The Uchiha Clan Only Needs One Heir

Chiya was carried into Konoha Hospital on the back of an Anbu operative.

"Doctor! Hurry!"

The moment they entered the hospital, one of the Anbu shouted.

"This child suffered severe trauma to the chest. Examine him immediately!"

The doctor on duty had been sleepy-eyed, but he immediately rose to his feet when he heard that.

The doctor hurriedly had the Anbu lay Chiya on a hospital bed and reached out to examine his chest.

Chiya kept his eyes closed, his heart pounding with nervousness.

It was not that he feared the doctor would find something wrong with him.

He feared the doctor would find nothing wrong with him.

Sure enough, after the doctor cut open the bloodstained clothing over his chest, he froze. He looked down at Chiya's chest, then up at the two Anbu operatives, his expression gradually turning strange.

"You said... he suffered severe trauma to the chest?"

The two Anbu nodded.

"When we found him, he was lying in the street at the Uchiha Clan Grounds. His chest was covered in blood, and his clothes had clear puncture damage from a sharp weapon."

The doctor said nothing and lowered his head to examine him carefully once more.

His heartbeat was normal.

His breathing was normal.

His skin was intact.

Forget severe trauma—there was not even a scar to be found.

The doctor even suspected that he was too sleepy and had seen things wrong, so he deliberately pressed on Chiya's chest.

After examining him for quite some time, the doctor finally looked up, his gaze utterly different now.

"You two... are you sure you're not playing a prank on me?"

One of the Anbu scratched his head, his tone becoming somewhat uncertain as well.

"But just now..."

The doctor sighed helplessly.

"Other than unconsciousness, this child currently has no external injuries. As for the severe injury to his heart that you mentioned, I truly couldn't find it. Let him sleep here for now. We'll observe him again after he wakes up."

The two Anbu exchanged looks and could only nod.

Lying on the hospital bed, Chiya relaxed slightly.

At least he had fooled them for the moment.

But he also knew this matter could not truly just pass. The Anbu were not idiots. They had seen him lying in a pool of blood with their own eyes, yet now the doctor claimed he was uninjured. This would definitely be reported to the Hokage.

Just as Chiya was thinking about this, hurried footsteps sounded from the hospital entrance.

Someone else had arrived.

"Doctor, there's another survivor here."

Chiya did not even need to look to know it had to be Sasuke Uchiha.

Sasuke's face was deathly pale as he lay motionless on an Anbu operative's back.

Unlike Chiya, Sasuke had no fatal external injuries. He had mainly suffered a massive mental shock and fallen unconscious.

After confirming that neither child was in immediate danger, the Anbu prepared to leave the hospital.

"We'll leave this place to you. We're going to report to the Hokage."

The doctor nodded.

Chiya kept his eyes shut, listening to the footsteps of the two Anbu as they departed. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, he suddenly felt that something was off.

It was an extremely strange sensation.

As though someone had been watching him from the darkness.

Chiya did not dare move recklessly and could only continue pretending to sleep.

Outside the hospital, a figure nearly blending into the night silently retreated.

Root Base.

Within the dim underground space, Danzo leaned on his cane and quietly listened to his subordinate's report.

"The Uchiha Clan has been confirmed to be almost completely exterminated. Two survivors have currently been found. One is Sasuke Uchiha, and the other is named Chiya Uchiha."

Danzo had shown no expression at first, but when he heard "two survivors," his lone eye narrowed slightly.

"Two?"

"Yes."

The Root ninja kneeling on the floor continued, "When Chiya Uchiha was discovered by the Anbu, there was a large amount of blood on his chest, and his clothing had obvious puncture damage. His heart was suspected to have suffered severe trauma. But after he was sent to the hospital, the doctors found no wounds on him whatsoever."

Danzo's fingers lightly tapped against his cane.

Uchiha.

Severe heart trauma.

A vanished wound.

Those words together were enough to pique his interest.

A child whose heart had suffered severe trauma yet could recover—if they could uncover the secret within him, Danzo understood better than anyone what that would mean for Konoha.

