"Kill you? You fell out with the clan head today. If you died, the clan would probably grow even more unstable." Shisui shook his head.
"True enough." Uchiha Sora smiled.
The two fell silent.
Only after a long while did Shisui speak. "Sora, pretend I never came here tonight. I'll be going."
"Wait!" Uchiha Sora suddenly called out to him.
"What is it?" Shisui asked, puzzled.
"Watch out for Danzo's Izanagi!" Uchiha Sora said.
His main reason for waiting here for Shisui was actually to give him information about Danzo.
"What? Danzo's Izanagi?" Shisui startled, then lowered his voice. "Izanagi is a forbidden technique of the Uchiha Clan! It can only be activated with a Sharingan. How could Danzo use it?"
"If I told you that Danzo was incredibly ambitious and had been coveting the Uchiha's Sharingan all along, would you believe me?" Uchiha Sora said slowly.
"That's..." Shisui frowned slightly, sinking into thought.
As the ANBU commander the Third Hokage trusted most, Shisui naturally understood the personalities and intentions of the other members of Konoha High Command. Danzo had always struck him as dangerous. The claim that he had been coveting the Sharingan might well be true.
"Sora, it seems you know even more than I imagined!" Shisui took a deep breath. As he looked at Uchiha Sora, the man before him suddenly seemed unfathomably mysterious.
"Captain Shisui, I believe you've already reached your own conclusion." Uchiha Sora smiled.
"Yes, I have!" Shisui nodded.
Just then, Uchiha Sora looked toward the left side of the woods and said calmly, "But it seems someone has overheard our conversation."
Shisui followed his gaze and nodded lightly. "Heh, so you noticed too!"
"Yes. I'm quite familiar with my teammate's presence." Uchiha Sora raised his hand and hurled a kunai.
The kunai lodged in a tree trunk.
A figure slowly emerged from behind the tree.
"Isn't that right, Eagle?" Uchiha Sora looked at the figure and said calmly, "As Danzo's subordinate, you've had to pretend to be my teammate to keep an eye on me. Thanks for all the effort. Unfortunately, none of your movements escaped my eyes."
Now that he had been exposed, cold sweat poured down Eagle's forehead, and his heart pounded wildly.
So Uchiha Sora had suspected me all along. His perception is incredible!
I have to report this to Lord Danzo! Otherwise, he'll be in serious trouble!
Yet he forced himself to remain outwardly calm as he explained, "Sora, what are you talking about? I'm your teammate. I don't know any Lord Danzo. I only overheard your conversation by accident. I won't tell anyone."
"And Captain Shisui, I came here to report to you about a mission. Please don't misunderstand." He offered a smile, but it looked utterly false.
"Sora, I'll leave him to you," Shisui said calmly, ignoring Eagle's words.
By now, Eagle's behavior had convinced him that he was from Root. Only those people who had been thoroughly brainwashed by Danzo gave off that sort of impression.
"Captain Shisui, what rank would this mission be?" Uchiha Sora asked with a smile.
"Let's call it S-rank, though it's a mission I'm assigning personally," Shisui replied with a smile.
"Then I'd better show some of my strength and do a proper job!" Uchiha Sora laughed.
Neither of them paid Eagle the slightest heed as they spoke.
Eagle finally understood that no matter how much he argued, he probably would not escape death today.
"Both of you can die!" he roared, tearing open his clothes and charging toward them.
His body beneath his clothes was covered in explosive tags!
The explosive tags burned, then detonated with a thunderous boom!
Uchiha Sora and Shisui dodged to the side.
Uchiha Sora suddenly shot off in pursuit.
A figure was fleeing for his life in that direction. It was Eagle!
The body that had charged at them and blown itself up had only been a clone.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Sora's strength was now on an entirely different level. With Eagle's meager abilities, escaping him was impossible.
After several uses of the Body Flicker Technique, Uchiha Sora caught up with Eagle, appearing ten meters behind him.
With so little distance between them, terror filled Eagle's heart. He had never expected Sora to be so fast! He could barely get anywhere before Sora caught him.
Suddenly, Eagle's body jolted, and he froze in place.
He stared blankly at his chest. A dazzling beam of white lightning had pierced through his heart.
He struggled to turn his head and saw that the other end of the white lightning beam came from one of Uchiha Sora's fingers.
The lightning withdrew, and Eagle's body hit the ground with a thud, gradually losing all signs of life.
Shisui caught up as well. Looking at Sora, he said, "An impressive Lightning Release technique. That's a modified version of Kakashi's Lightning Blade, isn't it?"
Uchiha Sora nodded.
