Chapter 78: Confession

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Confession

No matter what the issue was, once it involved the Uchiha—and especially the Sharingan—there could be no room for carelessness.

After all, the Uchiha clan had far too many bizarre forbidden techniques hidden within the Sharingan.

Techniques like Izanagi and Izanami were perfect examples. If you didn’t know how they worked beforehand, they were practically impossible to guard against.

Since Danzo had already transplanted First Hokage cells and a large number of Sharingan, there was a very real possibility that he had also mastered some of the Uchiha clan’s forbidden techniques.

Facing Danzo head-on at this point would simply be too risky.

Orochimaru was the perfect cautionary example.

As a genuine Kage-level powerhouse, he had fought Itachi twice, yet both times, Itachi had casually dealt with him using nothing more than his Sharingan.

There was a lesson in that, and Hyuga Kagami would be foolish not to take it seriously.

After returning home, Kagami pushed those thoughts aside and once again immersed himself in studying the Four Symbols Seal.

Increasing his own strength was still his number one priority.

Every other scheme and plan he made existed solely to serve that goal. He had always been very clear about what mattered most.

As things stood, he had actually already learned the Four Symbols Seal.

Of course, by "learned," that only meant he could barely use it.

As for the actual principles behind how the Four Symbols Seal operated, or developing it to a deeper level, Kagami was still far from proficient. That was why he needed to study the Four Symbols Seal even further.

Because the Four Symbols Seal was a doorway—a doorway that could open the treasure vault of the Uzumaki clan’s sealing techniques.

And as long as he mastered the Uzumaki clan’s sealing techniques, he would be able to break the Fourth Hokage’s seal on the Dragon Vein, thereby completing the most crucial step of his Artificial Tailed Beast Project.

After studying for a while, Kagami carefully recorded all of his insights and observations.

Once he finished writing, he looked over the notes he had made and thought to himself,

"With the contribution Team 11 made this time, exchanging it for another sealing technique shouldn’t be a problem, right?"

He estimated that, at most, it would take him another week to completely master the Four Symbols Seal.

Once he had mastered it, if he could learn another one or two sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan, then with the insight of his Tenseigan, he was confident he would be able to unravel the mysteries behind the Uzumaki clan’s sealing techniques.

And considering the contribution Team 11 had made this time, Kagami figured that exchanging it for a mere sealing technique should be more than reasonable.

Early the next morning, Kagami left home.

Along the way, practically everything he heard was the villagers arguing about Konoha’s peace negotiations with Kumogakure.

There was no doubt that the village’s shinobi were furious over Kumogakure’s sudden surprise attack.

On top of that, several hundred Konoha shinobi had been killed over the course of the conflict. Nearly every major shinobi clan had a funeral to mourn.

Because of this, many of Konoha’s shinobi were deeply dissatisfied with the decision to pursue peace talks.

Everyone could understand, more or less, why the Third Hokage had agreed to the peace talks.

But after being blindsided with such a vicious blow, only to turn around and shake hands and make peace, the shinobi of the number one ninja village in the shinobi world simply found it difficult to swallow their anger.

Kagami, however, didn’t feel particularly strongly about it.

The Konoha of today was no longer the Konoha of the First Hokage’s era, when it had possessed the strength to suppress everything in its path.

In the shinobi world, if you weren’t strong enough, then no matter how great the humiliation, you could only endure it in silence.

Besides, this was only the beginning.

The village would have plenty more trouble to deal with in the future.

After arriving at the agreed meeting place, Kagami quietly waited.

Before long, a figure landed in front of him.

It was none other than Uchiha Shisui, whom Kagami had arranged to meet.

Shisui said apologetically, "Senpai, sorry to keep you waiting!"

"It’s fine. I only got here a little while ago myself." Kagami waved it off, then said, "I asked you to meet me because there’s something very important I need to tell you."

"What is it?"

Kagami activated his Byakugan and, after confirming that there was no one nearby, lowered his voice.

"I saw Danzo yesterday and discovered a secret about him!"

Shisui immediately looked startled.

"What? You saw Lord Danzo yesterday too?"

Kagami’s brows furrowed slightly.

A bad feeling suddenly rose in his heart.

"You ran into him yesterday too?"

Shisui replied, "Yes. Lord Danzo invited me to join Root, but I turned him down. Did Lord Danzo invite you as well, Senpai?"

Kagami hurriedly asked, "Don’t tell me you revealed your Mangekyo Sharingan to him?"

Shisui nodded.

"We talked about the conflict between the Uchiha and the village. To put Lord Danzo and the village leadership at ease, yesterday I told both Lord Danzo and the Third Hokage about my Mangekyo Sharingan. I also promised them that, if necessary, I would stop the clan from taking any extreme actions."

Kagami’s expression darkened.

"Foolish!"

Shisui looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"Do you know what I called you here to tell you today?" Kagami paused before continuing, "Yesterday, I discovered through my Byakugan that Danzo has already transplanted First Hokage cells and a large number of Sharingan into himself. He’s modified his body beyond recognition!"

"What!?"

Shisui froze on the spot.

Kagami glanced at him and said, "That old bastard has been coveting the Sharingan for a long time, and you went and told him that you awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan. Isn’t that practically throwing a lamb into a tiger’s jaws?"

The plan Kagami had come up with yesterday was to tell Shisui that Danzo coveted the Sharingan, then steer Shisui toward using Kotoamatsukami on Danzo and settle the problem once and for all.

But he hadn’t expected Danzo to move so quickly.

Not only had Danzo approached Kagami yesterday, he had approached Shisui as well.

What Kagami had expected even less was that Shisui had directly revealed the existence of his Mangekyo Sharingan to both Danzo and the Third Hokage yesterday.

Of course, that was partly because Kagami had no idea how badly Shisui had been shaken by what happened at the Uchiha clan meeting the previous day.

At that meeting, members of the Uchiha clan had already begun openly advocating an armed coup.

It was precisely this that had driven Shisui to come clean with the village leadership.

Shisui remained lost in thought for a long while before finally murmuring,

"Senpai... did I make a mistake?"

Kagami asked another question instead.

"Besides Susanoo, your Mangekyo Sharingan should have another ability, right?"

Without the slightest hesitation, Shisui immediately answered,

"Yes. My Mangekyo Sharingan can cast a genjutsu called Kotoamatsukami. It can alter and control a target’s will without them ever realizing it."

"You told Danzo and the Third about that too?"

Shisui nodded.

"Yes. I was planning to use Kotoamatsukami to stop the clan’s coup, so in order to convince the Third and Lord Danzo, I didn’t hide anything from them."

Kagami said, "You might be able to stop the Uchiha from launching a coup, but can you stop Danzo from making a move against the Uchiha? Now that things have reached this point, the village leadership won’t fully trust you anymore. And from now on, Danzo probably won’t agree to meet you privately either."

Shisui seemed to suddenly realize something, and disbelief spread across his face.

Kagami warned him,

"Remember this: if Danzo ever asks to meet you alone, there’s only one possibility—he intends to make a move against you!"

He paused, then added,

"Though whether he’ll even live long enough for that day to come... is another matter."