NYP Ch. 117

After some time, the door to Minato's private meeting room opened. Shisui emerged first. He offered a respectful nod to both the Hokage and Kenji before leaving the office.

Once the young Uchiha was gone, Minato walked over to where Kenji stood by the window. His brow furrowed slightly.

"Shisui wants to stop the radical faction within the Uchiha clan," Minato said quietly. "And preserve peace within the village. Do you think he can succeed?"

"How does he plan to do it?" Kenji asked in return, though he already had a pretty good idea of the answer.

Minato glanced toward the door, confirming they were truly alone. "He's awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan. His unique ability is called Kotoamatsukami. It allows him to manipulate someone's will without them realizing it. He wants to use it on Fugaku, so that he will lead the Uchiha in opposing the radicals."

There was a note of awe in his voice when describing the technique. The sheer power of it was undeniable.

"That's a dangerous ability," Kenji said immediately. "You should warn Shisui to be careful around Danzō. That man's ambition knows no bounds. If he learns about Kotoamatsukami's capabilities, he'll covet those eyes. Probably try to take them."

"I'll make sure Shisui understands the risk," Minato said with a nod, filing the warning away.

Kenji turned away from the window to face Minato directly.

"To be honest, I'm not optimistic about Shisui's plan working. If this were just a coup sparked by the normal conflict between the Uchiha and the village leadership, there might be room to maneuver. But we both know there's someone pulling strings, stoking the flames. Trying to change the Uchiha's direction with Kotoamatsukami alone will be extremely difficult. After obtaining Enma's Sharingan, I reviewed some of the Second Hokage's research materials on the bloodline. Mangekyō abilities are powerful, but they're not absolute. Even if Shisui controls Fugaku, the radicals can simply push forward a different candidate who supports their agenda and install them as clan head instead. And fundamentally, ocular jutsu are still just techniques. There are always ways to counter them or work around their effects."

Kenji was thinking about the original timeline as he spoke. Shisui's left eye Kotoamatsukami had been used by Itachi on himself to break free from Edo Tensei's control, but its specific effects were never fully demonstrated. That same left-eye ability had also been used by Danzō on Mifune during the Five Kage Summit, only to be immediately exposed by Ao using his Byakugan.

Compared to the Sharingan abilities possessed by Itachi, Sasuke, Obito, and others, if Kotoamatsukami were truly powerful enough to permanently and effortlessly alter someone's will, Itachi would never have wasted it on himself. Using it on Madara or Obito could have potentially brought peace to the entire shinobi world.

The fact that he hadn't suggested those abilities had significant limitations.

Minato was silent for a long moment. Finally, he sighed.

"Then we'll need to prepare for multiple scenarios. The current situation isn't just about the Uchiha and the village anymore. There's this masked man involved. I still don't understand why he keeps targeting Konoha specifically."

"The man wears a mask," Kenji said suddenly. "There's a high probability he's connected to Konoha in some way. He might even be someone from the village's past. Otherwise, he wouldn't be so familiar with Konoha's layout or your abilities. He knew exactly when and where to strike during Kushina's labor. That level of intelligence doesn't come from an outsider."

Minato nodded slowly. He'd suspected the masked man was a Konoha ninja for years now, but had never been able to identify anyone who fit the profile. Someone with space-time ninjutsu comparable to his own, with deep knowledge of the village's defenses, and with apparent grudge against Konoha severe enough to attack a newborn child.

The list of candidates was frustratingly short and none of them made sense.

"There's something else you need to watch for," Kenji said with a more serious tone. "Be careful he doesn't make a move on Naruto. We know he can control tailed beasts. And the Uchiha radicals might also want to attempt using the Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails. I know that aside from Madara, no Uchiha has demonstrated that ability, but it's better to be cautious."

"I understand," Minato replied, his expression hardening. "I'll assign additional ANBU to protect both Naruto and Kushina. Discreetly, so they don't feel like prisoners in their own home, but the security will be there."

He'd already been considering this, but Kenji's brought it into focus.

---

While Minato and Kenji discussed the masked man's potential moves, Obito himself was materializing in a hidden corner of Konoha. One of Root's many secret bases, this one located in an abandoned warehouse district that had been cleared out after the Nine-Tails attack.

The space twisted, reality warping as his form emerged from the Kamui dimension. He stood in a corridor. Heavy footsteps echoed from deeper in the base. Within seconds, he was surrounded.

A dozen Root operatives appeared from concealed positions. They wore their standard masks and dark clothing, kunai and tanto blades already drawn. Their chakra signatures were suppressed to near-invisibility.

And standing behind them was Danzō himself.

The old war hawk observed Obito, his expression giving away nothing. His right arm hung naturally at his side, wrapped in bandages as always. His cane rested against the ground.

"Who are you?"

"I've come to deliver a message," Obito said flatly, ignoring the question entirely.

