Fugaku had many suspicions.
The first person he suspected was his own son, Uchiha Itachi.
Itachi had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and was meant to inherit his position as the next clan head. Yet he kept wavering between the clan and the village, and even refused to share ANBU intelligence with him.
He absolutely had the ability to sneak into the vault and steal the Sharingan.
But Itachi probably didn't even know about the existence of Izanagi and Izanami.
So there was no reason for him to steal them.
Could it be one of the Uchiha who was close to the Hokage's faction?
Fugaku couldn't figure it out.
In the end, he quietly left the Naka Shrine and chose not to tell anyone about the theft.
The disappearance of Sharingan was enough to shake morale.
Even worse, someone had broken into the core of the shrine without anyone noticing.
If the clan learned that their most secure location could be invaded at will, their confidence in launching a coup might collapse on the spot.
For a brief moment, Fugaku even considered reporting the matter to the Hokage Tower.
But the conflict between the Uchiha and the village had already reached the point of no return.
Either the coup succeeded—
—or the clan was exterminated.
Dragging it out would only slowly bleed them dry until they couldn't even maintain the police force.
...
On the way back through the Forest of Death.
Shisui tightly clutched the summoning scroll that stored the Sharingan, occasionally glancing at Naruto beside him.
For him, stealing the Sharingan was a huge gamble.
If the clan discovered him, he was dead.
If Naruto suddenly changed his mind and snatched everything away, he was also dead.
Either way, it was basically gambling his life on a coin flip.
The Sharingan was incredibly valuable on the black market—second only to the Byakugan. A top-tier bloodline limit.
Yet Naruto showed zero interest in them the whole way.
He didn't attack the shadow clone.
Didn't question his motives.
Didn't even look greedy.
Like he genuinely just wanted to watch the chaos unfold for fun.
…What kind of lunatic thinks political disaster is entertainment?
But then—
If Naruto truly didn't care, why steal his Mangekyō and Kotoamatsukami in the first place?
The more Shisui thought about it, the more confused he became.
After returning safely to the underground base in the Forest of Death, the shadow clone finally relaxed and handed the scroll to Naruto.
As a prisoner, he didn't really have the right to negotiate anyway.
Naruto glanced at him and snorted.
"I thought you'd try something. Maybe sneak off halfway or leave a distress signal for the clan or something."
"You didn't even resist. Man… that's kinda boring."
Shisui looked awkward.
"My eye transplant… still depends on you."
Naruto paused.
…Fair point.
Even if Shisui escaped, who else could perform this kind of surgery?
Go to the hospital?
"Hi, can you install some illegal eyeballs for me?"
Yeah, instant arrest.
Or worse—Danzō.
That'd be like delivering himself gift-wrapped.
Without wasting time, Naruto started the transplant surgery.
Compared to Shisui's warm, freshly removed eyes last time, these stored Sharingan felt cold and lifeless.
Long-term storage had reduced cellular activity, making the procedure much harder.
The surgery lasted several hours and consumed an absurd amount of chakra.
Finally, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan transplant was complete.
With two or three days of adaptation, Shisui would be able to use them normally.
But the rejection reaction surprised Naruto.
Even Shisui—an Uchiha jōnin with pure blood—reacted this badly.
No wonder almost nobody could transplant Sharingan.
Kakashi and Danzō were basically freak cases.
Compared to this, Naruto's own transplant had been like hot-swapping USB devices.
Plug in. Done.
Well… being an Uzumaki with Nine-Tails chakra and Asura's power probably helped a lot.
Built different, as they say.
Looking at the unconscious Shisui, Naruto then glanced at the remaining Sharingan.
Single-tomoe? Trash.
Two-tomoe? Meh.
Three-tomoe? Barely useful. Nice bonus at best.
As for Izanami and Izanagi…
Izanami was a niche anti-Uchiha genjutsu with annoying conditions.
Izanagi could rewrite reality—but obviously had limits.
If someone ripped the Ten-Tails out of you, there was no way Izanagi could just go, "Nah bro, didn't happen."
Still, waste not, want not.
Naruto casually pocketed one pair of Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
Then he used the Body Flicker to knock out Shisui's shadow clone.
Before the clone dispersed, Naruto quietly left the temporary base.
It had been nearly half a year since Shisui lost Kotoamatsukami.
After arranging everything, it was time to say goodbye.
Before leaving, Naruto placed a scroll filled with information on the table.
Maybe Shisui would find it useful someday.
Or maybe it would just mess with his head.
Either worked.
...
Shisui woke up earlier than Naruto expected.
Around dawn, he slowly regained consciousness on the operating table.
His head throbbed. His eyes burned.
After sitting up, he immediately noticed the scroll and Naruto's disappearance.
He picked up the scroll.
Inside were only a few simple farewell lines.
The last section was sealed with a fūinjutsu—force it open, and both the scroll and the contents would self-destruct.
Classic Naruto.
Leaving mysteries on purpose.
What a jerk.
Suppressing his curiosity, Shisui checked the Sharingan storage scroll.
After counting carefully, he found two pairs missing.
One had been transplanted into himself.
The other was obviously taken by Naruto.
…Honestly, that number was still acceptable.
Even if all of them were gone, it wouldn't be the worst outcome.
At least the theft would alert the clan.
Make them realize there were internal traitors and external enemies.
Maybe even force them to postpone the coup.
That would buy him time to prepare an escape plan and lead the clan away from Konoha.
As for why that mysterious guy appeared out of nowhere, stole Kotoamatsukami, then kindly gave him survival advice…
Shisui didn't have the energy to think about it anymore.
Compared to the clan's survival, a pair of eyes meant nothing.
If anything, losing Kotoamatsukami twice had taught him one thing:
Don't trust people too easily.
And don't be soft.
Being gentle only gets you stabbed in the back.
After his eyes felt better, Shisui took one last look at the underground base where he had lived for half a year.
Then he formed hand seals.
A Fire Dragon roared into existence and blasted straight into the tunnel.
Detonation tags ignited.
BOOM.
The entire passage collapsed in a massive explosion.
After finishing everything, Shisui flickered away and disappeared into the Forest of Death.
The night swallowed him whole.
…His schedule was getting worse and worse.
Waking up an hour later every day.
At this rate, maybe his sleep cycle would fix itself in ten days.
Probably.
Hopefully.
…Yeah, ninja life sucked.
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