"Should I preserve some flesh and blood for an Impure World Reincarnation? "
Staring at Uchiha Shisui's lifeless body, a thought crossed Uchiha Fugaku's mind.
Shisui's power was beyond question—wielder of the Mangekyō Sharingan, his strength far surpassed that of most Kage-level shinobi.
The Scroll of Seals recorded the Impure World Reincarnation technique. If Fugaku mastered it, could he resurrect Shisui to serve as a powerful asset?
After some consideration, he dismissed the idea.
The version of Impure World Reincarnation documented in the Scroll of Seals was far inferior to Orochimaru's perfected version and likely couldn't summon someone as strong as Shisui.
Moreover, Shisui's Kotoamatsukami had the power to break free from the Impure World Reincarnation. Reviving someone who harbored deep hostility toward him would be unimaginably dangerous.
No—he couldn't leave even a trace of Shisui behind. He had to ensure that neither he nor anyone else could use Shisui's remains for the technique.
"Corpse Refinement—"
A pitch-black vortex appeared. Fugaku shoved Shisui's entire body into the space of Corpse Refinement.
Shisui's body dissolved, producing a vast, cell-like yet unidentifiable substance. It split into two streams, nourishing both of Fugaku's eyes.
A cool, soothing sensation washed over his vision—like pressing a towel chilled in ice water over his eyes on a summer day.
He could feel it clearly: his eyes were changing—no, evolving.
Shisui's bloodline, as a Mangekyō Sharingan awakener, was of the highest order.
As Fugaku had predicted, refining Shisui's body brought him immense gains. Now, the only question was whether this surge could propel his eyes to the level of the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan in one stroke.
Time passed—he wasn't sure how long. The flood of refined energy began to dwindle.
Fugaku's eyes had reached a critical threshold. Crossing it meant a qualitative leap—evolution into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Failure meant remaining at the Mangekyō level, albeit stronger than most.
"Haah—"
Fugaku's breathing grew heavier, anticipation and unease gnawing at him.
He had long speculated that refining Shisui's body could grant him the Eternal Mangekyō. Now came the moment of truth.
Whumm—
A strange shift occurred—the patterns in his eyes spun uncontrollably.
It felt as if some unseen shackle had shattered, unleashing a torrent of change.
Though Shisui's body had been fully refined, the transformation raged on, like a nuclear reaction that no longer depended on its initial spark.
Fugaku's eyes were being structurally rebuilt.
A defect that could have caused eventual blindness—long suppressed by the Hashirama cells within him—was now being completely repaired.
His ocular power capacity expanded, and his already extraordinary vision sharpened to new heights.
Minutes—or perhaps more than an hour—passed before the process subsided, and control returned to him.
The once-dim room now shone with pristine clarity. Every detail stood out in perfect focus.
Fixing his gaze on a single point, his pupils constricted, and the object magnified rapidly in his vision. A surface that had seemed smooth now revealed crater-like textures, as if seen through a microscope. He realized that, if he willed it, he could now perceive particles invisible even to most Sharingan users.
"The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan! "
Fugaku exhaled slowly, certain of what had happened.
Only the evolution from Mangekyō to Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan could cause such an overwhelming transformation.
Approaching a tall mirror, he studied his reflection.
The pattern in his eyes remained unchanged: three tomoe set within a ring, each of the three divisions bearing a single black dot.
"So, attaining the Eternal Mangekyō this way doesn't create the dual-layered pattern like Madara's. It's more like Indra's."
Indra, eldest son of the Sage of Six Paths, had awakened the Eternal Mangekyō without ever passing through the standard Mangekyō stage, and his eyes bore only a single-layered design.
Similarly, Fugaku had not acquired his Eternal Mangekyō through transplanting a relative's eyes but by enhancing his bloodline. His pattern, too, remained singular.
"As long as I have the Eternal Mangekyō, the pattern doesn't matter. In fact, a single-layer design could even be misleading."
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
Uchiha Obito knew the distinction between single- and double-layered patterns. Seeing Fugaku's single-layer pattern, Obito would assume these were ordinary Mangekyō, underestimating his true power—an advantage Fugaku could exploit.
"Let's see if my ocular techniques have changed…"
Fugaku probed his eyes, testing the abilities they now held.
"Left eye—Corpse Refinement… not much has changed."
The only difference was an expanded space—able to store more bodies at once. It was a natural improvement, a byproduct of his eyes' fundamental upgrade.
"Right eye—True Illusion… wait, there's a change!