"How could this be..."
Kushina Uzumaki covered her mouth, unable to believe what she'd heard.
"Itachi's mistake was too great. Fugaku always felt he owed the clan," Uchiha Mikoto said calmly, though it was clear she was struggling to contain her emotions. After all, Itachi had, out of his own foolishness, slaughtered over a hundred clan members — young and old — including patrol corps members like Uchiha Yadai.
This kind of hatred doesn't vanish in a few days. Even knowing how suspicious and dangerous the masked man was, Itachi still chose to hide the truth and joined him in attacking the Uchiha. Nearly the entire patrol corps was wiped out.
If not for Uchiha Tekka and Uchiha Fugaku, both wielders of the Mangekyō Sharingan, the patrol corps would have been completely annihilated.
In the end, the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Uchiha were entirely Itachi's responsibility. Yet Fugaku even allowed the masked man's accomplice to rescue Itachi.
That night, Uchiha Fugaku fell from a revered clan leader to the clan's biggest disgrace.
Though Tekka didn't punish Fugaku, the clan's scorn was ultimately what drove him to suicide.
Upon hearing this, Naruto Uzumaki hesitantly asked, "Then... can I still go see Sasuke?"
"Maybe next time, Naruto," Kushina replied seriously. She hadn't known about Fugaku's death, and from Mikoto's words, it was clear Sasuke wasn't in the best state. She worried that Naruto's blunt personality might lead to conflict if they met now.
But Mikoto smiled at Naruto and said, "It's alright. Sasuke needs friends now more than ever. He might actually want to see you but just feels too embarrassed to come down."
Naruto scratched his head and grinned. "Then I'll go up and find him, Aunt Mikoto."
With that, he leapt upstairs.
Kushina, seeing this, immediately scolded in a low voice, "Idiot Naruto, use the stairs properly!"
Ayaka Uzumaki giggled and said to her, "Princess Kushina, Naruto really takes after you."
"You dummy, shut up!" Kushina retorted.
"You two, behave. This isn't our house," Mirai Hyuga said, tapping the table to silence them.
Then she turned to Mikoto and asked, "Mrs. Mikoto, did you send Naruto away because you have something to talk to us about?"
"Yes, Mirai-san. I do have a request," Mikoto replied honestly, surprised that Mirai had seen right through her before she'd even spoken.
Mikoto then led them inside and took out a Mangekyō Sharingan from a sealed scroll.
"Is that Fugaku's Mangekyō? You want me to transplant it into you?" Mirai asked.
"Yes," Mikoto confirmed. "After Fugaku's death, he hoped I would use this power to protect Sasuke, to atone for our clan. We don't have medical ninja in the clan, and I don't trust the Sand Federation's hospitals. So I'd like to ask you to perform the surgery."
She bowed deeply as she finished.
Mirai guessed Mikoto probably hadn't told the rest of the clan about Fugaku's suicide — maybe out of fear the eyes would be confiscated. After all, Itachi's Mangekyō was still with Tekka.
"If it's just transplanting a pair of eyes, that's easy — just a few minutes. But a Sharingan is more complicated. To ensure a perfect transplant, I'll need to examine Fugaku's body. Don't look at me like that, Kushina — the Sharingan is a bloodline limit tied to the brain's chakra flow. The eyes are just the physical manifestation of that."
Mirai explained briefly, then added, "Mrs. Mikoto, trust me on this. Besides Tsunade and Orochimaru, no one in the shinobi world understands the human body better than I do."
"I trust you, Mirai-san. With your strength, there'd be no need to deceive me," Mikoto said as she took out another scroll — this one containing Fugaku's preserved body.
"In that case, come see me in three days at the guest residence," Mirai said after accepting the eyes and the body. She hadn't expected this bonus — with Fugaku's body, his research on the Mangekyō Sharingan could now advance significantly.
Mikoto and Kushina stayed to talk privately while Mirai and Ayaka left the room, feeling it inappropriate to intrude on such a personal conversation.
