Shaoyu slowly walked up to him, squatted down, and calmly gazed at his pale face.
"Will you agree or not?"
Fugaku's body trembled violently, his teeth clenched so tightly they rattled, and his fingernails dug deep into the wooden floor.
He had never felt so humiliated, so powerless.
On one hand, there's the responsibility of being the clan leader and the unrealistic fantasy of becoming Hokage; on the other hand, there's the real threat of having his son taken away and the potentially tragic future facing the clan...
After a long, suffocating standoff, Fugaku seemed to have all his strength drained away. His head drooped limply, and he squeezed out a few dry, hoarse words from deep in his throat.
"... I... promise."
These few words seemed to have exhausted all his strength and dignity.
Uchiha Setsuna watched from the side, his heart filled with mixed feelings.
There was both disappointment at Fugaku's weakness and awe at Shaoyu methods.
Having obtained the answer he sought, Shaoyu slowly stood up, the Mangekyō Sharingan in his eyes disappearing once more.
"Remember your promise, Clan Chief Fugaku. Be a good clan chief and cooperate well with Elder Setsuna. Itachi... will remain by your side for now. But if you dare to cause trouble or leak information..."
Unspoken words are more chilling than any threat.
Fugaku slumped to the ground, utterly dejected, the clan leader's authority he had tried so hard to maintain when he entered completely gone.
He knew that from this moment on, he, as the Uchiha Clan Head, was no longer completely free.
His weaknesses and his family were firmly in the hands of this terrifying kinsman before him.
Shaoyu said coldly to Fugaku, who was slumped on the ground.
"Get your son ready. I have things to do now, and I'll take him with me when I come back. Don't try anything funny."
Having said that, he ignored Fugaku's pale face, turned and nodded to Elder Setsuna, then walked straight to the shadowy corner of the study.
He took out a white mask without any markings from his pocket and put it on, covering his face.
Then, his figure blurred as if merging into the darkness, and disappeared completely from the study in the next second.
In the darkness, Shaoyu, wearing a white mask, moved silently like a ghost through the rooftops and alleyways of Konoha, his direction clear.
The Root Base of Shimura Danzō.
He was going to find something.
The Root Base of Shimura Danzō are far deeper and more complex than outsiders imagine.
It's not just an underground structure; it's more like a vast labyrinth, hidden deep beneath Konoha.
The air was thick with the scents of disinfectant, rust, and an indescribable chill.
However, all of this was not insurmountable for Uchiha Shaoyu, who possessed Six Eyes.
He walks in the space between reality and illusion.
Six Eyes ' terrifying ability to see through all chakra flows and energy structures allows him to easily see through layers of interference barriers and identify deeply hidden warning traps.
He concealed his chakra and aura to the extreme, and combined this with the spatial distortion effect created by his subtle manipulation of chakra, allowing him to silently pass through layer after layer of tight defenses.
Along the way, he passed several training grounds. Root members, wearing masks and with vacant or fierce eyes, were undergoing brutal sparring or secret technique training under the cold commands of their instructors.
Shaoyu's gaze swept over them indifferently.
In one of the training grounds, a boy with light blond hair and unusually calm and focused eyes caught his attention.
Yamanaka Fū.
Shaoyu knew that this ninja would become Danzo's trusted Danzo and was skilled in Mind Body Switch Technique.
But Shaoyu's target was not him.
Shaoyu did not linger, nor did he make any unnecessary movements.
His goal was very clear.
Continue downwards, diving deeper into the depths.
The guards around him became increasingly tight, but fewer and fewer people were able to spot him.
Finally, he arrived at one of the core areas of the base.
Near a heavily guarded secret chamber, with complex sealing formations at the entrance, Shaoyu found his target.
It was a seemingly ordinary storage room next door, but in reality, it was equipped with extremely sophisticated illusions and isolation barriers both inside and out.
Shaoyu's mental energy silently penetrated the outer defenses, carefully searching through the numerous sealed items in the storage room.
Medicinal herbs, scrolls, specially made ninja tools, specimens of organs or tissues from various organisms...
This place is really eerie.
Finally, his gaze settled on a transparent test tube that was wrapped in several layers of independent seals.
The test tube was not large and was immersed in a light blue preservation solution.
In the center of the preservation fluid, a pair of eyes are suspended.
Those were a pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Against a scarlet background, three Tomoe rotate continuously, captivating the eye.
Even after being removed from its owner's eye socket and immersed in cold liquid, the red color still exuded a chilling, eerie beauty.
Although the fluctuations in its pupil power did not reach the level of the Mangekyō Sharingan, they far exceeded the scope of the ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
This is precisely the Sharingan belonging to Kagami Uchiha.
Shaoyu's heart skipped a beat, not because he had found his target, but because of the extremely faint resonance within his bloodline.
Kagami Uchiha...
According to the family genealogy and the secrets occasionally mentioned by Elder Setsuna, he was indeed a direct ancestor of his branch.
Those eyes flow with the power of the bloodline that originated with him.
This was precisely his most important objective in venturing deep into the Root.
He has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan for several years and his mastery of its power has become increasingly profound. However, skills like Susanoo are not yet in their complete form, which is why he still dares not subdue Mahoraga.
The most reliable known way to continue becoming stronger is to obtain the Mangekyō Sharingan of a direct blood relative, fuse with it, and awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
His beloved younger brother is one thing, but he's not that depraved.
For Shao Shaoyu, Kagami Uchiha's eyes were the most suitable and perfect key.
With a little more manipulation, this level of Three Tomoe Sharingan can become another pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
He didn't alert anyone.
A wisp of chakra, refined to its utmost, gathered at his fingertips. Combined with the Six Eyes ' absolute insight into the sealing nodes and spatial structure, it silently penetrated the powerful layers of seals and the specially made test tube wall.
The next instant, the test tube containing the ancestor's Sharingan was firmly placed in Shaoyu's hand.
A cool sensation came through the tube, but the pair of scarlet Sharingan in the test tube seemed to feel a faint throbbing in his heart, as if connected by some bloodline.
It's genuine.
After confirming that the Sharingan sealed in the test tube was indeed Kagami Uchiha's, and that the bloodline resonance was real, a cold and satisfied smile finally appeared on the corner of Shaoyu's mouth beneath his mask.
The goal has been achieved; the biggest gain from this trip is already in hand.
However, leaving so quietly seems... too easy for that old Shimura Danzō.
He came and went freely today; if he didn't leave some memento, wouldn't it seem like he was being too polite?