The Uchiha Who Hated the Senju

Crouching Dragon Ascends to Heaven

The earth groaned and shook violently.

"Aaaah!"

Diejian refined his Chakra, his anger so intense it made him tremble.

Chakra surged from him like a storm, making his hair stand on end and his coat flap in the windless air.

Bare trees burst from the ground around them, their sharp tips aimed at Kakuzu like venomous snakes rearing to strike their prey.

The air on the battlefield grew so tense it crackled. Beasts stirred restlessly, and birds flapped their wings as they fled into the sky.

Compared to when he had fought Kakuzu as a boy, Diejian's Chakra had grown by leaps and bounds. It still couldn't match that of the mightiest Tailed Beast, the Nine-Tails, but it was far from ordinary.

Kakuzu was a far more cautious ninja than Diejian had imagined.

Or perhaps Diejian's anger had shaken him?

As soon as Kakuzu confirmed with his own eyes that Diejian really could control Wood Release, he immediately withdrew the tentacles spread around him and wrapped them around his body to protect himself.

He looked like he was cocooned.

Diejian had stayed on guard, thinking it was a prelude to an attack, but Kakuzu showed no sign of making a move.

"Is that all you've got?"

In the silence, Kakuzu spoke as if cautiously testing the waters.

Diejian didn't understand what he meant. In a flat voice, he replied, "What are you talking about?"

"I said, is that all you've got?"

This time, Kakuzu spoke clearly, his face peeking out from among the tentacles.

His expression suggested he was afraid of something, but it was mixed with intense impatience.

If he were a cat or dog cowering in fear, it might have been a little cute. But he was a man wrapped in strangely writhing tentacles, with a slick, sinister gaze. There was nothing cute about him.

Diejian ignored Kakuzu's question, claiming he didn't understand what he meant.

Deciding there was no point waiting any longer, Diejian moved his fingers, and the motionless trees sprang into action.

With a sudden burst of force like a spring-loaded mechanism, massive wooden spears shot forward.

The spear struck Kakuzu in the face, but it seemed to have hit a clone; the impact felt insubstantial.

Then next—Diejian controlled a second and third wooden spear.

"—I missed. Next move."

Diejian swung down his raised arm, giving the signal.

The wooden serpents waiting behind him surged toward the tentacle cocoon as one, ready to devour Kakuzu.

"Searching for a grain of gold dust in the desert" was a metaphor for an unreasonable, impossible task, but finding Kakuzu buried among his tentacles wasn't all that difficult.

If he kept stabbing wildly with massive spears, he'd hit the real one sooner or later.

That was what Diejian thought.

Although Kakuzu had been pierced by the first spear, he immediately controlled his tentacles and met Diejian's attacks head-on.

Diejian attacked, and Kakuzu's tentacles stopped him; Kakuzu attacked, and Diejian's trees defended him.

Their battle had become a contest for territory.

But in a fight between two long-range fighters, Diejian had the advantage in terms of "quantity."

"Wuhahaha!"

Suddenly, Kakuzu burst into laughter.

The exchange of attacks and defenses came to an abrupt halt. Diejian stared at him in confusion.

"I see, I see. You really are only this strong."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing. Just that—you're no big deal."

"Still running your mouth..."

Kakuzu's words were tinged with delight, as if he were relieved.

Diejian looked at him with a cold expression.

He seemed completely at ease now, with none of the wariness he had shown earlier.

What was going on?

Diejian thought it over.

So far, they had been evenly matched, but considering their techniques' compatibility, Diejian should have the advantage.

Although Diejian lacked a decisive way to finish Kakuzu off, he had intended to hold out until Kakuzu ran out of Chakra.

It would take time, but neither side had reinforcements. They were in the same situation.

As long as he didn't make a serious mistake, he could get through this—at least, that was what Diejian thought.

That was the conclusion he'd reached based on how it felt to fight Kakuzu and the reports of their past battles.

Kakuzu was a battle-hardened veteran, a tactical ninja who fought with skill, years of accumulated experience, and a ninja's instincts.

Even if his strength had increased since the past, his age meant he couldn't have grown rapidly.

Diejian, on the other hand, was young, had a strong bloodline, and an excellent teacher. He had continued to grow by leaps and bounds.

Setting experience aside, when it came to technique, he had a variety of jutsu taught to him by his master, Tobirama, which he could use as the situation demanded.

