Chapter 75: The Emergence of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal
In the days that followed, Stelle—now bearing the stark name Uchiha Kou—formed a genin team with Jiraiya and the others, and they began their careers performing D-rank missions.
For a genin squad, most of their early work was designed to develop teamwork rather than expose them to genuine danger. Their days were filled with tasks like delivering letters, chasing wild beasts from farmlands, and other such menial chores. The most perilous assignment they might face was the occasional extermination of mountain bandits.
Konoha, however, was in a peculiar state. The most sought-after shinobi were, surprisingly, those who specialized in Earth Release. The village was in a constant state of construction and expansion. Earth Release users were needed to rapidly till soil for land reclamation, their efficiency unmatched. They were needed to level the ground for new roads, their jutsu carving paths through the wilderness. Every new district planned for the growing village demanded a legion of them to shape the very foundations.
The only element that could possibly compete with Earth Release in this construction boom was Wood Release, but that was a power exclusive to the First Hokage. Thus, Earth Release ninjas became the darlings of the village's economy. Water Release users were a close second, their skills essential for irrigating the new farmlands, diverting rivers to fill wells, and creating artificial reservoirs.
This surge in demand created a wealth of job opportunities, allowing shinobi to earn a steady, safe living within the village walls without constantly risking their lives on dangerous missions. For a time, being an Earth Release user became the gold standard for marriage prospects among the women of Konoha's smaller clans.
Amidst this backdrop, Hiruzen Sarutobi's team dutifully performed their simple missions day in and day out, dedicating the rest of their time to training and honing their skills.
Of course, "their" training mostly involved Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Orochimaru. Stelle merely watched. She already knew every ninjutsu Hiruzen demonstrated, and for the few she didn't, a single glance with her three-tomoe Sharingan was all it took to copy them perfectly.
The original trio quickly discovered that their new teammate was strange to an almost unnerving degree. She was unlike any shinobi they had ever encountered. Her face was a perpetual, expressionless mask. She spoke in clipped, monotone fragments, each word delivered without a hint of inflection. When she stood, her posture was as rigid and straight as a pine tree, her hand always hovering near the hilt of her sword, as if she might draw it to strike at any moment.
Even when seated, she maintained a posture of coiled vigilance. Her eating speed was astonishing, a blur of motion that left her companions staring. On the rare occasions they camped outside the village for a mission, she was the most alert, her senses seemingly never at rest, as if she were incapable of true relaxation.
The tasks Hiruzen-sensei assigned her were completed with a careful, almost mechanical precision. She executed every order to a standard of near perfection, tolerating not even the slightest flaw.
This wasn't a person; it was a machine.
Faced with such a teammate, Jiraiya and Tsunade were utterly unnerved. To be honest, they were a little scared of her.
Orochimaru, on the other hand, was already showing the nascent tendencies of a mad scientist. His gaze, when it fell upon his new teammate, was not one of fear but of intense, analytical inquiry. He would frequently scribble and sketch in a small notebook, though no one could ever see what he was documenting.
It was enough to make Stelle's skin crawl, threatening to break her carefully constructed persona. The last person who had spent all day watching her while writing and drawing was Senju Tobirama, and she still had trauma from the experience.
'System,' she thought, 'I have a feeling that while Orochimaru might generate a lot of emotional value, I need to be extremely careful. Getting too close to him is just asking for trouble.'
[The Host is correct,] the system replied. [Individuals like him—overly intelligent and obsessed with scientific research—are highly unpredictable. It is possible he could discover your true nature at any moment. Maintaining a safe distance is the wisest course of action.]
During this period, on several more occasions, Stelle encountered civilians who obstructed their missions. Each time, she would make a subtle motion as if preparing to eliminate the obstacle, only to be forcefully stopped by Hiruzen Sarutobi. Only after a direct order was given would she restrain her hand.
This recurring situation was hardest not on Jiraiya or the others, but on Hiruzen himself. He was burdened not only with the monumental task of correcting her deeply ingrained, tool-like mindset but also with enduring her rare, emotionally charged complaints.
"Why does the Third Hokage of this world not assume the title?" she would ask in private, her voice flat but the words themselves a pointed barb. "It is clear the Third could lead Konoha to even greater heights."
At least she followed his orders not to speak of such things in front of others. But every time she did, Hiruzen looked as though he had just swallowed a fly.
