Identity Exposed

Time flew by, and the years slipped away. Three years passed in the blink of an eye.

Three years were enough for the bitter cold and hunger of the deep mountains to fade into a hazy backdrop, replaced by training so regular it was almost rigid, their teacher's silent but steadfast presence, and the brothers' growing bond—a wordless understanding that deepened by the day.

Ten-year-old Uchiha Sakuya had grown taller, losing some of his childhood roundness as his features sharpened. He was in a forest clearing, carrying out his daily compulsory exercise: without Hand Seals, he used only his will and precise chakra control to make the small flame in his palm change shape, from a blazing orb to a thin needle, then vanish. It was training in the utmost control of chakra, as their teacher had instructed. His Two-Tomoe Sharingan turned slowly against a blood-red backdrop, tracking the faintest currents of chakra.

Suddenly, a flurry of frantic footsteps shattered the forest's silence, accompanied by ragged panting.

"B-Brother!"

It was Lian! Sakuya extinguished the flame at once, his Sharingan sweeping sharply toward the sound. Seven-year-old Uchiha Lian came tumbling into the clearing, his face deathly pale and his clothes smeared with dirt and leaves. He had clearly sprinted here at full speed.

"What happened?!" Sakuya grabbed his younger brother, who was nearly spent, and felt his heart sink. He had never seen Lian this terrified.

"P-people... So many people! They have weapons... like the ones from before!" Lian gasped, clutching Sakuya's sleeve with both hands. Fear from the pursuit three years ago filled his eyes. "They're coming this way! There are so many! A lot more than last time!"

Sakuya's pupils contracted. Pursuers—and a large force of them!

He immediately sensed the area. Their teacher's presence was nowhere to be found. He had left early that morning to gather some rare medicinal herbs deeper in the mountains.

A crushing sense of danger seized Sakuya, but the harsh training of the past three years had hardened his mind, and he forced down his panic. He drew a deep breath, his Sharingan turning cold and focused.

"Hide, Lian. The usual spot!" Sakuya ordered quickly, pulling a Kunai from his ninja pouch. "I'll draw them away!"

"No! It's too dangerous!" Though afraid, Lian shook his head fiercely and pulled out his own Kunai. His gaze turned stubborn. "I'm coming with you! Teacher said we have to fight side by side!"

Sakuya saw the same determination in his younger brother's eyes that burned in his own. He knew there was no talking him out of it. There was no time. He gritted his teeth. "...Stay close! Use the second strategy!"

The brothers darted through the dense forest like a pair of nimble leopards, heading straight for the approaching enemy.

Before long, they sensed more than ten mercenaries in matching combat armor, their faces grim. The enemy had clearly come prepared. They moved swiftly and in perfect coordination, fanning out to search and sealing off the entire area.

The battle erupted!

Sakuya's Sharingan spun wildly, predicting the enemies' Shuriken trajectories with precision. He dodged by a hair's breadth and counterattacked with the simplest, deadliest moves. His Kunai sank into throats, and flames scorched the enemies charging at him. Lian, meanwhile, darted like a ghost in his brother's shadow. The simple tripwire traps he had set caught the enemy off guard, while his precise Shuriken targeted their legs and eyes, perfectly carrying out his role as a distraction and support.

They worked together seamlessly. In a short time, they had actually taken down three or four enemies.

But there were simply too many of them! And they were seasoned fighters. It didn't take them long to spot Lian as the weaker link, and they shifted their attacks toward him at once.

"Take out the little one first!" A mercenary who looked like their leader sneered, charging at Lian with two others.

"Don't even think about it!" Sakuya roared and tried to rush to his brother's aid, but two other enemies kept him pinned down. His Sharingan could see everything, but his body was starting to fall behind the relentless barrage.

A wet, muffled sound rang out as a blade tore through flesh.

Sakuya whipped around just in time to see a mercenary's katana smash aside the Kunai Lian had hastily raised and carve a horrifying, bone-deep gash across his little brother's chest! Blood splattered across the lush green grass.

"Lian—!!!"

In that moment, time seemed to freeze.

