Hui's Investigation

While the Uchiha were still gathering, before the meeting began, Hui heard that rumor again.

Recently, children had been going missing, and there had been quite a few.

Hui furrowed his brow. His first thought was Danzo.

He remembered his first mission, when he had retrieved that Ninjutsu Rifle without using chakra.

The thought made Hui eager to investigate. Was Danzo really behind it?

Today, he had come to school in person. After yesterday's awkward incident with Ino, he had no choice but to handle this himself.

Iruka-sensei had dismissed the class long ago, and the students were gradually leaving.

Hui could feel the burning gaze on his back. Ino was staring at him.

His fingers unconsciously tightened around the pen that was still inexplicably in his hand. His Adam's apple bobbed, but he couldn't find the right words to start with.

I should've let a Shadow Clone deal with this... Hui thought, frustrated. He could almost feel beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

He wasn't oblivious to the girl's feelings. It was just that relations between the Uchiha Clan and the village were so strained, and the clan was shrouded in a suffocating atmosphere.

Hui didn't even know if he would still be in Konoha after all this was over.

Thinking again of the recent disappearances, Hui silently made up his mind.

I'll consider this the last thing I do for Konoha. After all, I've spent so many years here.

Hui looked out the window at the darkening sky and quietly resolved himself.

The last few students in the classroom filed out one after another.

As Sasuke left, he shot Hui a meaningful glance, then dragged the loudly protesting Naruto out of the classroom.

As their footsteps faded, the entire room fell into an unnerving silence.

Even Sakura hadn't been eavesdropping today.

"Um... Ino?" Hui finally managed to speak. His voice trembled a little.

"Y-yes? What is it?" The reply from behind him trembled too.

"Let me walk you home? About yesterday and the Shadow Clone... I'm really sorry! It absolutely wasn't what I wanted! That Shadow Clone just went and did whatever it pleased..."

Hui's explanation grew more and more jumbled, and he spoke faster and faster.

Ino froze for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing. "Hui, don't tell me this is another Shadow Clone?"

"N-no way!" Hui turned around in a panic.

At some point, Ino had quietly moved closer. She suddenly reached out and patted Hui on the shoulder, then quickly pulled her hand back like a startled fawn.

The girl's cheeks flushed like the evening sky. She lowered her head and mumbled, "Mm... This time, you're probably not a Shadow Clone..."

Hui looked at Ino and awkwardly scratched his head.

"You promised to walk me home, okay? No taking it back!" Ino suddenly turned around, her back to Hui.

Hui could only watch as Ino's golden hair swept past him in a graceful arc.

"Ah... Oh... Sure..."

Watching Ino run toward the flower shop, Hui finally came back to his senses a little.

Hui didn't know how he'd managed to walk Ino to the flower shop, but he could feel that something about his emotions seemed off.

Then Hui suddenly thought of his tattoo: [Reverse—Memory Well].

Could similar memories activate it?

Hui silently reflected on everything. Although his mother had been a little deliberate, still...

This time, Hui finally saw Ino clearly. As she ran off, her back seemed a little flustered.

"This feeling isn't so bad, after all. Was Mother like this back then? It feels like I've learned something I wasn't supposed to know."

Hui slowly smiled, grumbling to himself inwardly.

Hui turned and headed toward the Root Base, whose direction he could sense.

Hui wanted to protect the Konoha of today!

Even if he left for good, he still wanted to return. True peace was indeed his dream now, a dream he hadn't even told Chuanhe about.

But he had all the time in the world. He would have plenty of time in the future to pursue it.

A sudden flash of inspiration gave Hui a better way to disperse his chakra.

Rather than waste all his chakra at once, he could distribute and use it sensibly.

[Shadow Clone Technique]

As he finished forming the Hand Seals, ten clones appeared around Hui in an instant.

This way, even if he had to waste chakra, the amount left in his original body would be negligible.

As he entered the chakra-silent state again, the corners of Hui's mouth lifted in a faint smile.

This time, he had thought of a more interesting way to hide.

As four-dimensional beings, Hui and Chuanhe could manipulate matter more effectively as they deepened their understanding of dimensions and practiced.

After training for this period of time, Hui could now just barely achieve this effect.

He took a deep breath and began manipulating all the matter around him from a macroscopic perspective.

He didn't distinguish between specific elements or aim for microscopic precision.

His form began to ripple, colors flowing and shifting across his body before finally coalescing into a pitch-black silhouette.

[Physics Invisibility]

Unfortunately, with Hui's current level of control over matter, this was all he could manage. For now, he could only turn completely black; he couldn't become fully transparent.

But it was the most practical approach for now. There was no chakra fluctuation, no scent, and in the dark, the effect was like optical invisibility.

Hui quickly analyzed the possible ways he might be detected.

Senjutsu sensing, the naked eye, or the Byakugan.

But there probably weren't any Hyuga in Root.

Ready, the "shadow" drifted silently toward the Root Base.

Hui decided to fly the entire way. No one knew his identity, and this would completely eliminate any traces on the ground.

The sky grew darker until night had fully fallen. In that pitch-black setting, Hui was in his element.

Even so, Hui did his best to stay out of the Root shinobi's sight.

At last, he reached the spot directly above the Root Base and closed his eyes to sense what lay below.

The Root Base was underground. The name alone had told Hui as much.

But it was far deeper than he'd expected, and the route was packed with all sorts of security measures.

"Looks like I can't just use a jutsu this time. Like Father said, I need to prepare in advance."

That was what Hui thought.

He had a Shadow Clone leave one of his Flying Thunder God Marks in a secluded spot.

[Space Leap]

When he came back, Hui could use this mark to return almost instantly.

It was dim, and the air smelled rotten.

The floor beneath him was perfectly neat, yet the atmosphere made Hui feel irritable.

Hui concealed himself in the shadows and began sensing the entire Root Base.

The underground complex seemed even larger than he had imagined.

As his perception spread, Hui's expression gradually turned grave.

More than a dozen squads of Root shinobi looked just like the three he had seen that day: their eyes were vacant, they had no hope for the future, and their world had never known light.

They carried out all kinds of work under Danzo's orders.

Hui saw a burial ground, and there was even...

Hui saw cylindrical glass tanks like the ones in the laboratory in the small town.

Inside were all sorts of bizarre "people?"

Hui saw grotesque, human-shaped trees, still bearing wooden faces twisted in pain...

Hui saw countless... stored by category.

Hui felt sick. An inexplicable nausea rose up from his stomach.

He clamped a hand over his mouth, and the [Physics Invisibility] he was maintaining began to grow unstable.

A few spots of color appeared on his body.

This... This was Root?

Hui's mind was reeling, and his body trembled uncontrollably.

He had never experienced war before. This was the first time he'd seen anything like this.

Just like the word described in the study—hell!

Hui trembled in midair. A cool sensation flowed from his back, slowly bringing him back to his senses.

Silently thanking his mother, Hui continued sensing. He had come here on a mission.

At last, Hui spotted the few people who remained in a small room...

Hui used [Space Leap] to travel in that direction.