Suspicion, Thought, and Growth

Uchiha Yuan had always lived cautiously.

It had even led his teacher, Orochimaru, to mistakenly believe that his own prudence and caution had been influenced by him.

But now, the boiling thrill between life and death was truly intoxicating.

These Evil Spirit Ninja wanted to kill him, but wasn't he also using them to gain practical combat experience?

His right hand curled slightly, and the ninja tools scattered across the ground suddenly floated into the air.

At that very instant.

A ninja wearing a Blank Mask flashed behind Uchiha Yuan.

A Bagua-like Jutsu Formula had been carved into his exposed chest.

A kunai plunged into his heart, twisted, and was pulled free. Blood burst forth, hissing through the air like wind.

Uchiha Yuan turned around impassively and waved his hand.

The floating ninja tools shot toward him. Half remained suspended in the air, while the other half turned the caster into a human pincushion.

A massive sealing force surged from the corpse, like a whirlpool in the deep sea.

"Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique"!

An S-rank Sealing Technique that sealed all surrounding matter into the corpse and dragged it into the underworld.

The formula activated the instant the Blank Mask ninja took his own life!

With death hanging overhead, Uchiha Yuan's heart was as cold as ice as he extended his right hand and pushed outward.

The dense swarm of ninja tools, together with the Blank Mask ninja who had cast the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, instantly caught up with the six fleeing ninjas.

Uchiha Yuan gave a sinister smile and clenched his distant hand.

"Shuriken Technique: Blood Crow Storm!"

The ninja tools spun and shot through the air, scraping against one another with a thunderous roar of steel.

The splattered blood began to whirl, forming a crimson storm.

Lightning flickered through it, igniting the blood into a grim blaze of scarlet flame.

The flashing red light illuminated Uchiha Yuan's profile, making him seem like a bloodthirsty asura.

Around the ninja who had cast the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique, time and space seemed to freeze. A black spherical space expanded, then instantly collapsed, sealing away all six living men along with their ninja tools.

Watching the silent corpses fall, Uchiha Yuan flashed over.

The bodies lying on the ground no longer carried any trace of life.

Even the Blank Mask had been sealed away, revealing a young, pale face beneath it.

Taking a deep breath, Uchiha Yuan flashed toward the battlefield where Shisui was fighting.

The tall ninja was exchanging ninjutsu with Shisui. After realizing he could gain no advantage in taijutsu or shuriken techniques, he chose to keep his distance from Shisui.

Uchiha Yuan stepped in without ceremony, throwing a kunai that curved around behind the tall ninja and plunged directly into his back.

Uchiha Yuan took out a Sealing Scroll for storing corpses and sealed the tall ninja inside.

This group of ninjas acted with madness and even knew the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique.

The mastermind behind them was all but obvious.

And Uchiha Yuan possessed the Forbidden Jutsu scroll for Impure World Reincarnation and also knew the Spiritualisation Technique.

Naturally, he wanted to give that lord a little Uchiha "shock."

"Brother Yuan, are you alright?!"

The moment the words left his mouth, Shisui regretted them.

Brother Yuan looked calm. Aside from some dust on his clothes, he did not look like someone who had just gone through a battle.

Meanwhile, although Shisui was uninjured, his clothes were in tatters.

And he had foolishly gone to worry about someone else...

"I'm fine. I owe you one this time."

Uchiha Yuan smiled.

Shisui waved his hand, then suddenly jumped up in excitement.

"Brother Yuan, I know the principle behind that shuriken technique of yours now!"

The twelve-year-old immediately began searching the training ground for a special ninja tool. However, he found only a few, and none of them bore the runes he had spotted earlier.

Uchiha Yuan shook his head with a laugh.

Everyone in the clan with any reputation had some measure of obsession with martial prowess.

From their ancestor Madara down to Shisui and Itachi.

Scratching his head, Shisui asked dejectedly, "Brother Yuan, did you use Sealing Technique to store Chakra inside the ninja tools, then control them 'according to your will'?"

At that moment, Uchiha Yuan found himself envious of Shisui's Sharingan.

With only a single observation, he had identified the principle behind Uchiha Yuan's shuriken technique.

In truth, faced with the predicament of his partially petrified left hand being unable to form Hand Seals normally, Uchiha Yuan had no choice but to try developing a new shuriken technique.

After integrating the Demonic Statue genes, he had developed the unique ability to summon Demonic Statue Fragments at will.

He used the Contract Seal to seal the Chakra transferred by the Demonic Statue into ninja tools, solving the problem of Chakra rapidly dissipating.

Originally, this had merely been an attempt by Uchiha Yuan to develop a new shuriken technique.

But unexpectedly, the specially made ninja tools, like Demonic Statue Fragments, obeyed Uchiha Yuan's will completely.

As a result, this newly developed shuriken technique resembled sword control more than anything else.

And in the battle just now, through his rapid exchanges of ninja tools with the six ninjas.

Uchiha Yuan used his highly practiced Contract Seal to seal the Chakra of Demonic Statue Fragments into his opponents' ninja tools.

In chaotic combat, if thrown ninja tools failed to kill their targets, they were difficult for ninjas to make use of again.

But Uchiha Yuan had exploited this blind spot.

Those six ninjas probably never imagined, even before death, that Uchiha Yuan would use their own ninja tools to plow through the flesh all over their bodies.

"Brother Yuan, who do you think these ninjas were?"

Having finally calmed down, Shisui examined the sole remaining corpse.

He did not ask about what Uchiha Yuan had done, nor would he tell anyone. He would even help cover it up.

Uchiha Yuan pointed at the corpse.

"Rather than saying his companions died by our hands, it would be more accurate to say they were caught up in the Sealing Technique he cast."

"So, Shisui. Who do you think they resemble?"

There was nothing on the corpse that could prove its identity, and neither its ninjutsu nor taijutsu revealed any clues. It was as though these ninjas had never left any trace in this world.

Other than their unforgettable madness.

Shisui had heard of them, but he could not be certain.

Uchiha Yuan was indeed influencing and nurturing Shisui. Now, it seemed Shisui's changes were even more gratifying than Itachi's.

"Brother Yuan, there are some things I've wanted to tell you ever since you returned."

"Go on."

"I can feel that the village higher-ups don't seem to like our Uchiha Clan very much."

Uchiha Yuan smiled like an old father.

"Tell me."

Shisui frowned and thought as hard as he could.

"Like this time, when the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox destroyed the village, even I saw those enormous Sharingan."

"I think it's normal for the village to suspect our Uchiha Clan."

"Go on," Uchiha Yuan encouraged him.

"Our Uchiha Clan was willing to accept ANBU investigations. We even gave up the Police Force's duties during this period, simply waiting for the village higher-ups to clear our name."

Uchiha Yuan understood. After Nine-Tails Night, the entire Police Force had stopped working and accepted investigation, temporarily handing their duties over to ANBU.

That was why Shisui, as a member of the Police Force, had not intervened when he saw the dispute at Konoha Hospital.

"But half a month has already passed. Everyone in the clan has undergone ANBU investigation, and those ninjas who have awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan were individually subjected to focused scrutiny."

"The village higher-ups found no evidence that our Uchiha Clan had anything to do with the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox's destruction of the village."

"Then why won't they clear our name?"

"Are the village's prejudices against us really that deep?"

Uchiha Yuan wore the smile of an old farmer who had just finished planting rice seedlings.

Shisui's growth was looking very promising.

He was questioning the village's stance, thinking about the village's aims and the clan's future.

That was the direction Shisui's growth should take.