Naruto: From Fake to Real, Deceiving the Ninja World.

laugh.

A cold and cruel red line cleanly and decisively covered the name written in ink.

—Uchiha Tekka.

By the faint, almost negligible moonlight in the night sky, one could vaguely make out the names listed on the notebook.

All of Uchiha Itachi's names, including "Uchiha Tekka," have been lightly crossed out with horizontal lines.

This means that countless vibrant lives have been physically erased.

The red lines crossing out the black names seemed to ooze thick, pungent blood.

Itachi Uchiha's gaze swept over the names that hadn't been crossed out, as if he were examining an ordinary to-do list.

Soon, he raised his head and his gaze fell on his father's back.

Moonlight pierced through the swaying branches, illuminating half of his face. Blood droplets slowly slid down Uchiha Fugaku's calm face, leaving a striking dark red streak that resembled a tear.

Meanwhile, in Uchiha Fugaku's mental space.

It's no longer a heart-wrenching struggle of anger. Nor are there painful and desperate questions.

Here, there was utter silence.

A bottomless, chilling silence.

Beneath Shisui's Mangekyou Sharingan, which hung high in the sky like the sun.

What should have been a green ocean has now turned into a crimson sea of ​​blood.

"Iron fire..."

"who is the next?"

"Is it Nobuhiko? Or Tadasuke?"

Fugaku Uchiha knelt on the black reef, no longer roaring or struggling, his eyes blankly staring at the sea of ​​blood before him.

He was like a stone that had lost all its luster, numbly experiencing everything he was going through at that moment.

Aside from being unable to control his body, he could feel everything his body did.

To kill one vibrant life after another with your own hands, to watch them fall, to feel the warmth of life slipping away through your fingers...

Looking at those clansmen who once respectfully called him "Lord Fugaku," seeing those familiar faces frozen in shock and fear...

Not only did he kill his clansmen with his own hands, but Itachi also erased their existence.

They used clumsy imposters to impersonate the lives of their clansmen, deceiving their loved ones who were waiting for them to return home, completely unaware of the truth...

At this moment, dozens of figures floated in the sea of ​​blood before Fugaku, each one a clansman he had personally killed.

The faces beneath the water rose, staring intently at him kneeling on the rocks, their expressions twisted with pain, resentment, and savagery…

These are the souls of our clansmen who died, filled with resentment and anger. They were all thrown here by Hyuga Kumokawa using the Box of Paradise, so that Fugaku could experience the pain and despair that his clansmen had endured.

This twisted sense of guilt and pain was about to exceed Fugaku's limit, and the immense psychological trauma numbed his consciousness.

The only clear thing was the constantly repeating, overlapping faces of death, and the touch of blood splattered on his face, still warm with the lingering warmth of life.

"I killed them, with these hands..." Fugaku Uchiha murmured, "Why, why can't it stop..."

"Itachi, Shisui, isn't that enough? Isn't this enough?"

He slowly raised his head to look at the Mangekyou Sharingan in the sky, asked in a hoarse voice, and then lowered his head to look at his trembling hands that he was slowly raising.

"How much more blood must my hands get on them before I stop..."

"It's my fault, it's my fault that you've all been ruined..."

"sorry Sorry……"

Meanwhile, in the air above him, Hyuga Kumokawa's consciousness looked down at Fugaku, and at the souls of the Uchiha clan who were floating in the sea of ​​blood after their deaths.

"Now, we're just waiting for that day to come."

With these thoughts in mind, Hyuga Kumokawa connected with the scroll Orochimaru always carried and closely monitored the progress on the other side.

The scroll shows that Orochimaru has already sailed across the ocean and arrived at that other continent.

As long as Orochimaru finds the Grell Ruins there and discovers the "Space-Time Hole" within them, Hyuga Kumokawa will immediately take action to seal and control it.

Only when the surging undercurrents of the Uchiha clan fully erupted was Orochimaru able to open the "Space-Time Hole".

At that time, Hyuga Kumokawa will make the existence of the 'Virtual World' fully manifest, allowing the 'Virtual' to appear in Konoha and even throughout the entire ninja world.

Konoha was the most prominent stage in this grand drama he had personally orchestrated.

------

At the root base, inside the cold and lifeless human laboratory.

The stark white light poured down from above, illuminating this underground space with an eerie atmosphere, making it resemble a morgue.

Danzo Shimura lay alone on the cold operating table, turning his head to look at his bare arm.

It was a bizarre arm that seemed to be twisted and fused together from wood and muscle, with a human face protruding from its shoulder.

His skin was a sickly pale, bloodless color, covered with raised textures like the roots of an old tree.

The skin of the arm was covered with a complex seal, and several shackles tightly locked up the power of the arm.

However, Danzo Shimura could clearly sense that the Hashirama cells in this arm were still restless, trying to break the crumbling seal and shackles.

Each impact brought a piercing, excruciating pain.

It was a pain originating from the constant erosion at the cellular level, causing Danzo's wrinkled face to twitch slightly and fine beads of cold sweat to seep from his forehead.

"Lord Danzo." A researcher in a white coat wiped his sweat and said in a low voice, "The invasiveness of the Hashirama cells is too strong. This is the limit of what we can do."

