Garp's fingertip didn't carry much force, yet the moment it landed on Shisui's forehead, an indescribable terror surged over him like a tidal wave.
It swallowed his spirit and will in an instant, leaving his mind a complete blank.
By the time he jolted awake from that dazed, empty state, he realized his knees were already pressed firmly against the ground, kneeling straight at Garp's feet as if in confession… or begging for mercy.
…
Seeing himself kneeling before Garp under countless watching eyes, just like Fugaku had moments earlier, an intense wave of humiliation, shame, and fury stabbed through him.
Shisui let out a strangled cry before collapsing limply to the ground.
…
Seeing Shisui fall unconscious, Fugaku hurried to his side. He didn't even stop to check Shisui's condition before pleading outright.
Having personally witnessed Kotoamatsukami recoil on its user, and seeing the second-stage Susanoo, along with its weapon.
And Shisui's own body, shattered by a single flick of Garp's finger as if made of paper… he no longer held the slightest illusion. Only shock remained, shock, and relief.
Everything Madara left behind in his records was completely true.
If the Sharingan didn't evolve to the Eternal Mangekyo, it had no right to stand against the Iron Fist.
And even the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan merely qualified one to fight. How far one could go in that fight depended entirely on the strength of the wielder.
Back when he first read the clan's records, Fugaku had felt the same as Shisui earlier, that perhaps it wasn't the Mangekyo that was lacking, perhaps it was Madara himself.
But reality's cruelty, combined with Shisui's miserable defeat, gave him, the clan head, a vivid lesson he'd never forget.
The brutal truth was that Mangekyo wasn't enough. Any other Uchiha were even less so.
"Take him away."
Garp didn't spare the two Uchiha another glance, stepping past them without slowing.
"This way, Lord Garp."
Orochimaru took a deep breath, pressing down the turmoil in his heart as he stepped forward to lead Garp.
The other Konoha shinobi quickly followed.
Within moments, the once-crowded entrance of the Konoha camp, packed like a marketplace, was left with only the Uchiha standing alone in silence.
"Clan Head… Shisui's eyes…"
Uchiha Yashiro hesitated and stepped forward, about to speak, when he saw Fugaku, still holding a bowed posture, suddenly exhale long and hard, as though a weight of a thousand pounds had been lifted from his back.
"Hurry and send Shisui for treatment. There might still be a chance to save him."
Fugaku shook his head.
"I checked quietly just now. It really was a backlash from his own Mangekyo. He lost because he was outmatched. He brought this on himself.
Also, this ends here. Keep all clan members under strict control. If anything like today happens again, don't blame me for abandoning all sense of kinship."
With that, Fugaku walked back into the camp without looking back.
Shisui's defeat was clean and complete. His collapse was straightforward, but the one truly suffering was the clan head.
Because of fighting alongside other Konoha clans in the Land of Water, relations between the Uchiha and the rest of the village had finally begun to thaw.
But after this incident, especially with Shisui's Kotoamatsukami exposed and the command "Be loyal to the Uchiha" revealed, those gradually warming relations instantly plunged into an icy abyss.
That alone was trouble enough.
Even worse, once today's events reached the village, who knew what Konoha's leadership would suspect about Madara this time?
All of this would fall upon him, the clan head, to deal with.
…
Late Night
A muffled groan echoed through the tent as Shisui, lying on the bed, trembled. His eyelids quivered before slowly opening.
Before his blurry vision could clear, the searing pain hammering every cell of his body, and the stabbing, burning agony in his eye, forced a cry out of him.
"My eye…"
Barely enduring the excruciating full-body pain, Shisui was horrified to realize that half his vision was gone, replaced by pitch-black emptiness. He couldn't see anything at all from that side.
"No need to panic. That eye is indeed heavily damaged, but Mangekyo's power is still there. Your jutsu can still be activated."
Just as Shisui shakily touched the bandages covering his injured eye, fear creeping into him, Fugaku's voice suddenly came from beside him.
"Clan Head!"
Shisui turned his head and only then noticed Fugaku sitting in the tent. As clarity returned to him, he immediately understood,
The clan head had remained by his side the entire time he was unconscious.
Realizing this, guilt surged through him as deeply as gratitude.
"Don't be too relieved. Kotoamatsukami is intact, but your vision, your perception, will be greatly diminished.
Even with the Mangekyo, the insight of that damaged eye won't even match an ordinary Sharingan."
Fugaku's tone was cold, but seeing Shisui awake and showing guilt, his anger faded slightly.
"Compared to the clan head's burdens and the clan's situation, my wounds are nothing."
Shisui forced himself to sit up, wearing a deeply apologetic expression.
"Tomorrow, once you're feeling better, you'll come with me to apologize to Garp. Hmph. A simple spar, fine. But why use Kotoamatsukami? And then even Susanoo?
Were you trying to test your limits, or were you trying to decide life and death?"
As Fugaku spoke, his eyes never left Shisui's expression.
---------------
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