Naruto: The Shattered Eyes

Gazing through space and time, Suguru found the presence of Hiruko intriguing.

Indeed, Hiruko had escaped from the Sannin and the Third Hokage once already, yet he was still here. He was hiding where the shadows were darkest.

"What was it again?" Suguru deactivated his Kaisugan and began to move. "Did people say that, 'The brighter the light, the deeper the darkness?' or was it, 'Where the fire burns brightest, the shadows are the darkest?'"

"...I guess it doesn't matter much."

Chuckling, Suguru climbed through a window and entered Hiruko's house. How did such a careless person escape the younger Sannin? How did Orochimaru not take all of Hiruko's research in secret?

'Do you take pride in the purity of your own research, Sensei?' Suguru's eyes were drawn to the corner of the room.

There was a flake of shedding, clearly the remnants of a snake's long-term stay. Now, was it Hiruko's pets or Orochimaru's summons?

Suguru wasn't sure, but he was amused nonetheless.

Chakra poured into his eyes, shattering his irises.

—Crack!

Suguru sent his gaze underground and watched as Hiruko seemed to treasure the body of this particular specimen of his. The young boy had yet to be dissected on the operating table. Instead, the seal formation was made to preserve the boy's fragile state.

Given Hiruko's behavior ever since Suguru first noticed him, this boy had a different kind of importance. It was clear that the boy was a valuable resource.

'I wonder if I'm indeed right,' Suguru licked his lips as he moved his gaze elsewhere.

He mirrored the signature eyes of the Uchiha.

'Sharingan!'

Then, he took out a scroll.

"I know all of your escape routes and hidden rooms, Hiruko. It's time we play a boring game of shogi," Suguru's lips stretched into a sly grin. "I hope you don't mind my cheating."

***

—Knock, knock, knock!

Despite being deep underground, Hiruko heard the knocking on his door. A frown was etched into his face as he nearly fumbled.

'Right when I'm in the middle of an important process!' He clicked his tongue, 'Should I just ignore them?'

'No... My neighbors should know that I'm usually out for work at this time...' The panic of being discovered once again gripped his heart.

A seed of anxiety and doubt seemed to resonate with his thoughts. Hiruko did his best to calm himself down.

'No, it must be some random passersby,' Hiruko reassured himself.

His disguise was perfect and his laboratory was well-hidden.

No one should know he was hiding in Konoha despite being a missing-nin.

So, Hiruko put everything back in its place and left the young boy at the center of the seal formation. Whoever was knocking shouldn't take much of his time.

If it took too long, it would be easy to just send them away, right? Wait... Why was he so compelled to answer his door when he was supposed to be away?

Just as he had that thought...

—Click!

When Hiruko unlocked the door that led him out of his basement, a foul premonition sent chills down his spine.

A piece of paper slipped through a gap in the metal trap door — a gap that Hiruko was sure hadn't existed before.

Unfortunately for him, he had no time to think. Hiruko's eyes shrank. Red borders and Fuinjutsu markings.

"Shi—!"

—Boom!

An explosion occurred just inches away from his face.

***

Other than feeling the light tremor beneath his feet, Suguru didn't hear a muffled sound even while hiding just outside Hiruko's house.

"... Noise-canceling seals," Suguru's eyes narrowed. "He should also have barrier formations in place."

Unless he was the son of Lady Luck, one explosion would be severely lacking to kill a full-fledged shinobi.

Suguru continued his attack, activating his Kaisugan to peer through the ground beneath him. With outstretched fingers, he pulled on a web of wires to trigger a few more mechanisms

—Click, click, click!

At this moment, Suguru was like a puppet master without the chakra threads, operating only through the forces of tension.

"This is just the start," Suguru noticed Hiruko's rapidly retreating figure. "Time to tighten my net,"

An odorless and colorless gas had long flooded Hiruko's home. Denser than the surrounding air, it had even flowed into the basement through the cracks that Suguru had made. The same applied to the few hidden pathways he discovered.

"Since Hiruko survived the point-blank explosion, he should be on high alert now. Although he sustained minor injuries, it won't be enough... What a sloppy first assassination attempt!"

Suguru clicked his tongue and mirrored another Sharingan. Although he wouldn't be able to keep track of Hiruko, the many wires he had set up would be less daunting to utilize. He made a hand seal.

[Tiger]

'Minor Burn,' This was a small technique that he made by himself using the bare minimum of Fire Release. He didn't make a fire directly. Instead, he created enough heat to light one at some predetermined location that had his chakra.

And it was enough. This little bit of chakra transformation could achieve a lot when combined with the right materials and a few basic seals.

Feeling the activation of the modified Explosive Tags, Suguru continued to pull on the wires all around him.

—Click!

—Click!

—Crack!

The odorless and colorless gas was mixed in with another of its kind. However, this one was more lethal, even at low concentrations.

Despite even this, Suguru didn't allow himself to grow impatient. He could barely be called a student of Konoha's academy in strength. On the other hand, his opponent was a true shinobi who had seen the horrors of war.

Nonetheless, Suguru could feel success just barely within his grasp.

He pulled all the stops, even going so far as to time his assault just as Hiruzen received a few old friends. Since Suguru wasn't any threat to Hiruzen or Konoha, it was unlikely that even a Kage's intuition could force the old man to look through his crystal ball right now.

"Hoooo," Thinking up to here, he breathed.

Suguru was calm.

He was steady.

***

"Damn it! Which bastard is messing with me!"

Hiruko rapidly combed through his memories, looking for a likely suspect. None of the Sannin would have resorted to such a cheap trick, nor would Hiruzen and his Anbu shinobi. Danzo would be more heavy-handed, and the Uchiha would have waltzed right in, brimming with confidence.

"Shit!"

Blood was dripping down a cut on Hiruko's brow as he ran back to his lab. He leaped down every flight of stairs, feeling the cold air stinging his wound.

"Tsk!"

Hiruko flinched. The sizzling on his brow was peculiar, but he had other things to worry about. Thus, he chalked up the stinging pain to an agitated open wound.

'I need to retrieve the kid before I go!'

Everything else paled in value compared to the child he had luckily stumbled across. He couldn't waste such a rare and valuable bloodline.

"Hah, hah, hah,"

Hiruko felt dizzy. His heart rate had increased, but something about his body felt faint.

"P...Poison?"

That realization caused his eyes to shrink.

"Ugh!"

Hiruko staggered as his body refused to listen to him. Hurriedly, he downed the antidotes he had on hand.

Pills and vials were consumed in rapid succession. It would take a moment to activate, but it was better than dying in an instant.

In fact, he somehow felt a little better. For a moment, his thoughts seemed to clear.

That did nothing to stop the looming sense of doom, however.

Hiruko grew desperate when the nausea returned.

His brain was shutting down.

Each laborious breath seemed to make things worse, but holding his breath did nothing to help.

"What... the hell... is this poison..?"

And since when did it flood his lab?