As he spoke, a powerful, cold surge of energy erupted from Shisui's body. His three-tomoe Sharingan activated, the black patterns slowly melting and merging into the shape of a hollowed-out, four-bladed shuriken.
The Mangekyo Sharingan.
"Is this the Mangekyo Sharingan? I heard the Great Elder mention it before." Makiya looked at Shisui's eyes, momentarily stunned. "Wait, Shisui, why is your left eye still a three-tomoe?"
"It was stolen."
Shisui shook his head with a sigh. "The moment that mysterious Wood Style user attacked us, I managed to catch him in a genjutsu. I didn't expect him to dispel it so silently and launch a sneak attack to gouge out my left eye."
Shisui deactivated his Sharingan and clutched his left eye, falling silent for a moment before recounting the events in detail.
After the successful sneak attack, the mysterious man turned his attention to the other Uchiha. To protect his teammates, Shisui activated his Susanoo to fight back. However, a massive horde of strange white creatures suddenly surged from the ground. Caught off guard, his teammates were killed one after another, and their eyes were taken.
The three-tomoe in Shisui's left eye was a gift from a heavily wounded teammate who had fought desperately to preserve it. The mysterious man didn't seem interested in a prolonged battle; once he had the eyes, he sank into the ground and vanished.
That wounded teammate didn't make it back to the base. He entrusted his eye to Shisui just before he died. By the time Shisui found a medical ninja, the man had already stopped breathing.
"That mysterious man doesn't just know Wood Style; his ocular power seems quite formidable as well." Shisui clenched his fist. "It felt incredibly taxing when I tried to control him with genjutsu. He might have transplanted Uchiha eyes in the past."
"Regardless, it looks like someone is hunting the Uchiha. First it was Obito, and now it's you." Makiya's expression turned grim. "Shisui, you must remain on high alert from now on. He'll likely show up again to steal your right eye."
"If he shows his face again," Shisui said, emphasizing every word, "I will kill him!"
The mysterious man had been ruthless and decisive, leaving Shisui no time to react. By the time he intended to use his Mangekyo's ocular jutsu, the enemy had already succeeded and fled, leaving only a horde of white creatures to cover his escape.
Shisui was confident that if the man appeared before him again, Kotoamatsukami would show him the true meaning of the ultimate genjutsu.
"You still need to be careful. He knows the Uchiha very well. It's possible he was an Uchiha himself," Makiya warned. "You saw Obito's situation. Wood Style might just be the result of a later transplant. If he's a previously missing Uchiha, that would explain why he's hunting Sharingan."
"That makes sense." Shisui nodded. "I'll write to the clan and have the elders check the records for all members marked as missing."
After talking a bit longer, Makiya used the excuse of returning to the Land of Hot Springs to take his leave. Once he was away from Shisui, he mounted his sword and soared into the clouds, heading straight for Konoha.
Madara had made his move on Shisui, but he only took one eye.
Makiya suddenly felt like this plot was strangely familiar. He remembered the proctologist had encountered a similar situation back in the day.
After Daisuke saved Obito, Madara found a Mangekyo genjutsu eye and forcibly implanted a false memory in Obito. This led Obito to believe Rin Nohara was dead, triggering his Mangekyo Sharingan and causing him to wreak havoc on the ninja world, eventually killing his own master and mistress on the night of Naruto's birth while releasing the Nine-Tails.
Though in this world, Minato and Kushina had been secretly saved by the proctologist.
Surely the same thing wouldn't happen here...
Makiya felt a bit of a headache. If Obito really tried to kill Minato, he would just end the kid's life right then and there to settle the matter.
Wait, Madara might not have even started yet. Only three days had passed between Shisui's incident and Makiya receiving the news. Madara couldn't fly on a sword, and the old man's legs weren't what they used to be. He probably hadn't made his move yet.
Time passed, and by the evening of the following day, a travel-worn Makiya arrived near Konoha.
From here, he could already sense the Flying Thunder God mark on Obito. Once total darkness fell, he immediately activated the technique and vanished into the woods.
In a special ward on the top floor of the Konoha Hospital.
Obito was sprawled out on his hospital bed, half his body dangling out from under the covers. One hand was reaching inside his hospital gown, scratching around while he drooled. A large snot bubble expanded and contracted with his breathing.
Hashirama cells were truly cheat-like. After Tsunade's treatment and conditioning, Obito's right arm and leg had fully developed. Aside from the plaster-white skin tone, they were identical in shape to his left limbs.
Swoosh!
A light breeze ruffled the curtains. Makiya's figure appeared in the room, the moonlight spilling across the floor and casting his shadow over Obito.
'Did I make it in time?' Makiya looked around. Everything in the hospital seemed normal, and there were no signs of anyone tampering with Obito.
"Rin... hehehe... Rin... hehehehe..."
The creep-like voice made Makiya's skin crawl.
A small spark of fire rose from Makiya's fingertip, shaping itself into a golden needle of flame hovering over Obito's head. With just a slight push, it could pierce his skull, and the heat from the golden flame would incinerate all his brain tissue in an instant.
After a moment of hesitation, Makiya withdrew the flame, deciding not to harm him.
Though from the perspective of the original story, this guy was a total monster, he hadn't actually done anything yet. Makiya couldn't kill him just for something he *might* do.
