Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 154 I am Uchiha Madara

The moonlight was fragmented by the branches, casting shadows on the ground like ghostly claws.

"Huh! Hoo!"

Uchiha Shisui knelt on the ground, slowly closed his eyes, the light of his Mangekyou Sharingan gradually faded, and he gasped for breath.

Sweat mixed with thick, crimson tears of blood trickled down from the corner of his tightly closed eyes, leaving a bloody trail on his pained face.

"Shisui!" Itachi Uchiha asked immediately, "Are you alright?"

Shisui closed his eyes and shook his head, feeling countless steel needles churning inside his skull, which gradually subsided after a long while.

To be on the safe side, he used Kotoamatsukami at its maximum power against Fugaku, which not only depleted his chakra but also almost exhausted his own eye power.

And the final result...

Before him stood Fugaku Uchiha, his posture still upright, but the moment the technique was completed, his crimson Sharingan, which had been activated instinctively, turned back into black pupils.

The look of astonishment on his face also vanished as quickly as the tide receded, replaced by the usual calm and slightly melancholic demeanor of the Fugaku clan chief.

However, something seems to be missing from this seemingly ordinary atmosphere, like a perfect portrait that has lost the warmth and depth of the true soul of the person in the painting.

The strangest thing is that Fugaku showed no sign of vigilance or suspicion about his presence here, or about Shisui, who was shedding blood and tears and was clearly in an abnormal state.

"Shisui?"

Fugaku Uchiha spoke, his voice steady and deep as usual. His gaze fell on Shisui, and he asked, "What are you doing here? Are you looking for Itachi?"

That matter-of-fact tone, as if Shisui's presence here was the most normal thing in the world, was eerily chilling.

"Lord Fugaku."

Uchiha Shisui forced a smile through the excruciating pain in his head and looked up, his face streaked with blood and tears. He tentatively asked, "You're the one who sent me. Don't you remember?"

Uchiha Itachi, standing behind Fugaku, held his breath, his heart pounding like a drum.

"Huh? I asked you to come?"

A perfectly timed look of bewilderment appeared on Fugaku's face, without questioning the truthfulness of Shisui's words. Instead, his eyes revealed a look of trying hard to recall.

"Have you been too tired lately and forgotten?" Zhishui continued.

Upon hearing this, Fugaku's tightly furrowed brows relaxed, as if he had suddenly realized something. He raised his hand and gently rubbed his temples, shaking his head and saying, "I've been overworking myself lately, and my memory has gotten worse."

It's so natural.

It's so natural it's chilling.

Looking at his father's incredibly "natural" reaction, Itachi Uchiha felt an indescribable chill creep up his spine.

The calm, cautious, and experienced father had no doubts about all the strange and unusual things happening before him and accepted Zhishui's fabricated explanation without hesitation.

Is this the power of Kotoamatsukami? Is this the Mangekyou Sharingan?

Seeing Fugaku's complete acceptance and lack of resistance, Shisui finally felt a huge weight lifted from his heart, and turned to meet Itachi's gaze in the dim light.

Kotoamatsukami, it's working!
The core of the plan has succeeded!
The consciousness of the clan leader before us has been subtly rewritten, turning him into a perfect puppet capable of obeying all commands!
This is what makes Kotoamatsukami truly terrifying.

It's not about any earth-shattering destructive power, but about how it can so silently and perfectly rewrite a person's cognition and will, turning them into a puppet without them even realizing it.

Having witnessed the horror of "rewriting cognition" firsthand, Shisui couldn't help but think of Hinata Kumokawa's illusions, thinking to himself, "Fortunately, his illusions only manipulate the five senses and don't reach this level."

Thinking of this, he took a deep breath, suppressed the waves of weakness coming from his mental state, stood up, and looked at Uchiha Fugaku in front of him.

"Lord Fugaku."

Shizuku's voice returned to calm, and he said in an unquestionable tone, "You may be under too much pressure and sleepwalking. Since there's nothing important, you should go back and rest."

"If there's anything we need you to do, Itachi and I will let you know."

Fugaku showed no sign of offense or displeasure, and nodded without hesitation, replying in a calm tone, "Alright, then I'll have to trouble you."

He turned around naturally and calmly and walked back to his study, his steps steady and familiar, showing no sign of being manipulated or awkward.

That naturally revealed composure was perfectly consistent with his usual demeanor.

As Shisui watched his figure disappear from sight, his tense body suddenly swayed, and Itachi quickly reached out to support him.

"Ahem." Shisui coughed lightly, sounding weak, "Next is to manipulate Lord Fugaku, to make him lure out those radical clansmen, and then..."

Perhaps out of guilt and reluctance, he did not continue, but Itachi Uchiha's eyes flickered, and he said in a deep voice, "Can we silently eliminate all the radicals on our own?"

