Chapter 22

Sasuke's heart gave a violent jolt, and a sense of unease surged up inside him.

This order had definitely come from Danzo.

But that old fox shouldn't be stupid enough to drag him straight into Root.

There was absolutely something else going on here. "You don't need to know."

"In a little while, you might just be a **."

"Dead men... don't have much use for knowing too much."

A gloomy voice suddenly sounded beside Sasuke's ear.

Immediately after, a pair of hands clamped down hard around his ankles. "Earth Style... when did he get over here?"

Sasuke's heart lurched.

With his sensory ability, he could even catch movements underground.

But this time, he had actually failed to notice someone approaching from behind at all.

His feet were caught, and three Root Organization elites were watching him like tigers eyeing prey.

What exactly was Danzo trying to do... was the target me?

Could it be—

A deathly pale face flashed through Sasuke's mind.

Orochimaru?

He remembered very clearly that Danzo Shimura had once wanted to push Orochimaru into the Hokage's seat, only for Minato to cut him off.

There had to be some shady deals between those two. "Tai Chi!"

Sasuke abruptly spread his stance and assumed Tai Chi's opening posture.

His body swayed slightly, and chakra was mobilized in an instant.

A hidden force traveled down along his body to his feet, directly shaking off the hands gripping his ankles. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

"Shadow Clone!"

"Lightning God Mode!"

His chakra erupted in one breath.

At the same time as the Fire Style blasted out, Sasuke's figure charged madly in one direction. "Quick, we have to take him away tonight!"

"Uchiha Fugaku will be here soon!"

The leading Root Organization member growled and chased in the direction Sasuke had fled. "Tch—"

Just as his foot lifted, a flash of lightning suddenly crossed his vision.

Immediately after, a practice kunai pierced his heart with perfect accuracy. "You..."

"Pfft—"

Blinding lightning exploded across the surface of the kunai. Electric snakes drilled into his chest, and his heart was shattered on the spot.

The ** toppled stiffly to the ground.

Sasuke didn't spare it another glance. With a push of his foot, he had already shot into the nearby woods.

He scattered all his shadow clones. If they could buy even one second, then that was one second gained.

To mislead those Root pursuers, every clone's kunai was smeared with blood, making them look as if they had really fought.

Leaning behind a thick tree trunk, Sasuke gasped hard.

The restless feeling in his chest kept surging upward, as if something was trying to break out. "Sure enough... that method still can't suppress it."

He gritted his teeth and desperately forced down that evil fire.

If his emotions led him by the nose, there was a good chance he would be wrapped up and carried off today.

The employer's clues pointed straight to Orochimaru. With his current level, if he fell into that guy's hands, he could forget about escaping.

Uchiha Fugaku was probably being held up by something.

Ten minutes.

As long as he lasted these ten minutes, these people would have no way to deal with him.

Sasuke clenched the kunai in his hand and ** himself to calm down.

There were at least three more outside.

All of them were elite jonin-level goods.

He had almost zero intel, and he didn't even know what they were good at.

That ** Kishimoto, couldn't he have given a little more information on the Root Organization?

"Got you!"

A knife-hand chopped down, and the Sasuke before him burst into white mist with a bang.

A shadow clone.

The Root Organization member frowned. "This guy..."

"Shadow Clone!"

He formed hand signs at the same time and likewise split off several shadow clones, sending them pouncing toward every Sasuke in the woods.

As long as they beat them one by one, the real body naturally wouldn't be able to stay hidden.

Dozens of figures crisscrossed through the forest, and the sounds of battle crackled and exploded.

Three minutes later.

The remaining three Root Organization members stood together, their faces full of shock. "They're all shadow clones!"

"How is this kid's concealment technique so powerful?"

Root 1's head was full of question marks.

Every "Uchiha Sasuke" in the forest had been **, yet they hadn't even touched the real body's shadow.

Their sensory abilities had been open the whole time, but they hadn't discovered anyone slipping away either.

Had Uchiha Sasuke evaporated into thin air?

"Outside!"