Ultimately, Makiya was just avoiding unnecessary trouble. Even if Obito did try to kill his master and wipe out the clan like in the original timeline, Makiya was confident he could crush the kid like a bug.
However, some insurance was necessary. A few small measures could save him a lot of grief.
"Hey, wake up." Makiya patted Obito's cheek. The boy just reached up and scratched his face, showing no signs of waking.
"Slap! Slap! Wake up!" Makiya increased the force. A series of slapping sounds echoed in the ward until the impact finally breached the depths of Obito's dream.
"Hehehe... Rin, don't step on my face... Oh, harder..."
"Good grief."
Makiya increased the force again. Stung by the pain, Obito finally drifted awake. "Rin... wait, where's Rin?"
Makiya grabbed Obito's head, his eyes shifting into the three-tomoe Sharingan. "Obito, wake up and go back to sleep!"
His groggy eyes met Makiya's three-tomoe. A massive amount of ocular power flooded Obito's brain, plunging him instantly into a deep sleep.
A genjutsu capable of controlling a Tailed Beast was more than enough for Obito.
Makiya lifted Obito and placed him on the floor, peeling back his right eyelid.
He dipped a brush in ink and began drawing complex patterns around Obito's right eye. Ghost-like runes extended from the eye all the way to the floor, the dense symbols emitting the faint, pungent scent of specialized ink.
This was a sealing jutsu Makiya had been practicing lately. Since he wasn't perfectly proficient yet, he needed the assistance of a pre-drawn formula. If he were more skilled, he could have completed the seal with a single touch.
After working for a while, the sealing formula was complete. Makiya pried open Obito's eye with his left hand as a vast amount of ocular power and chakra poured into the boy's head. Simultaneously, his right hand formed a seal. "Sealing Jutsu: Transcription Seal!"
The dense formulas glowed with a bright red light, seemingly coming to life as they converged from the floor toward the center. Makiya's ocular power and chakra, entrenched in Obito's mind, were compressed and wrapped within the seal.
Obito's right eye involuntarily activated the three-tomoe, the black patterns spinning rapidly.
As the formulas finished merging into the center, the energy Makiya had transmitted vanished. A trigger condition was left within Obito's eye; after the seal flashed twice, it faded into the Sharingan.
Obito's Sharingan slowly closed.
The moment Uchiha Madara appeared before Obito, the ocular jutsu and chakra sealed within his right eye would activate immediately. It would notify Makiya while simultaneously launching a genjutsu and ninjutsu attack against Madara.
With the work finished, Makiya placed Obito back on the bed and quietly slipped out through the window.
Quietly into the village, quietly out. He hadn't alerted a soul.
Konoha was truly prosperous; even late at night, many people were still wandering the streets.
The mission tonight had gone smoothly... right?
Makiya dusted off his hands and turned a corner, only to find a drunken Tsunade blocking his path with a bottle of sake in hand.
"Seriously?"
"You brat... what did you... hic... do to Obito... hic?" Tsunade said, leaning swaying against the wall. Her chest pressed against the surface, creating a deep curve that looked like a bottomless abyss under the moonlight, drawing any curious gaze.
"Lady Tsunade, you're drunk," Makiya said with a smile. "I just came back for a bowl of ramen and a walk after my meal. If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."
Makiya stepped to the side to bypass her, but Tsunade immediately shifted her body to block him again.
The heavy smell of alcohol washed over him, mixed with Tsunade's own fragrance. It wasn't exactly foul, but it wasn't pleasant either.
Makiya took a step back and waved his hand in front of his nose.
"Liar!" Tsunade threw the bottle aside. Chakra surged through her body, and within seconds, the alcohol was purged through her pores. She snapped out of her drunken stupor instantly.
"I witnessed the whole thing." Tsunade pointed at the Hokage building behind her. "From that rooftop, you can see right into the top floor ward of the hospital. I happened to be up there drinking, and I saw everything you did. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Tucking her long hair behind her ear, Tsunade crossed her arms, easing the weight on her shoulders as she stared intensely at Makiya, waiting for an explanation.
"It was just a few insurance measures," Makiya shrugged. He had nothing to hide and spoke truthfully. "Lady Tsunade, you know Obito was attacked by a mysterious Wood Style user. Just a few days ago, Shisui Uchiha was also attacked by a Wood Style user in the Land of Grass. It's clear they're targeting the Uchiha. I was worried they'd come for Obito, so I came back to leave a safeguard on him."
"The Wood Style user appeared again?" Tsunade's face darkened. Her primary concern was that specific ninja.
From her medical examination of Obito, she had sensed something unusual. It seemed there was a deep connection between the Uchiha and Senju bloodlines, as if the Sharingan could suppress diluted Hashirama cells.
What exactly was the relationship between that mysterious person and the Uchiha and Senju clans?
Obito's condition was now stable and no longer required her constant supervision. Consequently, Tsunade had been wanting to infiltrate the Land of Grass to investigate, but without solid intel, a blind search would only get her into trouble.
"Tell me everything about that Wood Style ninja," Tsunade said, stepping closer with urgency.
"Lady Tsunade, I'm only back temporarily. I have to return to the front lines..." Makiya took another step back, trying to use the same excuse to slip away.
"Cut the crap. Do I look like an idiot?" Tsunade grabbed Makiya's arm and began dragging him in a certain direction.
"Lady Tsunade, where are we going?"
"To my house."
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