Looking at your severed arm, the fully awakened three-tomoe Sharingan in your eyes, and the pile of jōnin heads you brought back, Danzō couldn't help but reveal a deeply conflicted expression.
Although Root's intel had long confirmed you were alive—and very likely the "Desert Reaper" feared across the Lands of Wind and Earth—your explosive growth in power and clearly unstable mental state had left him unsure of how to bring you back under Root's control.
And now, here you were, returning on your own. But you were no longer the same. Even missing an arm, your power was so overwhelming that Danzō felt like he was holding a scorching-hot sweet potato he couldn't drop or keep.
Without hesitation, you asked Danzō for the Four Symbols Seal, a technique capable of sealing the Flame of the Infested into your body.
Instead, Danzō demanded to cast Kotoamatsukami on you again. This time, he didn't act alone—he split into two shadow clones and began the process under the watch of Aburame Ryōma.
Clearly, his wariness toward you had reached a whole new level.
But just like a year ago, you sat there quietly, expressionless, meeting Danzō's gaze without betraying a single emotion.
Before long, the Kotoamatsukami was cast.
The strange part was, even with your three-tomoe Sharingan—enhanced by the faint awakening of a Mangekyō-level technique—you still found yourself nearly overpowered by the sheer force of it. The illusion was far stronger than before, almost enough to completely control you…
That's when you noticed the pale hue at the corner of Danzō's eye. Could it be… he had already transplanted Hashirama's cells?
The door suddenly opened—and in walked Orochimaru.
That confirmed it.
Danzō had indeed integrated Hashirama's cells into his body, vastly enhancing his Kotoamatsukami. At this rate, the frequency and intensity of his mental manipulations would only grow stronger.
At Danzō's command, Orochimaru—his eyes gleaming with greed—extracted a vial of blood from you.
Just as you expected, Danzō subjected you to yet another round of hypnosis.
You suspected that the strength of this latest Kotoamatsukami might now rival that of Shisui himself. It nearly broke through your defenses of Spirit and Ocular Power. Fortunately, Danzō's stamina hit its limit first. Leaving you alone in the silent chamber, he leaned on his cane and left to rest...
You seized the moment to engage the implanted Kotoamatsukami mark in a battle of mental resistance once more.
...
Two days passed.
Despite having awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, your efforts barely scratched the surface of the Kotoamatsukami seal—it remained far from being destroyed.
As you grew increasingly frustrated, Danzō and Orochimaru entered the chamber together. They didn't even try to avoid your presence. Instead, they began arguing over some data in a notebook.
You listened carefully from the sidelines.
It turned out Orochimaru had compared your blood sample with Uchiha blood collected after the massacre, as well as blood drawn from Sasuke during his hospitalization.
His conclusion?
You—and the vast majority of the Uchiha clan—lacked the qualifications to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan. Only Sasuke matched his standards.
You wanted to brush it off. After all, your Sharingan had already developed partial Mangekyō-level abilities.
But this was Orochimaru.
You couldn't help recalling how, in the entire year since unlocking your three-tomoe Sharingan, no amount of meditation or use of the Mind-Body Switch Technique to share others' pain had advanced your Ocular Power in the slightest—only your Spirit had improved.
And that footnote in the meditation scroll… it clearly implied that the Uchiha bloodline was weakening. Many could no longer even awaken the third tomoe.
Now, you understood what Orochimaru meant by "qualifications."
It wasn't just about meeting some abstract requirement—it was about bloodline strength. The bloodline of those truly capable of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan!
It turns out the reason you were stuck at the two-tomoe stage for so long was simply that… your bloodline wasn't strong enough.
A storm of emotions surged within you.
Should you feel relieved that your three-tomoe Sharingan came with traces of Mangekyō ability? Or should you resent your lack of high-tier bloodline potential?
Regardless, you were already a master at concealing your feelings. Even as your mind churned with turmoil, your face remained blank and calm.
That's when Danzō suddenly spoke—he intended to give you to Orochimaru.
But Orochimaru rejected him flatly. He only wanted Sasuke.
Your "qualifications" didn't meet his standards—and your body was already damaged.
After Orochimaru left, Danzō subjected you to multiple consecutive uses of Kotoamatsukami, attempting to reinforce the mental branding he'd implanted.
Your mind grew increasingly chaotic.
But you held on.
You clung to your will and maintained your sense of self.
Once more, you asked Danzō to fulfill his promise—your reward for the mission: the Four Symbols Seal.
But perhaps influenced by his conversation with Orochimaru—perhaps realizing your Sharingan talent would never match that of Uchiha Itachi—or perhaps simply because your strength had grown to a point where even Kotoamatsukami couldn't fully control you…
Danzō's attitude toward you had clearly deteriorated.
He no longer gave in to your requests.
Instead, he had you lower your chakra output while he personally sealed the Flame of the Infested into your body—obviously planning to tamper with the seal.
But you had already predicted this shift in behavior.
And you had your trump card—an unnamed ocular technique.
Over the past year, you had refined this ability beyond its original purpose of absorbing blood to heal wounds and stop bleeding.
You had learned to use it to devour foreign matter into your own body—fusing it into your very being.
That was how you'd enhanced your physical stats and chakra capacity by absorbing so much blood.
And it was why you weren't afraid of Danzō meddling with the seal.
As long as the Flame of the Infested was sealed into your body, you were confident you could use your eye technique to absorb it into your blood—turning it into a power no one could ever steal from you!
Once the sealing was complete, you descended into your inner world.
Sure enough, deep within the chakra source, you found a symbolic cage.
Inside, a flickering green flame swayed gently.
...
During the days of "rest" that followed, you gradually tamed the chakra flame through your powerful Spirit and Ocular Power.
But Danzō had already placed traps within the cage, controlling how quickly you could master the flame—and with it, how fast your strength could grow...
Combined with the Hashirama cells enhancing his Kotoamatsukami—now stronger and with a shorter cooldown—you had no choice but to dedicate huge amounts of time and mental energy just to defend your inner world.
Over time, you could feel your mind beginning to fray.
You suspected that Danzō would eventually acquire a Sharingan arm from Orochimaru.
If that happened, his chakra recovery rate would skyrocket—and you'd no longer be able to withstand the mental corrosion of Kotoamatsukami.
In other words...
It was only a matter of time before you became Danzō's puppet.
[Year Three]
The timing might not be perfect...
But you've already made up your mind.
You're going to strike.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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