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It was already late in Konoha.
The last remnants of moonlight were swallowed by thick clouds. Most lights had long been extinguished — except for one lone window glowing softly in the darkness.
Leaves rustled gently in the night wind.
Perched silently among the branches, a Root ninja known only as "Owl" ¹ watched that lit window from afar.
Through the slats of the blinds, he could see the boy — UnkawaHyūga — hunched over his desk, writing intently in a journal that reflected the warm glow of the lamp beside him.
According to intelligence reports, this habit had persisted for years.
Meww…
A soft cat call broke through the chorus of chirping insects. Owl frowned slightly, scanning the source — only to spot two dark shapes shifting together nearby, two cats locked in their own affairs.
"…"
He turned away without comment, muttering inwardly that he must be mad to treat a child like such a serious threat.
And yet, despite that thought, his mind drifted back to Kaminari — and the horrifying image of the man who had lost an arm.
A chill ran through him.
Never underestimate anyone. He had no desire to end up like that.
Just then, he saw Unkawa stop writing, rub his tired eyes, close the diary with a soft snap, and rise from his seat.
Click.
The bedroom door shut behind him, and the light vanished. The entire estate was plunged into darkness.
Owl didn't move.
He remained hidden in the shadows.
Only after distant snoring reached his ears did he release his seal and deactivate his sensing jutsu. Like a leaf carried by the wind, he vanished and reappeared outside the window.
The window creaked open just slightly.
With practiced silence, Owl slipped inside.
First, he rolled the diary into a scroll and secured it. Then, he began searching the room — methodically, thoroughly.
Unlike Kaminari, he hadn't come to kill.
Finding nothing unusual, he decided to leave with just the diary.
After restoring everything to its original state, he turned toward the window.
Then —
"Who's there!"
A sharp shout rang out, and Owl's pupils contracted instantly.
In the next moment, a piercing sound tore through the air — like the wail of a demon in the wind.
Wind Release: Gale Cut!
Zzzsh!
Owl barely managed to twist sideways as a crescent-shaped blade of wind slashed past him. Blood sprayed against the wall in an uneven arc, leaving a crimson smear across the floor.
Puchi!
Fresh blood burst forth like a geyser, and his severed arm thudded onto the ground.
Gritting his teeth, Owl suppressed a grunt of pain. Without hesitation, he launched himself out the window.
But what he didn't see — not even in his retreat — was this:
On a nearby rooftop, a black cat perched atop another calico feline, its white eye narrowing toward the fleeing figure. With a flick of its paw, it batted away a nosy stray before settling down again.
"Taking something? Then leave something behind."
Back in the bedroom, Unkawa lowered his hands from the seal he'd formed, a faint smile playing on his lips as he waited patiently for the familiar chime in his mind.
Meanwhile, Owl quickly retreated to a hidden cave carved into the mountainside. Activating the concealed mechanism, he slipped into the depths beyond.
The deeper he went, the more moisture clung to the walls. Moss covered every corner. Yet instead of feeling suffocated, he felt safe — as if returning home.
"That kid really is something," Owl muttered grimly. "No wonder Kaminari failed against him."
Inside the vast underground chamber, artificial lighting bathed the space in daylight brightness.
Behind a large observation window, a team of scientists moved about in white coats and masks, busy in their work.
Rows of glass refrigeration units lined the walls, filled with strange materials — unidentified chemicals, petri dishes of cell cultures, and jars of green liquid containing bizarre plant specimens and animal remains — eyeballs, kidneys, other organs preserved in eerie clarity.
On the other side of the glass stood Shimura Danzō, expressionless, his single visible eye — narrow and shadowed — fixed on the scene before him.
More specifically, on the object resting on the lab table.
A small piece of pale flesh — no larger than a thumb — taken from the tissue of the First Hokage.
But soon, one of the researchers turned and shook his head solemnly.
At that, Danzō's face darkened. His fingers twitched toward the bandages wrapped tightly around his left arm.
"You're useless," he muttered coldly. "Without Orochimaru, none of you can do anything right?"
This arm — once shattered in battle — had never truly belonged to him again. To everyone else, including Hiruzen Sarutobi, it looked like a war injury. In truth, it wasn't his anymore.
Even Danzō didn't know where it came from. Orochimaru had kept his mouth shut, only calling it a byproduct of his experiments on Wood Release.
Hungry for power, Danzō accepted the transplant — offering every Sharingan he possessed in return.
What he hadn't expected was how aggressively the Hashirama cells would spread.
Within just a few years, they had already begun consuming his body.
And still, none of these fools could figure out how Orochimaru had managed to bind the cells to a limb in the first place.
Because no one else could.
Only the Sharingan seemed able to suppress them.
But if things continued like this, even the Sharingan wouldn't be enough.
"Damn it!" Danzō cursed inwardly. "If I still had 'A' ², I might have sent him to steal Kakashi's Sharingan."
As he pondered where to acquire more Sharingan, a masked figure appeared beside him.
It was Owl — kneeling, voice trembling.
"Lord Danzō."
Danzō's expression hardened as he caught the scent of fresh blood. His gaze fell on the stump where Owl's arm used to be.
"Another arm?" Danzō muttered, his jaw tightening.
It almost felt like fate was mocking him.
Still, he pushed the thought aside, accepting the scroll Owl offered before waving him off.
Owl disappeared to tend to his wound, and Danzō unfurled the scroll.
His reason for retrieving Unkawa's diary was simple — to understand the boy better, and determine whether he was worth recruiting.
Most of the content was mundane — daily routines, scattered musings, and fragments of training logs. But gradually, a picture emerged in Danzō's mind.
A weak, broken branch member who had started seeking strength after watching his father die at the hands of the main house.
Good.
He preferred ambition over apathy.
Danzō skimmed through entries of meaningless complaints until he came across a passage addressed to HiruzenSarutobi, filled with praise.
He scoffed — a bitter, jealous noise.
That fake-hearted fool didn't deserve such words.
One line, though, made him pause — a quote buried within the pages:
> "…Perhaps my heart is like a tree — the higher it reaches for light, the deeper its roots must dig into the soil, into the darkness below."
At that moment, back in his bedroom, Unkawa lowered his hands from the final seal and waited.
Sure enough, the familiar chime echoed in his mind.
[Ding!]
[Your lie has been identified as [Flattery], triggering emotional fluctuation in Danzō, reaching the level of [Trust], gaining 400 Reality Points]
"Who writes a real diary anyway?" Unkawa smirked, thinking to himself.
"Manifest Technique – Lightning Release Armor."
[Spend 1000 Reality Points. Confirm manifestation?]
"Yes."
[1000 Reality Points deducted. Remaining: 10,593]
Perfect. Just shy of ten thousand — but thanks to Danzō's contribution, he was getting closer.
Unkawa lay back in bed, letting the memory of Lightning Release Armor settle into his mind.
But just before sleep took him, a sudden thought surfaced — one he realized he had been ignoring for far too long.
"If I can manifest jutsu…"
"…Could I also manifest abilities from other worlds?"
A wild idea — but not entirely impossible.
A slow grin crept across his face.
Time to test the limits.
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¹ This root ninja and the hospital director from chapter 1 are different people.
[ The root ninja's codename is (梟), while the hospital director's codename was (鴞). Both 梟 and 鴞 mean "Owl" ]
² 'A' likely refers to 'Subject A', a term commonly used in fan-made novels to represent Tenzo/Yamato.