"So it's Danzo again?"
Hatake Kakashi opened the diary and skimmed the contents. Kaede Kitahara had already written once about Danzo sending people after him. By this count, this was the second time.
But what Danzo clearly never expected was that Kaede not only knew he existed, he was extremely wary of him. Even when Danzo hid his identity and made his move from the shadows, Kaede did not hesitate for a second. He struck back and wiped out the Root squad outright.
That kind of decisiveness was what shocked people the most.
Even someone like Kakashi, who knew Root existed and understood how they operated, would still hesitate before making the call to eliminate an entire Root team. That kind of decision was not something most shinobi could make quickly.
Kaede Kitahara had no such hesitation.
To be precise, he showed not the slightest reverence for the village's authority or order.
The only thing Kaede respected was strength.
As for Konoha's institutions and hierarchy, he simply did not care. There was no awe there at all. Kakashi had noticed that about him a long time ago.
In Kakashi's eyes, Kaede existed in a very strange state. On one hand, he acted timid and lazy, always shouting about how Naruto and Sasuke would save the world while he planned to lie flat and coast through life. On the other hand, the moment he actually made a move, he was ruthlessly decisive in a way Kakashi had rarely seen.
And Kaede's sense of belonging to Konoha was faint at best.
It was not completely absent, but it was thin, barely there.
Staying in Konoha was fine. Leaving also seemed perfectly acceptable to him.
Kaede had never said this outright, but the diary made that attitude obvious, and Kakashi had picked up on it immediately.
If Kaede knew what Kakashi was thinking, he would probably laugh out loud.
Someone who had grown up with a complete worldview from a previous life was never going to feel the same attachment as people who had been raised in Konoha from birth. As for lacking reverence toward Konoha's institutions, that was even more normal.
It was like someone from modern China traveling to Thailand. Sure, they might worry about organ trafficking scams, telecom fraud, or local gangs. But expecting them to genuinely respect the Thai king or government was ridiculous. That kind of reverence simply did not exist.
Kakashi continued reading and immediately saw the part where Danzo tried to lure Kaede into a Root base.
Honestly, given what Kakashi knew of Danzo, this was exactly the sort of thing he would do.
But what came next made Kakashi freeze.
"Uchiha Shisui also had the Mangekyo Sharingan?" Kakashi murmured under his breath.
Then he thought back to Shisui's reputation.
Shisui of the Body Flicker had been universally acknowledged as the strongest Uchiha of his time.
Uchiha Fugaku had possessed the Mangekyo Sharingan in silence, yet even then, he still ranked below Shisui. In that case, it made perfect sense that Shisui himself had awakened his own Mangekyo.
And yet, his Sharingan had been stolen by Danzo.
Given Danzo's personality, Kakashi had no trouble believing it. Especially when that ability could silently alter a person's will in such a completely broken way.
If Danzo had not made a move, that would have been the strange part.
Uchiha Shisui really had been too naïve.
After everything Kakashi had experienced over the years, he could understand this all far too easily.
People who played politics simply did not think like normal people.
Even Kakashi himself would feel uneasy facing an ability like that. Let alone Shimura Danzo.
"So the Mangekyo Sharingan really does have endlessly changing abilities," Kakashi said quietly. "No wonder it's called the Mangekyo. There's genjutsu like Tsukuyomi and this one called Kotoamatsukami, and then ninjutsu like Amaterasu. I wonder if there's one that enhances taijutsu?"
He paused.
"Wait. That technique called Susanoo. Isn't that basically a taijutsu enhancement?"
Kakashi shook his head slightly.
The Uchiha Clan's Sharingan truly was an absurd Kekkei Genkai.
He was starting to understand why Kaede called this the world of legendary eyeballs.
"Danzo… Danzo. Just how much evil have you committed?"
Jiraiya stared at the diary's records, old rumors resurfacing in his mind.
He had heard of Shisui of the Body Flicker before. A once-in-a-generation genius among the Uchiha. The fact that Shisui awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan did not surprise him much.
What truly shocked him was how deeply Shisui trusted Konoha's leadership, and how utterly Danzo betrayed a loyal Uchiha like that.
Back then, the Uchiha Clan had split into doves and hawks. Shisui was famously a dove, someone whose heart leaned toward the village. And this was the fate that awaited someone who loved Konoha.
No wonder the Uchiha Clan was ultimately wiped out.
Jiraiya was well aware of the darkness within Konoha's upper ranks. After all, one of the Sannin had defected, one had wandered the world, and one had become a nomad. None of that happened without reason.
They had all been disgusted by certain aspects of Konoha's leadership.