This was by no means a losing battle.

He had considered Kakuzu dangerous enough to reveal the Flying Thunder God Technique and isolate him, but that had been an emergency.

If Sarutobi Hiruzen, Konoha's strongest fighter, were here—and if there were no time limit—he could probably seal Kakuzu away all by himself.

The fact that Diejian was evenly matched with Kakuzu meant just that.

"You think you've got the upper hand now, don't you? You think the stronger you can fight me and keep me at a disadvantage, don't you?"

"Haah..."

Diejian shook his head as if he were exhausted.

"Your jaw sure does a lot of talking. I'll stitch it shut and keep it that way. Luckily, it looks like I won't run out of thread."

"Don't get carried away, kid. You inherited Senju Hashirama's power too. I'll admit, I was rattled when I realized that, but don't get cocky just because of this. Since we've got a good opportunity, I'll... play with you a little."

"—What... is this...?"

Was he bluffing? The instant Diejian wondered, it happened.

A massive shadow slowly swallowed Diejian's own, and he gasped at the sight.

What unfolded slowly, like a flower blooming, was a strange pair of wings woven from tentacles.

They spread out in a fan shape, centered on Kakuzu where he stood on the ground. They pulsed like an exposed heart, writhing in a repulsive way.

A gale roared, and the shadow shifted.

A tremor shook the air and swept across the grassland. Diejian looked up at the sky, his expression blank.

"He's... flying...?"

The words slipped from his lips in a daze.

The wings spread above Diejian's head sliced through the air.

The terrifying sight resembled a Crow about to prey on a kitten.

So this was what it meant to be worlds apart.

He had been completely wrong to say Kakuzu couldn't have grown rapidly.

Kakuzu had been holding back all this time.

Clearly, Kakuzu's potential for growth had let him surpass Diejian.

A prickling sensation spread across Diejian's skin—the flood of Chakra rushed toward him.

At that moment, the despair was so overwhelming that even if someone asked whether Sakumo, Ina, and Diejian together could stop him, he could say with certainty that they couldn't.

—Rain began to fall.

"This is bad... Damn it."

Diejian noticed the "rain" closing in on him and raised his palm toward the sky.

A Wood Release wall rose from underground, covering his head.

But the rain didn't stop after a single drop.

Second, third—dry, cracking sounds rang out as Tentacle Spears pierced the trees.

The rain grew heavier, soon turning into a storm of surging waves.

It was a rain of tentacles with a will of its own, trying to pierce Diejian. Like a sweeping gale, it made an umbrella useless.

Diejian focused his attention overhead, cleverly evading the "umbrella," and noticed the Tentacle Spears poking out from his sides. He probably had Tobirama's training to thank for that.

Diejian also created wooden walls to block the attacks coming from the sides.

But the wall he had hastily made lacked enough refined Chakra. Kakuzu's tentacles pierced through it and rushed toward Diejian, trying to gouge out his eyes.

"Ha...!"

He couldn't dodge.

Deciding that, Diejian poured all his Chakra into the Wood Release wall in an instant.

The pierced wall began to regenerate, rapidly closing the hole. At the last possible moment, it stopped the tentacle's advance.

The tentacle stopped just short of touching his eyelashes.

"Feeling safe?"

The voice from beside him sent a shiver down Diejian's spine.

He whipped his head around. Kakuzu was right there.

Diejian immediately threw a Kunai.

The Kunai sank into Kakuzu's forehead as if it had been sucked in, but at that moment Kakuzu unraveled like a thread, breaking apart into tentacles.

It was a Tentacle Clone.

The instant it broke apart, all the tentacles aimed their sharp tips at Diejian and attacked.

Countless tentacles pierced the spot where Diejian had just been.

Diejian would have liked to praise himself for using the Body Flicker Technique in an instant.

But he didn't have time for that. Kakuzu was in hot pursuit behind the fleeing Diejian.

Tentacles suddenly appeared in front of Diejian as he ran.

Diejian rolled clumsily to dodge them.

The Tentacle Spears skimmed past him, grazing his side.

(What's going on...? I don't know how he's doing it, but that guy has figured out my movements.)

As Tobirama's disciple, Diejian had inherited his fighting style.

His speed was among the best in Konoha.

Probably the only people who could keep up with his movements were ninjas who focused on Taijutsu training.

