From the moment the Mangekyo Sharingan is first awakened and used, it begins a downward spiral.
Every time the Mangekyo's abilities are used, they cause permanent damage to the optic nerve. ocular power and vision decline in tandem, eventually leading to blindness.
It is like death; a person begins walking toward death the day they are born, and the Mangekyo begins walking toward blindness the moment it is awakened.
However, seeing how much of a turtle Fugaku is—even in the anime original where they staged a coup, he didn't tell his subordinates he had a nuclear bomb in his hands—he probably hasn't used the Mangekyo much at all!
His ocular power might still be at its peak stage.
Ryou kept his eyes fixed on Fugaku, wary of his Mangekyo.
But Fugaku was too much of a turtle. Even as the Police Force was being overturned by Sasori and several Shinobi died from poison, he was still hiding it.
This made it impossible for Ryou to judge whether the opponent had actually awakened the Mangekyo or not.
After all, his Mangekyo was just a creative spark from the original anime; neither the original manga nor the official light novels ever mentioned Fugaku having the talent to awaken the Mangekyo.
Suddenly, Sasori's Third Kazekage Human Puppet vanished with a 'poof.'
Sasori was a bit dazed. Where did my massive puppet go?
Ryou stroked his chin and said, "Perhaps something happened on the main body's side and it summoned the Third Kazekage over!"
It was of little consequence. Without the Third Kazekage, Sasori still had Rasa.
The time Sasori spent without the Third Kazekage should have been the best opportunity for them to counterattack him.
But Fugaku was still playing the turtle; only Shisui could charge in front of Sasori.
Yet Sasori was shrouded in a poison mist. Aside from the contractor, only Tsunade and Chiyo could neutralize Salamander Ibuse's poison.
Shisui didn't dare get close to it at all.
Ryou looked warily at Shisui. The man had a pair of Sharingan in his eye sockets, and they were three tomoe.
"Shisui, weren't your eyes destroyed by yourself? How did they grow back?"
Holding his kunai, Shisui stopped in front of Ibuse and explained, "Ryou-senpai, these were bestowed upon me by the Police Force."
"I performed a great service for the clan, so the clan restored my eyes."
Ryou asked, "Shisui, can you still use Kotoamatsukami?"
Shisui shook his head. "No. My Mangekyo was destroyed, so I can no longer use Kotoamatsukami!"
Ryou breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately showed a look of anger, swinging Sasori out to attack Shisui.
"Without Kotoamatsukami, what are you acting so tough for in front of me?"
"Sasori, use Iron Tail on him!"
Sasori truly wanted to die. The world of genjutsu wasn't so bad; reality was too cruel!
The cruel part was that even if Sasori wanted to die, he couldn't.
Sasori hated close-quarters combat; all Puppeteers hated it. Furthermore, now that Sasori had a physical body, he could feel pain and numbness.
But hating close combat didn't mean he wasn't capable of it.
Sasori released the chakra from the regeneration core in his chest, and his body underwent a violent transformation.
Shisui didn't even need to use his Sharingan to observe; with the naked eye alone, he could see Sasori's massive chakra kicking up wind pressure.
Fear struck his heart, and he leaped backward, distancing himself from the erupting Sasori.
How massive was Sasori's chakra?
His Shinobi stat for 'Stamina' was at the maximum level. This wasn't like Ino being full; it meant his chakra volume was at the top tier.
In the original work, he fought Chiyo and Sakura from beginning to end, controlling the Third Kazekage and then the Performance of a Hundred Puppets.
He didn't show the slightest hint of exhaustion.
His chakra was all concentrated in the regeneration core, so dense it seemed to have solidified into a Golden Core.
Now, with Ryou's spore enhancement added to the regeneration core, his chakra was even more abundant.
Under the support of this massive chakra, the puppy-sized Red Tail Scorpion expanded rapidly as if it had consumed some divine elixir, transforming in an instant into a giant Summoned Beast.
It was a giant scorpion of the same size class as Gamabunta, its entire body covered in heavy carapace interwoven with dark red and ink black, its eight giant legs as thick as pillars.
Most terrifying was that crimson poisonous stinger, pointing straight at the sky like a long spear. The poison sac faintly flowed with dark red poisonous light, radiating a suffocating sense of pressure.
It wasn't over yet. Under Sasori's control, Rasa fell into a slot on the scorpion's back, and then Rasa's gold dust attached itself to the scorpion's entire body.
It was fitted with a layer of gilded armor.
Steel Dragon King Sasori!
After Sasori was implanted into the Red Tail Scorpion by Ryou, he began following the path of the flesh-and-blood puppet style.
By strengthening a powerful physical body and merging all puppets into this body, he could gain their techniques to enhance himself.
The Steel Dragon King Sasori had another slot; that was prepared for the Third Kazekage.
Sasori no longer cared about the situation at Ryūchi Cave. If it was something major, the Third Kazekage Human Puppet would be useless; if it was something minor, it wasn't needed there.
Ryou's main body would only use the Third Kazekage for trivial matters.
Sasori immediately performed the Summoning Jutsu to call the Third Kazekage back from Ryūchi Cave.
