Chapter 108: The False World

Chapter 108: Chapter 108: The False World

After quietly sneaking back into his home, Hyuga Kagami breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Shisui’s shadow clone was still there.

Shisui’s shadow clone hurried over to greet him.

"Senpai, you’re finally back."

Kagami smiled. "Thanks for your hard work."

At that moment, Shisui’s shadow clone took out a slip of paper and handed it to Kagami while explaining, "This is a list of everyone who came to visit while you were away. I recorded them all one by one."

"You really are meticulous."

Kagami smiled and reached out with his left hand to take the note.

While Kagami was looking over the list of visitors recorded on the paper, Shisui’s shadow clone noticed that Kagami’s right hand—the one he normally used—had remained tucked inside his pocket the entire time.

Curious, he asked, "Senpai, your hand...!?"

Kagami casually replied, "Oh, I had a little accident. Don’t worry about it."

Over the past several days, Kagami had continuously used Tenseigan chakra to wear away at the natural energy accumulated within his right arm.

By now, more than half of it had already been cleared away.

At first, the petrification had nearly spread all the way up to his shoulder.

But now, the petrified area had receded to below his elbow.

By Kagami’s own estimation, another three to five days should be enough to completely purge the remaining natural energy from his right arm and restore all the petrified portions to normal.

Before long, Kagami finished reading through the list of visitors recorded by Shisui’s shadow clone.

During the nearly twenty days he had secretly been away from the village, the person who visited most frequently was his fiancée, Hyuga Rei.

After her came his former teammates from Team 11. Kakashi and Guy had each visited once, followed by Hyuga Hizashi, who had also stopped by once.

Shisui’s shadow clone had politely sent all of them away with the excuse that Kagami had shut himself indoors to focus on researching ninjutsu.

As a result, aside from Shisui, not a single person in the entire village knew that Kagami had secretly left Konoha during these past several days.

After explaining everything that needed to be explained, Shisui’s shadow clone said his farewell.

"Senpai, I’ll be going, then."

Kagami gave a slight nod.

Poof...

With a burst of white smoke, Shisui’s shadow clone dispelled itself.

Only then did Kagami pull his right hand out of his pocket.

He carefully examined it for a moment before silently circulating the Tenseigan chakra within his body.

Having his right hand petrified had an enormous impact on Kagami’s combat ability.

First and foremost, he couldn’t form hand seals.

That meant he couldn’t enter Tenseigan Chakra Mode, nor could he perform ninjutsu or sealing techniques.

Therefore, everything else would have to be put aside for now.

His most urgent priority was restoring his right hand from its petrified state.

Knock, knock, knock...

Not long afterward, a rapid series of knocks suddenly sounded from outside the house.

Sitting quietly in his room, Kagami activated his Byakugan and gave the entrance a quick glance.

The person knocking outside was none other than Shisui, who had spent nearly twenty days covering for his absence.

After wrapping his right hand securely in bandages, Kagami opened the door and let Shisui inside.

"Why are you in such a panic? That’s not like you."

Still catching his breath, Shisui said, "Senpai, something happened!"

Kagami had already sensed that the atmosphere in the village felt somewhat strange when he returned, so he wasn’t particularly surprised.

"Take your time. Tell me what happened."

Shisui quickly recounted the entire incident of Uchiha Yui being killed by a Root ninja, explaining every detail to Kagami.

He even told him about the Root ninja’s subsequent explanation, as well as all of his own suspicions and guesses.

After hearing everything, Kagami muttered to himself,

"Why is it this Uchiha Shinichi again...?"

Before Kagami left the village, Shisui had already mentioned that a Root ninja had gone missing because of Uchiha Shinichi, causing relations between the Uchiha clan and the village to become increasingly tense.

And now, the moment Kagami returned, he learned that once again, because of Uchiha Shinichi, the conflict between the Uchiha clan and the village had grown even more severe.

This forced Kagami to start taking Uchiha Shinichi seriously.

Shinichi was around the same age as Kagami and had awakened the Sharingan long ago.

Although his current strength couldn’t be considered among the very best of the Uchiha clan, considering his age alone...

his talent was obvious.

Otherwise, with how proud the Uchiha clan was, they would never have sent him to challenge Kagami in the first place.

Thinking of this, Kagami couldn’t help wondering,

"Could Obito have set his sights on him?"

From what Kagami remembered, Obito frequently operated around Konoha and had even infiltrated the Uchiha clan’s Naka Shrine several times.

Therefore, Kagami couldn’t rule out the possibility that Obito had taken an interest in Uchiha Shinichi.

"But wasn’t Itachi the one Obito eventually chose as his collaborator a few years from now? Could the butterfly effect caused by my presence have changed Obito’s choice?"

Kagami wasn’t sure whether all of this had anything to do with him.

The Konoha of the present was already vastly different from the Konoha of the original timeline.

In particular, Orochimaru’s premature defection had caused many subsequent events to unfold differently.

And even now, Kagami still hadn’t figured out why Orochimaru had defected earlier than he was supposed to.

After pondering for a long while, Kagami asked,

"Where is Shinichi now?"

Shisui hadn’t expected Kagami to suddenly ask that. He froze for a moment before quickly answering,

"The Clan Head temporarily locked him up in a detention room inside the Military Police headquarters."

Kagami asked another question.

"Has his ocular power increased?"

Recalling what had happened not long ago, Shisui replied,

"He broke out of the genjutsu I cast on him very quickly. It completely caught me by surprise!"

Kagami patted Shisui on the shoulder and spoke earnestly.

"You Uchiha really do place far too much faith in your genjutsu. Even you aren’t immune to it."

He paused before adding,

"Sooner or later, that’s going to come back and bite you."

Shisui scratched his head and gave an embarrassed smile.

"This is what happened to me when I got careless."

As Kagami spoke, he raised his bandaged right arm slightly, then continued,

"Why do you think the person behind all this made that Root ninja kill Uchiha Yui—and deliberately let Uchiha Shinichi witness it?"

Shisui shifted his gaze away from Kagami’s right arm and answered,

"He wants to provoke a conflict between our clan and the village."

Kagami merely shook his head with a smile.

"This reminds me of an incredibly cliché trope."

Why did a trope become cliché?

Because so many people used it.

But why did so many people use it?

Because it actually worked!

"A... trope?"

Shisui looked completely baffled.

Kagami didn’t bother explaining. Instead, he said,

"Come on. Take me to see him!"

...

Konoha Military Police Headquarters — Detention Room

Suddenly, a distorted vortex appeared within the dim detention room.

A masked man stepped out from within it.

Sitting in the corner, Uchiha Shinichi had both hands covering his face.

He seemed not to have noticed the masked man’s arrival at all.

The masked man spoke in a deep voice.

"I heard about what happened to you. Do you need help?"

Uchiha Shinichi slowly rose to his feet and turned his gaze toward the masked man.

"You were the one who did it, weren’t you?!"

As he spoke, the three tomoe in Shinichi’s Sharingan began spinning rapidly.

Then, they gradually merged together—

forming a strange, intricate pattern.

The masked man froze for a moment in surprise.

Then he smiled.

"Now that you possess those eyes...

"Use them to see through this false world."