Devil Fruit Seal in Naruto

"Uchiha Raizen from the Hidden Leaf Village, huh... It seems the world has birthed another unstable element. People like him are obstacles to peace."

Pain's voice was cold and indifferent, as if spoken by a god with no emotion.

Standing beside him, Konan—perched on the finger labeled "White"—asked,

"Should we send someone else to continue the assassination? The client put a bounty of ten million ryō on that nobleman named Nobunaga."

Orochimaru, unusually eager, stepped forward and volunteered,

"Leader, if someone must go, let it be me. I won't fail."

Kakuzu turned and glared, clearly annoyed.

"Orochimaru, what's that supposed to mean? Are you mocking me on purpose?"

Sasori of the Red Sand added, "Orochimaru, you're teamed up with me, you know. And I haven't agreed to anything yet. Besides, we're still far from that location."

"Yare yare... Can't escape arguments no matter where we go," sighed a figure carrying a massive executioner's blade—Juzō Biwa, a former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

"Silence!" commanded Pain, his tone absolute. "Akatsuki's current mission is to gather funds. We must avoid direct conflict with the Five Great Nations for now. Cancel the mission. We can't risk everything over something so small."

With the leader's decision made, no one spoke further.

Only a strange glint flickered in Orochimaru's snake-like eyes.

Though he had defected from the Leaf years ago, he never stopped keeping an eye on its affairs.

One of his subordinates, Kabuto Yakushi—an orphan raised in a care home—had started questioning the meaning of life after the death of his foster mother, Nonō.

He was still secretly hiding within Konoha.

Which is why Orochimaru had a thorough understanding of the current power structure within the Leaf Village.

He knew that after the Nine-Tails incident, the conflict between the Uchiha Clan and the village leadership had slowly become more open.

Even the reinstated Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, seemed unable to offer any real solution.

Orochimaru, however, viewed the situation with amusement.

In his eyes, the best outcome would be for the Uchiha and the village to destroy each other, leaving him to reap the rewards and personally crush Konoha—collecting a wealth of research material along the way.

Wouldn't that be wonderful?

But before he could carry out his plan to destroy Konoha, he needed to find a new vessel.

Only by obtaining eternal life could he have enough time to uncover all the secrets of the world and reach the ultimate truth. That, to him, was the only true meaning of existence.

After years of tireless research, Orochimaru had finally developed his own technique for immortality—Living Corpse Reincarnation.

Using the White Phosphorus Serpent as a medium, he could consume another person's mind and soul, essentially taking over their body.

However, due to the strength of his own chakra, his new vessel couldn't be weak. 

Ideally, it should be someone with a kekkei genkai—a powerful bloodline ability. And if it were a once-in-a-century genius, even better.

After leaving Konoha, Orochimaru continued conducting experiments across the world, while also searching for promising new vessels.

Whenever he found a particularly talented young person, he would give them a "warm home." After all, he was someone who claimed to love children very much.

"Uchiha Raizen... not only does he possess the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan, but he also has strange abilities even I can't understand. He's definitely worth testing."

In a dimly lit cave, Orochimaru's chilling laughter echoed eerily.

...

...

Back to Uchiha Raizen's side.

He still had no idea that the greedy and twisted Orochimaru had already set his eyes on him. 

After Kakuzu fled, Raizen returned to his normal state and carried Inori over to Asuma and Kurenai.

The two stared at him with eyes full of shock and admiration.

Especially Kurenai. 

If Raizen hadn't displayed his overwhelming power just now, their whole team would've been wiped out.

As she looked at Inori peacefully lying in Raizen's arms, a subtle trace of envy flickered deep in Kurenai's crimson eyes.

"Ahem!"

Asuma, the one most severely injured, could no longer hold himself up and sat down on the ground with a bitter smile.

"We really underestimated them. I didn't expect the enemy to be this strong, with such bizarre and unpredictable powers. We owe it all to you, Raizen. I never realized until today—you're a genius Uchiha, just like Itachi."

Raizen felt a bit uneasy being compared to Itachi, so he changed the subject.

"We need to get out of here quickly… before the Akatsuki return."