Judging by the attacks so far, though, Kakuzu didn't seem to be keeping up with Diejian's rapidly changing movements.

The tentacles themselves weren't particularly fast. Diejian was fast enough to dodge them.

But the reason he was running at full speed was that he was constantly being ambushed.

Their placement was so uncanny it was as if Kakuzu could predict exactly where Diejian would go.

(And he calls this "playing around"? What a monster.)

Like a king in the endgame of shogi, Kakuzu was steadily cutting off Diejian's escape routes, one move at a time.

Even when Diejian tried to counterattack, Kakuzu seemed to see his move coming and countered him. Kakuzu shouldn't have been a sensor-type ninja.

It was obvious from their past battles, when he failed to notice attacks from Ina and Sakumo.

Sensor abilities came in many forms.

For example, a Wind Release user could locate a target by feeling the wind, while a ninja who used ninja beasts could rely on their beasts to search for enemies. There were many ways to sense an enemy, and they could all be learned after birth.

But all of these methods were inferior to the ability to "sense Chakra itself."

That ability depended largely on inborn talent, and very few people were born with it.

In that sense, the Yamanaka Clan, which could produce sensor-type ninjas as a whole clan, was more precious than the Senju Clan. And Sakumo, who had been born with the ability to sense, could be considered an even greater genius than Diejian.

Fortunately, Kakuzu shouldn't have been that kind of genius. If so, he couldn't have accurately sensed Diejian's movements when he added feints.

And yet—as Diejian used a nimble crouching run to dodge tentacles bearing down on him, he became certain that Kakuzu was sensing him accurately.

This was clearly abnormal.

He clenched his back teeth in frustration, but there was no point in just complaining.

Diejian searched for a way to break the deadlock.

(Whatever lets Kakuzu fully track the "movements" I inherited from the Second can't just be a matter of experience-based "prediction." There has to be some trick to it. Wait, his ability is to steal hearts and absorb the Chakra natures stored in their chakra networks. Did he kill a sensor-type ninja and steal their heart?)

Could something like that really be possible? Diejian wondered.

Stealing another person's heart in the first place was an absurd, unbelievable ability.

Could it really work that way? If so, it would make sense.

In other words, Kakuzu's ability to sense was no different from that of a sensor-type ninja born with the talent.

Frankly, it was hopeless.

Among Kakuzu's five hearts, Diejian had to find and destroy the heart of the sensor-type ninja.

He had only a one-in-five chance of getting it right. If he failed, Kakuzu would surely protect that heart completely.

Then Diejian wouldn't have a way through.

(No. Come to think of it, isn't he already protecting it? If so, it's buried deep in his strongest defenses. If I can figure out where it is... I'll use the Eight Inner Gates to accelerate and drive everything I've got into the spot with the most tentacles—)

It would consume a lot of stamina, but if he could take away Kakuzu's sensing ability, the fight would be even.

Diejian had far more stamina, so he still had a chance to win.

As a strategy, it wasn't bad.

Then he should aim for the heart farthest from him—but a major problem came to mind.

Diejian wasn't a sensor-type ninja himself, so he didn't know where Kakuzu's hearts were.

Diejian was a Jonin, at least.

Although he had mastered the ability to sense presences through sound, it was completely useless against Kakuzu.

His only other sensory ability was to emit Chakra from his entire body, creating a domain in which he could detect anyone who entered it—the Circle Domain.

It was extremely effective against close-range ninjas, but unsuited to battles fought over long distances.

Because the other guy never entered its range.

Originally, with Juri in the class, who excelled at using her Sharingan in close-quarters combat, and Sakumo, who possessed the highest speed in Konoha, Diejian had trained as a long-range support type. That had ended up working against him.

And in the occasional long-range battles, he had always hidden his real body among the trees for protection and left the fighting to his clones—a reasonable, but irritating, strategy.

Now it was being used against him in exactly the same way.

Easier said than done.

Even the method he had finally found wouldn't work.

Diejian thought of his late grandfather and wondered how he had defeated an opponent like this.

His grandfather hadn't been a sensor, but how had he found Kakuzu's hearts? Diejian had no idea. But Hashirama hadn't gone out of his way to find the hearts and destroy them one by one.

He had used overwhelming force, literally pounding and crushing everything until it was nothing but minced flesh.

