Emotional Resonance, the Blooming Mangekyō

Slowly sank into the ground.

Meanwhile-

On a street in the Uchiha Clan's district.

Root's forces had already begun to move in.

Under Shimura Danzō's command, they recovered the Sharingan from the corpses.

The Third Hokage, who seemed to have been completely unaware of everything from the start, arrived with the Anbu, "fashionably late."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was shocked at the horrific scene in the Uchiha district.

"Check immediately, gather the bodies, and see if there are any survivors!"

He took a deep breath.

The Third Hokage issued his orders.

"Hiruzen, the threat within the village has finally been eliminated!"

Shimura Danzō said bluntly.

"Whatever else you might say, the Uchiha were part of Konoha... Danzo, you shouldn't have acted on your own!"

"It was a necessary sacrifice!"

Danzo said coolly.

In his view, the ever-disobedient Uchiha should have been eliminated long ago.

"You've gone too far, Danzo..."

The Third Hokage frowned, looking somewhat angry. "Things clearly hadn't reached that point, yet you went behind my back as Hokage and incited Uchiha Itachi to attack the Uchiha Clan directly!"

"Hiruzen, everything I did was for Konoha!"

Shimura Danzō's expression changed, and he hastily raised his voice.

"For Konoha?" The Third Hokage drew on his pipe and looked at Shimura Danzō. Then he said abruptly, "I suspect you had something to do with Shisui's death as well, didn't you?"

"Danzo, I can no longer turn a blind eye to your actions..."

With that,

before Shimura Danzō, whose expression had changed drastically, could defend himself,

the Third Hokage's face turned grave. In a tone that brooked no defiance, he declared, "As of today, you are relieved of your position as Hokage's advisor, and Root is officially placed under Anbu's jurisdiction!"

"In addition, you are confined to your home to reflect on your actions. You are not allowed to leave!"

"Hiruzen, I..."

"Enough!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi had found a high-sounding excuse to strip him of his position as Hokage's advisor, then walked away without looking back.

Shimura Danzō's face darkened.

Yet he could not openly defy the order.

Besides, he feared that if he pressed the issue, Hiruzen Sarutobi, that kindly faced but blackhearted fellow, would force him to hand over Shisui's eye.

"Damn it..."

His gaze was cold and sinister.

Danzo jabbed his cane into the ground, seething with frustration.

He was not the Hokage, after all!

"Lord Danzo..."

A Root ninja appeared and knelt on one knee.

Danzo suppressed his anger and asked, "Have you finished accounting for all the corpses?"

"A large number of Sharingan have been taken. Even Uchiha Fugaku and his wife, Uchiha Mikoto, were no exception!"

The Root ninja hurriedly reported.

Then he ventured, "Could Uchiha Itachi have done it?"

"What!?"

Hearing that,

Shimura Danzō, who had set his sights on those Sharingan from the start and considered them already in his possession,

had never imagined anyone would dare snatch them from under his nose.

He was instantly furious. "Damn it!!"

"It couldn't have been Itachi. If he'd wanted to do that, he would have taken his parents' bodies with him!"

But he kept his wits about him and thought it through.

He concluded that Uchiha Itachi could not have done it.

He immediately gave an order through gritted teeth. "Search! Don't overlook a single clue!"

"Yes-"

At the Chiya household.

After finishing dinner with Kurenai Yuhi and Chiya Nao,

and seeing Kurenai Yuhi home,

Chiya Rikuto returned to his room.

White figures emerged from the walls one after another, appearing in his room.

Storage scrolls were placed before him, one after another.

Sealed inside were vast sums of money, relevant Ninjutsu scrolls... and even Sharingan!

"This really was quite a haul..."

He took stock of the valuables.

Besides some cash, there was also a great deal of gold, silver, and jewelry.

It was not the Uchiha Clan's entire fortune, and was not even a tenth of the bank deposits he could not get his hands on.

Even so, it was an incredibly generous haul, a staggering sum.

Most of it had been found in the homes of the Uchiha Clan's elders and those Uchiha Jonin of considerable strength and status.

"Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu..."

"Leaving aside what was found in the homes of the Uchiha clansmen, the Uchiha Clan's library alone contained Ninjutsu of all five elements-wind, lightning, water, fire, and earth-from low-level to high-level, and even S-rank Forbidden Techniques... There were also quite a few advanced Genjutsu representing Yin Release!"

Chiya Rikuto smiled. "As expected of the Uchiha, Konoha's foremost great clan!"

"We collected quite a few Sharingan too: fifty-seven pairs of One-Tomoe Sharingan, thirty-three pairs of Two-Tomoe Sharingan, and fifteen pairs of Three-Tomoe Sharingan..."

Looking at the bloody, scarlet eyeballs, he was filled with excitement. "And... one pair of Mangekyō Sharingan!"

"I struck it rich in one go!"

He had to admit it.

It was all thanks to the White Zetsu Clone's ability that had come to him.

Otherwise, he really would not have dared take such a risk.

Nor could he have quietly reaped such a rich reward.

Without White Zetsu's ability, if he had dared get directly involved, he would surely have exposed himself.

Konoha's sensory ninja were not there for show.

Chapter 35: Emotional Resonance, the Blooming Mangekyō

"There's no need to rush with Fugaku's eyes!"

"First, I'll try devouring the visual power of these lower-level Sharingan and see if I can awaken the Mangekyō directly..."

Looking at the pairs of bloody, vividly scarlet eyeballs before him,

even Chiya Rikuto could not help feeling excited.

He was full of anticipation.

"I'm counting on you!"

After a moment's thought, to guard against accidents,

he created a Wood Clone to keep watch.

"No problem!" The Wood Clone nodded.

"Swish, swish..."

Thin vines appeared.

They shot straight out of Rikuto's hands.

One after another, they pierced the bloody eyeballs.

"Gurgle..."

As though devouring something,

the vines bulged from time to time.

They pulsed continuously.

At some point, Rikuto's eyes

had turned into Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

And as he continued to devour the Chakra and visual power contained in those Sharingan,

they spun rapidly.

One-Tomoe Sharingan, Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Three-Tomoe Sharingan...

In the blink of an eye, a large number of Sharingan had all been devoured.

Only Uchiha Fugaku's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan remained.

"Swish!" Stimulated by the powerful Chakra and astonishing visual power, the three black Tomoe in Rikuto's vividly scarlet Sharingan spun without cease.

In a daze,

he saw one scene after another flash through his mind.

It was as though he had lived through them himself.

The death of a close relative, the sacrifice of a dear friend, facing a desperate situation, his life hanging by a thread...

At that moment, those intensely powerful emotions resonated strongly within him.

Terror, sorrow, anger, despair, unwillingness to accept it...

The intense emotions intertwined, battering Rikuto's mind.

"Mm... ngh..."

Cold sweat poured down his face.

He grunted and clenched his fists.

Veins bulged, and he could not help but want to cry out.

But the Wood Clone across from him, which had been watching the original, saw this and hurried forward to cover his mouth. "Hey, hey, original, you can't make too much noise right now!"

"Mmph... mmph..."

Veins bulged all over his body.

His face twisted in pain, Rikuto stared with his eyes wide open.