As the Third Shinobi World War has come to an end, peace has restored once again, albeit with many casualties, leaving scars on everyone, victors and the defeated alike.
Regardless of the war's outcome, where only a few emerged victorious from the conflict, it gave rise to shinobi who were revered by their allies and dreaded by their enemies on the battlefield.
And as always, Konoha had its fair share of such individuals who fit this description.
Minato Namikaze, The Yellow Flash
Uchiha Masato, The Uchiha's Red Fang
Kakashi Hatake, The Copycat Ninja
Uchiha Fugaku, The Wicked Eye
After the end of the Sengoku era, Konoha emerged, formed through the peaceful resolution of the Uchiha and Senju conflict. It became the envy of the world, blessed with an abundance of high-quality shinobi.
However, only those who can see through the illusion of trust and hope realize that the war never truly ended within the village. Konoha is no exception to this reality.
The war, was between factions within the village itself, rather than external adversaries
The rules of this war weren't about killing enemies outright to force them to surrender. Instead, the goal was to weaken them until they submitted to the victors' command, allowing them to be utilized for the victors' purposes.
As the war ends where Konoha is crowned the victor once again in this world, for the third consecutive time, people in Konoha savour peace, a rare moment to spend with loved ones in the safety of their haven.
Despite differences in bloodline and status, they set them aside, each with their own reasons.
Unfortunately, only a few have noticed the reemergence of the cold war within the village.
In the Forest of Death (Dusk)
-------------------
The forest earned a moniker for harboring creatures far more formidable than their normal counterparts, rendering it one of the Land of Fire's few places forbidden to civilians.
Being born with chakra, they can enhance their physical attacks and stronger ones can even use Ninjutsu to attack humans.
However, for the average shinobi, it posed little threat, often serving as a training ground for Genin to familiarize themselves with hostile environments, such as during the Chunin Exams, while the stronger beast have already been domesticated by them who are used as a source of nutrients.
A day after the official end of the war, Entry to the forest was sealed in preparation for the next Chunin Exam, with the intent to clear excess trees that might impede navigation for Genin.
However, if one listens carefully, faint clangs of steel can be heard in the distance.
***
Clang
Swish
Swoosh
As sword clashes among them, the opposite side backpedals to a reasonable distance, creating space between them.
To the left was a young man in early 20s, wearing Konoha's headband on his neck, having his clothes torn and burned.
To the right were twelve men, each clad in black, adorned with animal masks, with only the supposed leader of the group wearing goggles.
"Give up, Uchiha Masato, and accept your fate," demanded the man with goggles, who was panting alongside his subordinate and associate.
They were the Anbu and Root of Konoha, sent to eliminate him, the Uchiha's Red Fang, because he was considered an 'unstable factor'.
"Oh shut up, Aburame Shikuro," Masato smirked as he caught his breath and wiped blood from his mouth, clutching his sword tightly.
'No good, I can't fight for this long....'
'I did not expect the elderly to send him as well,' he contemplated while maintaining his smile.
He had anticipated an ambush upon arriving at the Forest of Death for training, expecting retaliation after numerous indirect provocations even though he was a decisive figure during the war and had achieved several accolades.
However, he had overlooked the presence of Aburame Shikuro in the Root due to little information available about him in his memories from his past life for him to recall.
A dangerous Aburame member that can use kikaichū to consume chakra of enemies and rinkaichū which were used to destroy their cells with poison if they come into contact with it excluding the users of this insect, making it difficult for him to fight at short range with his sword, which was his forte and he would certainly died if didn't have a single idea about his capability.
He felt a sense of honor knowing that the Konoha upper echelon feared him to the extent that they dispatched forty-nine Jonin from Anbu and Root to assist Shiruko in finishing him off.
This challenging fight, unmatched even by encounters with the seven swordsmen, proved their determination.
Unfortunately, it was the end of the road for him; he had exhausted almost all of his body and chakra to face them, where only 12, including Shiruko, remained to fight him.
The outcome was obvious to Masato. His capabilities were far from enough to finish them in this state. However, the opposing side hesitated upon seeing his confident smile.
They feared he might use his cursed dojutsu to turn the tide, attributing his capabilities and war achievements solely to it.
The Mangekyo Sharingan, a Kekkei Genkai that was unrivaled in this world, can only be countered by Wood Release, a Kekkei Genkai that was once wielded by the deceased God of Shinobi.
Unaware it was just a facade to stall time to recover and formulate a plan. But it seemed hopeless to proceed with the attack after sensing the jutsu they were collaborating to use.
'I guess I can't come early nee-chan...' he smiled bitterly, letting go of his sword to fall on the ground.
"Now!" Shiruko ordered immediately, releasing kikaichū towards him, while 11 others used their remaining chakra to finish him off using a collaboration fire release jutsu (A-rank).