Upon hearing this, Danzo's eyes turned sinister, but he did not reprimand them.

He knew that as he got older, the erosion of the intercolumnar cells in his arm would become stronger, and his aging body would soon be unable to hold on.

Amputating this arm might solve the problem.

However, how could Danzo possibly give up the power of Wood Release and the Sharingan?

You can also use the same arm.

But he can't contact Orochimaru at all now. That bastard seems to have vanished into thin air. He lost all trace and information a long time ago!

Without Orochimaru to prepare a new arm for him, and unwilling to give up his powerful strength, Danzo Shimura now only has one choice.

He needs to transplant more Sharingan eyes to suppress Hashirama's cells!

Just then, a ghostly black figure silently appeared in the shadows a few steps behind him, kneeling on one knee.

"Lord Danzo."

The newcomer's voice was deep and cold, carrying the distinctive flavor of a Root ninja.

Danzo didn't turn around, nor did he even shift his gaze. His voice was icy as he asked, "Explode, what's the Uchiha clan's recent activity?"

"Discontent within the Uchiha clan continues to build, and their suspicion and hostility toward the village are deepening, but there have been no extreme actions recently."

The Root ninja codenamed 'Explosion' calmly said, "The Third Hokage's move to transfer Itachi Uchiha to the Anbu and entrust him with an important mission has appeased the emotions of some Uchiha clan members."

“Especially Fugaku Uchiha, whose attitude has softened. Although the radicals are still dissatisfied, they have temporarily held back under Fugaku’s suppression.”

"..."

Shimura Danzo remained silent for a long time, only coldly sweeping his gaze over the Root ninja.

Seemingly sensing something, his eyes flickered slightly.

After a moment of silence, he sat up, put on his clothes, and said, "Okay, change your clothes and come with me to see the Third Generation."

'Boom', who was kneeling on the ground, stiffened, seemingly surprised by the order.

Without any hesitation, he immediately replied, "Yes, Lord Danzo."

------

Hokage Building, Hokage Office.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was buried in a mountain of documents, his brow furrowed with exhaustion, and the embers in his pipe flickered in the dim light.

Tuk-tuk-tuk.

A knock on the door interrupted my thoughts.

"Go in," Hiruzen Sarutobi said without looking up.

Click.

Danzo Shimura was the first to enter. Upon smelling that familiar scent, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up and frowned habitually.

Although he was already used to this "old friend's" visits, this guy always brought him some trouble each time he came.

However, when Hiruzen Sarutobi saw the figure following Danzo, dressed as a Konoha ninja but exuding a chilling aura, his fingers holding the pipe paused involuntarily.

Root ninjas?

Realizing the man's identity, Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes.

Danzo actually brought the Root ninjas directly in front of him?

He understood Danzo as well as Danzo understood him. In Danzo's mind, the Root ninjas were shadows that could not see the light of day, destined to remain hidden beneath the tree of Konoha for their entire lives.

Therefore, Danzo would never bring Root ninjas to him, the Hokage, on his own initiative. In Danzo's view, getting too close to the "light" would only make these shadows have unrealistic expectations.

but now……

Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank, but he remained calm and composed, even displaying a perfectly appropriate hint of doubt.

"Danzo, what's the matter so late?" he asked.

"Naturally, I've come to report on the latest developments of the Uchiha clan."

Danzo Shimura replied in a hoarse voice, then turned slightly to reveal the Root ninja following behind him, and said, "Let him tell you the details..."

'Boom' seemed to be stunned for a moment, and subconsciously took a step forward, just as he was about to speak to report.

puff! !

With a muffled thud as flesh was instantly pierced, 'Boom's' body stiffened abruptly, filled with disbelief, astonishment, and bewilderment.

He stiffly and slowly looked down at himself, only to see a cane piercing through his chest, blood seeping out and staining his dark robes red.

"you……"

'Boom' opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something.

But Danzo, standing behind him, expressionlessly pulled out his cane.

Blood gushed from his chest, causing his body to go limp as if all his strength had been drained, and he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.

"..."

Upon seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi involuntarily frowned.

Although he had already guessed Danzo's ulterior motives, he did not expect that Danzo would kill someone right in front of him.

"A spy? Or what?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked. "How did you find out?"

"He talks too much."

“No one at the root would speak to me with such strong subjectivity.”

As Shimura Danzo calmly explained, he squatted down, pinched the man's cheeks, and exposed his tongue.

"Hmph, as expected, they were manipulated by illusions or secret techniques."

Looking at the "Tongue Calamity Eradication Seal" on his tongue, Danzo's gaze narrowed slightly, and he couldn't help but sneer, "Not all members of the Uchiha clan are brainless idiots..."

Just as he was about to say something more, a strange change suddenly occurred the next second.

The Root ninja, who had been killed with his chest pierced, had his skin, muscles, and bones twisted and deformed like a melted wax figure.

As soon as the corpse began to change, Danzo instantly moved away from it and appeared beside Hiruzen Sarutobi, his pupils constricting as he watched the changes in the corpse.

Under their astonished gazes, what finally appeared before them was a humanoid creature with a deathly pale complexion.

"Danzo, what is this?!"

The calm on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face vanished, replaced by unprecedented shock and solemnity.