Naruto: I'm in Konoha, my name is Uzumaki Menma

Chapter 171 What's in the Land of Stars? Uzumaki Kaguya, Uchiha?!

Shura seemed quite pleased with Shisui's current state of disarray.

He remained silent, standing there quietly. His white fox mask reflected an inorganic sheen under the pale light of the ward, like an observer from hell watching the seeds of despair he had sown take root and sprout.

Time flowed slowly in the suffocating silence, each second feeling like an eternity.

Finally, Shura spoke again, breaking the frozen despair.

His tone returned to its usual detached, all-encompassing indifference, as if his previous scathing remarks were merely a speck of dust brushed away:
"Feel the power of your new life, Uchiha Shisui. These three-tomoe Sharingan, nurtured by despair and betrayal, will be your only means of seeing the truth in the future."

He turned slightly to the side, his gaze seemingly fixed on the endless darkness outside the window.

"If you calculate the time, there's still about a year before that 'script' officially begins."

Shura turned back to Shisui, his gaze behind the mask seeming to carry a cruel expectation: "Then, use your eyes to see for yourself. Go and see how Konoha will... toll the final death knell for your Uchiha clan."

"Oh right, don't even think about escaping. You definitely don't want to see Susanoo split the Hokage Building in two, do you?"

After the warning words fell, Shura did not linger.

He turned around, his black robes brushing silently across the cold ground like wings of night, and walked straight to the door of the ward.

The metal door hinges groaned softly as the heavy iron door slowly closed behind him, blocking out the light from the corridor and the figure that had brought the prophecy of despair.

Click.

The slight click of the lock clicking shut sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silent ward.

On the hospital bed, Uchiha Shisui remained in that tense and stiff posture.

The Sharingan with three tomoe under the gauze stopped spinning wildly, but the cold, violent power of the eye did not subside. Like a lurking venomous snake, it slowly coiled and settled in his eyes.

With each heartbeat, a burning pain still lingering deep in his eyes, along with the desperate gazes and mournful cries of his clansmen before their deaths in his hallucinations, repeatedly tore at his nerves.

He slowly and with great difficulty raised one hand, trembling, to touch the two cold, sticky wads of gauze soaked in blood and tears before him. His fingertips touched a bone-chilling coldness and a despair that seeped into his very bones.

The image of the Fugaku clan chief calmly tilting his head back.

Aunt Mikoto's tears fell silently.

The empty, numb look in Itachi's eyes when he swung his sword.

The cold, icy surveillance posture of those in the shadows outside the wall.

Shura's words, like a curse, echoed repeatedly in his ears: "What you hoped for was nothing but a beautiful bubble..."

A chilling despair, like a deep-sea current, completely overwhelmed him.

There were no angry roars, no unwilling howls, only a deathly, suffocating void.

He lay there stiffly like a puppet whose bones had been removed, except for his hand, which was pressed against the blood-stained gauze. His fingers suddenly tightened, gripping the white sheet beneath him so tightly that his knuckles turned white, as if he wanted to crush the fabric along with this cruel reality.

The next day, Shisui quickly adapted to his new eyes.

They were placed in a newly built but desolate stone courtyard not far from the Uchiha Hikaru residence.

The gauze over his eyes had been removed, and on his slightly pale face, a pair of three-comma pendants slowly rotated in his newly formed dark pupils, silently telling the story of the unforgettable transformation and pain brought about by that illusion.

Although it's not as useful as his original Mangekyou Sharingan, it at least allows him to regain the strength of an elite Jonin.

With each breath, the cold, stinging pain from the genjutsu of that night of annihilation lingered deep in his eye sockets, along with the strange, throbbing heat of his new eyes as they greedily absorbed chakra and struggled to solidify their existence.

Zhishui stood on the cold stone steps of his small courtyard, trying to let the cool autumn breeze soothe the churning illusions of annihilation and the chilling warnings of the Asura churning in his mind.

He knew that after Danzo's sneak attack, returning to the village now would only exacerbate the conflict between his clan and Konoha.

Moreover, since Shura used this cloned Sharingan transplant technology on him, he certainly wouldn't let him leave freely.

He didn't want to bring two mysterious enemies to Konoha, nor did he want to deepen the conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha clan.

It seems that staying in the Star Kingdom for the time being is the only option now.

'It's a good opportunity to check on the situation in the Land of Stars and gather information about the Star Ninja Village,' Uchiha Shisui thought to himself.

The sound of children's laughter coming from next door caught Zhishui's attention.

His gaze unconsciously swept across the adjacent courtyard, when a splash of bright red suddenly caught his eye, which was not yet fully adjusted to its color. It was a swirling family crest, cast from some kind of tough red metal, firmly nailed to the dark wooden door of the neighboring courtyard.

Its style is simple and elegant, with smooth lines, carrying a sense of solemnity unique to an ancient family.

The Uzumaki clan?
That ninja clan that was long ago destroyed in the war, leaving only a few legends and the cold name on the Konoha Memorial Monument?

