The scarlet pupils spoke louder than a thousand words of explanation. So, when Shinji revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan to Tsunade, everyone in the Hokage's office quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
To them, Shinji's willingness to admit it was the best possible outcome.
Unlike the others, who subtly averted their gazes from Shinji, Tsunade looked directly into the scarlet eyes in his sockets and sighed: "As expected, it's the Mangekyo Sharingan!"
In truth, what Shinji displayed was the pattern of Mumei's current Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, which was more intricate and refined compared to a regular Mangekyo Sharingan.
However, since the village knew little about the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, they simply assumed the distinct pattern, different from the three-tomoe Sharingan, was a Mangekyo.
Shinji spoke slowly: "You must be curious about when I awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, right?"
As expected, the faces of those present lit up with curiosity. Even the stern Third Hokage was no exception, all turning their attention to Shinji.
Seeing he had piqued their interest, Shinji continued: "On the night of the clan's massacre, I awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan. But because I was so young and severely injured at the time, I didn't dare reveal it!"
"What!?"
"The night of the massacre? You were only seven years old, weren't you?"
"That's impossible!"
The room erupted in exclamations.
At the age of seven, even awakening a regular Sharingan would mark someone as a true genius, let alone the Mangekyo Sharingan.
It was unheard of!
"So that's how it was," Tsunade said, a realization dawning on her.
To her, if Shinji wasn't lying and had indeed awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan on the night of the massacre, his secrecy made sense.
After all, with his clan annihilated and himself gravely injured, anyone would feel an overwhelming sense of insecurity. Hiding the awakening of the Mangekyo Sharingan in such circumstances was only human nature and understandable.
The Third Hokage, struck by a thought, suddenly asked: "That year when Naruto went berserk in the village and stopped the Nine-Tails… was that you?"
"Yes," Shinji nodded.
The Third murmured to himself: "That explains it!"
Back then, when Naruto was attacked and went berserk, nearly causing a repeat of the Nine-Tails chaos in Hidden Leaf Village, the jounin and Anbu arrived to find only a calmed Naruto and Sasuke, who had revealed his Sharingan. Thus, the village leadership mistakenly believed Sasuke had stopped the catastrophe.
Now, learning that Shinji had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan at seven, the Third immediately suspected it was Shinji, not Sasuke, who had subdued the Nine-Tails.
Hearing the Third bring this up, advisors Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado also had a moment of clarity.
Back then, they had doubted whether Sasuke, with only a tomoe Sharingan, could truly subdue a berserk Nine-Tails. But since Sasuke was the only one at the scene, they had no way to verify their suspicions and had to accept it.
Kakashi, who was present at the time, softened his gaze toward Shinji.
For a young Uchiha boy who had just endured the clan's massacre and was still in peril himself to decisively act during the village's crisis, using the Mangekyo Sharingan to subdue the Nine-Tails and prevent a catastrophe, spoke volumes about his character!
This also confirmed Shinji's earlier claim that he had indeed awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan on the night of the massacre.
With this clarified, the village's leadership in the office lowered their guard.
Tsunade said to Shinji: "Shinji, on behalf of Hidden Leaf, I thank you for your silent contributions!"
Shinji replied casually: "I'm a Hidden Leaf shinobi too!"
Tsunade nodded: "Yes, you're one of us!"
As Hokage, saying such words was tantamount to acknowledging Shinji and letting bygones be bygones regarding his earlier secrecy.
Koharu Utatane chimed in: "I've always said Shinji was never a threat!"
With Shinji's threat dispelled, she was the most relieved, as this allowed her to continue using Shinji to maintain her own influence.
Likewise, Shinji could naturally inherit her influence and smoothly join the ranks of Hidden Leaf's leadership.
By now, the tense atmosphere in the Hokage's office had dissipated, replaced by a sense of ease. For the village's leadership, resolving Shinji's threat meant not only losing an enemy but gaining a reliable Mangekyo-wielding Uchiha and a Kage-level asset.
Still, as Hokage, Tsunade asked: "Shinji, would you mind sharing what Mangekyo dojutsu you've awakened? Of course, this isn't a mandatory inquiry—you can choose not to answer!"
Shinji's heart leapt with joy, though he feigned a troubled expression.
He had been pondering how to naturally introduce his "large-scale immersive genjutsu training space." If he brought it up himself, it would surely raise the leadership's suspicions, hindering his promotion of the genjutsu space.
Tsunade's question saved him a lot of trouble.
Even so, he couldn't answer immediately. Only by acting reluctant could he minimize the leadership's wariness.
In an instant, the atmosphere in the Hokage's office grew tense again.
The leaders watched Shinji, speculating about what kind of Mangekyo dojutsu he had awakened.
Their tension was understandable. Mangekyo dojutsu varied wildly—from Amaterasu's unextinguishable flames to Shisui's Kotoamatsukami, a terrifying genjutsu that could completely distort someone's perception. Without knowing Shinji's dojutsu, none dared to let their guard down.
After feigning hesitation for a while, Shinji sighed: "The Mangekyo dojutsu I awakened is called 'Takamagahara'!"
"Takamagahara!?"
The group collectively frowned, as the name was unfamiliar to them.
Tsunade asked: "Is it some kind of genjutsu?"
Clearly, Tsunade wasn't going to pry further. If Shinji nodded and confirmed it was a type of genjutsu, she would drop the matter.
But Shinji wouldn't miss this rare opportunity to promote his creation: "Calling it a genjutsu isn't quite accurate! My 'Takamagahara' is actually a genjutsu space. It allows me to…"
He deliberately paused, his gaze sweeping over the group.
Having heard this much, everyone in the room was brimming with curiosity, eagerly waiting for Shinji to continue.
Shinji didn't keep them waiting too long and continued: "It allows me to freely create various scenarios and powerful sparring partners inside it for all kinds of combat training, and I can bring the results of that training into reality!"