Under Sasori's control, the Third Kazekage entered the slot. Sasori completed his perfect form, and suddenly a giant scorpion king, a mix of black and gold, loomed over the great river.
Its eyes glowed with two points of cold, dark red fire, like a poisonous war beast crawling out from the subterranean abyss.
Ryou extended his hands, controlling the Steel Dragon King Sasori to charge toward the Uchiha Clan.
"Fugaku, the Shinobi World is already going to hell. How much longer are you going to play the turtle? Unleash your Mangekyo!"
Suddenly, all the Uchiha clansmen who could still fight looked toward Fugaku, including Shisui.
Fugaku touched his eyes. Even Mikoto and Itachi, the two people closest to him, didn't know; how did Ryou know?
Ryou was right; the current situation was no longer one where he could continue to hide.
"Susanoo!"
Fugaku's crimson pupils suddenly tightened, and the three tomoe spun wildly at a speed that seemed to tear the eyeballs, their afterimages merging into a pitch-black vortex...
Then, the edges of the tomoe suddenly disintegrated and stretched, weaving into a Mangekyo pattern composed of three curved blade-like petals within the crimson pupils.
Mangekyo Sharingan!
On the foundation of the Mangekyo Sharingan, an orange chakra half-body giant enveloped Fugaku.
It was the third power of the Mangekyo Sharingan—Susanoo!
Fugaku's Susanoo was orange, in the third stage Karasu Tengu armor form.
The weapon equipped by the Susanoo was a Jumonji Yari, a type of polearm used by ancient samurai.
During the Siege of Osaka at the end of Japan's Sengoku period, the famous general Sanada Yukimura once used a Jumonji Yari to lead his army into the Tokugawa main camp, making Tokugawa Ieyasu break into a cold sweat.
The people of the Police Force were all shocked.
"Mangekyo Sharingan?!"
"The Captain actually possesses the Mangekyo Sharingan?!"
"The Captain really is a turtle man! He can endure too much!"
Shisui was also extremely shocked. He hadn't expected Fugaku to possess the Mangekyo Sharingan, let alone hide it so deeply!
The hawk faction Uchiha, such as Yashiro, Tekka, and Inabi, were delighted.
The Mangekyo Sharingan was the ultimate Dojutsu of the Uchiha Clan. As long as it was awakened, an Uchiha clansman would possess combat power on par with the Hokage level.
After the surprise came the questioning. Why hide such a good thing? This was clearly something that could bring prestige to the clan.
Yashiro questioned Fugaku: "Fugaku, why didn't you show the Mangekyo if you had it? Do you know how much reputation this would bring to the Uchiha?"
Shisui, understanding Fugaku, said to Yashiro: "Yashiro-senpai, the power of the Mangekyo is very strong. If it were revealed, the clan would be guarded against by the higher-ups."
Yashiro spat: "As if those old fogies would trust the Uchiha even if we didn't say anything!"
"Fugaku, what exactly were you thinking? Given the Uchiha's isolation, showing the Mangekyo would have made the higher-ups wary of taking action."
"What were you hiding it for?"
Fugaku did not answer. In the original anime, Fugaku himself explained the reasons for not exposing the Mangekyo.
First, he feared that exposure would make the Konoha higher-ups even more wary of the Uchiha, accelerating the suppression and suspicion of the clan, and even triggering the clan's extermination crisis prematurely.
Second, the Mangekyo could control the Nine-Tails. The Konoha higher-ups were already extremely suspicious of the Uchiha because of the Nine-Tails Incident.
If Fugaku revealed the Mangekyo, it would only confirm the charges of the Uchiha controlling the Tailed Beast and plotting treason, plunging the entire clan into a desperate situation.
Third, Fugaku wasn't being a turtle; he simply wanted to keep the Mangekyo as a trump card to serve as the final force to turn the tide when the Uchiha and Konoha completely broke off and launched a coup, rather than exposing it early and inviting disaster.
But even his own son had been brainwashed by the higher-ups into a spy. His essence was still that of a turtle; Fugaku was a dove disguised as a hawk.
To put it nicely, he was steady; to put it bluntly, he was a turtle, soft—the standard configuration of an incompetent husband!
He had a virtuous wife at home and faced a situation of being unappreciated in the village.
It was all there; the plot setup was completely filled out.
Black and White Zetsu, watching the battle from the edge of the battlefield while gathering intelligence, naturally saw Fugaku's orange Karasu Tengu half-body Susanoo.
White Zetsu was surprised: "Mangekyo Sharingan?! The Captain of the Uchiha Police Force actually awakened the Mangekyo?"
Black Zetsu frowned slightly. Shisui, Fugaku—these were all Uchiha clansmen who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan outside of their intelligence.
Black Zetsu very much hoped for as many Mangekyo Sharingan in the Uchiha Clan as possible.
Because the power of the Mangekyo was the power of pain obtained through loss. Most people who awakened the Mangekyo would become extreme and evil.
But Shisui and Fugaku showed no obvious extremism; both were on the side that longed for order.
Such people would only become enemies of Madara.