Several years had passed since that peaceful fishing trip by the river.
Konoha itself had changed quite a bit during that time.
The village had become larger and more prosperous.
At this moment, inside the Hokage office…
Tsunade sat behind her desk with one hand supporting her cheek while staring at a report in silence.
For once…
She wasn't buried under a mountain of paperwork.
Which already made the situation feel serious.
Shiki sat lazily on the couch nearby, one arm resting against the side while casually flipping through a book he hadn't seriously read for the past twenty minutes.
The atmosphere remained quiet for a while.
Then...
Tsunade suddenly spoke.
"…I got some interesting news today."
"Hmm?"
Shiki didn't even look up immediately.
"Interesting good or interesting troublesome?"
Tsunade's expression became somewhat strange.
"…Both."
That finally made Shiki glance toward her.
"Oh?"
Tsunade slowly placed the report onto the table.
"Uchiha Shisui came to my office earlier."
Shiki's eyes moved slightly.
"…And?"
"He told me that he had... awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan."
The room fell quiet for a brief moment.
Outside the office window, sunlight drifted lazily across Konoha while distant voices from the village echoed faintly through the air.
Shiki himself didn't look particularly surprised.
Honestly…
He already knew it would happen sooner or later.
Shisui's talent was absurd to begin with.
Combined with the current atmosphere of the Uchiha Clan being far healthier than in the original timeline…
The result wasn't difficult to predict.
After all, unlike the original situation where distrust and isolation poisoned everything, the current Uchiha clan was deeply integrated into Konoha now.
And ironically…
That very stability probably became one of the reasons Shisui chose to report it directly instead of hiding it.
Because he wanted things to remain this way.
Even in the original timeline, Shisui had always been the type to prioritize the village over himself.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have been naïve enough to report the abilities of his Mangekyō Sharingan so openly in such a sensitive situation in the anime.
Shiki closed the book in his hand.
"That shouldn't be enough to make you look unsettled."
Tsunade let out a slow breath.
"…That's because his Mangekyō ability is troublesome."
"Troublesome how?"
Her fingers lightly tapped against the desk.
Then she spoke carefully.
"One of his eyes… can directly alter someone's will without them even noticing."
Shiki remained calm, showing no real reaction.
He already knew what Shisui's eyes were capable of.
Tsunade, however, looked far less relaxed.
"Oi… I'm serious here. At least give me some kind of reaction. It's an extremely powerful genjutsu. According to Shisui himself, it can manipulate a target's thoughts and actions almost perfectly."
"Even elite shinobi wouldn't notice immediately."
"The Byakugan can still detect chakra abnormalities and interference to some extent, so it's not completely impossible to see through…"
"But that isn't the main issue."
Her expression darkened slightly.
"That thing could even affect a Kage."
"…Temporary control, of course. Maintaining it continuously requires chakra over time."
"But if the user keeps supplying chakra little by little…long-term manipulation becomes completely possible."
Even Tsunade herself felt uncomfortable merely talking about it.
Actual interference with someone's will.
And for shinobi…
That was one of the most terrifying abilities imaginable.
Seeing that Shiki still looked unimpressed, Tsunade slowly crossed her arms and spoke in a deliberately mysterious tone.
"But his second eye…is what made me think things I normally never thought I would."
Shiki watched her calmly.
Tsunade's brows furrowed slightly as if even saying it aloud made her uncomfortable.
"That eye can cast a genjutsu permanently."
"A complete rewriting and according to Shisui…once it's successfully implanted, even the Byakugan wouldn't be able to detect it afterward."
Shiki finally gave her a somewhat small look of surprise, mostly to give her some face.
But inwardly, he was still a little impressed.
Although he had known about it in advance, that didn't mean he looked down on it.
Shisui's eyes were powerful enough to affect even someone on the level of an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan powerhouse.
And what did that mean?
It meant that if he were caught off guard, even Madara—before awakening the Rinnegan—could potentially be controlled permanently without ever realizing it.
In a way, it would be similar to Black Zetsu turning Madara into a puppet for his own plan, while Madara continued believing the entire plan belonged to him.