"Moreover, many of them are on missions outside the village year-round, and their whereabouts are uncertain. If we want to eliminate all the radicals, we need to transfer them on missions like Danzo did before, which requires the help of the village's higher-ups."

"Furthermore, even if we succeed, the remaining tribespeople will find out sooner or later. When that happens, what will you and I do in the face of their wrath..."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shisui, though still in a daze, fell into a long silence after being reminded.

If he were to unleash the ultimate power residing within his Mangekyou Sharingan, he was confident he could kill all the radical members of his clan in one fell swoop.

However, as Itachi said, it was difficult for them to gather their clansmen together; even at previous clan meetings, many were absent. Especially knowing that the Anbu were monitoring the clan, Shisui and his companion were even more aware of the consequences of forcibly summoning all the clansmen.

By then, before they even have a chance to act, the Konoha leadership will likely notice something amiss, suspect they are planning a coup, and preemptively strike against the Uchiha clan.

"So, should we still tell the village's higher-ups?" Shisui wondered to himself.

If it were the former Uchiha Shisui, he might have chosen to trust the village's higher-ups.

However, after witnessing the bizarre effects of "Kotoamatsukami," even he himself felt chilled by this terrifying power, let alone the three high-ranking members, including the Third Hokage.

This is no longer a question of whether the two sides trust each other; it's something that would terrify anyone who saw it, and suspicion would spread like wildfire.

No one can accept having their will altered by others, not even if they kill their closest relatives with their own hands.

"..."

The night wind blew through the courtyard, swirling up a few withered leaves and making a rustling sound, like a whisper.

Just as the suffocating silence was about to completely engulf the two of them.

"Hehehe..."

A deep, sullen, and undisguised mocking laugh suddenly rang out above the two men.

Uchiha Itachi and Shisui instantly felt their hair stand on end, almost instinctively, and jumped up like cats whose tails had been stepped on.

I distanced myself from the sound and went into the empty courtyard.

The crimson Sharingan activated, and the figure looked in the direction from which the sound came.

Under the astonished and solemn gazes of the two, the air above the house, which had been empty, seemed to be twisted and rotated by an invisible hand.

A long-haired figure wearing an orange one-eyed mask appeared out of thin air without a sound!
呲! !

Without the slightest hesitation, several kunai, gleaming with cold light and carrying the killing intent of Shisui and the other man, shot towards the figure's throat and heart!
However, those kunai pierced through the figure without any hindrance, as if shooting into a void of air, without causing any blood or even the slightest sense of force.

"What is that?" Itachi Uchiha's expression changed slightly.

But the moment the kunai pierced through the other's body, Shisui's Sharingan suddenly narrowed, clearly capturing the fleeting crimson beneath the mask's hole.

Those eyes were clearly Sharingan.

Moreover, that pattern...

"Mangekyo Sharingan!"

Shisui's heart pounded like a drum. He stared intently at the masked man and said in a deep voice, "Who are you? How come you have eyes like mine?"

Upon hearing this, Itachi suddenly turned to look at him, his face filled with horror.

Besides Shisui, the Uchiha clan actually possesses a second pair of Mangekyou Sharingan?!

Without a doubt, the person who came was Uchiha Obito, who had returned to his old ways.

"Humph……"

Obito Uchiha let out a sneer, looked down at the two below, and imitated Madara Uchiha's tone, saying, "Kid, you seem to have misunderstood something."

"It's not that I have the same eyes as you, but that you have the same eyes as me."

Upon hearing this, Uchiha Shisui narrowed his eyes, but soon, as if he had thought of something, his pupils contracted slightly.

After awakening his Mangekyou Sharingan, he consulted countless ancient texts and learned that in the past hundred years, only one person in the Uchiha clan, besides himself, had awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan.

"My name..."

Obito Uchiha slightly raised his chin, his expression carrying the indifference that comes with age: "Madara Uchiha."

A tremendous sense of absurdity and a chilling feeling that went straight to the bone instantly gripped Shisui and the other person.

"Impossible!" Itachi Uchiha blurted out, "Madara Uchiha is dead!"

"Hmph, what naive brats." Obito's tone was filled with an all-powerful mockery. "Has my appearance robbed you of your ability to think calmly?"

"Or are you saying that you're nothing special after all?"

Upon hearing this, Itachi forced himself to calm down, staring intently at the figure. He finally felt a sense of familiarity and remembered what had happened three years ago.

Three years ago, due to the deaths of his teammates and teachers, and because of fear and his own weakness, he awakened the double-tomoe Sharingan.

The person who killed them was this guy right in front of them!

"So it was you." Itachi's voice was hoarse. Shisui, standing beside him, frowned and asked, "Itachi, do you know him?"

Itachi nodded and said, "He's the guy I told you about before, the one who killed Pegasus."

(End of this chapter)