Sakuya watched helplessly as his brother fell backward like a tattered leaf, the life draining rapidly from him. The unbearable terror of nearly losing Lian three years ago, the warmth and dependence they had shared throughout those three years, the hot blood spraying before his eyes—all of it surged like a tsunami, shattering his reason in an instant!

A far more violent, searing pain than before exploded deep behind his eyes! It felt as if the force would crush his eyeballs!

"AAAAAAAH—!!!"

Amid his piercing scream, the Two-Tomoe in his eyes spun and warped at an unprecedented speed, stretching and twisting... until at last they settled into three cold, black Tomoe, radiating an eerie, heart-stopping light against the sea of blood-red.

Three-Tomoe Sharingan, awakened!

Power! Unparalleled perception! Every enemy's movements around him slowed to a crawl, almost as if they had stopped, their every weakness laid bare!

"You'll all rot in hell and repent for this!!"

Sakuya went utterly berserk, his chakra blazing in a way it never had before. His speed, strength, and reflexes surged exponentially! Every time his Kunai struck, it brought a spray of blood. He unleashed Fire Release Ninjutsu as easily as breathing, each attack more focused and terrifying than ever!

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball burst forth. Like a demon returned from hell, he traded wounds for lives and fought without fear of death, single-handedly suppressing the remaining mercenaries for a time!

But the strain of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan was immense, especially for a nine-year-old. The intense emotional upheaval and the battle that pushed him beyond his limits rapidly drained his strength and chakra. Once the initial burst of power passed, exhaustion and injuries swept over him like a tide.

A Kunai shot from his blind spot and sank precisely into his thigh.

The pain made him falter.

More attacks followed in quick succession. He heard the sharp crack of breaking ribs and felt blades slice into his flesh... His vision began to blur, the blood-red world spinning and darkening.

"You little brat... finally running out of steam!" The mercenary leader panted as he raised his bloodied blade and aimed it at Sakuya's neck. Sakuya had staggered to his knees and was on the verge of losing consciousness.

Was he... going to die? Sorry, Lian... Sorry, teacher... In the end, he still hadn't managed to...

Just as the blade was about to fall—

"Wood Release: Violent Spear Tree!"

A low roar, brimming with overwhelming fury, thundered from deep within the forest!

The ground rumbled! Countless enormous, sharp, twisted wooden vines and tree trunks burst from the earth like furious beasts come to life, growing and stabbing forward at an incredible speed!

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

The remaining five or six mercenaries didn't even have time to scream before the sudden wooden spears pierced, tore, and crushed them in an instant! Blood and severed limbs flew in every direction. The clearing that had moments ago seethed with killing intent was transformed into a hellscape of violently growing trees and death!

The mercenary leader who had been about to kill Sakuya was skewered from below by an especially thick wooden spear and hoisted into the air, his eyes frozen forever in shock.

With the last of his strength, the dying Sakuya strained to look toward the source of the attack through his blurred vision.

Through the swirling dust and flying woodchips, a familiar figure slowly emerged. He still wore that old Uchiha robe, and scars marked his face. But now, an icy killing intent and terrifying pressure radiated from him as if they were tangible.

And, most importantly, what he had just used was the Kekkei Genkai renowned throughout the Shinobi World as the power of the First, Senju Hashirama—

Wood Release.

All the clues—the teacher's strength and mysteriousness, his knowledge of the Uchiha, the fragments of his past that occasionally slipped out, and the power before Sakuya's eyes, one that could only belong to "the one who spoke for Uchiha Madara" in legend...

The truth flashed through Sakuya's fading consciousness like lightning.

"...Wood... Release..." He spat out a mouthful of blood and used the last of his strength to look at the man who hurried to his side and crouched to check his and Lian's injuries. In a faint but unmistakably clear voice, he uttered the name:

"Uchiha... Obito..."

Then he lost consciousness completely.

The last thing he saw before darkness took him was the profoundly complicated emotion churning in Uchiha Obito's exposed Sharingan—anger, fear in the aftermath, deep remorse, and a trace of... relief and resolve now that his identity had been exposed.

The secret of the deep mountains was finally revealed that day, in the bloodiest way possible.