After the clan elders were "escorted" away, the gathered Uchiha clansmen gradually dispersed as well.
Every one of them left with dazed expressions, their hearts surging like raging waves.
Anyone with eyes could tell—
after today, the Uchiha Clan… would change forever.
The two Mangekyō users had just used the clan elder's grandson as a blood oath and publicly declared absolute loyalty to Konoha one after another.
Without a doubt, the Uchiha would soon undergo another major reshuffling.
Compared to the storm this would cause within the clan, the mysterious outsider present today suddenly seemed insignificant.
Those who couldn't understand it would never figure it out;
but those smart enough to guess Hoshiyomi's identity knew better than to gossip.
Hoshiyomi had deliberately avoided revealing who he was, and that alone was enough of a warning.
Anyone who still dared talk nonsense would basically be begging for death.
As for Shisui's awakening of the Mangekyō, Hoshiyomi chose not to spread the news.
Black Zetsu was still lurking outside, after all.
Letting the world know Shisui possessed such eyes would bring him danger, not advantage.
Shisui's Mangekyō abilities differed quite a bit from his abilities in the previous life.
His right eye matched the genjutsu that Danzo once used—the same silent, subtle technique that altered a person's will.
However, its effect only worked as long as the target remained within Shisui's line of sight.
Perhaps because this Shisui didn't possess such a desperate wish to "change reality," his left eye did not awaken the broken, god-tier ability Kotoamatsukami.
Instead, it manifested a genjutsu similar to Tsukuyomi.
Shisui named this ocular power "Hikari."
When Hoshiyomi confirmed that Shisui did not awaken Kotoamatsukami, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
He wasn't afraid of genjutsu himself thanks to the Sword Heart,
but he was afraid Black Zetsu might try to steal Shisui's Mangekyō and use Kotoamatsukami on Naruto or others.
That would be an absolute nightmare.
Though Hoshiyomi thought highly of Shisui and fully trusted his loyalty to Konoha, he still did not help him evolve his eyes into the Eternal Mangekyō.
This kind of power-up was something to use only in critical moments.
If he upgraded Shisui now and Black Zetsu managed to ambush him later, wouldn't that be shooting himself in the foot?
...
…Time passed quickly, and several years went by.
During these years, Hoshiyomi quietly stayed in Konoha teaching children, while the village thrived peacefully.
"Dance of the Willow!"
In the spacious courtyard of the Gekko residence, the tall, graceful Kimimaro extended razor-sharp bone spikes from joints all over his body, charging forward like a spinning armored hedgehog.
Standing opposite him, Itachi watched calmly, his face expressionless as the three-tomoe Sharingan in his eyes spun rapidly.
Once he analyzed Kimimaro's movement pattern, Itachi stomped on the ground and leaped backward, simultaneously flicking his wrist and releasing a rain of ninja tools from his sleeves.
Kimimaro ignored the barrage completely.
With subtle movements, he twisted and darted forward, blocking every projectile using his bone armor.
Seeing this, Itachi smiled faintly mid-air.
He tugged his fingers lightly, and the thrown ninja tools suddenly lifted from the ground—each one was attached to a thin thread of chakra.
Kimimaro prepared to block again, but Itachi's hands blurred through seals.
The tools abruptly altered their flight paths mid-air, colliding with one another before spinning around Kimimaro.
Not a single one struck him.
Watching from the side, Naruto burst out laughing.
Beside him, Sasuke shot him a sidelong glance and muttered:
"Idiot."
Naruto bristled and was about to argue when the battlefield suddenly shifted—
After circling around Kimimaro, the ninja tools moved again.
Itachi's hands formed another set of seals, the chakra threads tightened sharply, and the swirling tools snapped back inward, completely enveloping Kimimaro from all directions.
Kimimaro quickly morphed the bone spikes on his body into bone blades in an attempt to sever the chakra threads wrapped around him—but it was already too late.
In midair, Itachi formed a one-handed seal at a speed nearly impossible to follow with the naked eye.
In less than a second, he expelled a large stream of flames along the chakra threads:
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the fierce flames raced along the wires like maggots clinging to bone, surging toward Kimimaro and engulfing him in a sea of fire.
Naruto's grin froze instantly, while Sasuke gave a proud snort.
"Uncle Hoshiyomi! Is Kimimaro going to get burned to death by Itachi? Hurry and save him!"
Before Hoshiyomi, who was lounging on his rocking chair, could answer, a listless Ryūshin on the side replied:
"Naruto-nii, you really underestimate Kimimaro-nii. I can handle a Dragon Fire Technique myself—Kimimaro-nii won't have any trouble at all."
Naruto squawked in disbelief:
"Ryūshin, don't brag! You're only in your second year at the Academy. Handle a terrifying Fire Release like that? If you got hit by it, your butt would probably burn clean off!"
Ryūshin rolled his eyes and turned away, refusing to let his IQ drop from talking to Naruto.
Beside him, little Rinne tilted her head.
"Is Dragon Fire really that strong? Can't you just block it with Water Formation Wall?"
Naruto looked at her speechlessly.
He hadn't seen Ryūshin fight, but he had seen Rinne use jutsu—
A seven-year-old who could already use five different C-rank elemental jutsu, and even several B-rank ones.
Comparing that to himself, who had just mastered the Clone, Substitution, and Transformation Techniques…
Yeah. Better not say anything.
No comparison, no humiliation.
While the group chatted noisily, the blazing Dragon Fire in the arena finally dissipated.
A voice suddenly echoed from within the smoke:
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets."
Itachi didn't even think.
He instantly drew the short blade on his back and slashed it through the air.
A crisp clang-clang-clang rang out as he deflected the bone bullets Kimimaro had fired.
Naruto was about to cheer when, from the smoke, a whip formed from Kimimaro's spinal bone lashed out with a piercing shriek.
It wrapped tightly around Itachi's waist.
In the next moment, the bone whip stiffened like a spear and contracted sharply, as if ready to tear Itachi clean in half.
Even if it didn't cause severe injury, he would be tightly bound and forced to endure Kimimaro's ensuing storm of attacks.
Seeing this, Sasuke's expression on the sidelines immediately tensed. He stared intently at the scene, terrified that he might see Itachi dismembered the next second.
As the bone whip tightened, Itachi's upper body was indeed torn off. Sasuke watched in horror, almost crying out.
But the next moment, the dismembered Itachi suddenly transformed into a flock of crows and scattered into nothingness.