"But luckily there is a limitation," Tsunade said, looking somehow proud as she puffed out her chest.
For a second, Shiki couldn't help wondering if those things were going to burst through her clothes.
The way Tsunade announced it, anyone would think the Mangekyō Sharingan belonged to her.
But in reality, the reason she was so desperate for Shiki to react was because she herself had made a fool of herself when she first learned about such an absurd ability.
So, naturally, she wanted someone else to show the same reaction and reduce her own sense of shame a little.
Even so, she continued explaining the drawbacks seriously.
"He said that particular ability has an absurd cooldown."
"Roughly ten years before it can be used again."
"But even then…"
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"…the fact something like that exists at all is disturbing."
"To permanently alter someone without them even realizing it…and for nobody else to know either…"
Tsunade leaned back slowly against her chair.
Honestly…
She wasn't someone like Danzō.
Her first instinct wasn't to immediately weaponize or steal such power.
But that didn't stop the ability itself from being horrifying.
Because no matter who heard about it…
The first thought that naturally appeared would always be:
What if it's used on me?
Even Tsunade herself couldn't stop that thought from surfacing.
For all she knew…
What if someone had already been affected?
What if someone near her had already become a victim?
The uncertainty itself was enough to make anyone uneasy.
Shiki saw her expression and immediately understood that she was genuinely worried.
For a moment, he felt speechless.
Was this really the same Tsunade he knew from the anime?
The more years he spent with her, the more she seemed to change—from an angry lioness into a cautious blond golden retriever.
Although he felt somewhat speechless at how her aura seemed to weaken year after year, he still waved his hand dismissively.
"There's no need to worry so much."
"The greatest security is me being here."
"That alone is enough."
In Tsunade's eyes, Shiki practically seemed to glow at that moment, making her gaze shine slightly.
Even the news about Kotoamatsukami seemed to lose some of its weight.
Not because she had stopped understanding how dangerous Kotoamatsukami was, but because the person saying those words was Shiki.
Someone who had long since become the village's greatest deterrent.
A monster even the Five Great Nations quietly avoided provoking unnecessarily.
Tsunade stared at her man for a second before suddenly laughing softly.
"…You sounded ridiculously cool saying that."
Shiki shrugged.
"Am I wrong?"
"Of course not."
Even now, after all these years, Tsunade still couldn't properly measure where Shiki's limit actually was.
After delivering those confident words, Shiki simply closed his eyes lazily again.
"Besides…"
"If Shisui reported it himself instead of hiding it then that already says enough about his character."
Tsunade nodded slowly.
That part was true.
If Shisui had truly wanted to abuse such power…
Nobody might've ever discovered it in the first place.
The fact he voluntarily came forward immediately after awakening it honestly spoke volumes.
Still…
Tsunade rubbed her forehead slightly.
"…The Uchiha really do produce ridiculous eyes."
Shiki smirked faintly in acknowledgement.
"That clan has always been unreasonable."
Eventually, Shiki stood up lazily from the couch.
"Well, I'm leaving."
"Where?"
"Walking around a bit."
Without waiting for her reply, Shiki casually walked out of the office.
Behind him, Tsunade muttered under her breath about how "envious" she was.
....
Shiki walked through the streets calmly with his hands inside his pockets.
But then his Observation Haki suddenly picked up something strange.
His footsteps slowed slightly.
"…Hmm?"
Near the Uchiha district…there was an unfamiliar presence.
At first glance, it felt almost perfectly disguised.
White Zetsu.
The next moment...
Whoosh.
His figure disappeared from the street instantly.
Several civilians only felt a gust of wind brush past them before blinking in confusion.
Meanwhile...
Near the outskirts of the Uchiha compound, an ANBU operative stood silently on guard duty.
Or at least…
That was what it appeared to be.
Suddenly—
A hand grabbed his throat violently.
Boom!
The ANBU's body slammed against the wall hard enough to crack it slightly.
His eyes widened.
Before he could even react properly, Shiki had already lifted him off the ground with one hand around his neck.
The sheer speed behind it was absurd.
The disguised White Zetsu felt genuine terror explode inside him.
Too fast.
He didn't even see him move.
"L-Lord Shiki…?"
