Devil Fruit Seal in Naruto

"Hmph, acting all noble and righteous… but when it comes to your beloved little brother, don't you still lose your temper?"

Uchiha Raizen's real body was currently hiding in a bush.

Against a genjutsu master like Uchiha Itachi, of course he wouldn't foolishly face him with his true body.

Before unlocking the Mangekyō Sharingan himself, it was still quite risky to face Itachi's Tsukuyomi.

Uchiha Raizen thought back to the original story and the reason why Itachi didn't kill Sasuke, then sneered and muttered to himself:

"He claimed Sasuke was too young and didn't understand anything, so he shouldn't be killed. Ridiculous. There were newborns among the Uchiha civilians too, weren't there? But you still slaughtered them without mercy."

"And when you left the village, you even threatened Danzō not to harm Sasuke, using the excuse of possibly leaking village secrets. Heh… your little brother is sacred, but everyone else's little brothers don't matter, huh?"

"Not to mention the elderly like Granny Yōko, who lost all their children. You still had the heart to kill them!"

"A beast is a beast. Don't expect redemption from me!"

And Itachi wasn't the only beast. There was also the masked man—Uchiha Obito. Another disgrace.

Raizen's eyes grew cold, and out of the corner of his eye, he noticed two unconscious Root shinobi at his feet. His thoughts stirred.

These two had clearly been planted in Itachi's team by Danzō to keep an eye on him. Especially today, the day of the Uchiha clan gathering—it was a day of great importance. Danzō was probably waiting on their report.

There might be a way to use this to his advantage.

Raizen quickly came up with a plan.

Root Headquarters.

"Lord Danzo, we've lost contact with the two operatives assigned to watch Itachi."

"What?"

Danzo, who had been waiting here since before dawn for news of the Uchiha clan's gathering, scowled darkly.

"What happened?"

The subordinate reporting to him said, "We had arranged radio check-ins every hour, but it's been fifteen minutes past the scheduled time—and there's still no signal."

"That means something went wrong." Danzo tightened his grip on the cane in his hand. "Was it Itachi? I've always said the Uchiha clan can't be trusted!"

Just as the words left his mouth—

Boom! Boom!

Two loud explosions suddenly echoed from outside the building.

Every Root member was instantly alerted. Led by Danzo, they used Body Flicker to rush out.

Outside, two massive craters had been blown into the ground by explosive tags. At the bottom of each pit lay the charred corpses of the two operatives from Itachi's squad.

Their bodies were completely scorched—lifeless.

"Lord Danzo! Someone wrote something on their corpses… with blood!"

Danzo stepped forward to see for himself. One glance—and rage surged through his entire body. His jaw clenched, eyes bloodshot, and he roared furiously:

"Who wrote this?! Damn bastard!!"

What kind of message could make the old schemer Danzo this furious?

It turns out that a sentence was written on the corpse:

"Trash Danzo, you'll never become Hokage."

Back then, when Tobirama Senju asked who was willing to sacrifice themselves to determine the next Hokage, Danzo hesitated for just a moment. 

That tiny delay let Hiruzen Sarutobi seize the opportunity—and the Hokage title slipped right through Danzo's fingers. It became the greatest regret of his life.

Decades had passed. 

Hiruzen was already serving his second term as Hokage, and Danzo was still just a so-called "advisor." The envy and bitterness in his heart had long reached a boiling point.

He had even sent assassins after Hiruzen several times, but each attempt ended in failure.

And now, someone had dared to expose the deepest scar in his heart—and in such a public, provocative way by delivering a corpse with this humiliating message. It's no wonder Danzo was enraged beyond control.

"Find the one who did this! I don't care if you have to dig up the whole damn village—bring him to me!"

Danzo roared in fury.

The Root members nearby flinched. None of them had ever seen Lord Danzo this angry before.

"I've sensed them! Over there!"

Two blond Root suddenly pointed toward the seven o'clock direction.

