Chapter 288 – Do I Have to Step In Myself?
Uchiha Kei truly couldn't figure it out — where on earth had his Transcription Seal Amaterasu gone?
Even more baffling was the fact that when he tried engraving the seal again into his own eyes, there was still no reaction.
Unable to make sense of it, Kei decided to set the matter aside. There were more important things at hand.
Now that his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan had been successfully created — and tested — he had no intention of keeping it any longer.
Indeed, the power of those eyes was immense, and their allure to him was undeniable.
But precisely because of that allure, Kei didn't dare to keep them close.
He had always been a greedy man — not lazy, but ambitious. Still, he feared the temptation that might one day overpower his restraint.
He knew well that, though his strength had already reached remarkable heights, he still lacked the composure of a true master.
He wasn't timid, but he was someone who valued his own life.
Those eyes could have granted him safety for decades to come — yet at the same time, they would have shackled his progress.
He would grow complacent, dependent. And that, Kei could not allow.
"It's a risky move," he reminded himself, "but it's a risk worth taking."
He often repeated this to himself, as if to solidify his resolve.
"I may be handing over a sharp blade… but in return, I'll forge my own.
Only through sacrifice can one truly gain."
With that conviction, after a week of fruitless experiments searching for the lost Amaterasu, Kei finally made his way to Uchiha Fugaku's residence — carrying the Eternal Eyes with him.
Fugaku had been living rather comfortably as of late. Although he had lost his command over the Police Force, the Uchiha clan was flourishing, just as he had hoped.
He also knew a portion of Kei's grand design — and deep down, harbored ambitions of his own.
"Kei, it's been a while," Fugaku greeted warmly from the garden pavilion. "I imagine you've been keeping yourself busy lately?"
"Not too bad," Kei replied with an easy smile. "The Police Force has plenty of capable hands. I rarely have to step in personally — which, if you ask me, is how a proper captain should operate."
Fugaku chuckled lightly.
"And I'd say you've been doing quite well yourself, Clan Head."
"Content, perhaps — but not quite satisfied," Fugaku admitted, his expression slowly turning serious. "In fact, I've noticed something recently. I think we should talk."
"Oh?" Kei's brows lifted slightly, genuine curiosity flickering in his eyes. "Something serious enough to make you look like that?"
It wasn't often that Fugaku looked troubled. After all, he was at the height of his power — a new child at home, the clan's prestige revived after the Nine-Tails attack, and his personal reputation soaring as the "Strongest Uchiha."
Moreover, his personal relationship with the Fourth Hokage, Minato, was stronger than ever.
So seeing him with a grim expression was… unusual.
"It's about Shisui," Fugaku said quietly. "You've had people watching him, haven't you?"
"I have," Kei admitted without hesitation. "Even though the hardliners among the elders are gone, and the doves are behaving themselves — I wouldn't just ignore a genius like him. Why? Did Uchiha Jin come to complain?"
"At least call him 'Elder Jin,'" Fugaku sighed. "Yes, they noticed what you were doing. They even came to me about it — I stopped them from escalating, but as a result, they've taken extra precautions to 'protect' the boy."
He gave Kei a knowing look. "After all, you did terrify quite a few people with your past actions."
Kei arched an eyebrow. "Protect him? You make it sound like I'm some kind of demon.
And let's be honest — they probably just came begging you to intervene, didn't they? Everyone in Konoha knows you're the 'Strongest Uchiha.'"
Fugaku could only shake his head in exasperation.
"Strongest Uchiha, huh? Don't kid yourself. You and I both know you're not much weaker than I am — if at all.
And as for those rumors about me ordering you around… do you know how frustrating it is that people actually believe that?"
He sighed again, long and weary. "I've somehow become your personal shield, Kei — blocking every storm you stir up."
"Alright, alright," Kei said with a small laugh. "No need to get so defensive. So — what's this 'serious matter' then?"
Fugaku leaned in slightly. "While they were taking their precautions, they accidentally discovered something… Shisui seems to have some form of contact with the Third Hokage."
"…Oh?"
Kei's expression shifted — a spark of sharp interest lighting his eyes.
"Contact with Hiruzen Sarutobi, huh? That's… intriguing. Go on. What's the story? What's that old man up to this time?"
Fugaku explained in a low voice, and soon Kei understood the situation clearly.
Roughly half a year earlier — before Minato had formally consolidated his authority as Hokage — tensions between him and the Third were already growing.
During that time, Uchiha Jin and the others noticed that someone had begun approaching Shisui.
At first, they were pleased. They thought the village was finally recognizing the boy's talent.
But things changed after Kei's strike against Orochimaru's lab — and his killing of Danzō.
Only then did the elders begin to suspect something darker.
After months of quiet investigation, they discovered the truth — the people contacting Shisui were operatives of the Third Hokage himself.
The revelation shocked them to their core. They knew very well that Minato and Hiruzen were no longer on friendly terms — and that under Fugaku's leadership, the Uchiha now stood firmly on Minato's side.
The realization terrified them even more when they learned Kei's men were already monitoring Shisui.
Had Fugaku ordered it? Was Kei investigating for him?
Or worse — had Fugaku already decided to use Shisui for something?
Panicked, they decided to confess everything to Fugaku directly, before Kei took matters into his own hands — because when Kei "investigated" someone, they rarely stayed alive afterward.
Kei couldn't help but chuckle when he heard that.
"I didn't realize I had such a fearsome reputation," he said wryly. "But I see what's going on. The Third wanted an informant inside the Uchiha clan — and Shisui was his pick.
