Chapter 155: Still Water! I Am Your Ancestor!
How do you safely move seven living people out of a heavily guarded village, then transport them into another country?
The simplest answer was to control the seven targets, then leave using aerial mobility.
Kenichi had the first part covered. He had ways to control people, and his three tomoe Sharingan was more than enough.
There were tools in the shinobi world that could knock people out, but they were unreliable against trained ninja and nowhere near as convenient as the Sharingan.
As for aerial mobility, the solution was simple too: hot air balloons.
But Kenichi had no intention of using one inside Konoha. First, it could create unnecessary trouble. What if Konoha had already prepared weapons specifically meant to counter hot air balloons? Even if they had not, the moment a balloon was spotted, it could be copied.
So the best approach was to leave Konoha first, then take to the air.
That meant the immediate problem was clear.
He needed to get those Uchiha out of Konoha before doing anything else.
Fortunately, Konoha's own arrangements gave him a small advantage. The Uchiha district sat in a remote corner of the village. Not many people came here without a reason.
Kenichi had considered using a diversion, like attacking the opposite side of Konoha, or sending shadow clones to target Naruto.
But he dismissed it.
Even during the Nine Tails incident, Danzo had kept the Uchiha under watch. If something major happened, the first group scrutinized would still be the Uchiha. A diversion would not pull attention away. It would only tighten the net.
So Kenichi did not choose misdirection. He chose patience.
"I'll get close first," he planned quietly. "Then I'll use the Temple of Nirvana Technique, and after that I'll control them with the Sharingan."
Before he could finish the thought, he felt a gaze on him.
Kenichi's eyes narrowed slightly.
Shisui.
Uchiha Shisui was here.
Kenichi had been carefully observing the area earlier and had not spotted him at all. He had not expected Shisui to appear now, of all times.
In the next instant, Shisui flickered beside him.
"Danzo sent you?" Shisui asked.
Kenichi was not surprised by the speed. Shisui's strength was well known, otherwise he would not have earned the title Shisui of the Body Flicker.
And in truth, that title was not just about moving fast. Shisui's Phantom Body Flicker Technique was something he had developed himself, and it was terrifyingly effective in real combat.
Shisui's words also gave Kenichi a new angle to use.
Kenichi nodded, slipping a hand into his pocket and slowly rubbing a small piece of wood between his fingers.
"Didn't I tell you?" Shisui's expression tightened, as if irritated.
Kenichi studied him in silence and immediately noticed something was off. Shisui's emotions were unstable, pressed thin under control.
What happened to you?
Shisui took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down.
"Never mind," he said. "What is it, Lord Danzo?"
Kenichi raised an eyebrow.
So Shisui had already made contact with Danzo, and had even mistaken Kenichi for Root. That was not hard to understand. Kenichi's current disguise leaned into the same oppressive, anonymous style.
Kenichi almost said, Lord Danzo ordered you to take a few Uchiha and leave with me.
But he knew Danzo's habits too well. Saying it like that would expose him instantly.
Root did not operate with warm phrasing or vague orders.
So Kenichi changed his wording on the spot.
"Lord Danzo orders you to take two squads of Uchiha shinobi and accompany me to Yusen Town in the Land of Lightning," Kenichi said evenly. "There are exposed spies that need to be eliminated."
This sounded like Root.
Root handled what Konoha could not do in public, including cleaning up exposed intelligence assets. Sometimes they did even dirtier work, like sabotaging organizations. Even the Akatsuki's troubles had Danzo's fingerprints on them.
Some of it, Hiruzen likely did not know.
But even with Hiruzen suppressing Danzo, he would still have some idea of what Root did in the shadows.
Most of the time, Root followed Danzo's orders without question.
There had even been missions aimed at assassinating Hiruzen himself, but those were given only to Danzo's most trusted confidants. Shisui could not possibly know about that.
Shisui nodded slowly.
"Hm."
It really did sound like Root.
He did not know why two squads of Uchiha were needed this time, but a possibility flickered in his mind.
Something they promised me before?
A way out for the clan?
Kenichi almost felt stunned.
Was Shisui truly going to accept it that easily?
Then Shisui turned his head slightly.
"By the way," he asked, voice casual, "what's the password for today?"
The air went still.
Kenichi did not have any password.
He had not alerted any Konoha shinobi when he entered today, and he could not ask a Root operative for information. Root members carried the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal. Even if someone wanted to leak information, their own tongue would stop them.