Just how long was the pressure from the Fourth Hokage going to haunt him? In all honesty, he did aspire to be Hokage one day, but he had never once considered usurping the position—and certainly not from Stelle. Did she have any idea how difficult it was to deter the other four Great Shinobi Villages? If she hadn't stepped up after the devastating blow she'd received, he wouldn't have even known the true depth of Konoha's precarious situation.
While everyone on Team Sarutobi was being progressively terrified, the one who was most thoroughly horrified was Danzo Shimura.
This evening, after staying up late reconciling the village's monthly expenditures and income, an exhausted Danzo returned home only to find Uchiha Kou waiting for him at his door.
"Uchiha Kou," he said, his voice laced with weariness. "It's late. Why have you come to see me? Have you remembered something important?"
Stelle stepped forward and dropped to one knee, her tone grave. "Lord Danzo, for the sake of Konoha's future, I implore you: please re-establish Root. Konoha cannot exist without its roots in the darkness."
Danzo Shimura froze. If he dared to even apply to establish Root while Stelle was Hokage, she would probably smash him into the nearest wall so thoroughly he couldn't even be scraped off.
"This is the system and personnel structure from the former Root's establishment, as well as some classified information I have recorded from memory," Stelle continued, respectfully holding out a sheaf of documents. "Please look it over, Lord Danzo."
Danzo's first instinct was to refuse, but then a thought struck him. Perhaps there was some talent listed within that he could poach to contribute to Konoha's strength. He took the documents and began to read.
With a single glance, a cold sweat erupted across his entire body.
The documents detailed Root's methods for recruiting talent: scouring the various ninja clans for geniuses and subjecting them to all manner of inhumane experiments. One entry stood out in horrifying detail. It described how, due to a lack of high-end combat power, he and Hiruzen had pushed for an experiment to recreate Wood Release. They had extracted the First Hokage's cells and used members of the Senju clan for their trials, nearly driving the clan's new generation to extinction.
In the end, only one subject had successfully awakened Wood Release—and he wasn't even a Senju.
This wasn't a proposal for establishing Root; this was his death warrant.
If this information ever reached the Senju and the other major clans, he wouldn't just be torn limb from limb—he would be ground into dust.
Panic seized Danzo. He didn't even dare use a ninjutsu, fearing it wouldn't be thorough enough. He scrambled into his house, found the box of matches he kept for Hiruzen's pipe, and set the documents ablaze. He watched them burn until not a single incriminating scrap remained before returning to where Stelle knelt.
His hands flashed through a series of seals. With lightning speed, he struck out, slapping a black seal onto Stelle's head.
"Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal!"
Dense black runes flowed from Danzo's palm, crawling like spiders up Stelle's neck and burrowing into her skin until they vanished from sight. He pried her mouth open, and only after seeing the cursed seal branded onto her tongue did a look of grim satisfaction cross his face.
"Feel honored," he said, his voice low and tight. "This is a failed jutsu I researched by accident while studying sealing techniques with Tobirama-sensei. It originally had no purpose. You are its first user."
He tucked her under his arm, leaped onto the rooftops, and sped toward the Sarutobi clan compound.
Stelle, for her part, was a little startled. Good grief. She had just come to farm some emotional value and had ended up with a cursed seal for her trouble. Now she was a perfect replica of a Root operative from the original story. As expected of the man destined to be the Hokage of the Scapegoats; even in this altered timeline, he hadn't missed a single one of the techniques he was supposed to know.
Danzo Shimura skillfully slipped through an open window and landed in Hiruzen Sarutobi's bedroom. He unceremoniously threw the person who had scared him half to death onto the floor in front of his old friend.
"Hiruzen," he snarled through gritted teeth, "how exactly are you handling this? Can you please stop her from clamoring to me about re-establishing Root? I really don't want to be beaten to a pulp by the Hokage."
Hiruzen rubbed his temples, a deep headache blooming behind his eyes. "Isn't that the fault of your parallel-world self? Who told that version of you to brainwash someone so thoroughly? I still have to listen to her telling me to take over the position."
"You permitted it, so don't you dare shirk responsibility," Danzo shot back. "Believe it or not, I won't approve any funding for the departments you manage next month."
"You dare!"
Danzo let out a cold, humorless laugh. "Hiruzen, I am the Finance Minister."
Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent. Sometimes, he really felt like he was living in the shadows of both Stelle and Danzo.
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