Chapter 47: The Sharingan's Call, A Sanctum Desecrated
The successful acquisition of Hashirama Senju's cells was a monumental step in Kenji's silent, terrifying apotheosis. In the deepest, most shielded recesses of his hidden sanctuary, far from the prying eyes of Konoha and the unending carnage of the war, he began the perilous process of integration. Tsunade's unwitting research into cellular vitality and chakra resonance provided a crucial, theoretical roadmap, allowing him to approach this volatile genetic material with a precision even Orochimaru, with all his grotesque experimentation, might envy.
The initial stages were agonizing. His body, already a tapestry of stolen powers, warred with the overwhelming life force of the First Hokage. Fevers wracked him, his chakra pathways flared with untamed energy, and visions of ancient forests and titanic battles flickered at the edges of his consciousness. Yet, his indomitable will, augmented by the Denki Myaku's neural efficiency and his profound understanding of chakra control, wrestled the Senju cells into a tentative, dangerous symbiosis. He felt his vitality surge, his natural regeneration accelerate beyond human norms, and a subtle, almost imperceptible connection to natural energy begin to form – the faintest whisper of what might one day blossom into Sage capabilities, or even the coveted Wood Release. This process was far from complete, a delicate, ongoing internal battle requiring constant vigilance and immense chakra.
It was during this period of intense internal cultivation that a new, irresistible ambition took root. Hashirama's power was one pillar of Konoha's founding legend; the Uchiha clan's Sharingan was the other. The dōjutsu's predictive capabilities, its power to perceive chakra in intricate detail, its mastery over genjutsu, and its ability to copy techniques – these would be invaluable, not only for combat but for mastering the volatile Senju cells coursing through him and for deciphering the deepest secrets of jutsu and bloodlines.
The opportunity arose with the grim predictability of wartime. Elder Kaiyo Uchiha, a respected Jonin and a former captain of the Uchiha Police Force, renowned for his fully matured three-tomoe Sharingan and his mastery of advanced Uchiha Fire Release techniques, was killed in a desperate defensive action against a resurgent Kumo offensive. His body, retrieved with honor, was brought back to Konoha for the Uchiha clan's sacred funeral rites.
Kenji knew the risks were astronomical, dwarfing even his theft of Hashirama's cells. The Uchiha clan was a fiercely proud, insular, and powerful entity within Konoha. Their Sharingan was their most sacred treasure, its desecration an unforgivable sin. Their internal security, especially concerning their deceased, would be formidable, layered with clan-specific seals, Uchiha guards wielding their own dōjutsu, and an almost paranoid vigilance against outsiders. Furthermore, Konoha's overall security was already heightened after the unexplained disappearance of Akio Yubiwa's body months prior. A second such incident, this time involving a prominent Uchiha, would undoubtedly trigger a village-wide crisis.
But Kenji's audacity had grown with his power. He spent weeks in meticulous, almost invisible reconnaissance. His status as Kenji Senju provided no advantage here; any overt interest in Uchiha affairs would be instantly suspect. Instead, he relied on his unparalleled sensory abilities, his mastery of stealth, and his fuinjutsu knowledge to map the Uchiha clan's private mortuary facilities, their burial grounds, and the complex web of seals and patrols that protected them. He noted the subtle genjutsu traps woven into their defenses, the specific chakra signatures of their elite guards.
The war itself provided the necessary smokescreen. A coordinated series of devastating attacks by a coalition of Ame and Iwa forces on multiple Konoha fronts plunged the village into a state of high alert, drawing elite sensory units and Anbu patrols outwards, stretching Konoha's defenses thin. Internal security, while still stringent, was focused on preventing sabotage and infiltration by external enemies. This was the window of chaos Kenji required.
The night before Kaiyo Uchiha's ceremonial interment was dark, the village tense under the weight of the ongoing battles. Kenji moved like a wraith, a true Kagemusha. He bypassed Konoha's general security with contemptuous ease, his progress masked by his wind manipulation and his earth-sense guiding him through forgotten service tunnels beneath the Uchiha district.
