After a moment of silence, Fugaku shook his head and turned to reveal his Mangekyo, its pattern somewhat resembling Itachi's, with a touch of the yin-yang symbol. He glanced at Shisui, considered for a moment, then explained his abilities.
After hearing him out, Sasuke finally understood why Fugaku had met such a miserable end in the original story.
[Ebisu]: Uses existing information to glimpse a fragment of the future, surveying one of its infinite possibilities. [Omoikane]: Consumes an enormous amount of Eye Power to manifest the future timeline witnessed, to a limited degree. At its weakest, it is an enhanced version of Izanagi; at its strongest, it directly rewrites reality.
Both sounded incredibly powerful, but according to Fugaku, not a single future he had seen was good. Whenever he wanted to do something, he would use Ebisu first, only to see yet another bad future.
As for Omoikane... he had no idea which timelines were good, rendering such a broken ability useless. He had only used it a few times to save his life on the battlefield, treating it as an Izanagi with a cooldown and no major side effects.
These abilities also explained to Sasuke why Fugaku was so indecisive. If every time you wanted to do something, you discovered it would have negative consequences, how could you possibly bring yourself to commit to anything after a while?
And on top of that, using those damn Sharingan too much would make you blind. What were you supposed to do then?
But as Sasuke pondered this, he suddenly noticed something off about the atmosphere. Looking up, he found Fugaku gazing at Shisui with an especially complicated expression, noticeably warier than before.
Uh...
Meeting Itachi's eyes, Sasuke sent him a look.
Brother? What happened?
Shisui explained his Mangekyo abilities, and now Father's a little reluctant to meet his eyes.
...Could he have used his Mangekyo again and seen a future where Shisui hypnotized him...?
That's what I suspect...
His mouth twitched, and Sasuke nearly laughed out of sheer frustration. Fugaku really had chosen an interesting name for his Dojutsu. Ebisu suited his eyes perfectly: they could practically only see bad futures. And no matter what he did, the more he tried to avoid them, the more the future developed in precisely the direction he dreaded.
As for Yasaka no Magatama... as a wise deity of mythology, used properly, it could select the best option from countless choices and determine victory or defeat. But...
Did Fugaku have that ability? No! Could Uchiha Fugaku make decisions? He didn't have what it took! Shameless.
Shisui could have been brought back from the dead by sheer outrage at the sight, itching to hit him with Kotoamatsukami.
He wasn't even as good as Yuan Shao when things were going smoothly.
Curling his lip, Sasuke stood up and stepped between the two, meeting Shisui's eyes. Itachi quietly moved behind Sasuke.
"Shisui, I suspect my dad's Dojutsu can basically only see the worst possible futures. That's one reason he's been so timid all these years, never daring to make a decision..."
"It's all right. I understand how the clan head feels..." Shisui shook his head, his expression bitter. It wasn't entirely because of Fugaku's wariness toward him; he had also gained a deeper understanding of his fate in that predetermined future.
It was perfectly natural that Fugaku couldn't trust him as Itachi and Sasuke did. After all, he had even admitted that he intended to inform the Hokage. He didn't want to deceive his own people. If they were going to cooperate, leaving this unspoken now and revealing it later would be fatal.
If Fugaku simply didn't dare meet his eyes too often, Shisui felt he could accept that.
After all, this threat was virtually impossible to eliminate. The human heart was the hardest thing to predict, and the power to rewrite someone else's thoughts at will was far too frightening.
But when he saw Sasuke's expression, as if to say, "That's all?", hope suddenly stirred in Shisui.
Right! Ordinary people might not be able to solve this, but Sasuke claimed to have a mission from the Sage of Six Paths. Could he have a solution?
Fugaku and Itachi were equally hopeful, especially Fugaku. He knew there was a ninety percent chance Shisui harbored no ulterior motives; otherwise, he wouldn't have told them everything. Fugaku wanted to trust him, too. Unfortunately, he had instinctively used his Dojutsu and seen ten futures in which Shisui hypnotized him in all sorts of ways...
"Heh heh heh heh! Isn't that easy? Just pluck out your eyes and give them to me!"
"..." ×3
The shrine fell utterly silent. Itachi's and Fugaku's faces immediately grew as dark as Danzo's.
Seeing Shisui's incredulous expression, Sasuke hurried to add an explanation.
"Ahem. Looks like I didn't explain myself properly. I mean, let me borrow your eyes for a bit, Shisui. The knowledge that old Sage of Six Paths gave me includes information about the Sharingan. I can study them for you, and I also have a way to resolve this crisis of trust."
The knowledge from the old Sage of Six Paths was naturally a lie, but the latter part was true. He simply also wanted to study how the Sharingan worked and what exactly Eye Power was.
As everyone knew, whether it was the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, or the Rinnegan, their Eye Power could replenish itself. Only the Mangekyo's could not, and even if you never used it, your eyesight would gradually deteriorate.
Yet after receiving a transplant of Hashirama cells, the Mangekyo's Eye Power could regenerate, allowing it to be used freely. Based on this information, Sasuke, Tang San, and Xiao Yan had formed a rough hypothesis.
The Mangekyo itself was a genetic mutation rather than a natural evolution. Because its genes were unstable, it began heading toward destruction from the moment it awakened. Only by using another Mangekyo to make up for its deficiencies could the eyes become normal.
So an ordinary Sharingan only consumed Eye Power, while the Mangekyo reduced the maximum amount of Eye Power instead. It was the difference between losing health and having your maximum health bar chopped down.
And that wasn't necessarily irreversible. In theory, Asura's chakra had already reincarnated after Hashirama's death, leaving behind only an inconceivably vast life force.
Obito could most likely use his Mangekyo freely because that life force replenished it. Under normal circumstances, a person's life force only diminished, never increased. But the life force in Hashirama cells was so vigorous that without enough yin release chakra to balance it, the stuff could turn you straight into wood.
Maybe Obito used intangibility every day precisely to burn through some of that tremendous life force.
But to find out what was really going on, Sasuke would have to experience it firsthand.
"Oh, right. The First Hokage trial card the Sage of Six Paths gave me a few days ago still has one use left. This is a good chance to let you experience the fusion of the Senju and the Uchiha, and I can test whether All-Creation has any effect.
"Shisui, just give me either eye. One will be enough."
As he spoke, Sasuke activated Tang San's trial card. Naka Shrine stood on the outskirts, surrounded by lush trees and abundant nature energy. This was his home turf.
His first Soul Skill, Everlasting Life, and second Soul Skill, Heart of Nature, activated instantly. Standing nearby, Uchiha Itachi almost took a faceful of overflowing life force and chakra. The damage his body had suffered from recently awakening his Mangekyo healed in the space of a breath.
But before he could react, he turned his head and was stunned senseless by Sasuke's next move.
Without the slightest hesitation, Sasuke reached up and gouged out his own left eye.
"Holy shit!" ×4
Why were there four voices? ×3
"Ah, holy shit! Ow, ow, ow! Why does it hurt so much... wait, damn it, Shisui, hurry! My wound's about to heal... uh, it's already healed..."
Itachi & Shisui & Fugaku: (눈_눈)
Sasuke: (는_눈)
Before you continue