Seizing the Chaos

The situation changed so quickly that no one had expected it, aside from the mastermind behind it all.

The Nine-Tails, now with eight tails, rampaged through Konoha. Sarutobi was doing his best to lure it toward the outskirts, while the ANBU sent to provide support had greatly reduced the intensity of the fighting around the Uchiha District. The odds were gradually tilting in the Uchiha Clan's favor.

Hearts were in turmoil, and panic spread.

No one noticed that Ning Qi, the one who had exposed Fugaku, had quietly withdrawn far from the battlefield.

Using the Transformation Technique to alter his appearance, he hid among the panicked crowd. Watching the clash between the Konoha Allied Forces led by Sarutobi, the Nine-Tails, and Fugaku in the distance, he looked as though he were admiring a magnificent work of art, unable to stop a satisfied smile from appearing on his face.

To manipulate people's hearts and the course of events, precise control over both direction and force was indispensable.

Once news of the rebellion had leaked, the Uchiha Clan's only chance to defeat Sarutobi and the other Konoha higher-ups had been the Nine-Tails, a weapon of war.

And the Nine-Tails had long possessed a dark history of becoming the plaything of powerful Uchiha, so this was not difficult to foresee.

The only difference was that Naruto, the Jinchuriki of this generation, was far more unusual than Kushina had been.

His seal had not been weakened by pregnancy.

Within him were two extraordinarily sturdy safeguards jointly created by his parents, Minato Namikaze and Kushina, before their deaths—when Naruto was completely consumed by the Nine-Tails' hateful consciousness for the first time, the chakra Minato Namikaze had left within Naruto's seal would activate and repair it.

When Naruto was consumed by the Nine-Tails' consciousness for the second time, the chakra Kushina had left behind would likewise activate. As a member of the Uzumaki Clan, Kushina's mastery of sealing techniques surpassed even Minato's. Resealing the Nine-Tails would be no problem, and even sealing Fugaku's consciousness after it entered Naruto's body might not be difficult while her chakra remained.

It was not that Ning Qi believed Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan lacked the power to overwhelm two dead people, but that would clearly require prolonged effort. Fugaku obviously did not have the stamina or ocular power to fight Minato and Kushina, break the seal three times, and use genjutsu three times to control the Nine-Tails all within a single day.

The Uchiha Clan needed time, and the mountain of corpses and sea of blood at the Hyuga clan head family's residence would also be exposed sooner or later.

Rather than exhausting himself in pursuit of that last sliver of perfection by overcoming the two mountains known as Minato and Kushina, it was far more cost-effective to have Fugaku directly summon the Nine-Tails in its eight-tailed state.

In terms of the destruction inflicted upon Konoha, the two were essentially equivalent.

That was also why Ning Qi believed Fugaku should thank him.

—If he had not brought Sarutobi and the others here so early, Fugaku would certainly have triggered the trap Minato had left behind by now. Forget summoning eight tails; faced with a suddenly restored seal and all his efforts reduced to nothing, he would probably be utterly devastated.

"So... enjoy all of this." As the chief director of this splendid performance, Ning Qi gave a gentlemanly bow.

"Hey, don't stand there. Hurry over here and take shelter... Hm?" Iruka, who was directing the crowd, froze slightly. He scratched his head as he looked at the empty spot where Ning Qi had been standing moments ago.

So he was a ninja...

After only a momentary pause, he immediately threw himself back into his work.

"Kids, come over here!"

Inside a secret chamber on the outskirts of Konoha, what had once been a forbidden area guarded by numerous ANBU had become utterly deserted.

Most of them had already been recalled to Konoha to deal with the Nine-Tails Rebellion.

Only after killing the last ANBU secretly stationed nearby did Ning Qi leisurely open the door to the hidden chamber, wiping the blood from his hands as he did so.

He paid no attention to the stacks of intelligence scrolls containing countless secrets around him. Instead, he fixed his gaze on the lowest shelf of the bookcase.

Ning Qi took out the scroll and smiled faintly.

"The Scroll of Seals is mine."

After war had completely erupted between Konoha and the Uchiha, Root, which had been hidden in the shadows, became extremely busy as well. Its underground headquarters was nearly empty.

Under the Byakugan, even the once heavily guarded Root Headquarters had lost its usual oppressive atmosphere. The sparse number of guards made Ning Qi's lips curl slightly.

He walked down the long underground corridor.

"I would like to see Lord Danzo," Ning Qi said.

"Lord Danzo isn't at headquarters right now. Captain Ning Qi, please come back another time," the ANBU guard at the entrance said, shaking his head.

Not here?

Ning Qi smiled and drew his long blade.

"Captain Ning Qi?" The guard became alert.

Pfft.

The blade pierced his heart.

"Don't speak."

Ning Qi covered his mouth and slowly lowered him to the ground.

"This world is cruel. Don't come back next time."

Without alerting the few guards nearby, Ning Qi smoothly entered the headquarters.

With the Byakugan activated, nothing could remain hidden. Ning Qi quickly found the secret passage leading to a concealed location.

Following the passage to the deepest part of the chamber, Ning Qi was met by the intensely pungent odor of evaporating medicine. Pinching his nose, he surveyed the underground laboratory before him.

More than ten transparent glass containers held human bodies submerged within them. The closest was a girl around Neji's age. Ning Qi recognized the emblem on her arm—it was the symbol of Amegakure.

Her eyes were tightly shut, and both legs had completely transformed into roots. Her expression was horribly twisted, as though silently crying out in pain.

The people in the other glass containers were much the same, displaying varying degrees of localized bodily fibrosis. Some had even begun to bloom and bear fruit from their bodies.

Ning Qi read through the charts beside the containers. The dates went back as far as eight years ago.

Just as he had expected.

The Wood Release research Orochimaru had left behind when he defected five years earlier had been claimed by Danzo without hesitation. Having learned from Orochimaru's mistakes, Danzo had used experimental subjects almost entirely from other small countries, effectively avoiding risks from within Konoha.

It made sense. Although Danzo did not possess the basic scientific caliber of a Ninja World scientist like Orochimaru, there was no way he could abandon something as formidable as Wood Release.

Though the two had ceased cooperating after Orochimaru's defection, finding several scientists to continue the research was no problem at all with Danzo's influence.

Danzo had long since been implanted with Hashirama Cells. That was why his body could withstand so many Sharingan.

But the powerful vitality brought by Hashirama clearly did not come without side effects.

The full-body plantification Danzo displayed before his death in the anime was the result of him no longer being able to suppress the Hashirama Cells within him.

"Who are you?"

A researcher in a white lab coat, recording data on the various test subjects, noticed Ning Qi.

Ning Qi glanced at him. No chakra—just an ordinary person.

With a wave of his hand, a simple genjutsu enveloped the man.

"I need a sample of Hashirama Cells."

Ning Qi intended to take as many benefits as possible before leaving Konoha. Who knew when he would return in the future? In any case, he had already thoroughly offended all of Konoha when he exterminated the Hyuga clan.

One more Scroll of Seals made no difference.

Nor did one sample of Hashirama Cells.