Staring at the attacks, Masato stayed motionless and kept smiling.
Boom!
Hearing the explosion and seeing lush trees turned into ashes, they were confident they would finish him off.
If the collaboration jutsu couldn't kill him despite the destructive power, the kikaichū, Shiruko especially bred to resist flame in exchange of not sensing chakra, would certainly spell death to him as it consumes his remaining chakra used to stay alive.
However, their celebration was cut short when they reached the site and did not see his body, which should have remained intact after the attack.
"Damn it! He got away!"
Feeling foolish to underestimate him even if the fight was in their favour, they rushed towards the entrance of the forest of death from Konoha, believing he would go there to escape.
As they left, Masato sighed in relief and expressed exhaustion, revealing himself inside the ground after using Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique and Hiding with Camouflage Technique within a moment to avoid the attack and hide from them.
If Masato didn't kill all the sensors during the one-sided fight and didn't use bug repellent, he bought it to kill cockroaches at home, on his body to repel those insects for coming in contact with him, he would certainly be killed today.
'My luck again turned out great.' He smiled while recovering his strength and reminiscing about the fight.
He was glad he had listened to his gut feeling and kept his shadow clone in Ryūchi Cave at the end of the war, just in case he needed Sage Mode to fend off an 'unexpected' ambush he couldn't handle without the boost in power.
Though he did wish he had more chakra; otherwise, he might have met the requirements to use the perfect version to finish the rather instead of leaving it for later.
Nonetheless, the fight was far from over, fully aware of schemes they could pull if he didn't finish them off right here, right now.
'Should I summon the snakes? But I don't have enough prestige or sacrifice to command them…' he sighed, knowing his situation was far from ideal.
At some point, he felt a certain discomfort in his eyes.
It was a discomfort he felt from a strange sensation in his eyes, one he thought he would never experience again. First time he felt discomfort from a strange sensation in his eyes was when he awakened his Sharingan, after seeing his hero's body lying on the floor and after that he now longer felt that sensation after multiple use.
Rubbing his eye off after a certain itch, he noticed blood coming from his eye socket. He kept staring at his hand stained with blood, feeling there was something missing until it clicked him.
'Is it what I think it is, or are my eyes just bleeding due to exhaustion?' He thought, excited at the possibility of the former.
Pulling a kunai from one of the flak jackets, he had held on too close to his eyes and was amazed to see a pinwheel design on two of his eyes.
'Did I just awaken by battling them?' He wondered, theorizing the adrenaline he felt from the battle mimicked the sensation needed to force his eyes to evolve.
Regardless how exactly he awakened it, it doesn't matter as long as the end result was worth it.
Even if eyes were no different than glass cannon where the solution to eliminate the side-effects were far accessible at the current moment, he recognise the political power it grants that can assist him to achieve greater leverage in his clan and in Konoha overall as the cold war between them and Konoha upper echelon would intensify, as they were more becoming desperate to hold on their political leverage as they grow older.
Patiently waiting for some of his chakra to recover, he decided to see what abilities he had gained access to.
He was hoping for the passive ability Madara supposedly have or the Hax ability Obito have, which seem more reliable than others had.
However, when he attempted to use the abilities of his left eye, he found himself transported inside a second dimension.
At first, Obito came to his mind, as despite his efforts, he couldn't change the end result of Obito 'joining' 'Madara's' cause, but he dismisses the thought quickly as he still vaguely remembers the interior design of Kamui dimension, which look nothing like the space around him which only resembles a void than anything else.
There was a possibility his eyes also had similar ability, however, after looking at the words from above, he understood what happened instead.
[Ding! Ding! Ding! System requirement has been met! Right Mangekyo Sharigan enables the host to use the shop! ]
'Do all systems suddenly kidnap their hosts out of nowhere, or am I the exception?' He contemplated and glanced at the things available in the shop the system allowed him to see.
He read this kind of system in his past life, specifically in fanfic from his past life that referred to his current world as 'Naruto', where you usually reach the pinnacle of shinobi when having a system.
'Well at the expense of one's freedom, but hey at least it works.'
Ignoring the system's unmentioned agenda, he quickly scanned the shop, only to be disappointed. It lacked anything related to the Kaguya Ōtsutsuki, their descendants, and their supposed abilities.
From their dojutsu that was prized among shinobi to wood release that can absorb chakra and control tail beast to even the Uzumaki's special body that were naturally sensor and master of Fuinjutsu that can heal any time simply by consuming their chakra, were not available.
But, the shop was still valuable as he can get access to elemental Kekkei Genkai such as Lava release to weapons made in this world like Seven swords of the Kiri to even access to jutsus that were inaccessible either due to knowledge to utilize it has been lost or gatekeeped by the inventors to outsiders.
