Balancing the interests of the Uchiha clan and the village—seeking coexistence while preventing rebellion—this was Uchiha Shisui's belief.
It was idealistic, perhaps overly so.
But that did not diminish the purity of his intent.
As for what had now happened to him, the explanation was simple enough to be summed up in four words:
A man punished for possessing treasure.
A genjutsu like Kotoamatsukami was something that, to a shinobi, had only two acceptable outcomes—
Either you possessed it yourself.
Or you destroyed it completely.
There was never a third option where it was left alone.
Especially not for someone like Danzō.
To be fair, even Hagoromo himself was wary of a technique that could silently alter a person's will. Hagoromo could not be classified as a "dark" figure, but once you compared his thinking to Danzō's, the reason Danzō had to seize Shisui's eyes became painfully clear.
What Hagoromo hadn't expected—
Was just how decisively Danzō would act.
This righteous, no-nonsense, no-hesitation act of forced organ donation…
In a strange way, it was almost admirable.
Human psychology was odd like that.
The outcome was the same—but merely changing the process could dramatically improve one's sense of moral comfort.
Compared to Danzō attacking Shisui directly, Hagoromo "recovering" the eye from Danzō somehow made him feel far more upright and respectable.
He had never interacted directly with Shisui, but the man's strength was unquestionable. If Hagoromo had been the one to confront him, it would never have ended so cleanly.
Danzō had succeeded for one simple reason:
He struck when he should strike.
Ambush layered atop ambush.
Shisui, by contrast, lacked true hostility toward him. Even after losing an eye, Shisui chose escape rather than retaliation.
Had Hagoromo fought Shisui—
That would have been a real battle.
All things considered, facing Danzō now felt far less oppressive.
"Was this the Third Hokage's order?" Hagoromo asked.
"No…"
Danzō denied it himself.
Stealing an eye after striking was not Sarutobi Hiruzen's style.
If Hagoromo had received orders, they would have been to stop Danzō—not to recover Shisui's eye after the fact.
"That's correct," Hagoromo said calmly.
"I did receive the Hokage's authorization—but not instructions as specific as reclaiming Shisui's Sharingan."
"What I'm doing now is my own decision."
"However—my actions are entirely legal. That much is beyond doubt."
"So for now, let me take custody of Shisui's eye."
Hagoromo wasn't wrong.
Even if he clashed with Danzō here, he bore no responsibility.
There was only one restriction—
He could retrieve the eye.
But he could not kill Danzō.
If Hagoromo wanted to continue existing in Konoha, he couldn't openly execute a high-ranking official.
"Hand over the eye?" Danzō scoffed.
Of course he wouldn't give up a freshly acquired mind-control device.
"Yes," Hagoromo replied.
"And if necessary, I won't limit myself to conventional methods."
"Violence, then?" Danzō smiled thinly.
"That's perfect."
To Danzō, Hagoromo wasn't much different from the Uchiha—
Another internal instability.
Someone who might become a problem at any moment.
If Hagoromo attacked now, Danzō would gain the perfect justification to eliminate yet another threat.
"Before that, let me ask you something," Hagoromo said calmly.
"Can you still use that technique?"
"The one said to originate from the Sage of Six Paths…"
"Izanagi?"
The legend itself was exaggerated—Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki was a world-level existence, not a creator god. Even if he had created something, it would still have been ninjutsu.
"If you can't," Hagoromo continued,
"then perhaps we should resolve this peacefully."
"Hand over the 'little eye in the bottle,' and we're done."
His gaze never left Danzō's right eye.
That eye was already blind.
The once crimson Sharingan was now nothing more than a pale, empty ring.
At the word Izanagi, Danzō's remaining eye contracted sharply.
"How do you know the name of that technique?" he demanded.
"That knowledge is far beyond what a shinobi of your standing should possess."
"All secrets have sources," Hagoromo replied.
"And any ultimate technique used more than once cannot remain hidden forever."
"Time is a fascinating thing."
"Where do you think I've spent all these years?"
"Shikkotsu Forest…" Danzō murmured.
"As expected. Forbidden sanctuaries always leak information they shouldn't."
That explanation satisfied him.
A non-Uchiha learning of Izanagi through an ancient sage domain was plausible enough.
"This eye is indeed useless now," Danzō said, gesturing to it.
"But that hardly matters."
"After acquiring Shisui's eye, it has no value."
And—
He didn't say the rest.
Soon enough, he would possess an entire collection of Sharingan.
One ordinary three-tomoe eye in exchange for Shisui's Mangekyō was an absurdly profitable trade.
"So… peaceful transfer is off the table," Hagoromo said.
Obviously.
"Honestly," Hagoromo added,
"I don't dislike your methods. In fact, in a world like this, I find myself agreeing with you more than I should."
"But that all comes after allegiance."
"Enough talk."
"I'll retrieve Shisui's eye—my way."
"Don't worry," he added lightly.
"I have no intention of killing you."
Which was true—
Even if the real reason was that he couldn't.
Hagoromo stepped forward.
Then another.
His pace accelerated unnaturally, and in the blink of an eye he closed the distance to Danzō.
So in the end, they were fighting.
Were all those words meaningless?
No.
