Orochimaru

Uchiha Clan shinobi generally married within the clan to preserve their Kekkei Genkai. They were less strict about ordinary people, though. Whether a woman married out or a man married in, they only had to join the Uchiha. Even if their descendants included children who awakened the Sharingan, they would still be members of the Uchiha Clan.

Thus, throughout its history, the Uchiha Clan's bloodline had never been lost to outsiders.

"Senior Kaede, do we really have to do this?"

"Shisui, you have to understand that handing her over to Root is definitely not a good idea."

"I... understand. I'll do as you say." Shisui's spirits sank.

"Root is a dark place, even darker than Anbu. Rather than hand her over to Root, we should end her suffering ourselves. At least then, she can have a whole corpse."

The two walked in silence through the clan grounds and arrived at the last person's home. They knocked, and a young woman opened the door, holding a small child in her arms.

Seeing Kaede and Shisui standing there with their masks already removed, she asked timidly, "Lord Kaede, Lord Shisui, is something wrong?"

Kaede and Shisui were famous in the Uchiha Clan now. After all, they had both joined the Hokage's personal Anbu at a very young age. Some clan members envied them, others resented them, and some made snide remarks, but none of that stopped them from becoming well-known.

"I... we..." Shisui looked at the child in her arms, unable to bear telling her the cruel truth.

"I'm sorry. Shisui, do it." Kaede took the child from her arms and held her close, allowing Shisui, who was skilled in Genjutsu, to undo the seal in the woman's mind.

Iwagakure had concealed this seal extremely well. If Konoha hadn't captured a spy with Jonin-level strength and learned the seal's formula, they would never have discovered it. After all, when taken by surprise, Konoha might keep a close watch on shinobi entering the village, but it couldn't search the memories of every ordinary person who came in.

Shisui quickly formed Hand Seals. His Sharingan appeared, and he sent a wave of mental Genjutsu Chakra at the woman. Combined with the Hand Seals that released the seal, it broke the seal on her memories, and she remembered who she really was.

"This... This... It can't be. I can't be a spy. No... No..." The woman crumpled to the ground, her mind shattered. The scene was much like what had happened in the other households.

These ordinary people had been used as tools by the shinobi villages. It was a fate they couldn't escape. When it finally came, fear and helplessness devoured their reason and spirit, yet no one could pull them out of hell.

Kaede said, "You still have a child and a husband. Don't cause trouble for them."

The woman snapped back to her senses. Looking at her daughter in Kaede's arms, she wept uncontrollably as she stroked the sleeping child, not knowing whether she would ever see her again.

"We're here to take you away. We have to hand you over to Root. Come with us."

"Y-yes, Lord Kaede."

Kaede looked at Shisui, who had turned his head away, his eyes red. She nodded.

They left the child in a neighbor's care. As the neighbors watched in confusion, Kaede and Shisui led the woman out of the Uchiha Clan Grounds and joined up with the other nine. At last, they had caught all the spies—or at least, all those who could be considered spies.

"Mission complete. Let's report back," Kabuto ordered. Sparrow led the way, Shisui kept watch on the right, and Kaede brought up the rear.

But after they had walked barely a hundred meters, the woman they had just captured broke away from the group and seemed poised to flee down a narrow alley. The Genjutsu hadn't worked on her.

"Hmm." Kabuto's face darkened beneath his mask. He wondered if someone was interfering, and the two brats were the most likely suspects.

The woman was a member of the Uchiha Clan. Handing her over to Anbu or Root would damage the clan's reputation.

"So you're trying to run? Lightning Release: Lightning Flash!" Kaede shouted from the rear, pointing a finger. A bolt of lightning compressed to its limit shot from her fingertip like a thin white line, piercing the woman's chest. She fell to the ground.

Kaede had developed this unsealed Ninjutsu while serving in Anbu to show off her talent. She could use it openly.

Kabuto hurriedly used the Body Flicker Technique to reach her. He turned her over, checked her breathing and pulse, then said, "She's dead. Fatal injury. The Lightning Release pierced her heart, and it's stopped beating."

"A spy appeared in the Uchiha Clan, causing trouble for the village and bringing shame on the clan. I lost my temper and struck too hard. I'm sorry, Captain."

"I'll deal with you when we get back," Kabuto scolded Kaede, who meekly admitted her mistake.

"Captain, since she's already dead, why not return the body to the Uchiha? It's just an ordinary person's corpse. She won't have any intelligence to give away." Shisui chimed in.

"This..." Kabuto hesitated. So that was what these two brats were after. They wanted the body so they could take it back to the clan for burial?

"No. I refuse." The cold voice came with slit-pupil eyes and a customary smile that only made him seem more sinister.

Of course, that was only how Kaede saw Orochimaru, given her preconceived notions. To everyone else, Orochimaru was one of the Sannin and the Third Hokage's disciple, so he was greatly respected.

"Lord Orochimaru." The four bowed in greeting.

"A mission is a mission. Even a corpse has to be delivered to Root for the mission to be considered complete." Orochimaru had been observing his experimental subject from a nearby rooftop, but he hadn't expected one of them to be killed in the blink of an eye.

Losing a living specimen had already pained him. But these two Uchiha, clearly up to something, wouldn't even leave him the specimen now that it was dead. This... was going too far.

"What's going on? Why all the racket?" A deep, authoritative male voice came from the direction opposite the Uchiha Clan Grounds. Uchiha Fugaku appeared at the mouth of the alley with Uchiha members of the Konoha Military Police Force, as though he had just returned.

"Kaede, Shisui." Seeing the familiar outfits of the two Anbu, Fugaku spoke first.

"Clan Leader." Their identities exposed, Kaede and Shisui removed their masks and showed their faces.

"Lord Orochimaru, what a rare guest you are. Are you here to visit the Uchiha?" Fugaku addressed Orochimaru as "Lord" out of respect for his status as the Hokage's disciple.

"Clan Leader Fugaku, there's no need for a visit. We're just carrying out a mission," Orochimaru replied.

"Then I won't keep you." Fugaku was about to leave. He had just finished patrolling Konoha's outskirts with the Military Police Force, and he was exhausted. He wanted to rest.

Just as he was about to go, a member of the Military Police Force leaned close and whispered, "Clan Leader, that dead woman seems to be one of our Uchiha."

"Are you sure?" Fugaku asked quietly, his tone stern.

"I couldn't mistake her. I've seen her before. Her little daughter often plays with my son."

Fugaku's expression instantly turned cold. If he failed to look after a dead clansman, what authority would he have as clan leader?

"Lord Orochimaru, I need an explanation." Fugaku had to consider the balance between the village and the clan, but a clansman's death was reason enough for him to question Orochimaru.

"Heh! I wasn't the one who killed her. One of your own Uchiha did." Orochimaru didn't flinch. His slit-pupiled eyes narrowed as he gestured toward Kaede.

"Uchiha Kaede, you killed a clanswoman. Are you betraying the clan?"

"Clan Leader, please wait. This is what happened..." Shisui hurriedly explained things to Fugaku. He knew that Kaede seemed to have fallen out with some of the clan elders, and the clan leader was strict with her, too.

The clan leader might not listen to Kaede's explanation, so Shisui thought it would be better if he explained instead.