My little move with Orochimaru and Danzō must've spooked them. Uchiha Jin probably blurted everything out himself, hoping to look innocent."
"More or less," Fugaku nodded. "So, what will you do now, Kei?"
Kei leaned back, thoughtful, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his lips.
"What will I do…?"
He gazed out over the courtyard, eyes half-lidded, the faint glow of his Sharingan reflecting the sunlight.
"Well," he murmured, voice low and dangerous,
"if the Third wants to play games with my clan—
don't blame me if I decide to enter the board myself."
As his fighting style evolved, so too did Uchiha Kei's approach to genjutsu.
He still possessed illusions that could draw an enemy's mind into an entirely separate realm, but those were highly specialized and energy-consuming techniques. Kei preferred something subtler—genjutsu meant for battle, not spectacle.
Illusions that clouded the mind for just an instant, that made the enemy falter at the perfect moment—costing him little effort, yet yielding maximum lethality.
Pure, practical genjutsu born for combat.
"Forget it," Kei muttered, setting the thought aside. "I'll study it slowly. This sort of thing takes time."
With that, he left the matter.
After sharing dinner peacefully with his family, he went to rest early.
---
The next morning, Kei clocked in at the Konoha Police Force Headquarters as usual. He stayed until late afternoon… then quietly decided to skip out early.
Of course, strictly speaking, it wasn't really skipping work.
After all, a Shadow Clone could stand in for him perfectly well—and in a sense, that was still him.
Still, he wasn't reckless enough to flaunt it. His office wasn't far from the Hokage Building; it was best to stay discreet.
---
When Kei descended into the underground laboratory, it was eerily empty—no test subjects, no movement.
Uchiha Shū's corpse had long been disposed of by Hyūga Ayaka, though ongoing experiments still filled the place with faint traces of ozone and antiseptic.
Kei remembered well how Danzō had died, and he had no intention of following in that man's footsteps.
Earning the Hokage's trust didn't mean he could do whatever he pleased.
He walked deeper into the lab, opening a heavy steel door—only to pause.
Ayaka and Imai Kenta were both inside.
Ayaka's presence didn't surprise him. Monitoring Kei's physical condition had become her key responsibility. But Kenta? That was unexpected.
The man's duties in the Mission Division were heavy, and since he was still studying under the old department head, he rarely had the time to come here—except when it was time for a serum injection.
"Already time again?" Kei asked casually, sitting down across from them. "I thought your injections were only once a month."
Because Kenta's fusion rate with the experimental serum was unusually high, the number of injections he could safely receive had been strictly limited.
Kenta understood this perfectly. He wanted more power, sure—but not at the cost of his life.
After all, power meant nothing if you were dead. Living to wield it was what truly mattered.
---
"Not yet," Ayaka replied calmly. "I called him here myself."
She slid two thick folders across the table—one to Kei, one to Kenta.
"I've been waiting for you, actually. It's about time you saw this."
"Oh?" Kei arched a brow, opening the folder.
Inside were old, yellowed documents—records detailing the relationship between the Hyūga Clan and the Kaguya Clan from over a century ago.
They chronicled everything:
When the two bloodlines first appeared in the shinobi world.
When they allied to face external threats together.
When, and why, they eventually split—one line settling in the Land of Fire, the other drifting toward the Land of Water.
Essentially, these files were a detailed genealogical and historical record of both clans.
As Kei read, he felt his expression grow more thoughtful.
The documents painted a clear picture—the Kaguya and Hyūga clans had once been deeply intertwined.
At some point, something had gone wrong. The bond had broken. But the traces of shared blood were undeniable.
It confirmed what both Ayaka and Kei had long suspected: the two clans were likely one and the same in origin, their closeness not cultural but biological.
If that was true…
Then perhaps the Yuki Clan of the Land of Water—the so-called "Snow Clan"—might share that same ancestry.
After all, the Yuki's Ice Release bloodline was suspiciously similar to the divine powers attributed to Ōtsutsuki Kaguya herself.
Come to think of it, wasn't that the very clan that the boy Haku hailed from?
Somehow, over the generations, "Yuki Clan" had been distorted into "Mizunotsuki" (the Water-Moon Clan).
Kei chuckled under his breath at the thought. "Guess I've been fed the wrong history my whole life."
Still, he mused, 'Water-Moon' does have a nice ring to it.
He shook his head, amused. For a being like Kaguya, ninjutsu, kekkei genkai, secret arts—none of those limitations applied.
The only real question was whether she wanted to use a technique, or whether it suited her.
She was, after all, the origin of chakra itself—the ancestor from whom all shinobi power flowed.
Nearly every bloodline trait—Byakugan, Sharingan, Rinnegan, even the Uzumaki and Kaguya clans' unique physical resilience—stemmed from her divine genetics. Everything else was merely a mutation born from different ways of shaping chakra.
And of those truly special bodies, Kei could only recall a mere handful throughout history.
Even the White Zetsu cells—those accursed remnants of Kaguya's will—had proven they could merge with Hyūga Ayaka's body.
Though the results had been… unstable, to say the least.
So then—if Hyūga and Kaguya shared a common root, wouldn't Kaguya's pure cells yield even greater results?
Kei frowned. The logic was there. The temptation was there. But…
He sighed. "Even if they would," he muttered, "what does that matter?"
His lips curved into a wry smile.
"Am I really supposed to sail all the way to the Land of Water and personally kidnap Kimimaro?"
He leaned back, half-joking, half-serious—yet the spark in his eyes suggested that if it did come to that…
He just might.