Seated back in the guest hall, Mirai's mind drifted to the Sharingan. But part of her attention remained on Naruto and Sasuke — those two held the keys to awakening the Rinnegan.
Ayaka quietly brought her a cup of hot tea and sat beside her. As she looked at Mirai's face, a bold idea briefly crossed her mind — only to deflate and vanish just as quickly.
Kushina really was the only one who could win in that sort of contest.
Ding ding!
Mirai's terminal suddenly buzzed. She brought up the nanodisplay to see Number 18 on the other end.
"Sir, we've located Mount Myoboku. Using scout drones, we've identified 213 intelligent toads and over 730 ordinary ones. Their combat strength remains undetermined."
"No need for that detail. I'll ask the snake princesses later if they still want to eat toad. If not, we'll just use orbital weapons and wipe out Mount Myoboku," Mirai said. He had originally planned to destroy it outright, but remembered promising Ichikishima-hime that they'd try to eat the toads first.
Mirai truly despised those toads. Always acting superior, trying to dictate the fate of humanity. If Kushina weren't alive and contracted with the Shikotsu Forest, Naruto might have already been taken away by them.
Even now, they hadn't given up. It looked like they'd created a new summoning scroll to recruit another contractor.
"Understood, sir. I'll begin weapon preparations," 18 replied and ended the call when there were no further instructions.
Ayaka then leaned in with a cheerful smile. "Would you like me to summon Ichikishima-hime and ask her?"
"No rush. We'll wait until we return to the guest residence," Mirai replied. Using summoning techniques in Mikoto's home wasn't appropriate.
Meanwhile, on the battlefield in the Land of Rain, when Nara Shikaku brought the wounded Iwa-nin to Konoha's camp, it caused a stir.
But Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly stepped in and, after hearing from Shikaku about the reason for bringing back Ōnoki and his forces, agreed with his decision.
The Rinnegan's power was overwhelming — it had nearly wiped out an army of over a thousand Iwa-nin. Konoha could be in even greater danger.
Ōnoki's Particle Style was troublesome even for Hiruzen, but against the Rinnegan, it was useless.
With that in mind, Hiruzen ordered tents and medical teams be provided for the Iwa-nin. If they recovered, they could help when it came time to strike back at Amegakure.
In this, he and Shikaku were of the same mind.
Fortunately, Konoha had spare supplies, and by squeezing some teams together, they could make enough room to tend to the wounded.
"Please take care of me, Kiyo," Kurenai Yuhi said cheerfully as she entered Kiyo Hyuga's tent with her pack, claiming it was because their squads were allowed to bunk together.
Kiyo snorted but didn't refuse. Two Hyuga tents had already been reassigned, and Kurenai had nowhere else to go.
After setting her things down, Kurenai asked, "By the way, Kiyo, I heard your clansmen returned from Iwa. Do you know why they were hit so badly?"
"That's classified. The Third has forbidden anyone from talking about it," Mirai replied sharply — though not directed at Kurenai, but at Hiruzen himself.
"But I'll tell you anyway, as long as you don't spread it."
Kiyo thought the secrecy was foolish. Hiding enemy intel like this — what for? Afraid Konoha ninja will be too scared to fight? Ridiculous.
"The leader of Amegakure possesses one of the legendary Three Great Dōjutsu — the Rinnegan. The Iwa army was wiped out by that one person alone."
"One person?" Kurenai's face showed utter shock. Over a thousand Iwa-nin, including the Third Tsuchikage, defeated by just one?
"That's right. Based on Shikaku's analysis, the Rinnegan wielder can likely split into multiple bodies."
After confirming no one was nearby using her Byakugan, Mirai shared what intel they had on the Rinnegan.
Kurenai's lips parted slightly. "That powerful..."
"It sounds impressive, sure. But when you get back to the village, you'll probably hear something even more shocking."
Kiyo's pale eyes glanced at her. Compared to Hyuga Mirai's deep blue eyes, even the Rinnegan seemed less fearsome.
(End of Chapter)