During his time carrying out missions with Kakashi, he had already picked up Kakashi's Lightning Blade. With the system's automatic training, he had quickly mastered it. But Uchiha Sora had not been satisfied with that. He had spent a great deal of time studying more advanced changes in its form, eventually triggering the system's automatic training function again. With the system's help, he had mastered this technique.
It was similar to Chidori Sharp Spear, a modified version of Chidori.
Only Uchiha Sora had modified Lightning Blade instead, concentrating its power into a single beam and releasing it instantly. In use, it was more like a laser. It lasted only a brief moment, but its range and destructive power were tremendous.
In fact, this ninjutsu was more like a Lightning Release version of Sage Art: Storm Release: Light Fang.
Its power naturally fell short of Storm Release, but it was far stronger than an ordinary Lightning Blade.
Uchiha Sora named it Lightning Release: Light Fang Sword!
"It looks like you've already surpassed Kakashi!" Uchiha Shisui remarked after seeing the ninjutsu.
Kakashi was a renowned elite jonin, an expert second only to Shisui within ANBU.
Shisui's assessment clearly meant that he now considered Uchiha Sora the second-strongest member of ANBU.
Uchiha Sora smiled faintly, then formed hand seals and unleashed a Fire Release technique to burn Eagle's corpse. Only then did he say, "Danzo will soon discover that Eagle has been killed. He'll probably make a move, so be as careful as you can."
Shisui nodded. "You should be careful too."
"I will."
The two went their separate ways.
After returning home, Uchiha Sora felt reassured for the moment.
He had deliberately warned Shisui this time to keep him from following his old path to suicide.
In the original plot, Shisui had chosen suicide because Danzo's ambush had cost him an eye and severely weakened him. On top of that, he had been poisoned and no longer had the strength to protect his remaining eye.
Given Danzo's sinister ruthlessness, even fleeing back to the clan would not have saved him from being hunted down.
It might even have dragged the clan into the abyss, forcing it to rebel on the spot. If that happened, Konoha would likely face enormous upheaval.
This time, however, if Shisui retained his full strength, not only would Konoha High Command hesitate to act rashly, but Uchiha Fugaku might also find his plans for a coup thwarted.
Although I'm already strong enough to influence how things unfold, Konoha's internal problems are nowhere near as important as the threats lurking outside, Uchiha Sora thought.
His opponents within Konoha were, at most, people like the Third Hokage and Danzo, whom he did not take too seriously. But he had to remain constantly on guard against Black Zetsu and Obito Uchiha outside the village.
There would even be threats from the Ōtsutsuki Clan in the future...
I still need a little time. As long as Shisui stays alive, the current situation can remain stable, Uchiha Sora planned silently.
Once he grew a little stronger, all these problems would be easily resolved!
The next day, Danzo learned of Eagle's death.
As an ANBU squad captain, Kakashi was also puzzled by Eagle's disappearance. After he reported it to Naruto, the Third Hokage immediately ordered him to investigate.
But Uchiha Sora had covered his tracks so thoroughly that no matter how Kakashi searched, he would never suspect him.
After several days of fruitless searching, the Third Hokage was also preparing to call off the investigation.
After all, the ANBU ninja were busy. They could not devote unlimited effort to investigating one person's disappearance.
But just as the Third Hokage was about to give up, Danzo suddenly came to see him.
"Hiruzen, Eagle's disappearance is connected to Uchiha Sora!" Danzo declared the moment they met.
"Danzo, what do you know?" The Third Hokage frowned, his gaze sharpening.
"Actually, Eagle was someone I sent to infiltrate Uchiha Sora's circle and monitor him," Danzo said.
The Third Hokage flew into a rage. "Danzo! You're going further and further out of line! You even planted your own men in my ANBU!"
"Hiruzen, you can hold me accountable for that later! What I'm saying now is that Uchiha Sora most likely killed Eagle!" Danzo hurriedly said. "The night Eagle disappeared was also the night of the Uchiha Clan's gathering. I specifically sent him to the Uchiha Clan to monitor Uchiha Sora."
"But he didn't return the next day. Clearly, he died in the Uchiha Clan's compound," Danzo said. "Eagle must have discovered something incriminating and been silenced. Otherwise, Uchiha Sora would have had no reason to kill him!"
"What makes you so certain Uchiha Sora killed him?" the Third Hokage asked gravely.
Danzo said, "I have great confidence in Eagle's abilities. There are certainly quite a few people in the Uchiha Clan who could defeat him, but no more than five who could kill him! And there are probably only three who could kill him without letting him send back even a single message!"
"Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Shisui, and Uchiha Sora!"
"Whichever of those three killed Eagle, their motives were anything but innocent!" Danzo concluded.
The Third Hokage's gaze hardened, and he took a deep breath. "It seems the Uchiha Clan really does harbor sinister intentions!"
Before you continue