Shin Uchiha (4)

Hidden Leaf Village Hospital.

A small, one-eyed White Zetsu stood on the windowsill. Aside from that special Mangekyō, it had only a mouth painted with black lipstick. Its little tail wagged excitedly.

The woman lying in the hospital room was unconscious. Her cherry-pink hair made her identity easy to recognize, and she was this little White Zetsu's target.

Just as it activated its Mangekyō's ocular technique, a hand suddenly grabbed it from behind. The little thing immediately sensed trouble and turned its head with difficulty, its face filled with terror.

That was also someone cloaked from head to toe, with similarly pale skin. But this was not the little thing's boss—it was another enemy who wanted to take its eye!

The little thing had just intended to use its ocular technique to escape when the cloaked figure pinned it firmly against the windowsill. At the same time, the figure's other hand slashed viciously across its face and gouged out that special Mangekyō.

"You..."

The little thing wanted to say more, but the cloaked figure had no intention of sparing it. A large bundle of "heating pads" was stuffed into its mouth before it was flung high into the air, where it exploded with a bang.

The explosion from the Exploding Tags quickly drew the medical ninjas over. The cloaked figure remained unhurried, removing one of his own eyes and pressing the Mangekyō Sharingan into place before swiftly connecting the optic nerve.

The instant Shizune arrived in response to the noise, the cloaked figure activated his ocular technique and left. Shizune pushed open the door and saw nothing except blood dripping from the windowsill—the little thing's blood—and curtains fluttering in the wind.

She hurried to the windowsill. In the sky hung the smoke from the explosion, while fragments of the little thing's corpse scattered down like rain.

Shizune murmured, "What kind of enemy would dare attack inside Hidden Leaf Village Hospital?"

Over at A Pass, Shin Uchiha was still making preparations to attack Sarada atop a raised stone pillar. After taking off his black robe, he revealed another uniform that was all too familiar, one that had disappeared long ago: Akatsuki's cloud-patterned robe!

"Akatsuki's revival!!"

"Yes!"

Below him stood a group of White Zetsu dressed in clothing bearing the Uchiha clan crest. Every one of them possessed a Sharingan as they waited for the father atop the platform to speak.

After a long wait, the little thing did not return to the base with Sakura. Instead, another unfamiliar man emerged from space-time.

He said coldly, "You will go cause some trouble for me first."

"Who are you? Wait... your eye?!" Shin cried out in terror.

The Mangekyō's ocular technique activated. The power of a space-time vortex swept Shin away, and the group of White Zetsu below him could not escape either. They were all packed up and transported over to Boruto's side.

Naruto was trying to comfort the dejected Sarada, but she remained fixated on the relationship between her parents. Since she could not get an answer from her father, she could only ask the woman in the photograph herself.

Shin and his group appeared from the sky within space-time. Before they could even figure out what was happening, they were forced into battle with Naruto and the others.

Seeing that all the sons behind him had been transported over, Shin could only meet Naruto's group in battle first and look for a chance to slip away afterward.

"Move out, Shin," Shin Uchiha said.

"Yes, Father!" the White Zetsu answered in unison.

Before landing, they hurled a large number of throwing weapons—Shuriken and kunai. Shin Uchiha threw blades instead, the kind sharpened on both sides.

Naruto had originally been comforting Sarada, but upon hearing the sound of Shuriken slicing through the air, he quickly manipulated the Nine-Tails' power to form a protective barrier, blocking every Shuriken outside it.

After landing, Naruto was stunned by the group of Sharingan. Though mildly surprised, his gaze quickly locked onto Shin Uchiha, who wore the Akatsuki cloud-patterned robe.

Shin stared coldly back at Naruto. Though he had planned to attack Naruto in the first place, being passively transported here still irritated him, and he had also lost the ability to flee whenever he wished.

As the leader, it did not matter if his subordinates died. He could reproduce them at any time. But he absolutely could not afford to suffer any harm himself!

At that moment, Sasuke emerged from the tower. The two sides quickly fell into a standoff, while Boruto and Sarada stood behind them.

Naruto immediately activated Nine-Tails Chakra Mode. An orange-gold fox head shielded the three behind it, while Sasuke, standing outside, launched an attack on the enemy.

Shin Uchiha was not about to back down. He immediately leaped into the air, diving toward Sasuke as Sasuke rose from the ground to meet him. Seizing the initiative, Shin threw a large number of blades from his sleeves, but Sasuke's Sharingan caught every one of them, and he blocked them with the Kusanagi Blade at astonishing speed.

