No sooner had he finished speaking than a group of figures suddenly appeared in the center of the battlefield.
Uchiha Yujin narrowed his eyes, immediately spotting a tall, upright figure.
Uchiha Itachi.
Beside Itachi stood the head of the Uchiha clan, the father he would, in a few months, be forced to kill—Uchiha Fugaku.
Fugaku's appearance wasn't just a coincidence; it was also to protect Uchiha Yujin.
Both the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Danzo had taken an interest in the target of Orochimaru's Cursed Seal of Heaven.
The difference was, Hiruzen wanted answers about Orochimaru, while Danzo sought power.
Fugaku would never hand over his prodigy to Danzo or even the Hokage. That was why he had personally appeared here.
"Yujin… let's go."
Fugaku said nothing further, grabbing Uchiha Yujin's arm and helping him to his feet.
Seeing this, both Yamato, who represented Hiruzen Sarutobi's will, and an ANBU shinobi standing on a tree trunk, wanted to say something.
But Fugaku's overwhelming presence made them hesitate. Neither dared step forward.
Itachi, meanwhile, positioned himself to Fugaku's right.
"Father, according to ANBU protocol, with such a major incident near the village, he must provide the details to the ANBU."
As Itachi spoke, Uchiha Yujin stole a glance at his eyes.
"Of course, he didn't recognize me!"
"Well, who could possibly connect the me of today with the me from last month?"
"Damn it! Just wait!"
When Itachi threw the shuriken, Uchiha Yujin hadn't awakened the Sharingan, wasn't wearing the Uchiha clan robes, and hadn't even graduated from the Ninja Academy yet.
On the streets like this, Itachi didn't care about how his features looked—he had no memory of him at all.
Given that,
"Ah!"
Uchiha Yujin suddenly shouted, drawing everyone's attention to him.
Fugaku felt something was wrong and quickly tore open Uchiha Yujin's shirt.
Two shocking wounds were revealed before everyone's eyes.
(In reality, it was where the Cursed Seal had been cut.)
Fugaku urgently said, "Quick! Take him to the hospital!"
At Konoha Hospital, in the ninja ward.
Hatake Kakashi personally peeled an apple and handed it to Uchiha Yujin.
Rubbing the back of his head, Kakashi said, "I was badly injured and had entrusted Lady Tsunade to heal me. Afterwards, I searched for you with the Inuzuka clan who came to assist—but I never expected you to escape all the way to near Cloud Village."
Uchiha Yujin took a bite of the apple. "Thanks to the Cursed Seal Orochimaru implanted in me, I was able to fly and escape all the way there."
He touched his back as if in pain. "But… someone tore this thing off too."
"That's actually a good thing," Kakashi said, patting Uchiha Yujin on the shoulder. "The fact that you made it back alive is already a miracle."
"Oh? In that case, maybe the village can give me some reward? After all…"
Before he could finish, footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Kakashi glanced toward the door. "Don't worry. It's someone from the Anbu. They'll probably just ask you a few questions."
Creaaak—
As the hospital room door opened, Kakashi frowned.
The person coming in wasn't just from the Anbu.
The commanding office of the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force was there as well.
Ibiki Morino.
Kakashi stood up from the bed, placing himself between Uchiha Yujin and the newcomers.
"Why are you here?"
Ibiki, hands in his pockets and expression serious, said, "Calm down, Kakashi. We're only conducting routine questioning. Nothing unusual."
Kakashi squinted, sensing something, though he didn't press further.
Situations that involved the Konoha Torture and Interrogation Force were rare, especially for ninjas returning from missions.
"Whose order is this?" Kakashi asked, confirming with Ibiki.
Ibiki replied patiently, "The Advisor's."
Kakashi still didn't step aside. "I can vouch for Yujin. He's fine. There's no problem with him."
Ibiki shook his head directly.
"Don't worry, Kakashi. You're overthinking. We won't do anything to the village's shinobi."
"Really… nothing?"
Kakashi hesitated. He knew better than anyone the tricks the village leadership could play.
After all, his father, Konoha White Fang—Sakumo Hatake—had been driven into depression and eventually took his own life due to the village's various manipulations and cold ostracization.
Seeing Kakashi still hesitating, another masked ANBU suddenly appeared in the room.
At the sight of this mask, Kakashi sighed and sat back down on the hospital bed.
The mask meant one thing: Hiruzen Sarutobi himself had authorized the interrogation.