(Grandfather, what exactly... No, there's only one way to gain the ability to sense Chakra after birth... But that's even more difficult and dangerous than Flying Thunder God. There's no way I could control it as I am now—no, wait—)

Hashirama hadn't been born with sensory abilities.

His younger brother, Tobirama, had mainly handled sensory domains.

But during his life, Hashirama had sometimes been able to accurately sense people's presences.

When he'd fled with the young Diejian, he had deftly slipped through the gaps between Hiruzen and Tobirama, who were nearby.

Diejian remembered.

He thought Hashirama had defeated Kakuzu by detecting his presence that way, but he was actually mistaken.

Yet that misunderstanding had brought him to the right answer.

(—Wait, what did that guy just say?)

The wind blowing over the mountaintop was cold, cooling Diejian's hot-blooded thoughts.

Diejian glanced at Kakuzu, who was probably sneering above him, and felt cold sweat trickling down his back.

(Was it my imagination? No, it wasn't. I definitely heard him. He said, "You" had "inherited Senju Hashirama's power." That kind of phrasing is practically... No, there's no way something that ridiculous could be true.)

Calm down. Calm down. He suppressed his rising impatience.

Diejian's heart was racing for more than just the running.

(Why Kakuzu, who should have died, is still alive... his flawless perception, his sudden growth that doesn't match his age—could that sort of thing... be possible? But if it really is, then this really is... No, but why would Grandfather do something like that...)

A foreboding thought crossed his mind, and Diejian rejected it.

It couldn't be.

Hashirama had deliberately brought Kakuzu back to life... Wait, that was impossible.

—His heart gave a sudden leap.

A sharp, momentary pain.

His old wound grew hot and began to ache.

That was when Diejian remembered.

No, perhaps it was more accurate to say he understood.

The feeling that welled up inside him, as real as a physical sensation, was something he had always deliberately tried to forget.

The record of it had remained in his knowledge, but he had forgotten what it felt like.

That wasn't a bad thing.

It was only natural.

Anyone who'd experienced something like that would try to forget it.

His own—feeling of being killed and all.

(Who brought me back to life after I was killed? Who killed me? What caused my death?)

The one who revived Diejian after he was killed was his grandfather, Hashirama.

The one who killed Diejian was his enemy, Kakuzu.

The cause of his death was the loss of his heart—where had that missing heart gone?

Kakuzu's ability was to steal hearts. He had done it before, right in front of the terrifying Ina and Sakumo.

He had stolen Diejian's heart and absorbed it as one of his own.

That's right—Kakuzu had taken Diejian's heart.

And to bring the dead Diejian back to life, Hashirama had regenerated "Diejian's heart."

"Diejian's heart" had been revived and started beating again.

(That's right. That guy has Grandfather's... power—)

Kakuzu, who should have been reduced to minced flesh, had regenerated around Diejian's heart as his core.

Hiruzen and Tobirama had recovered the five hearts that had originally been there, and so they had concluded that Kakuzu was dead.

Since Diejian's heart was inside Diejian, they hadn't noticed that there were "two" of them.

That meant Diejian had no way of measuring Kakuzu's power.

He didn't know how much of Hashirama's power Kakuzu had gained.

Could Kakuzu control Wood Release? Could he use Senjutsu? At the very least, judging by his sensory ability, he had mastered Senjutsu or a power close to it.

Ten years after Hashirama's death, Diejian had become Tobirama's personal disciple and had begun to respect the man who was the exact opposite of Hashirama.

Even as his circle of companions grew and his family grew, his love and admiration for Hashirama, who had once loved and saved him, had never faded.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that the man Diejian hated and despised most in the world was Kakuzu.

The man who had taken the beloved Hashirama away from him.

It was only because he'd heard Kakuzu was dead that Diejian had forgotten.

But Kakuzu was still alive.

And now he had revived himself using Hashirama's power and appeared before Diejian.

The child Hashirama had risked his life to protect was now about to be killed by Kakuzu using Hashirama's power.

What an insult.

What a perversion.

Hating Kakuzu, Diejian felt the blood in his body boil, and his eyes began to grow bloodshot.

(—I don't mind dying. I was prepared for it. Just now, I swore to myself that I'd live in a way that wouldn't let my master down. I still remember those words, and I have no intention of changing my mind. I was prepared to take you down with me from the start. But... I won't let you be the one to kill me!)