He slowly rose to his feet, his voice low.

"Go to the Hokage Building."

Inside the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk. The pipe in his hand had remained unlit for a long time.

The extermination of the Uchiha Clan weighed on him so heavily that it was hard to breathe. Even though there had long been signs of it, even though he knew the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the village had reached a point of no return, when this night truly came, he still felt miserable.

The two Anbu had just finished reporting the situation at the hospital.

After listening, Hiruzen's brow had not relaxed once.

He knew why Sasuke Uchiha had survived.

But what about Chiya Uchiha?

This child should have died on the night the clan was exterminated, yet he had somehow survived. Even the wound over his heart had vanished. For something like that to happen to a child who understood nothing, there had to be something suspicious about it.

Just as Hiruzen was preparing to order the Anbu to strengthen their protection, the office door was suddenly pushed open.

There had not even been a knock.

Shimura Danzō entered, leaning on his cane.

Hiruzen looked up at him, and his expression immediately darkened.

"Danzo, what are you here for?"

Danzo did not beat around the bush. "Hiruzen, leave that brat to me."

Hiruzen's gaze darkened. "Which brat?"

Danzo snorted coldly.

"You know who I mean. Chiya Uchiha."

The air in the office instantly fell silent.

Hiruzen looked at Danzo, his voice growing colder.

"You got the news quickly."

Danzo did not care about the sarcasm in Hiruzen's words and simply said calmly, "Two children from the Uchiha Clan survived. That is no small matter. Sasuke can remain in the open as the Uchiha Clan's final heir. But there is no need to keep the other one."

As he spoke, he stepped forward.

"Hiruzen, the Uchiha Clan only needs one heir. Hand that brat over to me."

"No."

Hiruzen rejected him without a moment's hesitation.

Danzo frowned.

"Why not?"

Hiruzen said gravely, "The fact that two Uchiha children survived has likely already spread. If you take him away now, I won't be able to explain it."

Danzo seemed to have heard something laughable and said coldly, "What is there to explain? Whoever dares talk too much, I'll make sure they can never open their mouth again."

"Danzo!"

Hiruzen abruptly stood up, anger already coloring his voice.

"He is only an innocent child!"

But Danzo did not yield in the slightest.

"He is a child of Konoha. As long as someone belongs to Konoha, they have the duty to devote everything to Konoha!"

At this point, Danzo's voice rose several degrees.

"His heart suffered severe trauma, yet he still survived. Do you know what that means? If we gain this power, how many of our ninja will survive in the future? This isn't harming him. It is benefiting Konoha, benefiting all living beings!"

Hiruzen stared at Danzo.

He knew this old friend far too well.

In Danzo's mouth, any sacrifice could be dressed up as being "for Konoha."

But how much of it was truly for Konoha, and how much was for himself?

"No."

Hiruzen spoke each word distinctly. "Your experiments must stop. Haven't enough people died already?"

Danzo's face darkened completely.

"Hiruzen! Everything I did was for Konoha!"

"Enough!"

Hiruzen's voice thundered through the office.

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

As soon as those words fell, Danzo went silent.

He fixed Hiruzen with his lone eye for a long while before finally spitting out a cold sentence.

"You will regret this."

With that, he turned and left.

Bang!

The office door slammed shut. Hiruzen stood where he was, his expression grim.

He knew Danzo would not let this go so easily.

Back at Konoha Hospital, Chiya still lay on the bed pretending to sleep.

Sasuke beside him had yet to wake up. His brow was tightly furrowed, as if he were trapped in some nightmare.

Chiya quietly opened his eyes, glanced toward the ward entrance, then looked out the window. The room was silent, filled only with the hospital's distinctive disinfectant smell and Sasuke's somewhat rapid breathing.

But his heart could not calm down at all.

The Anbu had already gone to make their report.

The Third Hokage would definitely know.

Danzo would most likely know too.

The more Chiya thought about it, the more his head hurt. That damn Danzo seemed to be an obstacle every transmigrator had to face.