Chapter 158: The Nine-Tails: The Innate Evil of the Uchiha!
Chapter 158: The Nine-Tails: The Innate Evil of the Uchiha!
"Heh, trying to recruit right under my nose, huh?"
On the same side, the only non-Uchiha, Hagoromo Anki, laughed lightly with his arms crossed after hearing Yamato's suggestion.
Across from him, Akatsuchi, who was trying hard not to make eye contact with Anki, asked in a low voice, "Are you an Uchiha too?"
"No, I'm not," Anki replied without hesitation, proud of his "Hagoromo" lineage.
"That's good," Akatsuchi sighed in relief. He was not used to conversing without making eye contact, as it seemed impolite.
On the other side, hearing Anki's response, Uchiha Kei, who was married to Anki's sister, quickly declared, "Captain, you know my loyalty."
Anki glanced at him and casually nodded. After all, who would have thought that Uchiha Kei, who acted so domineering outside, was actually completely under his wife's control? Betrayal was out of the question.
Yamato, listening to the conversation between Anki and Kei, quickly thought to himself:
'This man isn't an Uchiha by birth; he must be a shinobi from Lockfront Village. But if the Uchiha are willing to call him captain, his strength must be formidable. Such a person shouldn't come from a small ninja village. Unless... he's from the Hagoromo Clan!'
As the team leader for this mission, Yamato had access to extensive intelligence gathered by the Joint Investigation Department on Lockfront Village. One crucial piece of information was the speculation that the Hagoromo Clan, once as renowned as the Senju and Uchiha Clans, had settled in Lockfront Village after mysteriously disappearing from the ninja world.
Judging by the current situation, this seemed very likely. Furthermore, considering Kei's attitude towards Anki, it appeared that his proposal of the Uchiha returning to Konoha was not feasible.
Yamato sighed internally. The combination of the Hagoromo and Uchiha clans was daunting enough, not to mention the inscrutable Hagoromo Gengetsu presiding over them.
"Power... I... need power..."
In his daze, Naruto instinctively moved towards the bars. Correspondingly, in the real world, the sinister crimson Nine-Tails chakra began to envelop his body.
"Naruto!" Yamato was alarmed to see the sudden outburst of the Nine-Tails' chakra. Just as he was about to use his Wood Release to suppress it, Sasuke, Kei, and Izumi, sensing something was wrong, turned their gaze towards Naruto. Their three pairs of Sharingan activated instantly.
In the next moment...
Drip...
In the damp, waterlogged sealing space, Sasuke, Kei, and Izumi appeared beside Naruto. Sasuke looked up at the colossal beast behind the golden bars, his pupils narrowing slightly:
"So this is the Nine-Tails?"
Seeing was believing. Sasuke had never imagined that the monster sealed within Naruto could be this immense.
"The familiar, sickening aura! Those damned Sharingan!"
Noticing the unwelcome guests, the Nine-Tails turned its head to see three pairs of Sharingan glaring at it. Naruto, now awakened by their arrival, looked around in confusion:
"Huh? How did I get here? And Sasuke, why are you all here?"
Before Sasuke could answer, a series of bubbles rose from the water, forming the enormous head of the fox demon. Its slit-pupilled eyes glared coldly at the three intruders. Born evil, the Uchiha! The Nine-Tails had been so close to seducing Naruto, only to be interrupted by these three. Furthermore, it hadn't forgotten the times it had been controlled by the Sharingan, leading to its imprisonment in a jinchuriki. The first time, it was beaten senseless by Senju Hashirama and then sealed; the second time, it was split in half, with only one part remaining in the real world. The source of all this misery was the Uchiha.
New grievances combined with old hatreds, and the Nine-Tails lowered its head with malicious intent, enticing once more.