One of them suddenly reacted and was the first to charge out of the dense forest. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Wind blades stirred up a wild surge, scattering all the lingering dust on the battlefield in one breath.

A figure was suddenly exposed in the middle of the open ground.

Sasuke tilted his head, his tone terrifyingly calm. "Still got dug out, huh."

"As expected of Konoha's underground top dogs. The Root Organization really does have some skill."

"But well... if you want to catch me now, you don't have enough time."

Just three short sentences landed in the ears of the three Root Organization members, yet they sank like a stone.

Five minutes had already passed.

In the distance, the aura of the Uchiha Clan Compound was closing in.

If they really kept fighting, then when the time came...

"Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt..."

A burst of electrical current suddenly rang out.

The Root Organization member lowered his head, and his pupils abruptly shrank.

Beside his foot, blue arcs of electricity were slowly rising from the kunai. "This is... a kunai?!"

Lightning exploded, and several white electric snakes wrapped around his body.

Numbness spread through his entire body in an instant. "Tch—"

A stab of pain came from his chest.

By the time he snapped back to himself, Sasuke was already standing in front of him.

That ninja's ** lay on the ground, blood slowly spreading out and soaking the soil black.

The remaining two hadn't even had time to react before their companion had already breathed his last.

Standing beneath the moonlight, Uchiha Sasuke was no longer a brat they could casually bully in their eyes.

Uchiha... those guys with devil eyes really were all monsters!

"Trash of the Root Organization, come over and claim your deaths!"

Sasuke bent down and picked up the kunai from the ground, his face stained with the blood that had splashed from that man's heart just now.

His scarlet Sharingan wavered in the moonlight, eerily bewitching and wicked.

He was clearly just a five-year-old brat, yet it was as if a devil's shadow trailed behind him.

For a moment, those two Root Organization members actually froze in place, unable to move.

But inside, Sasuke was nowhere near as calm as he looked.

The side effects of the ** were still tormenting him, and with the two outbursts just now, his chakra was already running out.

He had overused Lightning God Mode, and his body was starting to go wrong too.

It wasn't that he wanted to stay here and act cool. It was that he simply couldn't run now.

Fortunately, the ruthlessness with which he had instantly killed two people just now had frightened these Root Organization guys.

They didn't dare make a direct move either.

[Ding! Emergency mission issued: resolve the current Root Organization trouble]

Just as Sasuke was wondering how to get away, the system rang out in his mind.

Good grief, as expected, this thing only showed up at life-and-death moments!

Still, if the system could issue an emergency mission, it seemed the danger this time was not small...

Thinking of this, the corners of Sasuke's mouth slowly curled up.

He poured the last bit of chakra he had left entirely into his Sharingan.

A terrifying aura suddenly exploded outward. "Root?"

"Just a bunch of shameless scum."

"But getting to witness the Uchiha's ultimate dojutsu can be counted as your good fortune."

"Next, use your lives to give me a little entertainment—"

"Ultimate Dojutsu: Maha Space!"

As his words fell, the ocular power in Sasuke's two eyes almost overflowed.

Those two Root Organization members subconsciously assumed defensive stances.

One of them even gripped the blade of his kunai tightly, wanting to rely on pain to stay conscious. "Bang, bang!"

At that moment, a black shadow rushed in.

The deputy chief of the Konoha Police Force, the genius of the Uchiha Clan—Shisui Uchiha, had arrived. "Shisui Uchiha?!"

"Don't panic, that's a genjutsu!"

"It's just a mere genjutsu. As long as we guard our minds, we won't be caught."

"This genjutsu is really realistic, though. It can actually imitate him to this degree..."

The two Root Organization members were already somewhat losing it.

Facing off against the Uchiha, who were born to play with genjutsu, simply made one's scalp go numb...

"Genjutsu?"

"You two, did you forget where you're standing?"

"This is the Uchiha Clan Compound."

Shisui Uchiha looked completely baffled.

He hadn't cast any genjutsu. The other clansman—Uchiha Sasuke—was already lying on the ground at this point, looking utterly exhausted.

Beside him were two fresh ** belonging to Root Organization members.

