Hokage: I Confronted the Five Kage Before the System Arrived

Chapter 158: The Nine-Tails: The Innate Evil of the Uchiha!

"Heh, trying to recruit right under my nose, huh?" 

On the same side, the only non-Uchiha, Hagoromo Anki, laughed lightly with his arms crossed after hearing Yamato's suggestion.

Across from him, Akatsuchi, who was trying hard not to make eye contact with Anki, asked in a low voice, "Are you an Uchiha too?"

"No, I'm not," Anki replied without hesitation, proud of his "Hagoromo" lineage.

"That's good," Akatsuchi sighed in relief. He was not used to conversing without making eye contact, as it seemed impolite.

On the other side, hearing Anki's response, Uchiha Kei, who was married to Anki's sister, quickly declared, "Captain, you know my loyalty."

Anki glanced at him and casually nodded. After all, who would have thought that Uchiha Kei, who acted so domineering outside, was actually completely under his wife's control? Betrayal was out of the question.

Yamato, listening to the conversation between Anki and Kei, quickly thought to himself: 

'This man isn't an Uchiha by birth; he must be a shinobi from Lockfront Village. But if the Uchiha are willing to call him captain, his strength must be formidable. Such a person shouldn't come from a small ninja village. Unless... he's from the Hagoromo Clan!'

As the team leader for this mission, Yamato had access to extensive intelligence gathered by the Joint Investigation Department on Lockfront Village. One crucial piece of information was the speculation that the Hagoromo Clan, once as renowned as the Senju and Uchiha Clans, had settled in Lockfront Village after mysteriously disappearing from the ninja world.

Judging by the current situation, this seemed very likely. Furthermore, considering Kei's attitude towards Anki, it appeared that his proposal of the Uchiha returning to Konoha was not feasible.

Yamato sighed internally. The combination of the Hagoromo and Uchiha clans was daunting enough, not to mention the inscrutable Hagoromo Gengetsu presiding over them.

Sure enough, Uchiha Izumi, who had remained silent until now, firmly rejected the idea:

"The Uchiha will never return to Konoha. We don't want to endure the villagers' 'different looks' again, nor do we want to face another night of annihilation."

'Wow, that's quite revealing!' Akatsuchi and the other Iwa-nin perked up, eager to hear more juicy details. Despite working with Konoha, they had not forgotten their competitive relationship and relished the idea of spreading Konoha's embarrassing secrets.

"Why?" 

Before Yamato could respond, Naruto anxiously interrupted. He had been hopeful when Yamato proposed the idea of the Uchiha returning to the village, thinking that Sasuke could come back as well. But now, with Izumi's outright rejection, he couldn't understand why they had to keep fighting.

"Idiot," Sasuke remarked coldly. He had thought Naruto's strength had grown over the past two years, but it seemed his mind was still as naive as ever. A broken mirror could never be the same again, no matter how well it was repaired; the unseen cracks would always remain. The Uchiha, having experienced a night of annihilation, could never entrust their fate to Konoha again. Moreover, compared to Konoha, the Uchiha had found a better ally.

Naruto fell silent. He couldn't understand why so many people, including Sasuke and Akatsuchi, considered him naive, foolish, and unrealistic. Sure, he didn't understand the adult world, but was it necessarily right? Was it wrong to try to exchange a piece of one's heart for another's? While others might be unwilling, unable, or find it impossible to achieve, he was determined to keep trying. However, there always seemed to be obstacles, no matter how hard he tried.

"So, as Captain Yamato said, I must continue to grow, to become someone no one can ignore, right?" Naruto clenched his fists with a complex expression.

At that moment, a sinister red chakra began to seep uncontrollably from his body.

"Disappointment, pain, and helplessness. Such intense emotions!" 

"Brat, do you want to change everything? Do you want everything to go your way? Power! You need more power!" 

In the sealed space, the massive form of the Nine-Tails emerged from the darkness, peering through the bars of its prison and enticing the bewildered Naruto:

"Tear off the seal on the bars, and I will grant you power. Power enough to change everything!"

"Power... I... need power..." 

In his daze, Naruto instinctively moved towards the bars. Correspondingly, in the real world, the sinister crimson Nine-Tails chakra began to envelop his body.

"Naruto!" Yamato was alarmed to see the sudden outburst of the Nine-Tails' chakra. Just as he was about to use his Wood Release to suppress it, Sasuke, Kei, and Izumi, sensing something was wrong, turned their gaze towards Naruto. Their three pairs of Sharingan activated instantly.

In the next moment...

Drip...

In the damp, waterlogged sealing space, Sasuke, Kei, and Izumi appeared beside Naruto. Sasuke looked up at the colossal beast behind the golden bars, his pupils narrowing slightly:

"So this is the Nine-Tails?"

Seeing was believing. Sasuke had never imagined that the monster sealed within Naruto could be this immense.

"The familiar, sickening aura! Those damned Sharingan!"

Noticing the unwelcome guests, the Nine-Tails turned its head to see three pairs of Sharingan glaring at it. Naruto, now awakened by their arrival, looked around in confusion:

"Huh? How did I get here? And Sasuke, why are you all here?"

Before Sasuke could answer, a series of bubbles rose from the water, forming the enormous head of the fox demon. Its slit-pupilled eyes glared coldly at the three intruders. Born evil, the Uchiha! The Nine-Tails had been so close to seducing Naruto, only to be interrupted by these three. Furthermore, it hadn't forgotten the times it had been controlled by the Sharingan, leading to its imprisonment in a jinchuriki. The first time, it was beaten senseless by Senju Hashirama and then sealed; the second time, it was split in half, with only one part remaining in the real world. The source of all this misery was the Uchiha.

New grievances combined with old hatreds, and the Nine-Tails lowered its head with malicious intent, enticing once more.