Uchiha Fugaku laughed wildly for a long time—then suddenly remembered Kitazawa was still there.
He immediately stopped, a trace of embarrassment rising in his chest.
After all, he'd always maintained a mature, steady image in front of outsiders.
"Kitazawa."
Fugaku forced down his excitement and spoke in a deep voice. "Thank you for your help."
To be honest, even now he still didn't understand how Uchiha Sasuke had awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan.
In the past, Uchiha shinobi awakened it by witnessing something unbearably tragic with their own eyes—under extreme emotional turmoil.
But Sasuke's Mangekyō had awakened… by fighting Uzumaki Naruto.
It was something he'd never even heard of.
The most ridiculous part was that it actually worked.
And the person who came up with this method—Kitazawa—was unquestionably the biggest contributor.
If it had been him, he probably would've gone to his grave never realizing Sasuke even had a path like this to awakening.
"It's nothing," Kitazawa said with a light chuckle. "Sasuke is my student, after all."
"The Mangekyō Sharingan means a great deal to the Uchiha," Fugaku said after thinking for a moment, making a promise. "If you ever need anything in the future, you can come to the Uchiha for help."
"I will," Kitazawa replied without being polite about it.
Even though, at this point, there wasn't much he truly needed the Uchiha to do for him.
"Has Itachi come back yet?" Kitazawa asked.
Sasuke immediately put on an eager expression.
"Not yet," Fugaku said. "I'll send someone to notify him right now."
As he spoke, he couldn't help smiling again.
In his eyes, if Sasuke had awakened the Mangekyō at eleven, then he had a very good chance of becoming the Hokage two generations from now.
And if Sasuke became Hokage, it would fulfill the Uchiha's greatest obsession since joining Konoha.
"Come in and talk," Fugaku said, raising a hand.
Kitazawa nodded and walked into the living room.
"Kitazawa, please have some tea," Uchiha Mikoto said, bringing out a cup of hot tea.
"Thank you," Kitazawa said, accepting it.
"Sasuke, what was all that just now? Why were you making such a fuss?" Mikoto asked curiously.
"Mom!" Sasuke said proudly. "I awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
"The Mangekyō Sharingan?" Mikoto instinctively looked doubtful.
She might only be an ordinary jōnin, but as the clan head's wife, she naturally knew what the Mangekyō Sharingan was.
"It's real," Fugaku said with a warm smile.
"Unbelievable!" Mikoto couldn't help blurting out.
Seeing her reaction, Sasuke became even happier.
If he hadn't just been utterly crushed by Kitazawa, he would've inflated to an absurd degree.
"I'm back!"
A moment later, Itachi's voice sounded.
He'd rushed back straight from the Hokage Tower, so he returned quickly—less than ten minutes.
"nii-san!" Sasuke hurried to the doorway.
"Sasuke?" Itachi asked, a little confused. "Weren't you at school?"
"I awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!" Sasuke blurted out, unable to wait.
"What?" Itachi's pupils contracted.
His first thought was: Fighting Naruto can really awaken the Mangekyō?
That was simply too absurd.
Was it because the two of them were close?
Itachi fell into thought.
For the Uchiha, close friends and family really could help trigger the awakening…
But the price was death.
He himself awakened his Mangekyō only after witnessing Shisui's death.
And as far as he knew, Shisui was much the same.
"Congratulations, Sasuke," Itachi said with a smile, reaching out and rubbing Sasuke's head. "You've already surpassed me."
"Not really," Sasuke said, beaming.
"Come inside and talk," Mikoto said as she walked over, reminding them. "We have a guest."
"It's Kitazawa-sensei," Sasuke said reflexively.
"You should've said so earlier," Itachi's expression shifted slightly. He and Sasuke quickly entered the living room.
"Itachi," Kitazawa stood up. "I need to talk to you."
"Then you two talk," Fugaku said. "I'll take Sasuke to the courtyard and teach him some Mangekyō basics."
"I'll go too," Mikoto chimed in.
Soon, only Kitazawa and Itachi were left in the living room.
"Kitazawa-sama," Itachi said first. "Thank you for your help. Without you, Sasuke wouldn't have awakened the Mangekyō so early."
"Sasuke is still young—his ocular power isn't that strong yet," Kitazawa warned. "From now on, he should use Mangekyō techniques as little as possible."
"I understand," Itachi said. He knew very well what happened when you overused Mangekyō abilities.
In the original timeline, he abused them because he didn't intend to live.
"But you know Sasuke's personality," Kitazawa continued. "With his temperament, he definitely won't be able to resist using it."
Itachi looked helpless.
He could restrain himself, but as Kitazawa said, Sasuke probably couldn't.