In the dim, damp room, Uchiha Yujin sat slumped in a chair.
On the other side of the room were three ANBU interrogators he had never seen before.
A night of intense questioning had left Uchiha Yujin physically and mentally exhausted.
From snippets of conversation, he understood why the interrogators had targeted him.
Evidence suggested a deep connection between him and Orochimaru.
One of the interrogators picked up a notebook.
"What you said three hours ago doesn't match what you're saying now. Which one is the truth?"
Uchiha Yujin lifted his heavy eyelids.
"In just one week, I was pursued by two Kage-level enemies, dragging my exhausted body back to Konoha, only to fall into another ambush."
"By some luck, I survived. I had barely rested on the hospital bed before being brought here for your relentless questioning."
He glanced at the single-eyed female ANBU who had questioned him.
"If it were you, Chunin lady, how would you handle this?"
The three interrogators exchanged looks.
The female ANBU finally spoke, "Let's take a pause… but you cannot sleep."
"Hmph."
Kakashi stood in the Hokage's office for fifteen minutes, facing Koharu, Homura Mitokado, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and Danzo Shimura.
No matter how much he explained that even his life had been saved by Uchiha Yujin, the four high-ranking leaders of Konoha had no intention of canceling the interrogation.
"Son of Sakumo…" Danzo said, half-closing his eyes as he tapped his staff on the floor.
"If you cannot provide new evidence, then don't waste our time."
Kakashi's fingers twitched slightly when he heard the title "Son of Sakumo."
He didn't look at Danzo, but turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Lord Hokage, I can guarantee that child is meeting Orochimaru for the first time. There won't be any problems."
Hiruzen, holding his kiseru between his lips, took a long drag and exhaled, the smoke shrouding his face so completely that even Kakashi couldn't read the Third Hokage's expression.
After a long moment, Hiruzen finally spoke.
"Kakashi, head back for today."
"Understood."
With no other choice, Kakashi left.
Danzo, squinting, tapped his staff against the floor once more.
"If we can't pry information from Kakuzu, we'll pry it from this Uchiha brat."
One of the advisors, Koharu Utatane, spoke up.
"That rogue ninja from Takigakure has self-detonation techniques that prevent mind-reading. Forcing it will only cost us."
Hiruzen inhaled deeply and blew out a smoke ring.
"Uchiha Fugaku's side is applying pressure. At most, it'll be just for one more day. Once it's done, we'll need to let him go."
Danzo didn't comment.
As he left the Hokage building, a cruel smile crept across his face as he glanced toward the shadows.
"Send in Morino Ibiki."
After a day of interrogation without results, when Morino Ibiki appeared again, threatening severe torture, Uchiha Yujin actually felt a small sense of relief.
As long as they didn't call in Yamanaka Inoichi—who could probe the mind through brain manipulation—there was still some room to maneuver.
"Uchiha Yujin," Morino Ibiki said, hands in his pockets, his cold gaze fixed on the young boy before him.
"One last time, will you not tell the truth?"
Uchiha Yujin snorted coldly.
"Hmph. Are you planning to torture me?"
Morino Ibiki nodded.
"Although I don't want to do this, if you keep resisting, we'll have to take more… forceful measures."
He explained casually.
"My technique is called the Summoning Art: Torture Chamber. No criminal can withstand its torment. You will regret it."
"Hahaha!"
Uchiha Yujin suddenly burst out laughing.
It was the funniest joke he had heard since regaining his memory.
As an original-series fan, he knew every jutsu that had ever appeared in the manga.
Even if it had only appeared once, the Summoning Technique: Torture Chamber was infamous.
When the Six Paths of Pain attacked, Ibiki had once used this technique to interrogate the "Animal Path" of Pain.
The funniest thing about this technique was that while it tortured the target, the user also received a proportional amount of damage.
It was a contest of endurance.
And since the Six Paths of Pain were corpses, they felt no pain. After torturing them for a while, Ibiki was the first to break.
When Uchiha Yujin heard that Ibiki was about to use this technique on him, he burst out laughing.
He had never heard such a hilarious joke!
Someone actually wanted to compete with him in endurance?
Did they think that the seven years he spent advancing through Impel Down were like kindergarten?
Seeing that the prisoner refused to eat or drink, Morino Ibiki slammed his hand on the ground:
"Summoning Technique: Torture Chamber!"
****
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