Was he about to be exposed?
"There's no password in Root," Kenichi said calmly.
He pulled the piece of wood from his pocket and held it up.
It bore a distinctive pattern, twisted lines that resembled roots.
Shisui looked at it, then nodded once.
"I understand."
And he vanished.
Kenichi released a slow breath.
Back when he was still in Konoha, he and his teacher had been monitored by Root while they assisted Danzo with experiments. Kenichi was familiar with Root's habits.
He had gambled.
As far as he knew, Root did not use spoken passwords at all. They used tokens. Those wooden plaques had special raised coded text, and they were rotated daily. Two codes existed on each plaque, one to prove the mission, one to identify the operative.
Even if someone stole a plaque, it would be useless without the matching code.
These systems were meant to be airtight.
But Kenichi had Orochimaru as a teacher. Orochimaru had quietly cracked the codes back then and taught Kenichi as well.
That was why Kenichi had dared to show the plaque.
As for the identity code itself, Kenichi had deduced it from the Root identification patterns he had seen in the past. The moment he sensed Shisui, he had already reached for the plaque, ready to prevent a direct identity check.
What annoyed him was that Shisui had nearly trapped him with that sudden question.
If Kenichi had asked about a password first, he likely would have exposed himself immediately, and then he would have had no choice but to use brute force right there.
Still, Kenichi could not relax.
What if Danzo really had introduced a new verification method during this period? What if Shisui had already identified him and had only left to gather reinforcements?
Kenichi did not trust Danzo, and he trusted luck even less.
So he took precautions.
He left a shadow clone behind, then withdrew and followed Shisui from a distance, careful and quiet, determined to see what Shisui planned to do.
As expected, Shisui did not return to the Uchiha district.
He ran toward another location entirely.
Kenichi frowned.
So my identity really was exposed?
Had Root truly changed their verification process?
If so, then he could only call it bad luck.
Luck mattered more than people liked to admit.
If this were a game, Kenichi would assume his luck stat was buried in the dirt.
"What a hassle," he muttered. "Can't you just accept the trick."
He exhaled, then made a decision.
If stealth failed, then he would do it the way the shinobi of Kumogakure did things.
Those people had been ruthless enough to kidnap the Hyuga clan's young main branch princess right out of Konoha, and they had almost escaped with her.
Compared to that, Kenichi was practically being polite.
Fine.
Brute force it was.
The shadow clone that remained in place moved first.
It rushed straight into the heart of the Uchiha district and launched a merciless strike, instantly igniting a raging fire inside the clan's settlement.
At the same time, Kenichi acted.
He used the Temple of Nirvana Technique.
Then his Sharingan took over.
The six Uchiha at the oden stall fell under control.
The older man was different. His will resisted more fiercely because he had already awakened his Sharingan.
Kenichi did not hesitate.
He killed him on the spot.
Then he drove the six controlled Uchiha toward Konoha's edge at full speed, aiming to cross the border before the village could react properly.
He was almost there.
Then the wind shifted behind him.
Kenichi's instincts screamed.
He used the Body Flicker Technique the moment he heard it, twisting away as a massive fireball tore past where he had been.
"Who are you?" a voice snapped.
Shisui.
Shisui had caught up.
Kenichi also saw it clearly now. Several Shisui appeared beside the real one, moving together as they attacked from multiple angles.
Kenichi's mouth curved slightly.
"I am your ancestor," he said.
His eyes flashed, three tomoe turning as he activated genjutsu.
It shattered instantly.
Shisui dispelled it without pause.
"Three tomoe Sharingan?" Shisui looked genuinely startled.
He had seen Kenichi moments earlier without Sharingan showing at all, yet the technique just now was unmistakable.
Only the Uchiha could freely activate and deactivate the Sharingan like that.
Could this stranger's ridiculous statement actually be true?
Was he really Uchiha?
But if he was, why steal Uchiha in this way?
It made no sense.
Kenichi answered before Shisui could press the point.
"The Uchiha are oil poured onto a raging fire," he said bluntly. "If this continues, your clan will be destroyed by fools sooner or later. If you want to preserve the last bloodline of the Uchiha, then coming with me and leaving Konoha is the better choice."
Kenichi could see what Shisui wanted.
Shisui was trying to find a path between the village and his clan, a way to keep peace without betrayal.
But Shisui had chosen the worst possible partner.
Why choose Danzo?
Even choosing a dog would be better than choosing that old man. Danzo was poison.
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