Maybe even during the Advanced Class's sparring exams, he'd use it frequently.
"I'll do my best to explain the stakes to him," Itachi said after thinking it over.
If Sasuke awakened Mangekyō at eleven only to ruin his future by abusing his eye techniques, it would be a terrible loss.
"That treats the symptoms, not the root," Kitazawa said, revealing his true aim. "To fix the root, he needs the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
Itachi froze.
Very few people knew about the Eternal Mangekyō. How did Kitazawa know?
But clearly this wasn't the time to investigate—and there was no need to.
"The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan requires transplanting someone else's Mangekyō…" Itachi began, then stopped.
Because he'd already vaguely guessed what Kitazawa was thinking.
Konoha currently had only three pairs of Mangekyō Sharingan:
Sasuke's, Shisui's, and his own.
Kitazawa obviously wasn't suggesting that Itachi hand over his own eyes to Sasuke.
Even if Itachi agreed, Fugaku and Sasuke wouldn't.
So there was only one answer: give Shisui's Mangekyō to Sasuke.
And Shisui's Mangekyō… Itachi had one of them, and Shimura Danzō had the other.
After Danzō's death, that other eye was most likely in Kitazawa's hands.
Itachi hesitated for a moment, then took out Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan.
In the original timeline, he'd actually been saving this eye for Sasuke—so Sasuke wouldn't defect from Konoha, or at least would still protect Konoha even if he did.
But now Sasuke hadn't defected, so it wasn't needed.
Kitazawa looked at the glass vial in Itachi's palm, genuinely surprised.
After all, he hadn't even said it out loud yet.
But thinking about it, it made sense.
With Itachi's intelligence, he could naturally guess Kitazawa's real intent.
"Once Sasuke has fully mastered the Mangekyō," Kitazawa said, nodding as he took the vial, "I'll perform the surgery for him."
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sama," Itachi said, feeling more at ease.
With that promise, he no longer had to worry that Kitazawa—or anyone else—would transplant Shisui's eye for themselves.
Once transplanted, your strength could skyrocket.
He felt most people couldn't resist that temptation.
Especially since Shisui's Mangekyō technique was the strongest genjutsu of all: Kotoamatsukami.
"After Sasuke masters the Mangekyō, he can go back to school," Kitazawa added, pausing. "I won't disturb you any longer. See you next time."
"Kitazawa-sama, won't you stay for dinner?" Itachi quickly asked.
"School's not out yet," Kitazawa said, shaking his head as he turned to leave.
Itachi walked him to the door, then looked toward Fugaku and Mikoto.
Both of them wore utterly shocked expressions.
"What's wrong?" Itachi asked.
"Sasuke's eye techniques are terrifying," Fugaku said, coming back to himself with a sigh of amazement.
"What techniques?" Itachi's interest was piqued.
"Like this," Sasuke said, roughly explaining the effects of his two techniques.
"This… is a frightening set of dōjutsu," Itachi praised instinctively.
Just the one that resembled the Flying Thunder God—Amenotokotachi—was enough to make Sasuke nearly unbeatable.
And Amano Iwato compensated for Sasuke's lack of chakra, letting an eleven-year-old possess chakra reserves comparable to an elite jōnin.
And as he grew older, as his ocular power increased, the boost from Amano Iwato would only get bigger.
Compared to that, Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi felt… somewhat ordinary.
Itachi came back to himself, then felt something subtle.
There was no doubt these two techniques had awakened because of Uzumaki Naruto.
"I think we should invite Naruto over for dinner tonight," Itachi suggested.
"We absolutely should," Fugaku immediately agreed.
Sasuke, on the other hand, curled his lip, a bit unwilling.
After all, he'd been getting beaten up by Naruto for almost a year.
But since this time Naruto really did deserve some credit for Sasuke awakening the Mangekyō, he didn't say anything else.
Kitazawa didn't return to the ninja academy. Instead, he appeared at the Anbu base.
He held Shisui's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan in his hand.
The next second, a line of text appeared before his eyes.
[Absorb Dōjutsu?]
Kitazawa silently chose absorb.
Shisui's pair of Mangekyō trembled violently.
Two streams of Yin Release power sank into Kitazawa's eyes.
In an instant, information surfaced in his mind—Shisui's dōjutsu: Kotoamatsukami.
Both his left and right eyes were Kotoamatsukami, but their cooldowns and effects differed.
The left eye—the one Itachi had taken—was said in the original timeline to require a cooldown of more than ten years.
The right eye clearly didn't need nearly that long.
In the original timeline, Danzō first used it to control Mifune, and later intended to use it again in his battle with Sasuke.
