Causality Reversal Surgery

The underground chamber of the Naka River Shrine.

The air had grown so thick it seemed almost solid. Everyone's gaze was fixed on the dying man and the boy crouched beside him.

The spasms wracking Tieshan Uchiha had weakened. It was a sign that his life force was nearly spent.

Xuan Shi kept his hand pressed against Tieshan's forehead, the system interface on his retina flashing with a cold red light.

[High-level jutsu detected: A-rank Sealing Jutsu · Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal (Active)]

[Prosperity required for Causality Reversal: 20 points]

[Current family prosperity balance: 15 points]

[Warning: Insufficient balance. Unable to proceed.]

Xuan Shi furrowed his brow slightly.

Five points short.

In the short day since the rewind, the family hadn't done anything that could be considered real "prosperity." The fifteen points were the system's initial allowance.

If he didn't save Tieshan, the lead would go cold, and the deterrent effect would be greatly diminished. But if he forced it...

Just then, a new window popped up on the interface, its lettering a tempting gold.

[Host detected at a critical plot point.]

[Temporary permission activated: "Causality Loan" mode.]

[May borrow 5 prosperity points in advance.]

[Cost: Repay 10 prosperity points within 24 hours. Failure to repay on time will result in the random loss of one of the host's skills (including Sharingan ocular jutsu).]

[Proceed?]

A loan shark.

Xuan Shi sneered inwardly. This system really wasn't running a charity.

But he didn't hesitate.

"Proceed," he thought.

[Transaction complete. Prosperity points credited. Causality Reversal procedure initiated.]

Humm—

An invisible ripple suddenly spread out from Xuan Shi's palm.

The torches in the chamber flickered violently, as if a chill wind had swept through.

Fugaku and the clan elder both widened their eyes.

They saw an eerie blue light rise from Xuan Shi's palm. It didn't belong to any chakra nature; it carried a disturbing power that seemed capable of twisting reality.

"Bear with it," Xuan Shi said quietly. "It might feel as if your soul's being torn apart."

The next second, the blue light blazed and poured straight into Tieshan's forehead.

Tieshan, who had already lost consciousness, suddenly opened his eyes.

His eyeballs bulged, his pupils shrank to pinpricks, and an inhuman, piercing scream tore from his throat. "Aaaah—!!!"

The scream was so agonizing that even the battle-hardened Uchiha jonin nearby couldn't help grimacing.

But amid the screams, a miracle took place.

Everyone saw it clearly: the black, twisted script on Tieshan's tongue, which protruded from his mouth and had turned purple-black, began to vanish like snow beneath a blazing fire.

No, it wasn't vanishing.

It was retreating.

The black lines, like centipedes, seemed to have been put into reverse. They raced from the tip of his tongue back to its base, retreated down his throat, then finally turned into a wisp of black smoke and drifted out through his seven orifices.

"Cough! Cough, cough!"

Tieshan abruptly sat up and began coughing violently.

"Ugh—"

He opened his mouth and spat out a huge mouthful of black, congealed blood. When it hit the stone floor, it sizzled and gave off a foul-smelling white vapor.

It was chakra poison left behind by the Cursed Seal.

The chamber fell silent.

Only Tieshan's ragged breathing echoed through the room.

His hands trembling, he touched his throat, then his tongue. His face was filled with the terror and disbelief of a man who had just escaped death.

The numbness that had sunk deep into his bones was gone.

So was the mark that had tightened around the depths of his soul like a binding spell, keeping him from daring to speak even in his dreams.

"Dan... Danzō..."

Tieshan tentatively tried to speak.

There was no numbness, no pain.

"Root... Shimura Danzō... old bastard..."

The words came more easily with each breath, until he was laughing through tears. "Hahaha... I can talk! I'm alive! That damned Cursed Seal is gone!"

"Quiet."

Xuan Shi stood up, took a handkerchief from his robe, and wiped his fingers with the elegance of someone cleaning dust off a porcelain vase.

He tossed the handkerchief he'd used onto Tieshan's face, covering his tear-streaked, contorted expression.

"I didn't save you so you could go mad in here."

Xuan Shi's voice was soft, but it struck like a bucket of ice water, instantly dousing Tieshan's elation.

Tieshan stiffened. Through a gap in the handkerchief, he saw the eyes looking down at him.

They weren't Sharingan, just a pair of ordinary black eyes.

But to Tieshan, they were ten thousand times more terrifying than Danzō's single eye.

A forbidden jutsu developed by the Second Hokage, a deadlock Danzō used to control countless shinobi—this boy had erased it in less than a minute.

What kind of power was this? A divine miracle, or demonic sorcery?

Tieshan yanked off the handkerchief and scrambled to his knees at Xuan Shi's feet, pressing his forehead hard against the stone floor.

