"Father... you wanted to see me?"
Shinnosuke Sarutobi slowly stepped into the Hokage Temporary Office and saw his father, Hiruzen Sarutobi, sitting quietly at the desk, looking even heavier and more worried.
He could not help growing tense, his voice carrying a trace of unease and hesitation.
Hiruzen slowly lifted his head, his gaze settling on his son's face.
After a long while, he spoke calmly and coolly. "Fugaku's Sharingan. It was you who had it transplanted, wasn't it?"
At those words, an indescribable fear and panic surged up in Shinnosuke's heart...
He hurriedly defended himself. "Father, I... I only... wanted to help you..."
In truth, that day, when Shinnosuke had been organizing documents in the Hokage's office, at first he had merely intended to move Fugaku's Sharingan elsewhere to avoid unnecessary trouble.
But when he touched the bottle containing the Sharingan, another thought had suddenly appeared in his mind.
Shinnosuke murmured to himself, "Back then... I was asking myself..."
"The Sarutobi Clan has been in decline for too long. Father, the family needs strength. It needs to rise. And I, as the Sarutobi Clan Head's Eldest Son, shouldn't I bear more responsibility?"
Those voices were like cold, sinister melodies, burrowing again and again into Shinnosuke's ears, deep into his heart, until they finally took complete control of his reason.
It was under the drive of that Weird Power that Shinnosuke, as if possessed, took the Sharingan and successfully transplanted it onto himself.
Hiruzen's gaze remained steady, and his expression showed little emotional fluctuation.
"Then... you asked Kakashi for help, didn't you?"
Shinnosuke nodded, then recounted every detail of his conversation with Kakashi that day, holding nothing back.
After he had confessed everything, the unease and self-reproach in his heart finally eased a little, and his gaze turned back to