It was ultimately not used due to an accident, but it still proved the cooldown was short.
Now that Kitazawa had obtained Kotoamatsukami, he confirmed those two points were indeed true.
The left-eye Kotoamatsukami had a long cooldown—normally ten years—
but an absurd effect: it could silently and completely alter the target's will.
Even someone with the Mangekyō couldn't detect it.
And the left-eye Kotoamatsukami couldn't be seen through by the Byakugan.
The right-eye Kotoamatsukami was different.
It could be detected by the Byakugan.
Its advantage was the short cooldown—normally about half a year.
But Kitazawa was different.
In the original timeline, if you transplanted Hashirama cells, you could use Mangekyō techniques frequently—like Uchiha Obito.
Kitazawa hadn't transplanted Hashirama cells, but he had Senju blood.
Not as strong as Hashirama's, but using Mangekyō techniques a few more times wouldn't be a big deal.
Later, once he gained Ōtsutsuki blood and Hashirama-level blood, he could use them without restraint.
Kitazawa rubbed his chin.
A technique like Kotoamatsukami wasn't suitable for combat—it was better for sowing discord.
But Konoha no longer had a second Shimura Danzō who could serve as a target.
So he'd have to look among the other four great villages for a target.
From what the original timeline showed, only the Byakugan could detect the right-eye Kotoamatsukami—
though it was possible other methods existed.
If he truly wanted to control someone to stir trouble, the left-eye Kotoamatsukami was undoubtedly safer and more covert.
But who should he choose?
Kitazawa thought it over and realized there was no real urgency.
His strength was already on full display.
Forget it—he'd decide when he actually needed it.
Coming back to himself, Kitazawa looked at Shisui's Mangekyō in his hand.
He sensed it and found the ocular power was still there.
Kitazawa nodded.
Just as he'd guessed, he had only absorbed the dōjutsu.
The Mangekyō Sharingan itself still remained, and could still be transplanted into someone and used.
The question was: if transplanted into Sasuke, would it successfully awaken the Eternal Mangekyō?
In the original timeline, only two Uchiha ever had the Eternal Mangekyō: Madara and Sasuke.
Both had transplanted the Mangekyō of their biological brothers.
Sasuke and Shisui were both Uchiha, so they surely had some blood connection—
but nowhere near the level of brothers.
They could only try.
If it didn't work, Kitazawa still had another option:
have Orochimaru clone it.
Kitazawa put away Shisui's Mangekyō and went to the ninja academy.
Even without Sasuke, the Advanced Class's training wasn't affected.
Kitazawa watched for a while, then found a spot to study the Mangekyō Sharingan himself.
Besides dōjutsu, the Mangekyō had another terrifying ability: Susanoo.
And Susanoo's forms and applications were incredibly varied—powerful enough to be called a multi-function weapon.
The sun sank toward the horizon.
Just as Kitazawa was about to leave the academy, he suddenly stopped.
"Kitazawa."
Konan, expressionless, walked up to him.
"Welcome back," Kitazawa said with a light smile.
"Mm." Konan nodded, then stared at him without blinking.
"Is something wrong with me?" Kitazawa raised a brow.
"No," Konan said coolly.
"School's about to let out," Kitazawa said. "And you just got back—go rest first."
As he spoke, he reached out and pinched her cheek.
Konan pressed her lips together.
She wanted to say something, but didn't know how to put it into words.
"Mm," she answered, turning and leaving.
Kitazawa grew thoughtful.
He felt something was off with Konan, but he couldn't tell what had happened—he could only observe for now.
He shook his head and used Flying Thunder God to return home.
He appeared in the living room, where Yuhi Kurenai lay on the sofa looking exhausted.
"Recruitment not going smoothly?" Kitazawa walked over and placed a hand on her forehead.
Chakra flowed in, easing her fatigue.
"It's going okay," Kurenai said, looking at him. "I just didn't expect setting up a film and television department to be this much trouble."
"It's a department," Kitazawa said, withdrawing his hand and sitting beside her. "You can't build that in two sentences."
"True," Kurenai said. "I think I'll need half a month to get it done, then I'll go to the Land of Snow."
"Mm," Kitazawa nodded. "Just tell me when it's time."
Kurenai sat up, lifted a leg, and straddled his lap.
"Tsunade and the others will be back any minute," Kitazawa reminded her.
"What are you thinking?" Kurenai rolled her eyes. "I'm obviously not going to do that in the living room!"
"Then what are you doing?" Kitazawa asked, confused.
"Nothing," Kurenai said, lowering her head to kiss him once. "Alright, I'm going to cook."
After she went to the kitchen, the door opened, and Tsunade, Shizune, and Uzumaki Rina walked in together.