Conversation always concealed intent.
But now—
Combat began.
Danzō didn't dodge.
Instead, his hands flew through seals.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Wind Release: Vacuum Wave!
Danzō was one of the few remaining Wind Release specialists in Konoha. Normally, that would counter Lightning Release perfectly.
But against Hagoromo—
It was meaningless.
Not only was Hagoromo resistant to everything under the sun, the attack was simply too slow.
Brilliant lightning patterns flashed across his body.
With a slight sidestep, the wind blade passed harmlessly by.
A moment ago he was fast.
Now—
He was inhumanly fast.
Before Danzō could even blink, Hagoromo was already beside him.
At this distance, the outcome was obvious.
Danzō stood no chance in taijutsu.
And yet—
Black markings erupted from beneath Hagoromo's feet, crawling over his body in an instant.
His lightning vanished.
"Chidori Flow, Third Stage," Danzō said coldly.
"Kamishiro Hagoromo—Root has prioritized collecting intelligence on you."
"I know your techniques well."
"But with power like yours, you shouldn't fight while holding back."
"If you decide to strike, you must be prepared to kill."
"Otherwise, you'll only be the one who dies."
Had Hagoromo opened with electromagnetic bombardment, Danzō wouldn't have survived a second.
"So this ends here," Danzō continued.
"Killing you now leaves no regrets."
"Did you really think," Hagoromo replied calmly,
"that I was just chatting with you earlier?"
Seal?
No—
Curse binding.
During their conversation, Danzō had discreetly set up the Self-Cursing Seal beneath his feet.
The moment Hagoromo stepped into its range, the binding was guaranteed.
"In every sense," Danzō said,
"you're far too troublesome."
"With you alive, any action regarding the jinchūriki must consider your response."
"That alone makes you an obstacle."
He had never intended to rely on Hagoromo—even against the Uchiha.
If Hagoromo died here, the explanation was perfect:
White Yaksha and Shisui of the Body Flicker killed each other.
Convincing.
Danzō thrust his kunai toward Hagoromo's throat—
—
"Time, stop."
"THE. WORLD."
Very DIO.
But time hadn't stopped.
Hagoromo had simply seized Danzō's wrist.
And at the same moment, black patterns spread across Danzō's body as well—
Not a seal.
Just Hagoromo's iron sand sword, unraveling into binding cords.
Joint locks.
Physical restraint.
"Your curse seal is strong," Hagoromo said calmly.
"But no seal or binding is absolute."
"Next time, choose your target more carefully."
The instant he stepped into the seal, Hagoromo had already begun dismantling it.
Using seals against him was no different than using Lightning Release—
Completely ineffective.
Breaking free and binding Danzō took only a moment.
At that point, a single strike—or tightening the iron sand—would have ended everything.
"But my goal was never your life," Hagoromo said.
"I'm only here for the eye."
"The Third Hokage's emergency strategy group will handle the aftermath."
He reached for Shisui's eye—
But was Danzō truly out of options?
Restrained, yes.
But strategically?
He still had one card left.
The very same Izanagi he'd used on Shisui.
"I never said I only had one Sharingan."
The eye in Danzō's socket was dead.
But another eye—
Was embedded in the palm of his right hand.
Before the Uchiha massacre, Danzō couldn't have collected them in bulk.
But how many years had the war lasted?
Recovering a few eyes from battlefields was hardly difficult.
After completing the Hashirama-cell modification on his right arm, he had experimentally implanted another Sharingan.
He could use Izanagi again.
For roughly sixty seconds—
Reality would bend to his will.
Sixty seconds.
Enough time to kill Hagoromo once.
Danzō vanished from the iron sand—
Reappearing behind Hagoromo without a sound.
His wind-infused hand blade pierced straight through Hagoromo's heart.
The legendary White Yaksha fell.
That's how it should have ended.
But—
Izanagi failed.
For a fleeting moment, Danzō felt free—
Then realized he was still bound.
For someone barely capable of wielding both Sharingan and Senju power, Izanagi was inherently unstable.
Sixty seconds was only an estimate.
But outright failure?
That shouldn't have been possible.
Yet it happened.
Because standing before him—
Were eyes that should not exist in this world.
Eyes said to destroy all things.
"Shatter and collapse, earth."
"Dry and wither, deep sea."
"Burn to nothing, sun."
"All things within this realm—
tremble before the endless terror of absolute death—"
…Okay.
This was not the time for chuuni theatrics.
"Danzō-sama," Hagoromo said quietly,
"did you really think I was just chatting with you earlier?"
While Danzō was laying traps—
Hagoromo was opening his eyes.
The first collision between the Sharingan's ultimate illusion and the Eyes of Death, whose function was brutally singular—
Ended in absolute victory for the latter.
"Ocular… jutsu?" Danzō muttered.
Still bound, utterly confused, he barely understood what had just occurred.
Instinctively, he asked the question.
And Hagoromo answered just as instinctively:
"Ocular jutsu?"
"Not quite."
"These eyes—once held by a brave hero named Rikka—are called the Wicked Lord's True Eye."
"What they use… is far more than mere ocular techniques."
You could call that concealment.
But in truth—
Hagoromo was simply indulging in his habitual nonsense again.
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