"Mm, alright!" Kurenai Yuhi nodded firmly and helped Asuma up. 

Right now, she trusted Raizen-kun completely.

Not far away, painful groans and cries echoed—it was Nobunaga, who had been scalded by the intense steam earlier.

"Konohagakure ninja, come heal Lord Nobunaga!" The captain of the guards rushed over in a panic. He looked left, then right, and finally pointed at Inori, who was in Uchiha Raizen's arms. He urged, "I remember you're a medical ninja, right? Hurry and treat Lord Nobunaga!"

Inori hesitated, reluctant to leave Raizen's embrace.

Her injuries were nowhere near as severe as Asuma's. She had already done some simple bandaging and treatment, and could move around fine.

But when she tried to pull away, she couldn't.

She looked up at Raizen-kun in confusion.

Uchiha Raizen stared coldly at the guard captain. He uttered a single word:

"Get lost."

The killing intent from his battle with Kakuzu hadn't completely faded. 

That one word carried such overwhelming pressure that the captain broke into a cold sweat and trembled all over.

He swallowed hard—and ran.

He didn't doubt for a second that if he stayed one moment longer, his head might hit the ground.

That Uchiha genin was terrifying. So this is how powerful Konoha's genin could be—scarier than even jonin!

While the captain was scared out of his wits, the more emotional women present were deeply moved by how Uchiha Raizen had fiercely protected his girlfriend.

Inori's beautiful eyes were already shimmering with tears.

Even Kurenai Yuhi couldn't help but sigh in her heart—A man like Raizen-kun, who gives his girlfriend such a strong sense of safety, is truly the kind of man a woman can entrust her whole life to.

At this moment, Asuma spoke out of place:

"Lord Nobunaga is a noble from a neighboring country of the Land of Fire. For the sake of relations between the two countries, we can't let Lord Nobunaga feel unhappy about this escort mission. Raizen, Inori, you should still go…"

Before he could finish, Uchiha Raizen interrupted coldly, "He's not going to die. Let's go."

Then he turned and walked away.

What a joke. A useless noble still wants Inori to heal him? What nonsense.

How could the world not be a mess under the rule of such insects?

In Uchiha Raizen's eyes, people like Nobunaga and other feudal lords should all be hanged on street lamps.

Asuma opened his mouth but had nothing to say and could only smile helplessly.

After thinking for a moment, he said to Kurenai:

"Kurenai, how about you go help Lord Nobunaga?"

Kurenai felt a strange heaviness in her heart. She let go of Asuma's hand and said, "I'm not a medical ninja."

Asuma knew he had said the wrong thing and tried to fix it, but Kurenai had already followed Uchiha Raizen and Inori.

He felt extremely discouraged inside and wished he could slap himself.

Raizen was so protective of Inori, and yet he said such things to Kurenai — how foolish!

Sigh, now his chances with Kurenai felt even more hopeless.

…

One day after Uchiha Raizen and the others had left this place—

Two figures wearing animal masks arrived at the scene. When they saw the devastated landscape, their pupils shrank in shock.

"This... was this caused by a battle? The entire forest has turned to ash," one of them said, drawing in a sharp breath.

The other figure remained relatively calm and began to analyze the situation.

"It looks like a large-scale Fire Release... possibly aided by Wind Release. Ren, can you sense any lingering chakra?"

Yamanaka Ren, the assassin Danzo had sent to eliminate Uchiha Raizen, closed his eyes and tried to sense the surroundings.

After a moment, he shook his head.

His sensory ability clearly wasn't as refined as Inori's.

"Tatsuma-san, don't tell me our target was already killed by whoever attacked this place?"

The Root elite shinobi, Tatsuma, replied coldly, "Even if he's dead, we need to see the corpse. Lord Danzo's orders must be completed with absolute certainty."

A cruel, gloating smile formed beneath Ren's mask, filled with the twisted pleasure of revenge.

Uchiha Raizen... you'd better already be dead. Because if I catch you alive, I'll torture you in every possible way before I finally kill you.

And Inori... I'll make sure you understand that getting involved with the Uchiha clan will only bring ruin!

Following the intel Danzo had provided, the two continued their pursuit.

**********

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