Naruto: The Shattered Eyes

At a small hot spring village in the Land of Hot Water.

New Year's Eve.

With his face half-submerged in the hot springs, Suguru's eyes traced the billowing pillars of steam. Annoyingly, his attempt at relaxation did not yield any relief. His mind was preoccupied with the changes in his perception.

That peculiar young man he had noticed turned out to be an ordinary villager with nothing special about him. Suguru had already confirmed this multiple times over the past few days.

It was a baffling feeling.

'Just what in the world am I sensing?' Suguru breathed bubbles into the water. 'I feel like I might use up a lot of time trying to figure this out.'

In the end, as a new year was just within reach, Suguru decided against pursuing this matter with full force. Instead, he was going to keep it at the back of his mind and focus on what had originally planned.

Locating the Chinoike clan's last two survivors.

Thus, Suguru rose from the waters and dried himself off with a towel. After retrieving his belongings and getting dressed, he vanished.

Only a fleeting, flickering shadow would be left of him for any observer to see.

***

Oyashiro En was an arms dealer when he appeared in the original, with ties to the Coliseum and other shady underworld businesses. However, that would still be several years from now.

At this point in time, it was likely that Oyashiro En was still building a foundation for himself, using his Medical Ninjutsu to get by. Without any large backing, this process would most likely be a struggle that would only bear fruit in the far future.

Suguru could take advantage of his vulnerability.

Furthermore, Chino would still be very young. If Suguru failed to take Oyashiro En down with his skills, then the young Chino would be an effective replacement.

After all, the man had slaughtered his entire clan — just like Itachi. The likelihood that his strength exceeded Suguru's raw capabilities was high.

'Luckily, I have a fun strategy I do want to try out.' 

Suguru's excitement would have been palpable had anyone been around to see him.

***

In a village constructed primarily out of bamboo, surrounded by a forest of more bamboo, villagers were going about their lives as normal.

Yoshino Kenji was the same. Tending to his craft, Kenji had been hammering wedges to form the shape of a bow. The smell of smoked and dried wood was a perfume he was proud of. After all, each piece of bamboo he used now had been left behind by his ancestors to ensure that his craft could continue.

Before the glue dried, he successfully formed the shape of the bamboo bow and left the product to dry overnight. With his morning completed, he went over to his shop where his son had been waiting for him.

"Father,"

Kenji nodded, "Shuji, has anything happened while I was at the workshop?"

Shuji shook his head. "No, Father. Aside from someone looking for you, there haven't been any visitors."

"Hm?" Kenji raised a brow, "Who might it be?"

"I don't know. I think he's an outsider. I don't recognize his face." Shuji shrugged. "He told me to call him when you're done working."

Kenji rubbed his beard, "I see... Very well. Can you do so, Shuji? I'd like to meet him."

"Yes!"

***

Yoshino Kenji didn't have to wait long before a young boy, not much older than his son, walked into his shop.

"Good morning, Master Kenji." The boy, with silver hair and beautiful silver eyes, bowed as he greeted him. "My name is Hiryu Suguru. It's an honor to meet you, Sir."

"Ho... From the way you carry yourself, I can tell that you're a shinobi." Although surprised, Kenji had dealt with a few shinobi in his lifetime. For a time, he wanted to be one of them.

Alas, the world of killing was not for him.

"Tell me, why have you been looking for me?"

Suguru smiled, his eyes shining with the gleam of the Sharingan. He looked straight into Kenji's eyes.

"I'd like to buy a bow."

Suddenly, Kenji lost all recollection of what happened next. Upon noticing the weight in his hand, and the Ryo contained within the pouch, he realized that he had just dodged a bullet.

"..."

Kenji noticed his son, who was similarly standing in a daze and sighed.

'Luckily, he wasn't a thief. I also don't have that many secrets.' 

***

Suguru smiled as he checked in on the father-son duo. They were waking up from the Genjutsu he had placed on them. 

With this, even if his movements were tracked down, the two would not be implicated. He could leave with a clean conscience... If he had one.

"I also got a good bow." Suguru chuckled, "I've always wanted to be an archer."

With his Hellfire Artillery and Kaisugan, Suguru felt that he would be an archer to be reckoned with once he got stronger. Sasuke was fond of using a bow with his Susanoo. If Suguru could figure out how to do the same once he got his hands on some Mangekyou Sharingan...

That would be exquisite.

'Unfortunately, that'll take a while...' Suguru sighed as he stored his new bow in a scroll.

He then flickered into the distance, leaving only the remnants of his breath.

***

A ghostly figure was visiting the villages and settlements scattered around the Valley of Hell. With the evil glint of the Sharingan, this ghost fluttered about, extracting information to find a needle in a haystack.

Anyone who met his gaze would spill all that they knew.

However, not a single one of them had any information on the two individuals that Suguru had been so desperately looking for.

"It's clear that they are not active within the Land of Hot Water,"

Surrounded by dazed civilians and Yuugakure shinobi, Suguru stopped pouring chakra into his eyes. His Sharingan shattered into pieces and reformed into silver irises.

"Damn... I've wasted half a month."

The day that the original was going to start had drawn awfully close. Suguru could feel a mix of anticipation and dread forming in his gut.

Instinctually, he knew that there was something about to happen.

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