The Root is Inherently Evil

Flicking the half-severed tongue off his kunai, Uchiha Fucheng wiped the blade repeatedly against Yamanaka Otsuki's clothes with an expression of distaste.

His cold-blooded demeanor truly terrified the other Root ninjas on the wooden rack.

Even the dozen or so Uchiha jonin guarding the area were deeply shaken by his abrupt act of slaughter.

In the hearts of these Uchiha jonin, although Fucheng was usually quite strict, he had always been kind to both his clansmen and ordinary Konoha ninjas.

They had not expected that when facing Root ninjas, Fucheng would become an entirely different person.

He had killed an Ino-Shika-Cho jonin without a second thought.

Seeing that the other Root ninjas had stopped clamoring, Fucheng said calmly, "I know you are all Root ninjas, and Shimura Danzo has been eyeing our Uchiha clan for more than a day or two.

However, now that I possess the Mangekyo Sharingan, you have all suddenly gone mad. Why is that?

You have the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal and cannot speak of Root's secrets, but you can certainly be honest about your own subjective judgments.

Whoever among you is willing to speak, I can grant them a less painful death. You saw how Yamanaka Otsuki died just now.

The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal will use chakra to pulverize your brain; there is no more agonizing experience before death than that."

The Uchiha jonin finally understood why Fucheng was so bold as to kill without hesitation—he had made it clear that he would not let a single Root member leave alive!

The more reckless and murderous he appeared, the more intimidating it was to these Root ninjas.

The cruel method of death was right before their eyes.

Not everyone in Root was a brainwashed, die-hard ninja. As soon as Fucheng finished speaking, two of them immediately shouted for mercy.

Tear-streaked, the ninjas begged Fucheng to spare them.

"Lord Fucheng, I was wrong. I had no choice; Shimura Danzo holds our lives in his hands. I was forced into this."

Another ninja begging for mercy also wept bitterly.

"Lord Fucheng, it was all Danzo. He controlled my family to coerce me. I never wanted to harm you; it was all Yamanaka Otsuki. He was our captain, and he said you had mastered the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan.

He claimed you were a threat to Lord Danzo and ordered us to contact Root in secret, saying we were to intercept and kill you halfway back to the village."

Uchiha Fucheng looked at the two with an amused expression. "Interesting. I thought you wouldn't be able to provide any information at all.

Since you are so cooperative, I can consider lifting the seal controlling you.

Someone! Take them to the side and have them write down everything that doesn't involve the restricted secrets into a signed confession."

Two Uchiha jonin untied the pair.

They bound them with special chakra shackles before dragging them to the side to kneel and write their confessions.

With these two as a breakthrough, the remaining five so-called tough guys could only manage to keep their mouths shut.

Fucheng smiled. "Is anyone else going to confess? If not, don't blame me.

You've done plenty of evil in Root, so you might as well die early and be reincarnated."

Several Root ninjas looked indignant, and one member of the Shimura clan even began to scream madly.

"Root exists for Konoha! You Uchiha are the evil clan; all you evil Uchiha should be wiped out!"

This time, Fucheng didn't even move; he simply tilted his chin.

Uchiha Arashi, who was guarding the group nearby, charged forward without a word.

He was an elite jonin from the faction of the Great Elder Uchiha Setsuna, but ever since he pledged his loyalty to Uchiha Fucheng, he had become Fucheng's most fanatical follower.

It was a classic case of the convert effect.

Uchiha Arashi grabbed Shimura Tsuchiya's jaw with one hand and sliced the tongue directly from his mouth.

Shimura Tsuchiya's death was remarkably similar to that of Yamanaka Otsuki.

He began to vomit blood profusely before his body started to convulse violently.

A terrifying sound of bones shattering echoed from within his skull, and as the sound of the fractures intensified, blood poured from his seven orifices.

The Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal!

Truly terrifying.

It was another display of a horrifying death.

The two Root ninjas kneeling on the ground scribbling away began to write even faster.

Even the remaining four on the wooden rack stopped shouting.

They were afraid of provoking Uchiha Fucheng.

Even the most die-hard Root ninja would feel fear, trembling and helplessness when faced with death.

Watching the two Root ninjas kneeling to the side, Fucheng saw they had already filled four or five pages in just a few minutes.

Fucheng knew: this was likely all the information he could extract from them.

Before he mastered the method to undo the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, he could only collect intelligence that didn't touch upon Root's core secrets by having these people volunteer information in a roundabout way.

Including the Yamanaka Secret Technique: Mind Reading he had just received as a reward from the Fate Dice of Yamanaka Fu.

There was no way to extract memories from their brains while they were under the control of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.

After obtaining confessions from two Root ninja, Uchiha Fucheng granted them a swift end.

As for the die-hard Root ninja who refused to speak, Fucheng's method of disposal was far more profound.

For this battle, several young Uchiha jonin who had just awakened their Three-Tomoe Sharingan were summoned.

Fucheng demanded that they personally send the four Root ninja on their way.

Faced with the horrific death caused by the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, even these Uchiha ninja with Three-Tomoe Sharingan felt a chilling sensation crawl up their spines.

"Remember this well: this is Root, a Konoha intelligence agency that constantly seeks to destroy the Uchiha, to destroy every single one of us. Once we return to the village, keep your guard up at all times."

Fucheng spoke with icy severity.

Coupled with the blood covering the ground, it was exceptionally chilling.

Regrettably, the deaths of these individuals did not trigger any system notifications.

Uchiha Fucheng shook his head in disappointment.

Knowing of the existence of the Impure World Reincarnation and Orochimaru's cloning technology, he naturally would not leave behind any of their corpses or organs.

A massive fire.

It turned all usable biological components directly into ash.

Finally, Fucheng used Earth Release to cautiously backfill the underground space.

Only then did he lead the group of Uchiha ninja back to the Konoha camp, feeling lighthearted.

This retaliation against Root yielded some unexpected gains.

Among the confiscated items from the Root ninja, they discovered six Three-Tomoe Uchiha Sharingan and five Two-Tomoe Sharingan organs.

This left the group of Uchiha jonin particularly enraged.

Previously, some of the moderate Uchiha jonin had worried that retaliating against Root ninja was too radical.

But with this evidence of Root targeting the Uchiha for their Sharingan, even the most moderate Uchiha jonin became radicalized when faced with the gouged-out eyes of their kin.

This was no different from Kurapika seeing the Scarlet Eyes at an auction.

Sometimes, drawing people closer only requires a shared secret.

Taking the risk of being discovered by the village to boldly eliminate the Root ninja allowed these Uchiha jonin, now bound by a common secret, to grow much closer to one another.

Under Uchiha Fucheng's further integration, the various factions within the entire Uchiha camp began to enjoy harmonious relations.

Some of the conservative, moderate Uchiha ninja, having participated in Fucheng's operation to retaliate against Root, even felt that some of the previous actions taken by the radical Uchiha had been far too conservative...