Since even someone with your insignificant capacity could awaken those eyes, is it really so strange that I possess them?" Uchiha Douhuan said calmly.
"Douhuan, your way of thinking is far too dangerous. For the sake of the village… I'm sorry!"
The moment Uchiha Shisui saw the Mangekyō Sharingan in Douhuan's eyes, he no longer hesitated. He activated his left eye—the Kotoamatsukami that was originally prepared for Uchiha Fugaku, a genjutsu capable of permanently rewriting a person's thoughts.
However, in the very next second, searing agony exploded in both of Shisui's eyes.
Darkness engulfed him.
"Since I already know exactly what your eye technique does, how could I not prepare for it?"
Douhuan's voice echoed beside the now-blind Shisui.
"You… how did you do it?"
Shisui covered his now-empty eye sockets with one hand, forcing the words out.
"My eye technique—Yasogai Tsunohikaru," Douhuan explained as he disarmed the disoriented Shisui, sealing his chakra before the man could adapt to the darkness. "It lets me see countless possibilities that could occur within a single instant… and choose the optimal one. You attempted to use your eye technique on me. I avoided it and counter-attacked—that was simply the best possibility among them."
"How did you know about my eye technique…?"
Though he no longer had the power to continue fighting, Shisui still tried to gather as much intel as he could.
"I told you already—my eyes can see the future that you people cannot."
Douhuan toyed with the pair of Mangekyō Sharingan now in his hand.
"Prophecy-type ocular power, huh?"
Shisui let out a bitter laugh. "Looks like everything I've done… has been inside your grasp from the start, hasn't it?"
Douhuan didn't bother answering. Instead, he spoke leisurely:
"The clan records say the Mangekyō reflects the heart—an eye born from one's inner world. But I prefer to call it the Eye of Answers. Every predecessor who awakened it faced a profound question from their own heart… and the jutsu born from the Mangekyō is simply the answer they gave."
"Since you keep insisting on talking about 'capacity,' then tell me—why is it that when you were confronted with the question of clan versus village, the answer you came up with was to control the will of others? Does that mean you truly believe the conflict between the clan and the village can never be reconciled by normal means?" Douhuan asked.
Shisui fell silent.
Douhuan was right.
It was exactly because he could see no future for the clan and the village—mixed with buried ninja brutality and despair—that he awakened a Mangekyō with such an unreasonable ability.
"What an arrogant answer," Douhuan said quietly. "The bloodline of our clan granted you that power, yet your first impulse was to use it on your own clansmen."
"What do you intend to do with my eyes?" Shisui gritted out. "Control the Third Hokage? Your scheme won't succeed. Even if you control him, the rest of the village won't sit by and watch the Uchiha rebel. Konoha's strength isn't something a single clan can oppose. You'll doom the entire Uchiha."
"Still so arrogant… Shisui-nii."
Douhuan chuckled as he released the restraints binding Shisui.
"Even now, you refuse to admit that my capacity surpasses yours? Directly controlling Sarutobi Hiruzen? That would be the most basic use of these eyes."
He reached into his robes, took out a test tube, and tossed it toward Shisui.
Though blind, Shisui easily caught it thanks to his honed ninja senses.
"…What is this?"
"A pair of three-tomoe Sharingan I retrieved from the clan shrine," Douhuan replied. "You can go."
"You're… not going to kill me?" Shisui froze.
"Kill you?" Douhuan smiled lightly.
"Why would I kill you?"
He patted Shisui's shoulder.
"Go. Tell Sarutobi Hiruzen the ability of your eye.
Then, use those eyes inherited from our ancestors… and watch closely the new future I will carve open."
With that, Uchiha Douhuan turned and left the Forest of Death without looking back.
Back at the small residence on the outskirts of the Uchiha District, Douhuan summoned his ninja hawk. He implanted the two Mangekyō Sharingan into the hawk's body, then released the summon.
"Kotoamatsukami secured. Now my plan can truly begin."
Standing by the window, Douhuan gazed at the night.
The glowing lights of Konohagakure stood in stark contrast to the heavy silence of the Uchiha compound.
Fourteen years ago, after being hit by a delivery truck and arriving in this world, Douhuan had always felt out of place in this twisted society. Even capitalism—with all its evils—felt too advanced for the shinobi world.
In his previous life, he had been nothing but an ordinary corporate drone. His only hobby had been studying a bit of "Five Studies" during his free time.
He never expected that, after coming here, his deceased parents would give him such a loyal-sounding name.
Because of this cursed world, Douhuan was forced to learn killing techniques from childhood. At the age of nine, he was sent to the battlefield under the banner of the Will of Fire. Fortunately, his inherited bloodline granted him the talent to survive.
In the face of life-and-death crises, he awakened the Uchiha clan's ultimate gift—the Mangekyō Sharingan—and managed to live until the war ended.
But Douhuan knew that surviving the battlefield wasn't the end.
The Night of the Uchiha Massacre, just a few years away, was the true threat he had to prepare for.
Yet at every clan meeting, all the Uchiha ever did was engage in meaningless arguments.
Douhuan understood: if he wanted to change the future, he could rely on no one but himself.
Obtaining Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was merely the first step of his plan.
Although he had his own agenda, everything he said today about Shisui had been sincere—
Arrogant.
Naive.
Foolish.
Possessing a weapon as overwhelming as Kotoamatsukami, yet still ending up dead in the original timeline…
If he had displayed his power openly, he could have been a Sword of Damocles hanging over both Konoha's leadership and the Uchiha clan.
But instead, he chose the most idiotic path.
Fortunately, it belongs to me now.
Douhuan smirked faintly, looking toward the Hokage Rock.
In the darkness, the four carved faces were obscured.
His gaze locked onto the third face.
So then… The strongest Hokage in history.
What will you do?