"Young Master Xuan Shi! No, Lord Xuan Shi!"

His psychological defenses had completely crumbled. If he'd feared Danzō before, now he revered Xuan Shi, surrendering absolutely to an unknown power.

"I'll tell you everything! Everything!" Tieshan spoke rapidly, afraid that if he was too slow, he would be abandoned again. "The contact code is 'Night Owl'! The meeting place is the top floor of the abandoned water tower west of the village! We meet on the fifteenth of every month!"

"Who else?" Fugaku approached, his face dark.

"Besides me, there's Inagaki! And..." Tieshan swallowed before naming someone who made Fugaku's pupils contract in shock. "Also the deputy captain of the Police Force's Third Squad, Shinichi Uchiha!"

Crack.

The teacup in Fugaku's hand shattered as he crushed it. Shards pierced his palm, and blood dripped to the floor.

"Shinichi..." Fugaku ground out, his voice laden with murderous coldness. "I watched him grow up. I even paid the bride price for his wedding!"

"Danzō found out about the huge gambling debts he'd run up outside the village," Tieshan said, not daring to hide anything. "If he didn't obey, Danzō would hand him over to the people at the gambling house to have his hands and feet chopped off. He'd also spread word that an Uchiha had racked up gambling debts, ruining his reputation."

"Scoundrel!" The clan elder's beard trembled with anger. "He sold out the clan for a little money?"

"That's how Root operates," Xuan Shi said calmly. "They either seize your weakness or find something to hold over you. Everyone has a weakness."

Just then, the system interface popped up again.

[Mission complete: Recruited/turned a key spy.]

[Reward: 10 family prosperity points.]

["Causality Loan" debt detected. Automatically deducting 10 points.]

[Current balance: 15 points. Loan repaid.]

Xuan Shi breathed a quiet sigh of relief. He'd won the gamble.

He'd not only filled the hole, but also gained a loyal double agent.

"Lord Xuan Shi." Kneeling on the ground, Tieshan looked up, revenge burning in his eyes. "Please give me a chance! I want revenge on Danzō! That old bastard nearly killed me and threatened me with my son! Just say the word, and I'll go to the abandoned water tower right now and kill the contact!"

"Kill him?" Xuan Shi sneered. "What good would that do? If we kill one contact, Danzō will just replace him with someone even more discreet. And we'd expose ourselves in the process."

He turned toward the entrance to the chamber.

"Father, now that we've got the list, let's not keep the others waiting."

Fugaku took a deep breath, steadying himself. His eyes turned cold as iron once more.

"Yashiro, take some men and bring Shinichi and Inagaki in. Keep it quiet. Don't alert the neighbors."

"Yes!" Yashiro Uchiha acknowledged the order, then vanished with several trusted men using the Body Flicker Technique.

Xuan Shi watched them go, the corner of his mouth curling with amusement.

"Once they're here, I'll give them the same surgery."

He glanced back at Tieshan, who was still kneeling on the floor.

"You and the others are dead from this day on. But in Danzō's eyes, you must stay alive and well."

"We'll turn these men into boomerangs aimed straight at Danzō's heart." Xuan Shi's gaze grew profound. "Danzō likes schemes. He likes hiding in the shadows and manipulating everything. So we'll play along."

"Every report he receives will be a script we've carefully written. I'll make him think he's in control of everything, right up until he takes his final step off a cliff."

Watching the boy's back, Tieshan couldn't help shivering.

He suddenly felt that, compared to the sinister leader of Root, this fifteen-year-old boy was the true walker in darkness.

Perhaps the Uchiha Clan really could take a different path under the leadership of this madman.

Half an hour later.

Two more figures were thrown into the chamber.

Shinichi Uchiha and Inagaki Uchiha were bound hand and foot, just like Tieshan had been. Their faces were just as terrified.

When they saw Tieshan kneeling nearby, unharmed and able to move his tongue freely, their expressions turned extraordinary.

Xuan Shi rolled his wrists. Blue light gathered in his palm once again.

"Welcome to the Uchiha 'rebirth' surgery room."

He walked toward the two trembling clan members, wearing the kind of professional smile a doctor might give a patient.

"Don't be afraid. It'll be over soon. It might hurt a little, but compared to being used like a dog by Danzō, what's a little pain?"

The chamber door slowly closed, shutting out all the screams and pleas for mercy underground.

That night, beneath the Naka River Shrine, the Uchiha Clan underwent a purge as painful as scraping poison from the bone.

Aboveground, the storm finally stopped.

The clouds parted, revealing a bright, clear moon.

Moonlight spilled over the streets of the Uchiha Clan Compound, and everything seemed peaceful and serene. No one knew that beneath this calm surface, a vast net targeting Konoha's dark roots had quietly begun to spread.