Two Root ninjas moved immediately. They attacked from opposite sides simultaneously, blades thrusting toward Obito's vital points. The coordination was perfect, timed to arrive at the same instant and leave no room for evasion.

But Obito didn't move.

The blades passed straight through his body as if he weren't there at all, encountering zero resistance. The Root ninjas' eyes widened behind their masks as they realized what was happening, but momentum carried them forward.

Shunk. Shunk.

Blood sprayed.

The two Root operatives had driven their blades completely through Obito's intangible form and directly into each other. The weapons tore through flesh and organs. They collapsed to the ground. Blood pooled beneath their bodies, spreading slowly across the surface.

The remaining Root ninjas froze. Several of them shifted their grips on their weapons, clearly reconsidering their approach.

Obito walked forward. He stepped directly through the corpses as if they were no more substantial than mist.

"You're the masked man who invaded Konoha a few years ago," Danzō said. It wasn't a question. "During the Nine-Tails incident."

"Oh?" Obito's visible eye focused on Danzō through the mask's opening. "I didn't expect you to recognize me. That's right. It was me."

He sounded almost pleased by the recognition.

Danzō's hands remained still, showing no outward reaction to the confirmation. Internally, he was running calculations. This man had fought Minato to a standstill and possessed a space-time technique that made him untouchable. Direct confrontation would be suicide.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing much. I just thought I'd give you some friendly information. Uchiha Shisui has already allied with the Fourth Hokage. They're about to make their move against the Uchiha clan."

If Kenji had been present to hear this, he would have immediately deduced that White Zetsu had been tailing Shisui for quite some time. The question of why White Zetsu wasn't monitoring Minato instead had a simple answer: Minato frequently used Sage Mode while in the Hokage Building, extending his sensory perception to detect any chakra signatures in his vicinity. That made White Zetsu's infiltration impossible without detection.

But Shisui, as a wielder of the Mangekyō Sharingan, was obviously a primary surveillance target for Black Zetsu and Obito.

"Shisui of the Body Flicker," Danzō said, recognition flickering in his eyes. The young prodigy's reputation was well known.

"He's awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan," Obito continued. "His unique ability is called Kotoamatsukami. It allows him to silently manipulate a person's thoughts or alter their will entirely. He plans to use it on Fugaku, making him completely loyal to Konoha and eliminating any possibility of a coup."

Before Danzō could formulate a response, space began to distort around Obito. His form twisted and spiraled inward, disappearing into the Kamui dimension as abruptly as he'd arrived.

The corridor fell silent except for the quiet dripping of blood from the two corpses.

Danzō stood motionless for several seconds. Then he turned to his remaining operatives.

"Remove the bodies. Clean this area completely. And leave no trace of what happened here."

"Yes, Danzō-sama."

The Root ninjas moved immediately to comply, lifting their fallen comrades. They would dispose of the bodies in whatever manner Danzō had established for such situations. Root members who died in service simply disappeared.

As his subordinates worked, Danzō's mind kicked into overdrive.

Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan and the power of Kotoamatsukami... Both were things he'd coveted for years. The ability to manipulate will without detection was perhaps the ultimate weapon. With eyes like that, he could reshape Konoha's leadership structure entirely.

More importantly, he couldn't allow Shisui's plan to succeed. If the Uchiha reconciled with the village, he would lose his opportunity. Once the Uchiha were at peace with Konoha, his window would close permanently.

His right hand moved unconsciously to his right arm, fingers touching the bandages. The transplantation had been successful, but controlling the First Hokage's legendary cellular structure was proving more difficult than anticipated. The violent chakra constantly tried to overwhelm his body, eroding his flesh from within.

Only the Sharingan implanted in his arm, combined with sealing techniques, kept the cells suppressed.

But the Sharingan he'd collected weren't strong enough. Of the ten eyes embedded in his arm, only four had achieved the three-tomoe state. The remaining six were either one-tomoe or two-tomoe, scavenged from Uchiha who'd died or been severely wounded during the previous Great Ninja Wars. Root operatives had collected them secretly over the years.

The weaker Sharingan couldn't provide sufficient suppression. Their power was inadequate to fully control Hashirama cells. As things stood, Danzō barely used his right arm's capabilities, fearful that the cells would consume him if he drew on their strength without proper restraint.

That was precisely why he'd been secretly fanning the flames within the Uchiha clan. Encouraging the radicals, feeding their resentment, and pushing them toward increasingly extreme positions. Only if the Uchiha descended into chaos would he have the opportunity to harvest large numbers of three-tomoe Sharingan. And only then could he achieve complete mastery over Hashirama cells and access the full potential of the First Hokage's power.

"Let's go," Danzō said quietly. "We're relocating to the secondary facility."

His Root operatives finished cleaning the blood and lifted the wrapped bodies. They filed out of the corridor, disappearing into Konoha's shadows.

Danzō followed last.

Shisui's eyes would be his. One way or another.