In the early hours, outside Konoha Hospital.
The Root member assigned to surveillance hid in a dense tree, watching Uchiha Xia Yu's every move through the hospital window.
Before long, a black-clad ninja wearing a mask with green markings appeared behind him.
The Root member hurriedly turned around and immediately greeted the newcomer respectfully. "Captain Terai! You're here."
The ninja called Terai nodded. "Yes. How is it going? Is Xia Yu still inside?"
"He's still outside delivery room four, together with a group of women. They seem to be waiting for that Inuzuka Clan woman's baby to be born."
"She's been in labor this long and still hasn't finished?"
"According to our intelligence, that Inuzuka Clan woman has developed some physical complications. There's a risk of a difficult delivery."
At this, Terai cursed viciously. "Damn it, what a waste of time! If that woman struggles with labor all night, is Xia Yu going to stay at the hospital all night too?"
The hospital was a public place, with large numbers of people coming and going day and night.
To complete the mission without drawing attention, Terai couldn't strike in a hospital full of people and prying eyes. He could only arrange the assassination along Xia Yu's route back to the Uchiha Clan Compound.
But a long, long time passed...
The doors of delivery room four remained tightly shut.
Terai looked up at the faintly brightening sky, steeled himself, and ordered sharply:
"We can't wait any longer! Stay here. I'm going to kill Xia Yu right now! Once it's done, we'll immediately head to the Uchiha Clan Compound and seize the children. We must finish every task Lord Danzo assigned us before dawn!"
The members' expressions changed at his words.
"Captain Terai, there are so many people in the hospital. You'll be spotted!"
"Then let them spot me! Xia Yu is only genin-level at best, and everyone around him is an ordinary civilian. A single kunai is all I need to kill him! Even if someone spots me, no one will be able to catch me!"
As he spoke, Terai removed every trace of his affiliation with Konoha, even replacing his mask with a different type to keep anyone from recognizing him as a member of the Anbu's Root.
Once he was ready, Terai ignored the members' attempts to stop him and vanished into the darkness...
Outside delivery room four at Konoha Hospital.
Uchiha Xia Yu paced anxiously up and down the corridor, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
It was taking too long!
Nearly two whole hours had passed!
There was still no news from inside the delivery room.
Xia Yu no longer cared whether the baby could be delivered safely. All he cared about now was whether Akimi Inuzuka would be all right!
A difficult delivery this time wasn't frightening; they could have another child later. If the woman giving birth was gone, none of it would mean anything!
His wives, who were also waiting outside the door, tried to reassure him one after another:
"Darling, don't worry. Qiushi will definitely be all right!"
"That's right! Qiushi is so healthy, and she's an elite jonin of the village, as well as the main director of the Konoha Advanced Technology Research Institute. The meals she plans for herself are always the most nutritious out of all of ours. With all that, nothing could possibly happen to her!"
"Sigh, girls, that's all true, but I'm still worried. It's been two hours without any results. That's far too unusual!"
"Darling, do you think Qiushi can make it through this? I'm so scared..."
The wives waiting beside Xia Yu for Qiushi to give birth were all the women closest to her.
Though they offered one another warm words of comfort, none of them actually felt certain about Qiushi's situation.
Xia Yu sighed and turned toward the delivery room door.
Suddenly, a kunai broke through the window, heading straight for Xia Yu's heart.
"!!!"
Xia Yu hurriedly twisted aside, dodging the kunai.
That attack had definitely been aimed at him!
He instantly understood that someone wanted to kill him!
In the past, Xia Yu probably would have immediately fled with his hands over his head, begging anyone and everyone to spare him.
But things were different now.
Xia Yu had already gained the strength to hold his own.
He didn't have to cower anymore!
"You all hide, quickly! I'll catch that person first. I'm leaving Qiushi to you!"
Xia Yu's wives were all ordinary people. They had never experienced anything like this. They hurriedly huddled together with the young nurses passing nearby, trembling in a corner.
"Help! There's an intruder in the hospital! Go find a ninja!"
Soon, the alarm sounded.
Hidden outside the window, Terai was secretly startled. He had intended to finish it with one strike, never expecting a useless fool like Xia Yu to dodge his attack.