The Uchiha clan's private mortuary was a fortress within a fortress. Kenji encountered genjutsu illusions designed to trap and disorient, which his 'mind's eye' and heightened neural processing allowed him to perceive and navigate with chilling precision. Uchiha guards with active Sharingan patrolled the corridors, their dōjutsu capable of seeing through most conventional stealth techniques. But Kenji's stealth was not conventional. He used his Crystal Release to create minute, perfectly angled refractors that bent light around him, making him a shimmer in the darkness, and his Uzumaki fuinjutsu to lay down temporary, localized seals that subtly dampened chakra signatures and sound, creating pockets of near-total sensory silence around his passage.
He reached the heavily sealed chamber where Elder Kaiyo's body lay in state. The door was protected by a powerful Uchiha blood-seal, keyed to specific Uchiha chakra signatures. This was his greatest challenge. He couldn't bypass it with Senju chakra or generic Uzumaki principles alone. But Kenji had a contingency: a minuscule, almost undetectable sample of Uchiha blood he had "collected" from a minor battlefield wound of a low-ranking Uchiha Genin months ago, preserved within a specialized stasis seal. A long shot, but his only option. He carefully applied the blood sample to a complex Uzumaki deconstruction seal of his own design, hoping to trick the blood-seal into recognizing a "permissible" Uchiha signature for a brief moment.
The tension was unbearable. The seal flared, then, with a faint click, disengaged for a mere three seconds. It was enough. Kenji slipped inside.
Elder Kaiyo lay upon a ceremonial dais. Kenji wasted no time. A full body extraction and decomposition was too risky here, the Uchiha too likely to have methods of detecting such a profound desecration. He needed the Sharingan, and the genetic essence tied to it. With tools he had crafted from his own Crystal Release – monomolecularly sharp, perfectly sterile – he performed a swift, horrific, yet incredibly precise extraction of Kaiyo Uchiha's eyes. He also took several tissue samples from key chakra points. The entire procedure took less than two minutes. He left no blood, no visible marks beyond the empty sockets, which he knew would be discovered soon enough. He couldn't risk trying to replace the eyes with fakes; the Uchiha would detect it instantly. This was a theft, pure and simple.
His exit was as nerve-wracking as his entry. He resealed the chamber from the outside using a pre-prepared Uzumaki "patch" seal designed to mimic the original's outer layer, a temporary measure that might buy him a few precious hours.
He returned to his sanctuary, the still-warm Sharingan eyes and tissue samples carefully preserved in a specialized nutrient solution within a stasis scroll. He had done it. He had stolen the Sharingan from the heart of the Uchiha clan.
The next morning, a roar of incandescent fury would erupt from the Uchiha district, a cry of desecration that would shake Konoha to its foundations. The Uchiha Police Force would lock down the village. An internal witch hunt would begin.
Kenji, however, was already deep within his sanctuary, gazing at his prize. The three-tomoe Sharingan pulsed with dormant power. The integration of Hashirama's cells was ongoing, a slow burn of transformation. Now, he held the key to another legendary dōjutsu.
His god-complex was no longer a nascent thought; it was a burgeoning reality. He was a collector of legacies, a thief of divine power. The risks were now beyond measure. Konoha, if they ever discovered even a fraction of his betrayals, would hunt him to the ends of the earth. The Uchiha would demand his head. Orochimaru would see him as the ultimate rival. Tsunade… Tsunade loved a monster, a phantom of her own making, guided by his hand.
Kenji felt a chilling thrill. He was playing the ultimate game, with the fate of bloodlines, the future of Konoha, and his own apotheosis as the stakes. The Second Shinobi World War continued to provide the perfect, bloody stage for his ascent. And with the Sharingan now within his grasp, his vision of the future – a future where he stood above all – became terrifyingly clearer.