone had made White Zetsu use.
The First's Wood Release conquered the world. Yamato's Wood Release handled landscaping. White Zetsu's Wood Release was even more pathetic—it could only make wooden lumps sprout.
Hizashi activated his Byakugan and examined the wooden stake several times. "There are no growth rings in this wood. Its bark and grain have grown very evenly. It certainly doesn't seem like a natural tree."
"Ridiculous!"
Before Sarutobi Hiruzen could say anything, an old man dressed in black, with a sinister expression and an aura that warned people to stay away, rushed right up to Hizashi and snatched the wooden stake from him.
The old man, who covered his right eye and had an X-shaped scar on his chin, was none other than Danzo Shimura, the "Darkness of the Shinobi."
"Uchiha Madara, the Sharingan, a masked man with two bloodline abilities, Wood Release and the Sharingan—I say it's all just the work of you, you evil little brat! For all we know, you're the one controlling the Nine-Tails, too!"
"Heh. Believe what you want!"
Uchiha Chen raised a hand to stop several of his furious clan members, their eyes bloodshot. He stared coldly at Danzo and spoke one word at a time.
"Still, I have to thank you! Without your help at Dayu Mountain, I wouldn't have been able to transform myself so easily!
"The Uchiha repay kindness and settle grudges! I'll be sure to repay this 'kindness' of yours!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen froze for a moment, then remembered Danzo's plot to send people to sabotage Uchiha Chen.
Had Uchiha Chen awakened his Mangekyō in a rage after being betrayed by his companions from the same village?
As for the possibility that Uchiha Chen was lying—
Hadn't Sarutobi Hiruzen believed him almost completely the moment he heard that he had encountered a shinobi with the two bloodline abilities of Wood Release and the Mangekyō?
The Uchiha had pride in their bones. And this was an Uchiha with at least Three-Tomoe, most likely a Mangekyō. Could he lie?
That just wasn't in their nature!
Certain that he understood the Uchiha temperament, Sarutobi Hiruzen lost focus again, then suddenly glared at Danzo.
Danzo thought he had kept many things hidden from Sarutobi Hiruzen. What he didn't know was that Hiruzen had simply let him think so.
Danzo might have believed he'd kept his actions secret, but Hiruzen knew there was a Sharingan belonging to Kagami beneath his bandages. He also knew Danzo had only recently reattached his severed hand after a serious injury, and that he had kept experimenting with Wood Release in private.
Danzo had no motive to harm the village, but he did have a motive to undermine Minato—and even kill him. Danzo was obsessed with becoming Hokage!
He fit every last detail!
After adding Danzo to the list of suspects—and putting him near the top—Sarutobi Hiruzen felt his head begin to throb. Frowning, he addressed everyone.
"Everything Chen said today is classified. No one is to speak of it outside this group! Chen, we'll discuss this privately later."
"Hmph, Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"
Quietly slipping the piece of wood into his sleeve, Danzo left in a hurry after delivering his threat.
He needed to get the wood to Orochimaru at once and see if they could uncover the secrets of Wood Release from it.
Soon, the Third had everyone round up and leave, taking all the shinobi the Uchiha had knocked unconscious. They melted into the forest and disappeared.
Whether it was Uchiha Chen, who had awakened the Mangekyō, or an enemy with both the Mangekyō and Wood Release, Hiruzen needed to think carefully about how to deal with them.
"I'll start by investigating the Kazamatsuri Clan! They're a minor branch that split off when the Senju Clan withdrew from public life. Several survivors of the early Wood Release experiments are among them."
Completely unaware that Uchiha Chen's truthful words had sent him down the wrong path, Sarutobi Hiruzen had taken his investigation in an entirely mistaken direction.
"Good. The nuisances are gone! Hachidai, Yakumi, Hiromaru, time to get your heads shaved!"
Once again, only the Uchiha were left by the Naka River.
The water was boiling, and the blades were sharp.
At Uchiha Chen's direction, three unlucky Uchiha were tied to the platform once more.
"Brother Jie, no!"
"Clan head, please spare us! Have mercy!"
The three cried out miserably and begged for mercy, but how could the Uchiha, who were all there for a laugh, let them off?
"Don't worry, Hachidai! I'm great at shaving heads. I'll make yours nice and shiny!"
Uchiha Setsuna wet Hachidai's hair with hot water and grinned. Then he started shaving Hachidai's head with a small knife, and locks of hair fell one after another.
"My turn! My turn!"
"I'm third! How come you've only shaved half a head? Forget it, I'll shave his eyebrows!"
As the clan members laughed excitedly and jostled for a turn, the nearly forty-year-old Uchiha tough guy Hachidai—scarred all over but never one to flinch—was moved to tears. Tears of humiliation streamed down his face.
There wasn't an Uchiha with bad knife skills!
Ten minutes later, after more than a dozen people had taken turns shaving him, Uchiha Hachidai had become a smooth, shiny egg. Moonlight even reflected off the top of his head.
"I'm ruined!"
Dressed in rags, Hachidai walked numbly to the Naka River and slumped down by the water. He gazed at his clear reflection, unable to stop the tears streaming down his face.
Without his eyebrows, his once-handsome face now looked perverted no matter how you looked at it. Add in his gleaming bald head, and the villagers would probably report him for ruining the appearance of Konoha if he walked down its streets.
Just thinking about his family, friends, and everyone in the village, whether they knew him or not, seeing him like this made Hachidai want to jump into the river and put an end to his humiliating life.
"Stop blubbering. Is that any way for an Uchiha to act?"
Uchiha Setsuna squatted down beside Hachidai.
You're the one who shaved the most, you old rascal!
Hachidai opened his blood-red Sharingan and glared at Setsuna as if he could kill him with a look.
"Eh? Your Eye Power has grown stronger?"
As a seasoned old Uchiha, Uchiha Setsuna immediately sensed the change in Hachidai's Eye Power.
"Me?" Hachidai froze. He looked around and was surprised to find that his perception really had improved a little.
"Brilliant!"
Uchiha Setsuna slapped his thigh, gazed at Uchiha Chen, who was surrounded by clan members, with a look of deep admiration, then rattled off to Hachidai:
"I knew the clan head wasn't just in it for the laughs. There had to be a deeper meaning! The Sharingan evolves and grows stronger through emotional stimulation, but who says only pain, hatred, and anger can stimulate it?
"Extreme embarrassment and humiliation can do it too! The clan head really is a genius!"
"Ah? Is that so?"
Hachidai wore a baffled expression, but the stronger Eye Power in his eyes seemed to remind him that this method really did work.
The humiliation method for boosting Eye Power?
Before you continue