.....
Three years passed in the blink of an eye. Before anyone realized it, it had already been three years since Jie Uchiha joined the Hidden Leaf Anbu.
Deep within the Anbu base, a black-haired boy wearing a grimace mask walked calmly down a long, dimly lit corridor.
Every time he passed a room, the Anbu operatives inside were startled into absolute silence. It was only after the boy's footsteps faded away that the crowds huddled together, instantly breaking into hushed murmurs.
"That's Heavenly Fiend, isn't it? The one they call the Anbu's ultimate weapon!"
"He completed thirty-two A-Rank missions and four S-Rank missions in just three years. It's completely unbelievable!"
"I heard the higher-ups intend to groom Heavenly Fiend to be the next Anbu Commander."
"Commander? Hasn't that position been empty for years? Are we really getting a new one?"
"It makes sense. Heavenly Fiend is the strongest among us. If a new Commander is appointed, he is definitely the perfect candidate!"
"I think so too!"
"Yeah, there's no better choice!"
"Captain, the mission is complete! Omoi, the A-Rank missing-ninja from the Kumogakure who was wreaking havoc within our borders, has been executed."
Heavenly Fiend—Jie Uchiha—pulled a scroll from his ninja pouch and handed it over to the Anbu Captain seated in front of him, Unkaku Gekko.
Over the past three years, by accepting Jie's guidance and collaborating directly with the Uchiha clan, Unkaku had successfully been promoted to an elite Jonin. That boost in strength, coupled with his accumulated merits, allowed him to smoothly secure the position of Anbu Captain.
"You've worked hard these past six months, Heavenly Fiend," Unkaku said, taking the scroll. He handed it off to his secretary, Lotus, instructing her to submit the mission report on Heavenly Fiend's behalf.
"This Omoi had already ransacked three villages within the Land of Fire," Unkaku sighed. "He defeated and killed three Chunin squads and one Jonin squad before we tracked him down. If we had known earlier, we would have just let you handle it from the start. The village would have suffered far fewer casualties."
Once Lotus left the office, Unkaku waited a moment to confirm there was no residual surveillance. The instant he was sure they were alone, his demeanor shifted completely. He stood up from his desk and bowed with deep, undeniable respect.
"Young Clan Head!"
Jie nodded, asking casually, "Did anything happen in the village during the six months I was away?"
"Reporting to the Young Clan Head: the village has been completely peaceful during your absence," Unkaku replied smoothly. "Although the Third Hokage asked for intelligence regarding you several times, I managed to stall him. The other Hidden Leaf higher-ups made a few minor moves, but Clan Head Fugaku neutralized them easily. They didn't cause any real impact."
Unkaku paused, recalling the events of the last half-year to keep his report concise. "The only anomaly is the former Hokage's assistant, Danzo Shimura. He remains entirely too secretive. He has appeared in the village a few times, but we haven't been able to grasp any concrete intelligence on his movements."
"I understand," Jie said, his expression completely calm behind his mask. "Is there anything else?"
"There is one thing, though I am not entirely certain," Unkaku admitted after a moment of thought. "For the past month, whenever the Second Young Master trains in the back mountain, he always seems to cross paths with a certain individual—whether intentionally or not. I originally wanted to investigate further, but I discovered that the person is a member of the Uchiha clan with considerable strength. The operatives I dispatched didn't dare get too close, so the exact nature of their meetings remains unconfirmed."
The Second Young Master was Itachi Uchiha.
And the person Itachi kept running into could only be that traitor, Shisui Uchiha.
Hearing Unkaku's report, Jie instantly understood the situation.
'Shisui really hasn't given up,' Jie thought, a trace of coldness flashing through his eyes. 'He was transferred to the Konoha Military Police Force, yet he's still obsessed with indoctrinating Itachi with that so-called Will of Fire.'
Shisui Uchiha was a traitor, thoroughly brainwashed by Hiruzen Sarutobi's distorted version of the Will of Fire. Not only did his loyalty lean entirely toward the village, but he actually intended to use his Mangekyo Sharingan's visual prowess—Kotoamatsukami—to forcefully alter Fugaku Uchiha's will.
Worse, he dragged Itachi down with him, letting the boy be poisoned by that exact same ideology. In the original timeline, even after Danzo gouged out his eye, Shisui remained stubbornly unrepentant until his dying breath, fully believing himself to be a pioneer of reform.
He was the main culprit who spurred Itachi to annihilate the Uchiha clan.
'Should I find an opportunity to just kill Shisui directly?' Jie mused.
He had stayed in the Anbu for three years. He executed missions for three years, and settled three years' worth of rewards. Today, Jie's strength was vastly superior to what it once was—so much so that even he couldn't clearly define his upper limits.
But one thing was absolutely certain: a mere Shisui Uchiha, even with an awakened Mangekyo Sharingan, posed absolutely no threat to him.
After a moment's thought, Jie dismissed the idea of killing him.
The Uchiha clan of today was not the same Uchiha clan from the original timeline. Through Jie's meticulous interventions, the clan now sat firmly at the center of the village. They possessed overwhelming strength, and their friction with the other clans had eased considerably. While they weren't universally beloved, they held a lofty, respected position among the major ninja factions in the Hidden Leaf.
With the clan currently this prosperous and powerful, even a clown like Shisui prancing around in the shadows couldn't possibly pose a significant threat.
Furthermore, Jie was curious. After all the personal teaching he had given him, Jie wanted to see exactly what Itachi truly thought about the village and the clan now.
Under Shisui Uchiha's instigation, would Itachi still choose to walk down that old, bloody path?
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