Outside the Hidden Leaf Village.
Uchiha Shinichi grabbed the lunchbox and ate in large mouthfuls, mumbling through stuffed cheeks, "Didn't I tell you before? You don't need to bring me food. I've got military ration pills."
The girl beside him smiled. "Eating ration pills all the time isn't good for your health."
She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen, with short hair and a standard shinobi outfit adorned with the Uchiha clan crest. Clearly, she wasn't an ordinary, delicate girl—she was a full-fledged ninja.
Still chewing, Shinichi didn't respond immediately. He just shook his head. After swallowing a mouthful of rice, he said, "It's not safe outside the village. You shouldn't come here anymore."
The girl frowned. "Shinichi, there's a training ground inside the Uchiha compound. Why do you insist on training out here?"
Shinichi huffed coldly. "I don't want to train with *them*."
By "them," he meant the fellow Uchiha clansmen who had ridiculed him for losing to Hyuga Kagami.
In their eyes, Shinichi had humiliated the Uchiha name by failing to block even one of Kagami's attacks, and their mockery had been relentless.
The girl puffed up angrily. "I'm going to talk to the clan head when I get back. Someone needs to put those jerks in their place."
Feeling his pride stung, Shinichi exploded, "Yui! Stay out of my business!"
The girl—Yui—looked hurt. She snatched the bowl and chopsticks from his hands and said petulantly, "Fine! I won't!"
Not far away, the masked man sat perched on a tree branch, observing Shinichi and Yui from a distance.
At that moment, Zetsu emerged from the tree trunk and said, "Everything you asked for is ready."
The masked man's voice was icy. "Then let's begin."
Zetsu glanced at Shinichi and asked in a strange tone, "Are you sure this method will work?"
The masked man shot him a cold glance. "What do you think?"
Zetsu gave an awkward chuckle. "Maybe."
Back with Shinichi—
After placing the bowl and chopsticks in the bamboo basket, Yui didn't say another word. She turned and headed back toward the village, basket in hand.
Shinichi opened his mouth as if to tell her to be careful on the way back but hesitated, his pride holding him back. He simply lowered his head and sighed.
Walking away from Shinichi's makeshift training ground, Yui fumed silently, thinking about how to report the bullying to the clan head.
*Pa...*
Suddenly, Yui froze. Her body stopped moving, and the bamboo basket slipped from her hands, landing softly on the ground.
As a Sharingan user, Yui instantly recognized she had been attacked. She wanted to call out to Shinichi nearby, but no matter how hard she tried, her voice wouldn't come out!
*What's going on?!*
Panic surged through her.
She could feel something creeping over her body, slowly taking control of her movements.
In the bushes nearby, a Root agent assigned to monitor Shinichi noticed Yui's sudden stillness. He frowned. *What happened to her?*
Before he could analyze further, Yui suddenly sprang toward him.
Because of the previous agent's mysterious disappearance, this new Root ninja was constantly on guard. As Yui lunged, he didn't panic. He drew a kunai and met her head-on, shouting, "Are you betraying the Leaf!?"
Yui's eyes were filled with fear, but her attacks were swift and calculated. In a flash, she flung a dozen shuriken at him.
*Clang clang clang...*
He blocked them all with his kunai, his confusion deepening.
As a member of the Root, he had heard of many bizarre jutsu. So when he noticed the fear in Yui's eyes, he immediately sensed something wasn't right.
He asked, "Hey, what's happening to you?!"
Tears streamed down Yui's face. She couldn't speak or control her body. She was like a puppet, launching increasingly deadly attacks at the Root ninja.
Weighing his options, the Root agent decided to retreat for now.
The situation was too strange, and he suspected an unseen enemy was manipulating everything.
But just as he turned to escape, his body also locked up.
*What the—?!*
In the blink of an eye, panic gripped the Root ninja.
Yui rushed at him, driving herself into the kunai clutched in his hand.
*Squelch...*
As the blade pierced her chest, her blood sprayed into the air.
Hearing the commotion, Shinichi arrived just in time to see the gruesome scene. His face flushed with rage as he roared, "What are you doing!?"
As Yui collapsed from the stab, the Root ninja suddenly regained control of his body. Alarmed, he realized it was all a trap. Without explaining himself to the furious Shinichi, he bolted toward the village.
Shinichi stumbled to Yui's side and caught her in his arms. "Yui, are you okay?!"
With the last of her strength, Yui reached for Shinichi's cheek and whispered weakly, "Shinichi... be careful..."
Her hand dropped lifelessly.
"No! No! NO!!!"
Clutching Yui's wound, Shinichi screamed in anguish. In his haze of pain and fury, he failed to notice the three tomoe in his Sharingan spinning rapidly...
In the distance, Zetsu asked, "How did you know he had the potential? His strength isn't even top-tier within the Uchiha."
The masked man was quiet for a moment. "It has nothing to do with strength. The purer an Uchiha's heart, the more likely they are to awaken their eyes. Whether it's pure kindness—or pure malice..."
He drifted into his own memories, uncertain whether he himself should be categorized under pure good or pure evil.
Zetsu's gaze wavered, clearly not fully convinced.