"Orochimaru-sama..." Shisui hurriedly tried to speak. He could hear the killing intent in Orochimaru's tone.
"No need to go that far." Kagetsu shook his head. "Shisui told me before that the Uchiha clan already has a practice of collecting the Sharingan from their deceased members.
There might be some Three-Tomoe Sharingan stored within the clan."
"I see, so you want me to ask the Uchiha clan for those Sharingan?" Orochimaru suddenly understood. His previous assumption had been incorrect due to a lack of information.
But now that Kagetsu had shared his intel, Orochimaru immediately grasped one of the reasons why Kagetsu had sought him out.
Everyone knew that the Uchiha clan and Orochimaru were already closely tied together—similar to the bond between the Ino-Shika-Cho clans and the Sarutobi clan. They were only one step away from forming an official alliance.
If it were anyone else trying to negotiate with the Uchiha clan about using the Sharingan for experiments, the clan's radicals would likely erupt in fury.
However, if it was Orochimaru, given their close relationship, as long as he was willing to offer something in return or make certain promises, even the proud Uchiha would suppress their anger and consider the possibility of cooperation.
Kagetsu could do this as well, but to the Uchiha, his influence over the future was not as significant as Orochimaru, who was currently at the peak of his power. Orochimaru's promises carried more weight.
"Yes, Shisui mentioned that the number of stored Sharingan isn't large. Only those with strong ocular power were preserved instead of being destroyed.
But the Uchiha have no real intention of using those eyes. They are simply following tradition. If there's a reasonable justification, acquiring them wouldn't be an absolute taboo."
Kagetsu laid out everything he had discussed with Shisui, carefully explaining it to Orochimaru along with his own thoughts.
"You should know what the Uchiha want most, right, Kagetsu?" Orochimaru didn't directly respond after hearing him out. Instead, he looked at Kagetsu and gave a subtle reminder.
"The position of Hokage." Kagetsu was straightforward.
Konoha Village was created by the two strongest ninja clans, the Senju and the Uchiha. However, the Senju clan has already had two Hokages, and the third Hokage is closely related to the Senju clan.
If Tsunade and Jiraiya hadn't been unwilling to take the Hokage position, and if Orochimaru's first disciple, Senju Nawaki, hadn't died so early, it's possible that someone from the Senju clan would have inherited the Hokage position again.
On the other hand, the Uchiha, the other major clan that founded the village, has been pushed further and further away from the power center after Madara's failed attempt to take the Hokage position.
Not only has their position in the village diminished, but it has fallen far from what it was when the village was first established.
This was a great torment for the prideful Uchiha clan. If the village had completely abandoned them, many Uchiha might have given up.
But with Orochimaru and Kagetsu still around, the Uchiha's longing for the Hokage position was reignited, burning stronger than ever before.
And this time, the fire burned even more fiercely than before!
"Since you have no objections, let's consider it the final card," Orochimaru said, admiring Kagetsu's decisiveness.
As per their mutual understanding, once Kagetsu became a Jonin, he would choose a child from the Uchiha clan to serve as a squad leader.
Both Orochimaru and Kagetsu had their own ideas about who that child might be.
Uchiha Itachi!
The child often mentioned by Fugaku.
"I have no objections," Kagetsu nodded.
What does Itachi, the future genocide perpetrator, have to do with the cute little Itachi of today? It's not like the chakra reincarnation of certain people, where their spirit and will would affect their entire life.
Shisui's fate with the Uchiha clan may or may not have changed, but it was far from what the Uchiha clan had experienced in the past. It couldn't be compared anymore.
At least for Orochimaru, his position in the village had been incredibly solid over the years.
While most ninja clans might not want to clash with advisors or the Hokage for him, they wouldn't go out of their way to oppose him in his pursuit of the Hokage position either.
Simply achieving that was enough.
At least from the current perspective, although Minato Namikaze had risen quickly and gained great fame in the village, and with Jiraiya's support, he had the qualifications to compete for the Hokage position, Orochimaru's chances of inheriting the position were still much higher.
It was naturally accepted by many villagers and ninjas over the years that Orochimaru would inherit the position of the Fourth Hokage.
"Then let's have Fugaku come here." Orochimaru nodded decisively.
Although immortality seemed within reach, Orochimaru didn't intend to hold the Hokage position for long. He only wanted to fulfill the dreams of his childhood and those of people like Nawaki.
His current focus was on researching creations like the Hōgyoku. Once he grew tired of it, he planned to hand the position over to Kagetsu. As for who Kagetsu would pass it on to, Orochimaru didn't care.
"You should be able to do this without alerting the village, right?" Orochimaru gave Kagetsu a meaningful look.
"According to the information I received, the Uchiha clan is currently being monitored by both the Anbu and ROOT."
"No problem."
Kagetsu had no doubts about Orochimaru's information. Just as Shimura Danzo had his own private armed forces and intelligence system, which allowed him to access numerous Anbu reports, Orochimaru now had enough power in the village to do the same.
"Who is it?"
In the Uchiha clan's compound, now moved to a secluded corner of the village, Fugaku Uchiha stood in his house. As countless black squares materialized in the air, his eyes instantly turned red with bloodlust.
"Clan leader!" Shisui's figure emerged from the black void.
Feeling the familiar chakra and seeing Shisui's familiar face, Fugaku, whose body had been tense, relaxed slightly.
"How did you return? And your eyes?" Fugaku's gaze fell to the bandages wrapped around Shisui's eyes, and his heart sank as a painful guess arose.
"My eyes are blind," Shisui answered, not sounding defeated, but simply and straightforwardly.
"Did you use the Mangekyō?" Fugaku, confirming his own suspicions, felt his emotions become chaotic. His calm nature couldn't suppress the urge to kill Danzo, the man responsible for this.
If it wasn't for Danzo, if it wasn't for him orchestrating the attack on Shisui, how could Shisui have gone blind from excessive use of the Mangekyō Sharingan?
From the information Jiraiya shared about the great war, Shisui's Susanoo had clearly reached the third stage! This is the symbol of having pushed the ocular power to its limit!
This not only represents the strength of Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan but also the incredible toll it takes on his chakra.
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