"If even your shallow mind can awaken such an eye, does it truly surprise you that I possess one as well?" Uchiha Touhan's voice was calm, but laced with quiet menace.
"Touhan… your thoughts are far too dangerous. For the sake of the village—I'm sorry!"
The moment Shisui caught the gleam of the Mangekyō Sharingan in Touhan's eyes, he dared not hesitate. In desperation, he unleashed the ultimate technique of his left eye—Kotoamatsukami—the genjutsu he had once intended to use on Fugaku, meant to rewrite Touhan's will forever.
But before the jutsu could settle, agony seared both of Shisui's eyes. Darkness swallowed his world whole.
Touhan's voice rang beside him, calm yet mocking.
"Knowing the power of your eyes, did you truly think I wouldn't prepare?"
"How… how did you do this?" Shisui's voice trembled as he clutched at his empty sockets, blood wetting his palm.
"My eye technique—Yasukatsu Hikari." Touhan stepped closer, seizing the moment. While Shisui struggled with sudden blindness, Touhan disarmed him effortlessly and sealed away his chakra. His voice carried both pride and cruelty. "It allows me to glimpse countless possibilities in an instant… and then choose the best one. You used Kotoamatsukami on me. In one possibility, I dodged it and killed you. In this one, I let you live."
Shisui's body shook, his strength failing him, yet he still forced himself to ask, "How… how could you know my technique?"
"I told you before. My eyes can see futures yours never will." Touhan's lips curved into a cold smile as he toyed with the freshly taken pair of Mangekyō Sharingan in his hands.
"A prophetic eye…" Shisui's laugh was bitter. "So everything I do has already been written by your gaze. Isn't that right?"
Touhan ignored his despair and continued. "The clan calls the Mangekyō the Eyes of Reflection, but I see them differently. To me, they are the Eyes of Answer. Every elder who awakened them faced an inner question… and the abilities born from those eyes were their answers."
His gaze hardened as he leaned closer.
"Tell me, Shisui—if you claim to act for both clan and village, why is your answer domination? Do you believe the conflict between family and village is truly beyond reconciliation?"
For a long moment, Shisui said nothing. Because deep down, he knew Touhan was right. His Mangekyō had awakened from despair—despair at the village, at his clan, and at the merciless shinobi world itself. A power born from hopelessness, destined only for tragedy.
Touhan's voice cut through the silence. "Pathetic. The clan's bloodline gifts you power… and you waste it trying to shackle your own kin."
"What do you plan to do with my eyes?" Shisui forced the words out through clenched teeth. "Control the Third Hokage? You won't succeed. Even if you bend Hiruzen Sarutobi, the rest of the village won't stand idle. You'll drag the Uchiha into ruin."
Touhan chuckled, loosening the restraints around Shisui.
"Still so arrogant, Brother Shisui. You won't even admit that my power surpasses yours? To directly control Sarutobi? That's the lowest, most trivial use of these eyes."
From his robes, he drew out a small glass vial and tossed it. Blind as he was, Shisui still caught it with practiced instinct.
"…What is this?"
"A pair of three-tomoe Sharingan. Taken from the clan's shrine," Touhan said simply. "Consider it… compensation. You may leave."
"You're not going to kill me?" Shisui was stunned.
"Kill you?" Touhan's smile was faint, almost gentle. "Why bother? Go. Tell Sarutobi about the power of Kotoamatsukami. Then watch carefully, through those borrowed eyes, as I reshape the future."
With a final pat on Shisui's shoulder, Touhan turned and walked away, vanishing into the night-shrouded trees of the Forest of Death.
---
At the edge of the Uchiha compound, Touhan returned to his secluded residence. Summoning a hawk, he carefully attached the stolen Mangekyō Sharingan to it before dispersing the summoning.
"Now that Kotoamatsukami is mine," he whispered, gazing out the window, "the real plan begins."
The glow of Konohagakure lit the distance, vibrant and alive, while the Uchiha district lay in cold silence.
Fourteen years had passed since Touhan first awoke in this world. A foreign soul in a blood-soaked land. In his previous life, he had been nothing but a weary office worker, killing time by studying half-baked science articles online. Then fate—or curse—had given him this name, this blood, and this world.
This world had forced him to master killing before he was even a man. At nine years old, he had been thrown into war under the banner of the Will of Fire. Betrayal had nearly ended him, but in the crucible of death, his Mangekyō had awakened, saving his life and ensuring he crawled out of the battlefield alive.
But he knew survival was only temporary. The massacre of the clan loomed ever closer.
And yet, at clan meetings, all he heard was endless arguing—futile, petty disputes. Touhan had long realized: only he could carve out a new path.
Taking Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was merely the first step.
Shisui… arrogant, naive fool. A man who held a blade sharper than any other, yet chose to sheath it and meet a pitiful end. If he had simply revealed the power of his eyes, he could have become a sword dangling above both clan and village leadership. Instead, he chose weakness.
Fortunately, that power belongs to me now.
Touhan's gaze drifted to the Hokage Monument in the distance. The stone faces were cloaked in shadow. His eyes lingered on the third visage.
So tell me, Sarutobi Hiruzen… the so-called strongest Hokage in history… what will you do?
End of Chapter ..