Danzō didn't hold back, unleashing the "strongest genjutsu," Kotoamatsukami, on Tsukikage.
An Uchiha with a Mangekyō, daring to assassinate him instead of fleeing, earned Danzō's respect—and warranted decisive action.
As for using Kotoamatsukami, dealing with the mysterious masked man, and Uchiha Itachi afterward was the Hokage's problem!
In that instant, Tsukikage stood frozen, his mental pathways like reprogrammed code, awaiting the rewriting of his thoughts and will.
This was an irresistible force, bypassing ocular and mental resistance. The Yin Release Chakra perfectly meshed with human neural structures, seamlessly integrating into the sensory system.
It wove another world—one the victim couldn't perceive or escape, controlled not by them but by the caster.
Kotoamatsukami—the Mangekyō eye technique dubbed the "strongest genjutsu." One use required over a decade to recharge, but its victim was controlled for life.
From afar, the Uchiha saw Tsukikage ensnared, their breaths quickening, bodies stiffening as they stepped back.
Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Minamikaze, and the others glimpsed their own fate. Tsukikage's assassination had failed, and the Third Hokage, with a horde of ANBU, was approaching.
They'd join the Uchiha slain by Itachi in the clan grounds, becoming dust in history.
Conversely, the Root operatives relaxed. Their Lord Danzō, true to his name, had effortlessly thwarted a deadly assassination!
The Root members felt no sorrow for comrades killed by Danzō's Wind Release. To them, dying by his hand was an honor.
A Root captain glanced at the nearby Uchiha, sneering, "A bunch of escaped fish, waiting to die!"
The Uchiha paled, unable to face Tsukikage's fate, instinctively shielding Izumi and the gravely injured Tamao.
Even in death, they'd die together.
Izumi noticed Tamao's tense body. She wanted to speak, but the blood-soaked Tamao, eyes blazing with three-tomoe Sharingan, staggered up, standing tall, roaring, "Big Brother hasn't lost!!!"
From childhood, Tamao believed Tsukikage's words and actions aligned. When he promised to free Tamao from the hospital, he defied the clan leader and elders to do so. Now, vowing vengeance, he led them to strike Danzō!
Even if Big Brother died, he hadn't lost!
The other Uchiha lowered their heads in silence.
"I'll give you a swift end!" Danzō's face twisted with malice. His fingers tore out Tsukikage's left eye, blood arcing through the air as the Kotoamatsukami-afflicted Tsukikage staggered back.
"Heh…" Danzō, emotions veiled, was inwardly more thrilled than when he'd taken Shisui's Kotoamatsukami. Another control-type Mangekyō!
Happiness came too suddenly.
Danzō looked at the Sharingan in his hand, embedding it into a cavity on his Hashirama-cell-cloned right arm, designed to withstand multiple Sharingan's ocular power.
The arm's surface, riddled with dark holes, enveloped the eye like a true socket.
Logically, when Tsukikage used Yachihoko's mental control, Danzō's Kotoamatsukami should have been the first defense. But the Hashirama-cell arm overrode his brain, instinctively using its three-tomoe Sharingan to resist, allowing Yachihoko to seize his mind.
Danzō realized the Hashirama cells, in his aging body, held sway over his brain, nearly costing him his life.
"Hmph, as long as I live, nothing escapes my control! You inherently evil Uchiha brat, accept fate's judgment!" Danzō's eyes narrowed, advancing on the retreating Tsukikage, using Kotoamatsukami to freeze him, ready for slaughter.
Tsukikage stood rigid.
Danzō had acquired one pair of three-tomoe Sharingan; one was consumed taking Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, the other used for Izanagi to gain this Mangekyō.
A three-tomoe for a Mangekyō—a worthwhile trade!
Sensing the arm's new power, Danzō approached Tsukikage, lips curling to end his life. But his smirk faded, eyes dropping to his Hashirama-cell arm.
The Sharingan's ocular power wasn't as potent as a Mangekyō's—it was fading!
Danzō's pupils widened, feeling the eye close, lifeless, brewing a familiar technique he'd just used.
"Izanagi?" Danzō stared at Tsukikage, incredulous. "How do you know that forbidden technique?!"
Blind in both eyes, shrouded in darkness and under Kotoamatsukami, Tsukikage clutched his face, silent, but his lips curved upward.
"No!! You had no time to form seals—not even single-handed ones! Even if you knew Izanagi, when could you have used it? Izanagi requires seals! And you sacrificed a Mangekyō? Who are you?" Danzō's mind raced with questions, shocked by Tsukikage's identity and his bold sacrifice.
A realization hit. His face twitched, voice venomous. "I see! A Transcription Seal! You sealed Izanagi in your Mangekyō, triggering it upon attack?"
Tsukikage shook his head, pitying Danzō's rigid thinking.
The tables turned!
Tsukikage's Izanagi activated, erasing all unfavorable outcomes—Kotoamatsukami's control, the loss of his stolen Kotoamatsukami—and granting a minute to bend reality.
Danzō's Izanagi minute had long passed. Now, Tsukikage held the rules.
Danzō's right socket's Kotoamatsukami vanished, leaving a dark void, severing his connection to it.
"Kotoamatsukami! My Kotoamatsukami!" Danzō's mind reeled with the pain of losing the eye, his spirit wilting.
"You think I removed my Yachihoko Mangekyō and placed Kotoamatsukami in my right socket for nothing? Izanagi only alters outcomes against oneself. I put Kotoamatsukami in my eye. Your Izanagi took it back, targeting me. When my Izanagi activated, Kotoamatsukami returned to my socket, undoing your Kotoamatsukami. And since Kotoamatsukami returned to your body, nurtured by your Hashirama cells, its recharge time was drastically reduced. Am I right?" Tsukikage's right eye regained light.
As he spoke, Kotoamatsukami reappeared in his right socket, and he embedded Yachihoko in his left.
His eyes now mismatched:
- Left eye: Blade-shaped Mangekyō—Yachihoko!
- Right eye: Shuriken-shaped Mangekyō—Kotoamatsukami!
(End of Chapter)