The blades were knocked flying in every direction as Shin clashed head-on with Sasuke. The Kusanagi Blade and kunai locked briefly, and then Shin activated his ocular technique. Those specially made blades shot back from midair, attacking Sasuke from all directions.

Just as Shin revealed a triumphant smile, Sasuke's left eye flashed. When the blades were only centimeters from Sasuke's body, something changed with a thud!

Sasuke and Shin switched places. Shin had no time to react and took all of his own attacks head-on. Ghastly wounds immediately appeared across his body. After all, the blades were specially made—either edge of their double-sided blades could pierce Shin's skin.

Blood immediately gushed out. Sasuke swiftly turned around, gripping the Kusanagi Blade in one hand and pushing the hilt with the other. He drove it down fiercely, using the force of his descent to aim for Shin's heart.

"Father!" the White Zetsu shouted anxiously.

A sparse rain of Shuriken shot forth, their trajectories blocking Sasuke's inevitable path of descent. They wanted to force Sasuke to dodge and give their father an opening to escape.

Yet Sasuke simply summoned a skeletal purple Susanoo. The Shuriken struck the Susanoo with sharp clangs, unable to threaten Sasuke's attack at all.

In a single exchange, half of Shin's arm was severed cleanly by the Kusanagi Blade. The pain made Shin let out a tearing howl as he rapidly retreated toward the White Zetsu army.

"Father, are you all right?!" one of the White Zetsu asked as it stepped forward in concern.

Shin Uchiha ruthlessly cut off its arm and attached it to his own. Though that White Zetsu was in pain, it still waited quietly for orders.

The sight utterly shattered Sarada's worldview. Witnessing it firsthand made her nauseated. After all, she was not even a trainee ninja and had never seen blood spill before.

Boruto was much calmer. He remembered that the enemy's ability was to control objects. Rather than using that ocular power to launch a surprise attack as in the original story, had Shin exposed his ability directly in a frontal battle instead?

Next, the injured leader retreated into the background while the Mangekyō White Zetsu charged fearlessly toward Naruto's side. The two sides soon descended into a melee. Without Sasuke activating his giant form, he was still at a disadvantage against so many opponents, especially with only one arm.

At that moment, Boruto, who had been standing in the safe zone, made his move. He walked out from Naruto's fox-shaped barrier and opened with the Shadow Clone Technique. The difference in numbers was instantly evened out.

"Boruto?!" Naruto shouted softly.

Boruto's Shadow Clones fought the Mangekyō White Zetsu back and forth. Their weapons came in all kinds of forms, while the Shadow Clones wielded ordinary kunai, yet Boruto still did not fall behind!

The White Zetsu had not expected this brat to be so formidable. In their eyes, with the power of the Mangekyō and their proud Uchiha clan identity—self-proclaimed, of course—the battle should have been completely one-sided!

While everyone's attention was focused on Boruto, Shin Uchiha smiled silently and turned to run toward the rear. He had never intended to fight them to the death!

Seeing this, Naruto quickly locked onto Shin Uchiha. He created Shadow Clones to continue protecting Sarada, while Naruto himself caught up to Shin Uchiha with several Body Flicker Techniques.

First, this was not his laboratory, and being suddenly transported here meant he did not have enough weapons to control. Second, since all his members had been transported over, there was no scene of Shin's betrayal from the original story, nor would there be the later scene of Shin creating companions himself.

So if Shin died on the battlefield, he died. He also no longer had a Mangekyō to use for escape, so he could only flee in disgrace.

But his speed was ultimately no match for Naruto's. An orange flash soon caught up to Shin Uchiha. Realizing he had nowhere left to retreat, Shin began a desperate counterattack. Beneath the Akatsuki cloud-patterned robe was a body covered in Sharingan, like decorative patterns on clothing—except these ornaments were embedded across his skin.

In the distance, Boruto, who had killed every last White Zetsu, watched the scene and remarked, "You supposedly investigated Akatsuki so thoroughly. Don't you know that Akatsuki members die the moment they take off their clothes?"

After dealing with the White Zetsu, Sasuke and the others returned to Naruto's Shadow Clone. Sarada watched the entire battle, her body still trembling slightly. Sasuke glanced at his daughter, then looked toward Boruto, who was fighting while covered in blood...

Boruto's inner thoughts: The pressure is on Sarada.