The fake ANBU forced out a strained voice while clawing weakly at Shiki's wrist.
"D-Did I do something wrong…?"
Shiki said nothing.
His golden eyes simply stared at him quietly.
And under that gaze—
The fake ANBU suddenly felt overwhelming fear.
As if his disguise had already been completely seen through from the very beginning.
"…Ah."
The White Zetsu finally realized it.
He knows.
The next second—
Rip.
Shiki tore his head off with his bare hand.
Blood sprayed across the wall.
The body spasmed violently.
But even then—
The severed head suddenly began laughing playfully despite the terror in its eyes.
"Hehehe!"
"What a rude fellow, Shiki!"
"How can you rip people apart immediately after grabbing them—?"
Before it could finish...
Crunch.
Shiki crushed the head completely with his foot.
Silence returned instantly.
The remaining corpse twitched weakly before beginning to melt into a pale white substance.
At the same time…
Several nearby ANBU appeared instantly after sensing the disturbance.
But the moment they saw the scene
Their bodies froze slightly.
One of them stared at the melting corpse in disbelief.
"…What is that thing?"
Another ANBU looked horrified.
Because the creature no longer resembled a human at all.
It looked like some pale mockery wearing human skin.
Shiki casually wiped the blood from his hand.
"Clean this area."
"Don't let anyone approach."
The ANBU immediately straightened.
"Yes!"
Shiki didn't say anything else afterward.
He simply turned and walked away from the scene calmly but unlike his relaxed appearance earlier… a faint frown had already appeared on his face.
Honestly…
This annoyed him slightly.
During the past several years, he had quietly cleaned Konoha more than once.
Especially creatures like White Zetsu.
Those things were troublesome spies to begin with.
Hard to detect and distinguish.
Capable of blending almost perfectly into society if one wasn't careful enough.
Because of that, Shiki had already made sure to sweep the village multiple times over the years using Observation Haki.
He had assumed Konoha was already clean.
Yet somehow… one still slipped inside.
"…Annoying rats."
Shiki walked through the rooftops silently while the evening wind brushed against his clothes.
Of course, he understood the reason he missed it.
Observation Haki itself wasn't the issue.
The problem was him.
Or rather…
He simply disliked keeping it fully active all the time.
The sensation was irritating—hearing countless voices, feeling every movement nearby, people talking, arguing, walking, breathing, crying, laughing… all of it pressing against his senses at once.
Honestly, just thinking about it made him wonder how someone like Enel tolerated it.
That freak practically kept his mantra active across an entire island twenty-four hours a day.
"…No wonder he talked to himself half the time."
Shiki muttered quietly.
Extended observation on that scale would probably drive normal people insane eventually.
Even he found it unpleasant.
'So what was it doing near the Uchiha Clan?'
That part bothered him more.
White Zetsu never moved without reason.
And the timing itself was too coincidental.
First Shisui awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Then immediately afterward…
A White Zetsu appeared near the Uchiha district.
No matter how he looked at it, there was clearly a connection.
Which meant only one thing.
"…Obito."
Shiki's eyes became slightly colder.
It seemed that bastard was planning something again.
Honestly…
That guy really was persistent.
Even after all these years, he still refused to stop stirring trouble from the shadows like some sewer rat obsessed with ruining peaceful days.
At the same time…
Shiki also understood another possibility.
If White Zetsu had already entered Konoha once…
Then maybe this wasn't the first time and if that were true…
Then Obito might already know about Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
The thought made Shiki fall silent briefly.
Because unlike ordinary people, Obito would understand exactly how terrifying Kotoamatsukami truly was.
After all, he himself possessed Mangekyō Sharingan.
Which meant if given the opportunity, there was a very high chance Obito would target Shisui directly.
Either to recruit him or manipulate him for his cause.
"…Hmph."
Shiki smiled, though his eyes glowed gold, like a lion staring straight into someone's soul.
What an annoying development.
Meanwhile, far away inside a hidden underground cave…
A certain masked man suddenly sneezed for no reason.
"…?"
Obito frowned slightly beneath the spiral mask.
Why did it suddenly feel like someone was talking shit about him?
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