The Aftermath Gradually Subsides

In Year 46 of Hidden Leaf, two people vanished. The first was the Third Kazekage, hailed as the strongest Kazekage. The second was Danzo Shimura, known as the darkness of the shinobi world!

The former's disappearance had indirectly triggered the outbreak of the Third Shinobi World War, while Danzo's disappearance within Hidden Leaf likewise stirred up no small commotion.

The Third Hokage of Hidden Leaf and the only two remaining elder advisors had all served alongside Danzo in the Hokage's Guard Platoon, and they shared deep ties.

Moreover, setting those factors aside, Danzo himself held a pivotal position in present-day Hidden Leaf and fulfilled an indispensable role.

Thus, when Danzo had been missing for nearly a month, Hidden Leaf's higher-ups finally could no longer sit still.

Root was subjected to a thorough investigation, and the events that had occurred within the Root base that day were gradually brought to the attention of the higher-ups.

Then, they discovered a chilling fact: in the days following Danzo's disappearance, the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seals on Root shinobi had gradually vanished...

Did that mean...

Yet whether it was the airtight patrols on the day of his disappearance or the sensory coverage that later enveloped the entire Root base, neither had detected anyone entering or leaving. Danzo seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth, disappearing from the Root base without a sound.

This inevitably turned the higher-ups' attention toward Root's interior. Though theoretically, shinobi branded with the cursed seal could never betray them, after every other possibility had been eliminated, this seemed to be the only explanation left...

Afterward, the Root shinobi Dog, the last person to see Danzo, was brought in. He was the only one who knew exactly what had happened in the office that day.

But for some reason, Dog refused to talk no matter what. Tiger, who knew part of the situation, was the same. Even though the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal had already failed, they remained tight-lipped.

With no other choice, Hiruzen Sarutobi had the Intelligence Division step in at the vehement insistence of the two advisors. Yet the intelligence report they had considered infallible only made the matter even more baffling.

From Danzo's last appearance to the moment his disappearance was discovered, the sensory barrier surrounding him had never ceased operating. There was not the slightest clue regarding the person who had first attacked him. He truly seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth.

Furthermore, the sole remaining clue directly led the three of them toward an even more silent conclusion...

And so, following a meeting between master and disciple, the matter of Danzo Shimura was inexplicably shelved in an anticlimactic fashion. Only, one more force had appeared in the shinobi world to search for Danzo...

None of this affected Uchiha Mo in the slightest. Though his earlier conflict with Danzo had been initially exposed and drawn some attention to him during the investigation's early stages, once Root's circumstances had been clarified, that attention was redirected.

His ability to exploit information gaps in this era rivaled Nagato's. So long as he did not take the initiative to reveal his invisibility, no one could possibly figure out how Danzo had died.

This was not a difference in intelligence, but something fundamentally determined by the limits of their understanding.

The person most likely to know the killer was Orochimaru, but Orochimaru was already struggling to protect himself, much less pin something like this on Uchiha Mo.

If Orochimaru dared say, "It was Uchiha Mo. He silently infiltrated Root despite its tight security, made Danzo vanish from the face of the earth, and then left without a sound."

Orochimaru could guarantee that after Hiruzen Sarutobi heard it, he would immediately raise his club and purge his own disciple.

Even Orochimaru suspected whether this person was truly Uchiha Mo or an enemy Danzo had made somewhere in the shinobi world.

Besides, if Uchiha Mo really was responsible, then some of the things in Orochimaru's laboratory were surely in his hands as well. Those were things that could truly get him killed...

Mo and Shisui's daily lives returned to their former tranquility.

After breakfast, they trained in taijutsu. They rested at noon to recover their bodies, then practiced ninjutsu in the afternoon.

There was almost nothing left for Mo to improve in other areas. He could only rely on painstaking effort to raise his basic attributes. But under his training, Shisui began to grow at a rapid pace.

His Body Flicker Technique grew faster and faster, his swordsmanship increasingly sharper, and his reserves of ninjutsu and genjutsu also expanded rapidly.

He was gradually beginning to show traces of the "Shisui of the Body Flicker" who would one day shake the shinobi world.

And so, summer gave way to winter, and spring once again drove away the winter chill.

Summer, Year 47 of Hidden Leaf.

A year had passed. Both brothers' birthdays fell in the first half of the year. Mo had turned eleven, while Shisui had grown from a five-year-old child into a six-year-old child.

Naka River.

"Phantom Body Flicker Technique!"

Uchiha Shisui shouted softly, pressing his hands together into a seal. Within his large eyes, two tomoe slowly spun.

The next instant, countless phantoms split from Shisui's body. The phantoms continuously distorted before finally forming one Shisui after another across the open ground.

"Brother! Here I come!"

His voice came from every direction. Mo's dark eyes shifted as he continuously watched the many Shisuis attacking from all sides.

Whoosh!

The sound of something cutting through the air came from behind him. Without even looking, Mo sidestepped.

The next moment, one Shisui's blade slashed through empty air. Mo immediately reached for his throat, but that Shisui was like an illusion—his hand passed straight through the body and grabbed nothing.

At that moment, another Shisui abruptly swung his blade from Mo's side, chopping toward his hand.

Mo's eyes moved, and his wrist turned as he drew a kunai.

Clang—!

The short blade struck the kunai, sending sparks flying. Yet Mo did not even glance at it. He suddenly raised his other hand and fiercely grabbed at another Shisui to his other side.

Mo's movement came without warning. He had not even turned his head to look at that Shisui. Combined with their close distance and his sudden attack, Shisui had no time to react at all.

Immediately afterward...

Bang!

Mo grabbed the bewildered Shisui by the collar, and the many Shisuis around them swiftly vanished. Looking at the still-dazed Shisui in his hand, the corner of Mo's mouth lifted in an almost imperceptible arc.

"I got you."

Shisui came back to his senses and immediately asked unwillingly, "Nisan! How did you find me? My Phantom Body Flicker Technique clearly had no flaws!"

"Your feint was too obvious... Like a shadow clone's attacks, they're generally meant to serve a tactical purpose. So shadow clones instinctively conserve their limited stamina and chakra, which results in insufficient force and weaker ninjutsu. Or they make suicidal charges purely to attack... The difference between their combat logic and the original's is the key to seeing through such illusions."

"Your Phantom Body Flicker Technique was the same. It may not have had the slightest flaw, but your attacks were too perfunctory. That made your intentions easy to read, allowing others to determine where the real you was."

Shisui stared blankly into Mo's clear, tranquil black eyes and sighed. "So that's possible too... Nisan, you're incredible. You didn't even use the Sharingan. It seems I still have a long way to go..."