Just looking at the scene, it was impossible to figure out what had happened.

In fact, all this information seemed absurdly fake. "So what if he's a little Uchiha brat, no matter how much of a genius he is?"

"His body is right there. There's no way he can fight anymore."

"Look, the Shisui Uchiha he created with genjutsu is standing there stupidly and not even moving his hands."

"Heh, sure enough, it's all illusion, that whole trick-the-eyes routine!"

When the Root Organization members saw Shisui Uchiha standing there without moving, their hearts settled quite a bit.

They couldn't keep dragging this out.

They had to hurry up and deal with this Uchiha Sasuke before them.

Otherwise, once the real Shisui and Fugaku arrived, it would be too late.

The thought flashed by, and this guy simply ignored Shisui, charging straight toward Sasuke. "After saying things like that, even someone with the best temper couldn't endure it!"

"Bang!"

Shisui's figure flashed like a ghost in front of the Root Organization member, his knee smashing viciously into the other man's face.

That guy had decided the Shisui before him was formed by genjutsu and hadn't even thought of dodging.

The next second, a fierce force blasted through, and that man was sent flying entirely.

He smashed heavily into the ground, blasting out a pit.

Before his consciousness vanished completely, he was still muttering in his heart.

[Root Organization brother: Looks like my will still wasn't firm enough. But why does getting hit by an illusion hurt this much...]

The remaining Root Organization guy wasn't stupid, and he immediately wanted to run. "Shisui Uchiha, are you kidding me!"

"This guy can't be compared to ordinary Uchiha!"

"Hurry back and report this. This matter..."

"Yo, trying to slip away already?"

Without warning, a familiar figure blocked his path.

Only then did he react to who he was facing—Shisui of the Body Flicker!

"Bang!"

Once Shisui made his move, that Root Organization member directly lost consciousness.

Immediately after, Shisui arrived beside Sasuke.

After checking him over and finding that Sasuke had only exhausted himself, he finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Brother Shisui."

Sasuke opened his eyes then.

The reason he had dared to pass out so abruptly earlier was because he had seen Shisui arrive.

This guy might be a little slow sometimes, but when it mattered, he was reliable.

After resting for a few minutes, Sasuke finally recovered a little strength, though only enough to barely speak. "Sasuke, don't rush to talk. Catch your breath first."

"Leave things here to me..."

"No need!"

"Brother Shisui, those two who are left—finish them off!"

Sasuke cut Shisui off directly. "What!?"

Shisui froze.

Those two no longer had any combat strength.

And they were members of the Root Organization. They had trespassed into Uchiha territory; no matter what, they had to demand an explanation from Danzo.

Not to mention they had injured Sasuke this badly.

If they killed them all, there would not even be a witness left when the time came. "Kill them. Clean it... up."

"Fire Style would be best. Burn them clean."

"And also, let me punch you."

Sasuke's consciousness was almost fading at this point.

The exact reason could be explained later. For now, just do as he said!

"Understood."

Shisui looked at the resolve in Sasuke's eyes. Though doubts stirred in his heart, he still decided to do it.

Besides, since they had snuck into Uchiha territory and even dared to attack someone from the Uchiha clan...

Then they no longer deserved to be counted as members of the village.

They were completely different from the villagers he wanted to protect...

Shisui Uchiha, Uchiha Natsume, Nagasawa Uchiha, and Itachi...

Even Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo had arrived on the scene.

Good grief. What were all these people gathering together for?

Sasuke lay on the bed, completely stunned.

Could it be that the fact he could get stronger just by sleeping had already been figured out by all these big shots in Konoha?

"Sasuke, you're awake?"

The first to speak was Hiruzen Sarutobi, his face full of a kindly smile. "You, child. Sparring with Shisui is one thing, but why did you have to get serious?"

"You're a genius of the Uchiha clan. If this match left you with some hidden injury and delayed your training, wouldn't that be a terrible loss?"

His tone was very gentle, putting on the air of someone caring for a junior.

It had to be said, the old man really had this amiable persona down perfectly. "I was the one who told Brother Shisui to go hard."