Terai prepared to retreat for now and find another chance to assassinate him once the commotion had died down a little.
"Who are you? Stop running!"
Xia Yu spotted him outside the window and immediately leaped out in pursuit.
Letting this assassin escape would be like releasing a tiger back into the mountains. He had to capture him alive and torture the answers out of him!
Xia Yu had that much confidence in his fighting ability. Or rather, he wanted to use this battle to test his mettle, to make his actual combat debut since transmigrating to the shinobi world.
Over the past half year or more, he hadn't simply been mindlessly fathering children.
Every day, Xia Yu set aside an hour to train together with Sasuke, improving alongside him so that when he gained power in the future, he could quickly master and use it.
"Stop! Don't run!"
Xia Yu stayed close behind Terai, racing across the rooftops in relentless pursuit.
Terai had been reproaching himself and feeling frustrated over the failed assassination, but when he saw Xia Yu actually following him of his own accord, his mood immediately improved.
"Huh? Is this kid an idiot? He actually dared to follow me! Hahaha, heaven is on my side! Xia Yu, I'll lead you somewhere deserted and dispose of you!"
Terai knew Xia Yu. Though born into the powerful Uchiha Clan, he had never learned even the most basic ninjutsu growing up. Other than knowing how to deal with women, he was essentially the most useless of the useless. Terai could easily crush him with a single finger.
As far as Terai was concerned, the assassination attempt had failed only because the glass had affected the kunai's trajectory. Xia Yu couldn't possibly have dodged it himself.
Almost there. We'll be out of the village center soon. Xia Yu, you'd better keep up. Don't give up halfway!
With that goal in mind, Terai deliberately slowed down, afraid that Xia Yu wouldn't be able to keep up if he ran too fast.
Seeing the black-clad man ahead deliberately slow down, Xia Yu grew suspicious:
Is this guy deliberately waiting for me...? Heh, interesting. I have to find out why you want to kill me!
Xia Yu didn't care whether he was standing in the village center or anywhere else. As long as it wasn't the Uchiha Clan Compound, he would have no reservations.
With that thought, he rapidly formed hand seals, gathering an enormous amount of chakra in his throat in one breath before spitting a mass of blazing fire toward the black-clad man. It grew larger and larger.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
Perhaps it was because this was his first time using fire release ninjutsu, or perhaps his chakra reserves had increased so much that he had forgotten to control them, but the great fireball Xia Yu spat out was absurdly huge!
It looked like a small meteor engulfed in roaring flames.
A quarter of Konoha, which had been shrouded in darkness, was instantly illuminated!
"Holy shit!"
Terai had never seen such an enormous great fireball. He was completely dumbstruck and even forgot to run for his life!
What the fuck was that?
You call that a great fireball? That's clearly a meteor!
Terai knew he couldn't possibly dodge it. Even ten lives wouldn't be enough!
Xia Yu was stunned too.
He knew that, regardless of a ninjutsu's rank, its effects and range were determined by the user's chakra reserves.
Could my chakra reserves already have reached such an astonishing level?
That made sense...
In the past two weeks, his chakra reserves had multiplied dozens of times over, equivalent to triggering the effects of Takigakure's treasure, Hero Water, several times!
It would have been strange if he had little chakra!
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!" ×N
"Water release scroll, release!" ×N
Just as that enormous fireball was about to engulf some of Konoha's buildings and claim Terai's life, more than thirty Root ninjas appeared together. Those who knew water release and those who didn't all did everything they could to extinguish the fireball.
"Phew..."
Only after the last flicker of flame had gone out did the Root ninjas finally relax.
No matter how dirty the work they usually did, they were still Konoha ninjas, after all. Protecting the village was an instinctive response.
But they also knew they had caused trouble...
With such a huge commotion inside the village, there was no way to hide it.
Presumably, the Third Hokage, the Anbu, and all sorts of jonin and chunin within the village would arrive here one after another within seconds.
"I'm sorry, Lord Danzo..."
Terai's expression had already turned hopeless.
Yet what drove him to even greater despair was what he had witnessed today... Uchiha Xia Yu's true strength.
"No... impossible. This... this is absolutely impossible!"
"Xia Yu, why are you so strong?"
"Was that useless lecher image you maintained before all an act?!!!"
Before you continue