Night, Chuanhe Residence.
Chuanhe's eyes flew open.
So they've finally come? Chuanhe had been about to call Amber and have her send these Root ninja straight to hell, but then he noticed that one of them looked a little familiar.
"This scroll? Sai? No, at this point in time, he should be about the same age as Hui. Who is he?"
Chuanhe couldn't remember many of the details anymore. He vaguely recalled that Sai seemed to treasure a self-portrait of his.
Could this man be connected to me?
Chuanhe was in a bit of a bind. He really was a kindhearted person, and he couldn't bring himself to strike in a situation like this.
If he didn't know the man, that would be one thing. Faced with this situation, he fell into thought.
Looking at this "Sai," who seemed to be only about the age of a Ninja Academy graduate, Chuanhe sighed. This damn world. Even children are forced to take Kunai onto the battlefield, and they still call it peace? Is this really the strongest nation in the world?
Gold and jade on the outside, rotten wood within. Danzo, you truly deserve to die a thousand deaths. I'll make sure you "stay alive" and slowly experience the pain of everyone you've ever harmed.
Die? As if! Death isn't the end of this world. How could I let you get away so easily? Until then, you can enjoy what little life you have left.
Chuanhe gave up thinking and decided to leave the choice to his child, Hui. Hui had never let him down. If he truly chose to fall into depravity from this moment on, Chuanhe would stop him.
It was time for him to experience what the Shinobi World was really like. Perhaps his unrealistic dream would change, too.
Heh. In the end, I've been forced to send my own child onto the battlefield with a kunai, too. Peace? What a distant word. I've already forgotten what it feels like to lie in bed without a care in the world.
If anything happened to Hui because of his own negligence, Chuanhe would never forgive himself. Neither would Yuki forgive him.
As he silently watched the three sneak toward Yuki's house, Amber, standing beside him, asked in confusion, "Lord Chuanhe? Shouldn't we take care of them?"
Amber was very puzzled. Lord Chuanhe treasured this place, after all. It was her warm home, too. She had once been a stray cat nobody wanted, until the kindhearted Yuki had taken her in.
Faced with these uninvited guests, Amber really didn't want blood to stain this sacred place.
"Let Hui handle them. It's a little early, but this is something he'll have to face sooner or later." Chuanhe closed his eyes and spoke with complicated emotions.
"Meow, all right. But will Hui really be okay?" Amber looked a little disappointed and clearly worried as well.
"Don't worry. He'll be fine. I believe in him." With that, Chuanhe vanished from the room.
"Meow, wait for me, Lord Chuanhe!" Amber followed after him and disappeared from the room.
An eerie silence fell over the house.
Hui lay on his bed, eyes open, his hands behind his head.
He couldn't solve the problem with the Flame Explosion Technique right now. It seemed he was still missing something. He felt he would have to finish his father's lessons before he could understand what it meant to ascend dimensions.
At the moment, he was wondering what else Four-Dimensional Perception could be used for. If he wanted to detect ninja, sensing their chakra would do the trick.
It seemed this perception was only useful when he needed to briefly step into the fourth dimension.
Unwilling to give up, he tried once more to enter that state.
The chakra inside a ninja wasn't all they possessed. As Hui understood it, chakra was simply something people obtained by exchanging what they called "physical energy" and "spiritual energy" through some unknown process. Chakra Refinement Technique seemed incredibly simple, something everyone could do, but its complexity far surpassed his imagination.
In other words, although Hui could sense chakra in greater detail and with more precision, using Four-Dimensional Perception to sense the chakra entering a person's body from the fourth dimension meant that no matter how skilled someone was at concealment, they couldn't escape his perception.
As long as someone still possessed chakra, this exchange of substances had to be taking place. Even if they weren't constantly refining chakra, tiny amounts would still flow along the fourth axis toward some other place.
He closed his eyes and sensed carefully. In the process, the chakra inside him also flowed continuously back through the fourth axis into an unknown world.
Since Hui wasn't proficient in Four-Dimensional Perception, he first needed to lower his chakra levels. After he dispersed most of his chakra, paying the cost of using his perception, he finally began to make out the chakra that he possessed, as well as the chakra flowing between the fourth axis and the three-dimensional world.
"Let's see. One, two, three... Three? Three unfamiliar chakra signatures. Where did Father and Amber go?" Hui sprang up from his bed.
He took a Kunai from under his pillow and casually tied it to the ninja tool pouch beside him. From inside, he felt around for a specially made Military Ration Pill. He held it in his mouth without swallowing it.
His chakra sensing hadn't detected these three at all. They had to be at least Chunin-level ninja.
His chakra was a little low, but not so low that he needed to replenish it immediately. Right now, he urgently needed Four-Dimensional Perception to locate them. The many books he had read told him that intelligence was the key to victory.
"Hmm, it seems something else has come in." Hui noticed a fourth chakra signature. It seemed to be connected to the one leading the group. Damn it. Are they really enemies?
Hui planned to end the fight quickly. He didn't think these three could do anything to his father and Amber, but he still felt a sense of unease.
Gathering a Rasengan in his hand, Hui waited for the right moment and used Space Leap, instantly appearing ten meters behind the last man.
This was the closest Shortcut he could find. Hui planted his foot firmly and used Body Flicker Technique to slam the Rasengan into the masked ninja's back. Then he leapt to the left and vanished into the air.
The sudden turn of events left Shin and the remaining Root ninja shocked, but there was no need for unnecessary emotion. They had to complete the mission first.
"Buy me some time," Shin said without looking back.
Then he opened the scroll.
[Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitating Drawing]
With just a few brushstrokes, an ink-wash lion leapt out of the scroll and charged toward Chuanhe Residence with a roar.
Hui cursed inwardly. He'd miscalculated. It seemed the other two were only supporting the fight. The leader's technique was the main threat. This was bad. Very bad.
He could still sense all three of their chakra signatures. On top of that, there was a hidden chakra signature inside the house and the ink-wash lion in front of him.
I have to take out the one drawing first. If I give him more time, there'll only be more of these jutsu constructs.
Hui decided to go all out and swallowed the specially made Military Ration Pill.
This time, he planned to break through head-on. There were no suitable Shortcuts left.
Feeling the chakra return to his body, Hui used his powerful chakra control to begin changing its shape. He molded the Rasengan into two rapidly spinning disks. They looked a little like spinning Shuriken, so he'd call them Wind Style: Rasenshuriken.
He seemed to remember seeing something similar somewhere. Wait, could this be another famous jutsu? Never mind. He had to end the fight first.
Hui threw the two Wind Style: Rasenshuriken. One struck the lion square in the face, making it disappear. The other, aimed at Shin, missed.
The Wind Style: Rasenshuriken carved a bottomless hole shaped like a deep knife gash into the wall behind him.
Shin rolled awkwardly to the side. Though it hadn't hit him, the attack had interrupted his Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitating Drawing.
"Tch. What a pain."
Hui formed two more Wind Style: Rasenshuriken. His eyes transformed into the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
The moment their eyes met, Shin realized he had already lost.
[Genjutsu: Sharingan]
At that instant, Shin's whole body stiffened. The ink-wash snake lurking inside the house, waiting for a chance to strike, also lost control.
By then, Hui's chakra had dropped to a certain level again. He activated Four-Dimensional Perception once more and found a Shortcut.
[Space Leap]
Hui leapt to a spot about twenty meters behind the other Root ninja. After two or three uses of Body Flicker, he rushed up behind him.
By the time the ninja noticed, it was too late. Hui pierced his chest with a Wind Style: Rasenshuriken.
Hui didn't stop. He used Space Leap again, heading toward Shin.
He leapt to the rooftop about fifteen meters to Shin's right, then bent forward and sprang toward him, using a Sealing Technique to temporarily seal his chakra.
"Tell me, what are you doing in my home? Where are my father and Amber?" Hui asked in a somber tone, his eyes flashing with inexplicable killing intent.
His father had been seriously injured right in front of him just yesterday. Had they come to attack them because of that?
When Shin didn't answer, Hui steeled himself and threatened him with the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken in his hand. "If you still want to save your comrade, you'd better tell me everything you know."
There was no emotion in the hollow eyes behind Shin's mask.
Just then, a squad from the Uchiha Police Force arrived and saw what had happened.
Hui noticed them in advance and closed his Sharingan before they got there.
The leader was the typical Uchiha Militant Faction member, Uchiha Tekka. He stepped forward and said, "As expected of Lord Chuanhe's son, Hui. Leave these three to us. We'll handle things from here."
At that moment, Chuanhe, who had been silently observing from the side, stepped forward and gave Hui a look.
"Squad Leader Tekka, leave these men to me. I'll take care of everything."
"Lord Chuanhe, if that's what you say, then so be it. Elder Setsuna, one of the clan elders, has been thinking of you. He hopes you'll visit him soon."
Uchiha Tekka didn't press the matter. He led the remaining members of the Police Force away.
Looking at everything around him, Chuanhe felt both relieved and conflicted. Hui had excellent combat instincts; he had even come up with the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken on the spot, a technique that didn't exist in the original story.
Naruto had only managed it by adding wind-nature chakra, while Hui had done it simply by changing the shape of his chakra. The damage was limited to a head-sized cut, though; it hadn't created the kind of explosive area-of-effect destruction that the original version did.
As Chuanhe had expected, Hui hadn't gone in for the kill. But as a ninja, he was unqualified.
Elder Setsuna? I didn't expect that old man to still be alive at this point. Is it a butterfly effect caused by me? So be it. I'll go see what those Militant Faction members are thinking.
Chuanhe gave them some simple treatment, then had Amber carry all three away.
Back inside, Hui couldn't help asking, "Father, were these three here to assassinate us? Konoha should be safe. Why...?"
"Hui, there's no why. Sometimes hatred in this world has no reason. The relationship between the village and the Uchiha Clan is very complicated."
"That doesn't matter. Hui, why did you hold back?"
Hui hesitated, but still answered, "Part of it was because of you, Father. More than that, deep down, I don't want to kill. Whenever I try to go in for the kill, I feel a sense of guilt weighing on me. What will happen to those three, Father?"
"Sorry, Father. Does this mean I'm not suited to being a ninja?"
Chuanhe smiled and patted Hui's head. As he grew older, his hair had gradually started to stick up like a hedgehog's.
"Follow your heart. You don't have to do anything you don't want to do. If you don't know the answer, set it aside for now. Perhaps you'll find it someday. Those three will 'stay alive' for the time being."
Lying on his bed, Hui looked at his slightly trembling hands and thought, Was this Father's test? What does Father want me to become? If I don't become a ninja, what else can I be in this world?
He had clearly kept something hidden: he'd actually enjoyed fighting. Remembering the violent instinct that had taken hold of him in battle, Hui wondered, Is that really me?
Just then, Hui heard the sound of the door closing. Had Father gone out?
As if possessed, Hui followed Chuanhe, using his immature Four-Dimensional Perception to trail him from a distance.
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