Chapter 207
2-in-1-chapter
-----------------
Clan members dying in battle for the sake of the village and the family—there was nothing to argue about there. If others in the village could make sacrifices, then the Uchiha had no reason to be exempt. Anyone who sought strength and honor had to be prepared to stake their life on it; that was natural, reasonable.
However, to be targeted by Orochimaru, to have one's body seized, to have even the soul completely erased—in Rēn's view, that was unacceptable. That was something a clan head must prevent. That was Rēn's sense of principle.
"…Terrifying, Clan Head of the Uchiha."
The smile on Orochimaru's face remained, but compared to before, it now carried a chill sharp enough to seep into the bones.
"I never said I intended to do anything to your clan. I merely came to retrieve my disciple."
"If that's truly the case, then it's best for everyone."
Without a change in expression, Rēn stowed away the Uchia Fan.
"However, I'm afraid Kimimaro won't be handed over to you. He was Shisui's spoils of war—just like the Kusanagi Sword. Their ownership now belongs to Shisui. Nowhere in shinobi history across a thousand years has it been said that battlefield trophies must be returned."
"Not even in exchange?" Orochimaru asked. "With the Sage of Six Paths' ninja tools as the trade?"
This time, Rēn fell silent for a moment.
"How do you know I'm looking for the Six Paths tools? Was it Shisui?" After two seconds of silence, Rēn brushed the snow from his shoulder and asked coldly.
"That's right. Shisui-kun did a good job covering his tracks, but as the saying goes, geese leave traces, water leaves marks. He passed through many places, and always left behind clues. His route happened to match an old investigation report Sarutobi-sensei once filed. I had read that report, and got to the burial site of the Gold and Silver Brothers just ahead of him."
"So, how about exchanging the tools of the Sage for my disciple?" Orochimaru asked again.
"It's a very tempting offer."
"But you're still going to refuse, aren't you, Clan Head of the Uchiha? What a headache. That child Kimimaro has no real connection to your clan, does he? Strictly speaking, he isn't even a Konoha shinobi. Giving him back shouldn't cost you anything."
Orochimaru genuinely sounded puzzled.
"As I said—he's Shisui's war prize. It's not my place to decide on his behalf," Rēn replied without emotion. Just as Orochimaru opened his mouth again, Rēn added, "But I can offer something else in trade."
"Something else?"
Orochimaru swallowed his unfinished sentence and looked at Rēn with interest. "Let me say this first, Clan Head —if what you offer doesn't interest me, I won't accept the deal. Frankly, the Six Paths' tools are among the most precious items in my collection."
"No need to worry. This kind of transaction is about mutual willingness, isn't it? If you were here in person, I wouldn't mind capturing you and stripping you down for interrogation. But unfortunately, all I have in front of me is a shadow clone… what a pity." Rēn sighed, the disappointment clear in his voice.
Orochimaru's expression twitched involuntarily at those words.
This boy—this young clan head of the Uchiha—was truly something else. Just the sheer shamelessness of that statement far surpassed Uchiha Fugaku, who had always been like a sealed gourd. No wonder Sarutobi-sensei and that old schemer Danzō had both been undone by him. In the end, there was no such thing as luck in victory.
"Well then," Orochimaru said, eyes fixed on Rēn with anticipation, "I'm all ears. What do you plan to offer in exchange for the ninja tools left behind by the Sage of Six Paths?"
Rēn still hadn't let go of the Six Paths ninja tools. The more benefit he gained from the Uchia Fan, the more intrigued he became by the power hidden within these legendary weapons. Most people, even someone like Orochimaru, seemed to treat the Six Paths tools as mere instruments of battle. They used them to kill—but nothing more. Not even Orochimaru appeared to have uncovered anything deeper from them.
Otherwise, he would never have used one as bait so casually.
But Rēn was different. With his unique ability, The Knight Does Not Die Empty-Handed, these tools weren't only weapons—they were potential sources of deeper knowledge. If he invested time in studying them, he could unravel the secrets embedded within. And if luck was on his side, the gains could be tremendous.
The Uchia Fan had already shown him the true source of the Sharingan's power. Through it, he'd begun to uncover the method to refine the Mangekyō Sharingan—using the full genetic information of the God Tree contained within the fan to fill in the gaps in the Sharingan's evolution.
The results would take time to manifest, but Rēn had no shortage of time.
"I have a secret," Rēn said slowly.
"A secret?" Orochimaru's expression shifted into a composed, amused smile.
From the moment Uchiha Rēn had voluntarily approached him for a trade, Orochimaru knew he held the upper hand. Whatever price would be required to obtain a Six Paths tool—the power to decide that lay entirely in his hands.
"…There's a certain ancestor of mine. Uchiha Madara. He may still be alive." Rēn paused briefly, then calmly spoke the lie. "Does that interest you?"
"Uchiha Madara?" Orochimaru stared at him for several seconds. Seeing no trace of jest on Rēn's face, the smile vanished. "Are you trying to deceive me? Everyone knows what happened at the Valley of the End. The First Hokage defeated and killed Uchiha Madara. Are you saying Hashirama lied?"
"Not a lie," Rēn said evenly. "But being deceived is possible."
"Deceived? That was the First Hokage," Orochimaru pressed.
"So what? Even the First Hokage didn't know all the secrets of the Uchiha. Let me be direct. There's a technique in our clan—one that allows a person to avoid death. Unless the world itself ends, it lets the user evade death regardless of what or who causes them to die."
Orochimaru's eyes widened, the golden vertical pupils burning with a visible flame of excitement. But perhaps due to Rēn's earlier warning, he quickly forced down his curiosity and merely replied, "As expected of the Uchiha—so even this sort of method exists."
"And that's not all. The last time I clashed with Kirigakure shinobi, I encountered a man claiming to be Uchiha Madara. He used the Sharingan to control the Fourth Mizukage. The entire conflict between Konoha and Kirigakure was instigated by that man alone. This fan—the Uchia Fan, lost for years—was something I took back from him."
The Uchia Fan itself served as partial evidence.
It was well known that this artefact had been lost to the Uchiha for many years after Madara had taken it away. But how it had disappeared was never fully explained. After the Valley of the End, Madara had supposedly died. His body—and the Flame Fan—were said to have been recovered and brought back to the village by the First Hokage. But in the end, the Uchia Fan was declared missing.
At the time, the Uchiha had mobilized extensively in search of the fan, a symbol of the clan leader's authority.
But ultimately, the matter was left unresolved.
Orochimaru recalled seeing traces of this in the village archives. Even back then, he had thought the circumstances were strange. Now, with the possibility that Madara hadn't died, those previously illogical details began to fall into place.
Even so, Orochimaru continued to listen in silence, his full attention fixed.
Uchiha Rēn's so-called secrets sounded intimidating on the surface, but in truth, they were little more than that—intimidation. What did it matter to him whether Uchiha Madara was dead or alive? Even if Madara were still alive, it wasn't as though that fact would benefit him in any way. In the end, these secrets weren't entirely useless, but to call them valuable would be generous.
They were little more than dead weight.