Devil Fruit Seal in Naruto

The next morning.

Uchiha Raizen stepped out of the laboratory, carefully holding the Phoenix Fruit that hadn't been successfully extracted yet, and headed toward the Konoha village gate.

On his way, he informed the Konoha Police Force, including Uchiha Yashiro, to avoid any misunderstandings. He didn't want these hawkish members to think he had become a traitor like Itachi.

At the Konoha village gate.

From afar, he could see three figures waiting for him.

Among them was a pretty girl with a high golden ponytail and a graceful figure — Inori.

The other two were a tall man with a beard, smoking a cigarette, hands in his pockets, even taller than the 1.8-meter Uchiha Raizen.

Beside him stood a beautiful woman with black hair, red eyes, and bright red lips.

They were Asuma Sarutobi and Kurenai Yuhi.

"Raizen-kun!" Inori waved happily, full of youthful energy under the morning sunlight.

Uchiha Raizen affectionately pinched Inori's smooth cheek, "Sweetie."

Inori's cheeks flushed pink. She glanced at Asuma and Kurenai and whispered, "They're here."

Kurenai covered her mouth and smiled softly, "Ah, sweetie, is this young love? It's really enviable!"

Inori's face turned even redder, "Miss Kurenai!"

Kurenai sighed strangely, "Women my age just can't keep up with trends anymore."

"Miss Kurenai is only about four or five years older than me, how could she be behind? Hehe, Miss Kurenai is so beautiful, she must have many admirers. Why don't you let them give you a nickname too?"

"Don't say nonsense!" Kurenai snapped.

"Who made fun of me first, Miss Kurenai?" Inori huffed.

As the two women talked, Asuma's face showed a hint of awkwardness.

Especially when Inori mentioned Kurenai having many admirers, he got even more embarrassed, scratching his foot nervously.

Because he was one of those admirers, and had been chasing her for a long time.

Uchiha Raizen knew about the relationship between Asuma and Kurenai.

In the original story, when Asuma was killed by the Akatsuki, he left a child in Kurenai's womb.

But judging by Asuma's expression now, Kurenai probably hadn't accepted his feelings yet.

He certainly wouldn't bother to get involved in such matters.

To him, Asuma was worth a fortune — like 35 million ryō.

Clearing his throat, Uchiha Raizen suppressed the greedy thoughts in his heart and greeted them:

"Asuma-san, Kurenai-san."

Asuma, the son of the Third Hokage, once served as the protector ninja for the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.

The "Fire" emblem hanging at his waist proved this.

His skills had already reached the rank of Jonin early on.

Kurenai Yūhi was called a new Jonin by Kakashi and others when the original Konoha Twelve graduated. But at this point in time, she was still an elite Chunin specializing in genjutsu at just twenty years old.

As for Inori, because of her mastery of the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques and her advanced sensory skills, she was already recognized as a special Jonin.

By comparison, among the four, the weakest openly was Uchiha Raizen. Four years after graduating from the Ninja Academy, he was still a Genin and hadn't even taken the Chunin exam.

Asuma, who was in an awkward position, quietly relaxed when Raizen greeted him, then smiled warmly and said, "Hello, Uchiha Raizen. I'm the team leader for escorting the foreign noble to the Land of Hot Springs this time. Please take care of me."

This S-rank mission was very simple — to escort a noble to the Land of Hot Springs.

But because the journey was quite long and there might be attacks along the way, the rich noble offered a high price of six million ryō.

Uchiha Raizen shook hands briefly with Asuma, and the four-person team was officially formed.

Inori and Kurenai also stopped playing around and looked at Captain Asuma.

Asuma said, "Alright, the mission begins! First, we head to a small town thirty km from the village. The person we protect is there."

After he finished speaking, he took the lead, setting off with Uchiha Raizen, Yamanaka Inori, and Kurenai, quickly leaving Konoha village behind.

Almost at the same time, the Konoha barrier squad sensed the four had left.

Because this mission was assigned by the village and led by the Hokage's son, they did not take any special action.

But this matter was reported to Danzo by a Root organization spy planted here.

Danzo's face darkened with a cruel expression upon hearing the news.

Yesterday, Sarutobi Hiruzen's words, "I am the Hokage," had kept him awake all night.

"Sarutobi, your innocence won't protect the village. Do you really think letting members of the Uchiha clan take part in high-level missions will erase their evil thoughts? How naive!"

Danzo had to admit, after competing with Sarutobi Hiruzen for decades, he knew the man's thoughts too well.

He immediately saw that Sarutobi agreed to let the Uchiha join this S-rank mission to show goodwill toward the clan and try to ease the tension between them.

To Danzo, this was pure foolishness.

When dealing with the Uchiha, one should follow the strict style of the Second Hokage and punish them all with death!

"If you are unfit to be Hokage, don't blame me for taking matters into my own hands."

Danzo called two Root members over, his tone dark and threatening:

"Ren, your chance for revenge has come."

"What?" Yamanaka Ren suddenly looked up.

Danzo told Ren about Uchiha Raizen and Yamanaka Inori leaving the village together on a mission.

Ren clenched his fists, his eyes filled with jealousy and hatred. He knelt on one knee:

"Thank you, Lord Danzo, for letting me know. I will definitely kill that Uchiha Raizen!"

"Good. After you kill him, you can be with the woman you love."

Yamanaka Ren said excitedly, "I understand, sir!"

Danzo watched Yamanaka Ren closely, a cold smile playing in his heart.

He was only using Ren's jealousy and darkness inside him. He never really intended to let him be with any woman.

Once you join Root, you are a Root member for life. Even in death, you are a ghost of Root.

"I will send Torune with you."

Torune was an excellent Root ninja, ranked among the top in Root.

With him and Yamanaka Ren working together, assassinating a Genin Uchiha ninja would be no problem.

But Danzo didn't know that Uchiha Raizen was the one who tricked him yesterday. So why did he insist on killing Raizen?

Was it really to help Yamanaka Ren get revenge?

No way.

He actually had two true goals.

One was to destroy Sarutobi Hiruzen's naive idea of making peace with the Uchiha clan, and to make the Uchiha hate Sarutobi even more.

The other was because of Uchiha Raizen's older sister, Uchiha Hikari.

That's right. When Uchiha Hikari went to the Land of Water for a secret meeting, it wasn't on the direct orders of the Hokage's Anbu.

It was an order from Danzo Shimura himself!

Calling it an order isn't quite right — it was more like a threat and coercion!

A few days ago, a letter was sent to the Konoha Intelligence Division.

Under threats and intimidation, Uchiha Hikari had no choice but to lie to reassure her younger brother.

Originally, Danzo planned to use Uchiha Hikari for a while longer to gather intelligence on the Mist Village in the Land of Water.

But yesterday's anger made him impatient.

He decided to use the deaths of the siblings, Uchiha Hikari and Uchiha Raizen, to vent his dark and twisted feelings and to recover the two lost Sharingan eyes.

"Tatsuma, take your team to the Land of Water. Kill Uchiha Hikari and bring back her eyes."

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

Aburame Tatsuma, an elite of the Root organization, once teamed up with Orochimaru and is a powerful elite jonin!

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