Uchiha Sacrifices Are Necessary

Uchiha Sacrifices Are Necessary

"Shisui, the you in your fantasies died long ago. It's time to return to reality."

Hearing this, Shisui froze for a moment, then sat on the ground with a lost expression.

A few days ago, when he lost his Mangekyō Sharingan, he had already sensed that something was wrong. He had simply deliberately stopped thinking about it, unwilling to believe his instincts.

Even after Naruto exposed the truth, he still resisted accepting reality.

After all, accepting reality required courage, and he did not want to return to how things had been before.

Looking at Shisui, shrouded in a gloomy aura, Naruto sighed softly. After leaving behind a Shadow Clone to watch him in secret, he walked out of the underground base.

Shisui needed time to accept reality. Naruto could use this time to familiarize himself with the Kotoamatsukami Sharingan.

As he walked through the dense forest, Naruto continued reflecting on what had happened to Shisui.

If he had not seen it with his own eyes, it would have been hard for him to imagine that the Shisui who had been torn between his clan and the village and chose suicide was merely the Shisui of his ideals, not the real Shisui.

Still, anyone capable of actively altering his own will was ruthless in his own right.

Before long, Naruto ventured deep into the Forest of Death and arrived at a valley frequented by wild beasts.

He planned to adapt to the Kotoamatsukami Sharingan as quickly as possible and fully absorb the abilities that came with the Sharingan.

After trying out the Sharingan's basic dynamic vision, insight, and genjutsu enhancement, Naruto set his sights on Susanoo.

Unfortunately, having obtained only one Mangekyō, he had not gained a way to activate Susanoo.

That left Naruto somewhat disappointed. Whether Susanoo was strong or not aside, a giant mech was every man's dream.

Suppressing his regret, Naruto continued training. His control over the Sharingan grew stronger and stronger. Not only could he clearly track prey in motion, but he could also practice Uchiha Style shuriken throwing techniques.

With a sharp whoosh!

The kunai wedged between Naruto's fingers shot out one after another, changing direction amid repeated collisions before striking the target behind the tree trunk from a tricky angle, dead center.

"These eyes really are quite a haul, as long as I don't treat them as Mangekyō."

A few hours later, drenched in sweat from training, Naruto soaked in a pool and sighed.

Useful as the Sharingan was, it could not compare to the Nine-Tails at all. The Nine-Tails was far more useful than the Mangekyō—not only could they chat, it also had three enhancement modes.

After his bath, Naruto climbed out of the pool, used Wind Release to dry himself off, and headed toward a nearby town.

His Kotoamatsukami Sharingan could not be deactivated, nor could he hide it with an eyepatch or Transformation Jutsu. He could only rely on colored contacts to restore his eyes to their normal color.

As for whether the old Third Hokage would notice the Sharingan during his visit, the old Third Hokage had never cared about him in the first place. Why would he notice such details?

Besides Naruto, the other person to receive the Kotoamatsukami transplant was Danzo, leader of Root.

Compared to Naruto, who possessed the Uzumaki Clan physique and was Asura's reincarnation, Danzo was far more cautious about the eye replacement surgery.

Danzo lay on the operating table, receiving the services of a team of Medical Ninja. Outside the operating room stood Root guards in full force, preventing any accidents.

Even so, Danzo's eye replacement surgery did not go smoothly. Several complications arose along the way.

After the transplant finally succeeded, the rejection from Kotoamatsukami left Danzo in great discomfort. After all, he was not a teenage boy. He was already sixty years old and could die at any moment.

Still, as long as he could complete the Mangekyō transplant, every risk was worth it.

As long as he obtained the power of the Mangekyō and Wood Release, he could fulfill his ambitions and lead Konoha back to greatness.

Once he adapted to the rejection, Danzo impatiently summoned several test subjects to try out Kotoamatsukami's power.

But Danzo soon encountered the same situation as Naruto. The Kotoamatsukami recorded in his eye had also entered a ten-year cooldown.

Upon discovering this, Danzo's expression turned incomparably grim, frightening the test subjects until they trembled.

There were many ninja he wanted to control with Kotoamatsukami: the Five Kage of the great nations, the leaders of ninja villages in smaller countries, even the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.

Controlling any of them would immediately bring enormous benefits and become nourishment for Root's growth.

But Kotoamatsukami had entered its cooldown, throwing a wrench into his plans from the very start.

What concerned him even more was when Kotoamatsukami had been used, and on whom.

Was it Fugaku Uchiha? Or Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two advisers? Shisui could not possibly have used it on an enemy on the battlefield, could he? That would have been far too wasteful.

No longer dwelling on it, Danzo turned to a researcher beside him and asked, "The Mangekyō rejection has ended. When can this old man receive the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai transplant?"

The researcher looked troubled and shook his head. "Lord Danzo, the First Lord's cells are far too overbearing. Based on the existing data, the risk of transplanting the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai remains extremely high for you, with more than a seventy percent chance of failure."

"Unless you can obtain another Mangekyō Sharingan, I do not recommend performing the surgery now."

Danzo fell silent. How could he not want a complete pair of Mangekyō, gaining the power of both the Senju and Uchiha? But Shisui's strength had exceeded his expectations. He had actually escaped the encirclement.

As for the other Kotoamatsukami, Danzo guessed that it was in Itachi's hands.

Although Itachi was his subordinate and weaker than Shisui, he was much harder to deal with than Shisui.

After a pause, Danzo asked, "Is there any other way to increase the success rate?"

The researcher flipped through the report, frowned, and pondered for a moment.

"Lord Danzo, the essence of the Mangekyō is Yin Release. Transplanting a large number of Sharingan containing Yin Release power could also neutralize the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai. However, there are not enough Sharingan in the base, and the surgery's difficulty would increase exponentially. There is simply no one who can conduct the experiment for you."

"Unless you can find Tsunade and Orochimaru to oversee the surgery..."

"Find Tsunade and Orochimaru to oversee the surgery?"

Danzo first thought of Tsunade, the greatest Medical Ninja in the ninja world, then dismissed the impractical option.

Though Tsunade's medical skills were exceptional, she did not get along with him. She would never help him perform the surgery.

Even the village's earliest Wood Style Experiments had been carried out behind Tsunade's back, let alone now that the Third Hokage had called a halt to the Wood Style Experiments.

That left only Orochimaru, with whom he often worked.

But how to persuade that greedy snake was no small problem either.

As for the Sharingan needed for the surgery, were there not still so many Uchiha Jonin in the village?

For the village's future rise, such sacrifices were necessary. The Uchiha would understand eventually.

Besides, those Uchiha shouted about rebellion at clan meetings every day. They might as well become nourishment for Root. As long as he possessed the powers of both the Senju and Uchiha, he could surpass Teacher Tobirama and surpass the First Lord.

Then, the Uchiha would enjoy this glory as well.

Somewhere in the Land of Fire.

Obito emerged from a vortex and stopped a carriage speeding down the road.

Under the watchful eyes of its guards, Obito directly killed the Land of Fire official inside the carriage, then swaggered away with the official's corpse. He never once looked at the guards, leaving all those nuisances to White Zetsu.

While White Zetsu slaughtered everyone around him, Obito sat atop a large tree, staring blankly at the bloodstains on the ground.

He did not actually want to carry out bounty missions, but Nagato and Konan always had the organization's members perform bounty missions. Since he was hiding his identity, he had no choice but to follow along.

Just then, Obito received a message, and the eyes beneath his mask narrowed slightly.

The message was simple, containing only a few words.

"Shisui has disappeared. According to intelligence from within the Uchiha, he died at Itachi Uchiha's hands."