Currently he gets one free purchase from here, with the added bonus of fully healing his body and recovering his chakra for once, specifically ideal at this moment.
Just the points he needed to purchase them again, were unique and difficult to farm, but it was all worth it as it provides a feature that he deems useful overall.
***
As Shiruko and his remaining shinobi desperately searched the forest for Masato for over an hour, using whatever remaining chakra they had to attack suspected hiding spots, they decide to commence Plan B as instructed to them and return with bodies of their fallen allies to use as proof to smear Masato's name.
He was already infamous for abandoning his comrades every time if it was needed to complete a critical mission assigned by the village, so accusing him of committing blatant homicide towards his fellow villagers with their 'proof' was enough to convince the public of his 'evil doing' and sentence him to execution.
A 'punishment' of double standards, since they previously slandered the respectful man that did the opposite once and driven to his death by his own hands.
However, they dropped the bodies after being hit by severe killing intent behind them, causing half of them to fall forward.
"When did I say you guys can leave?" Masato questioned, looking at his prey, amused, astonishing them when they saw him and his clothes return back to normal, as if a fight had never occurred.
'Wait, did we all fall into Genjutsu!' Shikuro quickly speculated, seeing no reason how his clothes also remain intact despite their gruesome fight.
He was an Uchiha after all, having an eyes infamous for their Genjutsu, so the possibility of him ensnaring them was the most logical possibility he came up with, though the reality was far bizarre than he would reasonably expected.
'Good thing I don't have to bug the tailor to make this again.' Masato thought while looking at his distinctive short white sleeve which had red edges on left arm, identical to what white fang wore which instead had the symbol of Konoha Military Police Force on it as his personal flair.
Waving hand signs and concentrating chakra in his mouth, Masato decides to test his new purchase.
"Ice release: Ice Shards!"
'How is it possible!' one of them screamed inwards before being impaled by one of the ice shards.
In shock at Masato's revelation of his second Kekkei Genkai, only four managed to react and dodge the barrage of ice shards.
Seeing Masato infused his sword with flame, they quickly tried to body flicker away.
All four were exhausted both in chakra and vitality, engaging with Masato was sure death as they no longer had the number advantage to beat him. However, as an expert in the Body Flicker technique, escaping in his presence was proved to be futile.
"Agh!!" one of them writhed in pain after being struck by the flame sword from behind where Masato quickly closed the distance.
Seeing hopelessness of the fight, the remaining three split their ways, in hopes of one of them staying alive to inform their superiors to complete the mission.
Unfortunately, they now would be guinea pigs of his curiosity.
'Let's see the maximum range of the jutsu.'
Gathering his chakra on his mouth, multiple times more than previous amount, he once again waved hand signs.
"Ice release: Ice Shards!"
Instead of the barrage of ice shards he had previously released, it was a sea of ice shards that emanated from his mouth, covering several hectares and impaling anything within its range.
Three shinobi who went separate ways, couldn't escape its range and were impaled to the ground, though they were still alive as it did not pierced all of their vital points.
'The elderly going to age a lot after this.' Masato smirked while pulling a scroll from his jacket.
***
In Konoha, at Ramen Ichiraku
------------------------------------
Within the village, known for being spacious and heavily populated, there was a humble ramen shop where four people were having their meal, surrounded by Anbu hidden in the surroundings.
Despite the aroma that was tempting them to eat, they were vigilant, fully aware of the importance of reporting even the most insignificant and harmless exchanges that occurred inside the shop.
"I am telling you, Kushina, you shouldn't marry a man who is overly devoted to the village," Mikoto insisted while slurping on tomato ramen, while Kushina tried to enjoy shio ramen with a stiff smile.
"Just look at poor Kakashi, he lost his mother when his father was out of work and lost his father due to accusation despite his dedication!"
"There is no point in marrying a man who won't prioritize you in the end!"
"Just imagine, leaving you and your child behind, endangered by your husband's adversaries who seeked to exalt their revenge,"
"Miss Mikoto...I am here..." Minato nervously laughed, but soon it turned into sighs while patting Kakashi on the back who Kushina dragged for celebration for yesterday.
Minato was just relaxing with Kushina and Kakashi over a bowl of ramen, until Mikoto came and kept indirectly bashing him repeatedly.
Minato was long used to her banter, so he only sighed and politely didn't argue back with Mikoto.
'Well at least Kushina can eat in pea--- never mind, I spoke too soon.' Minato sighs again with his palm on his face after sensing him coming this way.
"Good to see you Kakashi, Blondie, and your showpiece," Masato greeted, while sitting beside his sister.
"One Tonkotsu ramen with extra pork with a side of Karaage." Masato ordered, while Minato and Kakashi did their best to restrain Kushina while they could, whose hair were levitating, akin to the nine tails of the tail beast she had sealed inside of her.