Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan Awakens

"Damn those Uchiha, is this the true power of the Mangekyō Sharingan?"

At this moment, the Root members brought by Shimura Danzō were nearly wiped out, with fewer than ten remaining around him, still fulfilling their duty as his guards.

As for the other Root members, they had long since been crushed into pulp by the Spiral Sword in the hand of the Susanoo, scattered across the surrounding area.

Shisui's towering rage, meanwhile, gradually subsided with the release of the slaughter.

Reason once again took hold of his mind.

"Now, is this path still a dead end?" Shisui stood with Itachi Uchiha inside the Susanoo, staring directly at Shimura Danzō, and asked in a flat tone.

Being pushed to such a state by an eight-year-old Uchiha, with the Root organization he had built with his own hands nearly annihilated, Shimura Danzō felt his face burning with humiliation.

"You wretched brat, don't get too cocky. How much chakra do you have left now?"

Throughout the battle so far, Shimura Danzō had not made a move himself, relying instead on the suicide attacks of his Root members to continuously drain Shisui's chakra.

Shimura Danzō's own chakra reserves remained at eighty percent of his peak state.

Shisui knew that what followed would be a bitter struggle.

"Cover me. I shall take the field myself."

As he spoke, Shimura Danzō reached for the black eye patch on his right side. The remaining Root members charged at Shisui once more to buy Shimura Danzō time.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire."

Although the Phoenix Sage Fire was only a C-rank ninjutsu, this time, Shisui cast it through the Susanoo behind him.

Countless flames shaped like phoenix berries blanketed the entire area in front of the Susanoo; the exhausted Root members were simply powerless to withstand the Susanoo's assault.

One figure after another was struck by the flames in mid-air, turning into human-shaped pillars of fire before falling to the ground, becoming nothing more than charred corpses and piles of ash.

By this time, however, Shimura Danzō had already torn off his eye patch and begun unlocking the mechanism on his right arm.

Shockingly, there was no injured eye beneath Shimura Danzō's patch.

The moment Shimura Danzō opened his right eye, a scarlet orb was revealed, with three black tomoe slowly rotating within the pupil.

"A Sharingan?!"

Even though Shisui knew the man possessed more than one Sharingan, he still had to feign surprise.

Itachi Uchiha's reaction, however, was genuine; he was the only one on the scene who did not know the truth.

"Shisui-nii, that in his right eye..."

"That's right, it is the Sharingan of our Uchiha clan. And a Three-Tomoe one at that..."

The Uchiha clan kept strict track of every single Sharingan.

Even if a clansman died on the battlefield, their body and their Sharingan would be destroyed on the spot or brought back to the village.

Under normal circumstances, it was impossible for a Sharingan to leak out, let alone a Three-Tomoe.

Eliminating all other factors, there was only one truth.

In this instant, the Will of Fire in Itachi Uchiha's heart was strangled before it could even grow.

Yet Shisui knew that the most world-shattering sight was yet to come.

When Shimura Danzō unlocked the device on his right arm, one Sharingan after another was seen slowly rotating across his pale skin.

From the palm and the back of the hand to the forearm, five Three-Tomoe Sharingan were embedded within the flesh.

At this time, the Uchiha clan had not yet been massacred, and Shimura Danzō had not yet collected more Three-Tomoe Sharingan; the number of transplanted eyes had not yet reached the eleven he would later possess.

However, Shimura Danzō's current state was enough to incite the fury of any Uchiha.

Although every one of these eyes had lost its original owner, the eyeballs rotated randomly in different directions as if they had come to life, appearing like a twisted monster.

Shisui knew this was likely the effect of the Hashirama Cells, which maintained the vitality of these eyeballs.

Even knowing Shimura Danzō's secrets, Shisui could not suppress the burning rage in his heart upon seeing this scene.

Behind every Sharingan on Shimura Danzō's arm lay the life of an Uchiha clansman.

Let alone Itachi Uchiha, who stood beside Shisui, stunned into silence.

The worldview Itachi had held since birth had completely collapsed.

The elder of Konoha, who had always presented himself with a righteous image, the person he had once wanted to join and serve, was in essence so utterly repulsive.

In this moment, Itachi Uchiha understood what Shisui had told him before.

He realized he had never truly seen the nature of things, having blindly taken the so-called "Will of Fire" as his faith.

This deep self-doubt began to pull Itachi into the darkness. He wanted to destroy it all—to destroy this filthy truth.

As Itachi Uchiha's negative emotions continued to accumulate, his eyes began to change quietly.

A trace of scarlet began to encroach upon the whites of Itachi's eyes, gradually spreading and staining the pupils.

This was the prelude to the awakening of Itachi's Sharingan.

Just as Itachi's spirit was about to fall into the abyss, a hand suddenly appeared, like a redeeming angel, shielding him from the erosion of the darkness.

"Itachi is already a ninja. To be a ninja means to endure what cannot be endured; only then will you have the chance to become what you wish to be."

Shisui reached out and ruffled Itachi's hair, messing it up once again.

"No matter what difficulties you encounter, Itachi, I believe you will surely overcome them."

Itachi felt the warmth radiating from Shisui, an encouragement that felt incredibly precious in this moment, beginning to dispel the gloom in his heart.

Itachi looked up again, seeing Shisui's warm smile and encouraging gaze, along with the majestic, domineering, yet somber and murderous Susanoo looming behind him; this image would be deeply etched into Itachi's mind forever.

In the countless years that followed, whenever Itachi recalled the fragments of time spent with Shisui, he would always feel that those were the happiest moments of his entire life.

"Brother Shisui, thank you. I finally understand the words you told me; I was too foolish before."

As he spoke, Itachi knelt on one knee before Shisui.

This was the highest form of etiquette in the ninja world.

"From this day forward, I, Itachi Uchiha, will strive to follow in your footsteps and work hard to become an outstanding ninja just like you, Brother Shisui."

At that same moment, Itachi's eyes fully evolved into the Sharingan, with two black tomoe spinning around the pupil in each eye.

This was the two-tomoe form of the Sharingan.

Driven by such intense emotional fluctuations, Itachi had awakened the two-tomoe stage immediately.

It was clear just how profound his innate bloodline talent truly was.

Though somewhat surprised, Shisui was the first to pull Itachi back to his feet.

With his Mangekyo Sharingan fixed on the two-tomoe form in Itachi's eyes, he said slowly, "Then I shall watch over you with these eyes, until you grow into the person you wish to become."