They all worked at the Hokage Tower, so they sometimes came home at the same time.
"Where's Kurenai?" Tsunade asked as she walked up to the sofa and flopped onto it.
The motion made her hips sway, raising a full curve.
Her snug outfit was squeezed flat by the way she landed.
"She went to the kitchen," Kitazawa said, his eyelid twitching as he kept his face calm.
"Then let's go help," Shizune said, heading toward the kitchen with Rina.
Most of the time, it was those two and Kurenai who cooked.
"Tsunade-sensei," Kitazawa said after thinking, stepping in front of her.
Tsunade sat up and opened her arms.
Seeing that, Kitazawa buried his face directly into her chest.
The soft sensation immediately made him feel comfortable.
"I meant I wanted you to hug me," Tsunade said helplessly, shaking her head as she wrapped an arm around his head.
"Sasuke awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan today," Kitazawa said, staring at the pale skin in front of him.
"How is that possible?" Tsunade exclaimed, shocked. "Isn't he only eleven?"
"Naruto's only eleven too," Kitazawa said with a grin.
"That's… terrifying talent," Tsunade said, coming back to herself with a sigh. "No matter what, it's a good thing."
"Mm," Kitazawa said, shifting his head and pressing his cheek against her.
Tsunade suddenly remembered something and laughed. "When you become Hokage, choosing a successor is going to be a nightmare."
In terms of strength, Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuga Hinata, Kurama Yakumo, and others all had the qualifications to become Hokage.
But there could only be one Hokage—and they were all the same age.
"We're way too early to be talking about that," Kitazawa complained. "I'm not even Hokage yet."
"If you want it, you can be Hokage tomorrow," Tsunade said immediately.
Kitazawa couldn't be bothered arguing with her and bared his teeth slightly.
Tsunade stiffened and reflexively glanced around.
Luckily, only the two of them were in the living room.
"Sit properly!" Tsunade shoved him away.
Kitazawa smiled and sat down beside her.
Tsunade looked down, confirmed there were no bite marks, then finally relaxed. She turned to Kitazawa and said with an annoyed huff, "I'll deal with you tonight!"
…
Meanwhile, in Sunagakure's Kazekage building.
Rasa glanced at the wall clock and stood up, ready to get off work.
He'd already been working overtime for almost three hours.
He couldn't help it—Sunagakure was simply too busy right now.
First, the water business had to make money.
Second, they still had to maintain the balance of war with Amegakure.
Rasa had now experienced firsthand what "war profits" meant, so he didn't expand the scale of the conflict.
Just then, urgent knocking sounded.
"Come in," Rasa said, sitting back down.
"Kazekage-sama!" Baki came in and reported, "All of Amegakure's ninja have withdrawn!"
"Withdrawn? What do you mean withdrawn?" Rasa shot to his feet.
"They all retreated back into the Land of Rain," Baki answered.
The war between Amegakure and Sunagakure had started because of the water business, so the battlefield was in the desert of the Land of Wind.
Now, for Amegakure to pull out of the Land of Wind meant abandoning the water business.
Why?
Rasa frowned.
In his view, Amegakure had no reason to give up the water business.
"I don't know," Baki shook his head.
Rasa rubbed his temples and paced back and forth.
But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't understand why Amegakure would withdraw.
"For safety's sake, take a group to the border of the Land of Wind," Rasa finally ordered.
"Yes, Kazekage-sama," Baki said with a slight bow, then turned and left.
Time came to the next day.
Two figures arrived at the peaceful gates of Sunagakure: Sasori, and Uchiha Obito under the alias "Tobi."
Originally, it should've been Sasori and Deidara—but Deidara had returned to Iwagakure, so Obito replaced him.
In the original timeline, Obito only joined after Hidan's death.
But now, because of Kitazawa's butterfly effect, he joined earlier.
His thinking was simple: capture the first eight tailed beasts as soon as possible, then return to Konoha and take revenge on Kitazawa.
After all, back then, Kitazawa and Hatake Kakashi had cut off one of his arms.
Just like in the original timeline, Sasori used his Memory-Concealing Manipulative Sand Technique to control Yura and successfully infiltrated Sunagakure.
They quickly found Gaara, and a major battle erupted.
At this point, Gaara wasn't as terrifyingly strong as he would become in the original timeline.
Rasa rushed over soon after, but it still didn't matter—he was badly injured instead.
If Sunagakure's people hadn't risked their lives to save him, he likely would've died.
That afternoon, news spread across the ninja world: Gaara had been captured, and Rasa had been gravely injured.
Akatsuki had officially stepped onto the stage.
~~~
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