But he couldn't win like this.

That was why Diejian decided to unleash the power he had kept sealed since birth.

(—It's a lie to say I'm not afraid... The one who changed me was Senju Hashirama. But the one who guided me was... Senju Tobirama. Thank you for believing in me. I've made up my mind. You're the best master I could have asked for—Uncle.)

Diejian's emotions surged, turning fierce.

Then, a change took place.

Chakra was produced by mixing spiritual energy and physical energy.

If either side fell out of balance, the amount of Chakra that could be produced would drop sharply.

The Senju Clan, including Diejian, combined the powerful bodies inherited from their ancestor with steady hearts and love, displaying extraordinary strength.

That was why the Senju Clan had a foundation several levels above that of ordinary ninjas and prided themselves on their steady, powerful strength.

Among the Senju, Diejian's emotions fluctuated wildly. He could hardly be called steady.

Perhaps it was because he took after his grandfather Hashirama, or perhaps it was the influence of his innate "Fire-natured Chakra"—but he had ruined the natural "strength" of his Senju heritage all by himself.

His master, Tobirama, believed this would become a major weakness as a ninja.

So, in order to correct it, Tobirama had constantly reminded Diejian to "observe yourself calmly" and "understand yourself," drilling those lessons deep into him.

Despite receiving such an elite education, Diejian had failed to measure up to Sakumo among his peers and had become a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. The reason was that he had kept turning a blind eye to one thing.

He had stubbornly refused to face his own heart.

—Senju Diejian was a transmigrator. Before he transmigrated, he had been a reincarnator.

When he had realized this incontrovertible fact as a child, he had once considered facing it.

The records from his previous life had gradually awakened as he grew, like mist lifting.

But the memories he had once tried to face were something Senju Diejian absolutely didn't want to acknowledge.

Something he absolutely could not acknowledge.

So he had told himself, "I am Senju Diejian, and no one else," and sealed those memories away.

This had left him with a partial lack of spiritual energy.

Even with the best master in Tobirama and the greatest potential in the Senju Clan, he had only grown to be slightly stronger than an ordinary Jonin. That was the reason.

"These eyes can see Kakkō clearly."

Now, Diejian had unleashed it.

Crouching Dragon lifted his head.

Diejian gazed at a scene he had never been able to see before.

The contradiction within him—his hatred of Tobirama and his respect for him—had been resolved by Tobirama's final words.

His blood surged like a raging torrent. He was excited, yet calm.

As if being in this excited state were his natural state.

The tentacle that had pierced Diejian's shoulder moments earlier didn't cause him any pain.

Without changing expression, he tore it off and threw it away.

He wiped the blood gushing from his shoulder, then drew a bloodied finger from the corner of his eye to his chin.

The streak of blood painted a line across his face.

"—It's about time we ended this."

Kakuzu spoke from above.

He had trapped Diejian with the Tentacle Spear and had grown tired of playing cat and mouse. He intended to end it all.

An army of Tentacle Spears, greater in number and might than anything he had unleashed before, shot toward Diejian.

It was a tribute to the technique that had once killed Kakuzu at Hashirama's hands: Sage Art: Wood Style: True Several Thousand Hands—Top-Level Buddha.

With malicious intent, he had decided that no technique was more fitting for killing Senju Diejian, Hashirama's grandson.

"—Hm?"

Floating in the air, Kakuzu noticed a change in the Chakra he had been sensing from Diejian.

The aura of natural Chakra, which had been like a rushing mountain stream, had become scorching, like the mouth of a volcano containing molten rock.

But the attack had already begun.

The die had been cast.

Diejian's life was over. Kakuzu dismissed the thought as insignificant.

—A technique.

A huge mass of fire swept through the army of tentacles.

It was a tremendous burst of Explosive Flame, like a firestorm, and its heat was terrifying.

Kakuzu couldn't help leaping even higher into the air.

The smell of burning organic matter filled the air, and the sound of evaporation sizzled.

As he regenerated the tentacles that had been burned away, Kakuzu carefully observed the ground.

The earth was scorched, the lingering smell of Explosive Flame was thick, and blackened, charred remains were scattered everywhere.

In the middle of that wasteland, a circle of green was visible.

Everything around it had been scorched, exposing the soil. Only that spot showed an unchanged landscape, as if nothing had happened.