He couldn't help but recall the first time he fought Uchiha Hikaru, when he saw a red-haired woman using the Adamantine Sealing Chains to bind three Iwa ninja.

It felt as if an invisible hand was gripping her heart, and Shi Shui's body began to move.

He jumped up silently, landing lightly and quietly on the courtyard wall like a falling leaf.

"...The flow of chakra needs to penetrate deeper into the meridians, Kimimaro." A gentle female voice rang out in the courtyard. A red-haired woman of about twenty years old was instructing a white-haired boy on his training.

"When the power of Yang Release is too strong, it is like a flood. If there is no dam to guide it, it will eventually break through the river. The power of Yin Release brought by Byakugan is the dam. You must learn to feel its 'stillness' and use it to restrain the excessive 'movement' in your blood."

In the center of the courtyard, Kaguya Kimimaro stood shirtless, her posture upright like a pine tree.

He closed his eyes and concentrated, and beneath his exposed skin, faint, pale bones protruded and then flattened, like breathing.

Beside him, the gentle-faced Vanilla Uzumaki placed her hand lightly on Kimimaro's shoulder, a soft green chakra aura enveloping him.

Further away, Mizuki Shiro stood quietly to one side, her fingertips shrouded in a visible, cold white mist.

Another girl with brown hair, a few freckles on her face, and wisps of smoke around her watched Kimimaro's practice with curiosity.

Zhi Shui's breathing almost stopped.

The remnants of the vortex!
The Kaguya Clan!
And an Ice Release Kekkei Genkai!
A... a bloodline limit ninja whom even he had never seen before!
This small courtyard actually houses the descendants of four bloodline families that were already considered by the world to be either extinct or extremely rare.

This is no coincidence!
What kind of vast network is that Asura weaving in the Star Kingdom?
What is the purpose of collecting these lost powers?

Shock, like a cold tide, instantly overwhelmed his thoughts, and his eyes began to ache slightly.

"Who?" Vanilla's voice suddenly turned cold, the gentle chakra aura instantly receded, and her sharp gaze looked up at the figure on the courtyard wall.

Shisui landed gently in the courtyard: "I apologize for disturbing you. I am Uchiha Shisui, and I am currently recuperating next door. I happened to see the Uzumaki clan crest and became curious."

“Uchiha Shisui?” Uzumaki Kaori’s scrutinizing gaze lingered on his newly formed eyes for a moment, and the keenness of a medical ninja made her instantly understand.

Her tense expression relaxed, and a knowing smile appeared on her face: "I see. Lord Shura mentioned your situation. Please come in and sit for a while, there's no need to be so formal."

She turned to the boys and girls in the courtyard: "Kimimaro, Haku, Yukimi, and this is Shisui of the Uchiha clan, the strongest ninja of the Uchiha clan in Konoha."

As the strongest graduates of this year's Star Ninja Academy, the three are taught by Uzumaki Herba, who has already been promoted to Jonin, and Uchiha Hikaru will also train them.

"I have long heard of the name Shisui, the master of the Body Flicker Technique." Kimimaro opened his eyes, his recently transplanted Byakugan looking at Shisui. His gaze was calm and unwavering, and he nodded slightly: "I am Kimimaro of the Kaguya clan."

"Hello, I am Mizuki Haku of the Snow Clan." Haku returned the greeting gently, his tender smile even making Shisui feel a sense of warmth.

"Wow! A Konoha ninja! Hello, hello! My name is Yukimi, and I'm from the Ibri clan!" Yukimi greeted them warmly with girlish curiosity.

The issue of their clan's bloodline limit has been resolved, and they can now live normally in the sunlight. As the most talented child of the Ibri clan, Xuejian is naturally given special attention and training.

"The Uzumaki clan... and the survivors of the Kaguya clan..." Shisui's voice was slightly dry, his gaze sweeping over Kimimaro's white eyes.

He recalled the four Byakugan that Shura had stolen during his second attack on the Hyuga clan's territory. Had they been transplanted into this kid?

There's also the Snow Clan and the Ibri Clan, which I've never heard of before.

They are all ninja clans with bloodline limits.

"The Kaguya clan, I remember it happened as early as two years ago..." Shisui recalled the Kaguya clan rebellion that the Fugaku clan chief had mentioned.

"Extermination of the race?" Whirlpool Vanilla chimed in, her tone as calm as if recounting a distant past event.

"Life is unpredictable, and some seeds can always struggle to survive in the ashes."

“Just like our Uzumaki clan, the Land of Whirlpools has long been history, but our scattered bloodlines have taken root here again, haven’t they?” She pointed to the ground beneath her feet, then to herself.

Zhi Shui's heart sank heavily.

The Uzumaki clan, the Uchiha clan, the Kaguya clan, the Yuki clan, and the Ibuki ninja clan I'd never heard of before, and those Byakugan eyes...

(End of this chapter)