Even so, reading this still made Jiraiya furious.
Shisui had been a good man. He was just too naïve, and Danzo took advantage of that.
No wonder Kaede said that if something terrible happened in the ninja world and no one knew who was responsible, you could just assume it was Danzo.
The man was rotten to the core.
"No. I have to warn the old man," Jiraiya thought grimly.
This Kotoamatsukami was far too dangerous. The ability to silently alter someone's will was terrifying.
Shisui was already dead. That meant this Mangekyo ability had likely fallen into Danzo's hands.
If Danzo ever used it to tamper with the Third Hokage's will, everything would be over.
"Wait… wait."
Jiraiya suddenly froze.
"Danzo becoming the acting Sixth Hokage in the future, or what Kaede jokingly called the Fifth-and-a-Half Hokage… could he have achieved that using this technique?"
He had always found it strange. Why would the village choose Shimura Danzo as the acting Sixth Hokage?
Danzo was the same age as the Third Hokage. People of that generation, whether it was the Third Hokage or the Third Tsuchikage, were all desperately trying to find successors. Other villages had already passed leadership down to the Fourth generation.
Konoha had already produced a Fourth Hokage. If not for his death, the seat would belong to a prime, powerful leader right now.
And yet, suddenly, an old relic from a previous era jumped out to become the Sixth Hokage. How was that reasonable?
There was no doubt about it.
Danzo must have used Kotoamatsukami behind the scenes.
"Then why hasn't he used such a trump card more often?" Jiraiya thought. "With something like this, why sit on it for so many years?"
Only one explanation made sense.
Kotoamatsukami was not as easy to use as it sounded. Either it required an extremely long preparation time, or the cooldown between uses was absurdly long, making it unsuitable as a regular technique.
Jiraiya quickly reached his conclusion.
That also fit his understanding of ninjutsu. Many techniques had miraculous effects, but they always came with heavy restrictions.
A genjutsu that could be called the pinnacle of illusion would naturally demand an equally terrifying price.
Take Uchiha Itachi's Tsukuyomi. It could torture a person to the brink of collapse within that twisted mental space, but the strain it placed on the user was immense. That was probably why Itachi never dared to continue fighting Konoha's Jonin back then.
Otherwise, with just a glance, he could have dropped one opponent after another. He would have been unstoppable.
"Brother Shisui had the Mangekyo too?"
Uchiha Sasuke stared at the diary in complete shock.
He had never imagined that the Mangekyo Sharingan, which he viewed as the ultimate power, had once belonged to so many people.
At that time, the Uchiha Clan must have possessed at least three pairs of Mangekyo Sharingan. Their strength had reached an unprecedented peak.
And yet, that very strength had accelerated their destruction.
Sasuke forced himself to recall the past.
It had been many years, and his memories were already blurry. Back then, he was still just a child.
He only remembered clinging to Uchiha Itachi all the time, wanting to play. And often, they would run into Uchiha Shisui. The two of them always looked weighed down by heavy thoughts.
Then one day, news spread that Uchiha Shisui was dead.
The suspect was none other than Uchiha Itachi.
The two had been extremely close. Sasuke had seen it with his own eyes.
Later, it was said that Itachi had killed Shisui and, under the intense emotional shock, awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.
It was a story that made sense.
From the conditions required to awaken the Mangekyo, it was a perfectly reasonable conclusion.
Sasuke had believed it for years.
But now, Kaede Kitahara had presented another possibility.
Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan had been taken by Shimura Danzo.
What had really happened back then?
"No. This actually makes more sense."
Sasuke suddenly spoke aloud.
"If Brother Shisui had awakened the Mangekyo, then Itachi would never have been his match. The most likely scenario is that after Danzo stole Brother Shisui's Mangekyo, Itachi launched a sneak attack from the shadows."
"Or maybe… Itachi and Danzo were working together from the start."
He thought back to the video where he had hunted down Danzo in the future. Danzo had complained about Itachi leaving him behind. The implication had been obvious.
They had been collaborators.
"That's it. It has to be."
"Uchiha Itachi. Danzo. You both deserve to die."
At that moment, within the Akatsuki hideout, Uchiha Itachi swallowed another pill to ease his condition.
Compared to his earlier passive approach to treatment, he was far more proactive now. The storms ahead were too great. He needed to find a way to live longer, for Sasuke's sake.
When he saw the diary's entry about Uchiha Shisui and Danzo, a look of nostalgia and guilt flickered across his face.
[A/N: Enjoying the story? You can read more chapters early and support me here:patreon.com/Aeroscissors]