A man stood at its center.

His long hair fluttered in the wind, and his purple coat swayed. The sight gave Kakuzu an overwhelming sense of déjà vu, and he shuddered.

"First..."

But he shook his head, telling himself it wasn't him.

The First, Senju Hashirama, was certainly dead.

Kakuzu's survival proved as much.

On closer inspection, the man was shorter than Hashirama.

His presence was less imposing than Hashirama's, too.

There was no doubt. It was Senju Diejian himself, the very man Kakuzu had just been fighting.

The instant Kakuzu shuddered, an unimaginable weight pressed down on his body.

Unable to fly, Kakuzu was dragged to the ground.

With a crash and a jolt, he was slammed into the earth before he could even brace himself.

He spat blood and let out a pained groan.

"—You seem to be having fun."

Diejian mocked Kakuzu, who was writhing in pain, his voice utterly flat.

Kakuzu stared at Diejian in confusion. The atmosphere around him was completely different now.

With Diejian's back to the sun, his expression was hidden in shadow. And with Kakuzu crawling on the ground, he couldn't make out Diejian's face.

"What did you do...?"

Diejian didn't answer Kakuzu's feeble question.

Without a word, Diejian slowly brought down his raised hand. A branch of Wood Release sprouted from his palm and pierced the crown of Kakuzu's head.

Kakuzu let out a dying scream, but immediately afterward, he lost his human form and became a heap of disintegrating tentacles.

This, too, was as expected. Diejian wasn't surprised.

He clicked his tongue once and looked around.

With a swift sweep of his arm, several branches shot out.

The sharp branches struck an unremarkable rock. But in the next instant, the rock shattered, revealing writhing tentacles.

It was Kakuzu, transformed into a rock.

"What happened..."

This time, Kakuzu was the one who felt surprised.

Diejian, who had been almost impossible to detect just moments ago, suddenly struck precisely at the spot where Kakuzu was.

Although they were all clones, Kakuzu, who was hiding and watching from elsewhere, could only stare in shock.

But the question was answered the next second—Diejian turned around.

"That's... impossible!! That guy's a Senju... Why do those eyes..."

Diejian, having turned around, was staring straight at Kakuzu.

Diejian sensed his gaze meet Kakuzu's and focused Chakra into his eyes.

He was very familiar with that way of using those eyes.

During his life as Senju Diejian, he had been taught knowledge he despised.

Only, that had been from the perspective of an enemy.

Perhaps afraid of falling under a genjutsu, Kakuzu immediately lowered his eyes and sank into the sea of tendrils.

The area around him was still surrounded by tendrils.

He still had five hearts left, and could continue making clones.

His Chakra reserves had barely diminished; he was nearly in perfect condition. Yet the reason Kakuzu couldn't shake his unease was the pair of eyes Diejian had revealed, imbued with an ominous hue.

---Senju Diejian was a reincarnated person.

He had experience fighting the Senju Clan and taking lives from one another.

He had memories of finding Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama utterly detestable, hating them so much he wanted to kill them.

So even after being reincarnated, he had continued to hate the Senju Brothers.

The child, whose hatred and loathing had been stoked, had his sense of self consumed by a deep "darkness" whose reason was unclear, but whose existence was undeniable.

His past-life memories took over the child, destroying the Senju from within. The Dojutsu ability he had awakened before entrusting his eyes to his older brother on his deathbed, and that dark ambition—

That was where Diejian's story began.

And later—Diejian met the great tree that bore everything.

"Kakuzu... You're the only one I'll kill myself. I'll stop you, the one abusing the First's power."

Senju Diejian was a reincarnated person.

His predecessor's name had long since been forgotten.

With Hashirama dead and Tobirama's fate unknown, it was impossible to tell whether anyone who knew the truth remained.

Records of the past and memories of the present had become completely mixed together, merging as one.

It was a truth that would be buried in darkness if left unspoken.

But Diejian accepted it.

Though he would never bring it up on his own, Diejian felt that he needed to say it aloud at least once, to acknowledge it.

So he would speak the name he had kept hidden in his heart.

Once, there had been a young Uchiha who hated the Senju Clan and died during the Warring States Period.

There had been a young man who had hated the Senju Clan until his dying breath, and who continued to haunt their child after death.

---His name was,

"Uchiha Izuna."