"Fū, Ren! Lead the way! We absolutely cannot let that bastard escape!"

"Yes, Lord Danzo!"

The two blond Root members were both from the Yamanaka Clan. 

One was Yamanaka Ren, who had just recently been brought under Danzo's control. 

The other was Yamanaka Fū, a prodigy raised by Danzo since childhood.

Both of them were sensory-type shinobi.

An angry Danzo brought all his subordinates with him, following closely behind the two. Soon, they spotted a black-robed figure fleeing in the distance.

Yamanaka Ren thought to himself, "I've just joined Root and haven't had the chance to prove myself. This is the perfect opportunity to show Lord Danzo what I can do."

With that, he formed a hand sign that resembled taking a photo, aiming at the black-robed figure from afar.

"Ninja Art: Mind Body Switch Technique!"

His mental energy shot forward, just about to hit the fleeing figure—when suddenly, the target leapt sharply to the left, dodging it at the last second.

Beside him, Yamanaka Fu frowned in confusion. "That guy seems to know a lot about the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques."

"We'll find out once we capture and interrogate him."

Danzo's voice was cold and menacing. He formed hand seals—he was going to take action himself. Clearly, the words spoken earlier had struck a nerve.

He took a deep breath. "Wind Style: Vacuum Bullet!"

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Sharp bursts of wind shot forward like bullets.

The black-robed figure had no choice but to keep dodging.

The other Root members used the opportunity to encircle him.

Danzo's eyes were filled with murderous intent and cruelty. "Let me see who you really are. I promise you—your death will be a living nightmare."

However—

As Danzo and the others approached the figure in the black cloak, he suddenly vanished without a trace.

"A shadow clone? Damn it!"

Startled, Danzo quickly turned around.

"Return immediately! We've fallen for a diversion tactic!"

You had to admit—villains weren't stupid. Danzo realized instantly that he'd been tricked.

Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Uchiha Raizen, disguised as Uchiha Itachi, had already infiltrated the Root headquarters, which was more vulnerable than ever before.

He wasn't there just to annoy Danzo. His main goal was simple—money.

If Danzo could pull off so many secret operations through Root, then funding clearly wasn't an issue.

Raizen was curious—just how much wealth had that old schemer hoarded?

But the Root base was huge, dimly lit, and completely unfamiliar. It took him a while to finally locate Danzo's office.

Before he could search thoroughly, the information from his shadow clone returned to his real body—he was running out of time.

Raizen scanned the room quickly, spotted a box that looked particularly expensive, and without hesitation, took the entire thing.

He left immediately, not wasting even a second more.

A few minutes later.

Danzo returned with everyone, furious.

At a glance, he noticed the box containing important items in his office was missing.

He couldn't help but grow even angrier and kicked Yamanaka Ren hard, shouting, "You useless fool!"

Yamanaka Ren looked confused and frustrated.

But he didn't have the courage to argue with Lord Danzo and could only tremble and lower his head.

Danzo's anger was still not spent. As the Hokage's assistant and leader of Root, he was second only to the Hokage in Konoha. He was used to manipulating others, never having been toyed with like this before.

It was a humiliation—an unbearable disgrace!

Danzo gritted his teeth in hatred, feeling the urge to kill.

He struggled hard to suppress his raging fury inside. At times like this, staying calm was even more necessary, or else the enemy would become more arrogant.

Danzo took several deep breaths, calming his emotions, but his expression grew even fiercer.

He went to the surveillance room to check the footage.

Probably no one in Konoha expected the cunning and sly Danzo to monitor the Uchiha twenty-four hours a day, including having cameras in his own office.

Luckily, Uchiha Raizen had disguised himself as Uchiha Itachi using a transformation technique, just in case. Otherwise, Danzo would have found out for sure.

Watching the footage, Danzo soon confirmed the figure entering his office.

He couldn't help but growl low, "Uchiha Itachi, it really is you!"

**********

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