Chapter 2: Uchiha Tohan

"Is it surprising to you that I possess it when even your limited perspective can awaken such eyes?" Uchiha Tohaku said.

“Tohaku, your thoughts are too dangerous. For the sake of the village, I’m sorry!” Seeing the Mangekyō Sharingan in Uchiha Tohaku’s eyes, Uchiha Shisui no longer hesitated and unleashed the Kotoamatsukami from his left eye, a permanent mind-altering genjutsu originally meant for Uchiha Fugaku.

However, the next instant, a sharp pain burst through Shisui’s eyes, and in a flash, he was engulfed in eternal darkness.

“Since I already know the function of your dōjutsu, how could I not be prepared for it?” Uchiha Tohaku’s voice echoed beside Shisui, who had already fallen into darkness.

“You... How did you manage that?” Shisui asked with difficulty, covering his hollow eyes with one hand.

“My dōjutsu is called ‘Moment.’” Taking advantage of Shisui’s disorientation in the darkness, Uchiha Tohaku disarmed him, sealed his chakra, and explained, “It allows me to see countless possibilities within a single moment and choose the most correct path. You used your dōjutsu on me, but I evaded and countered—that was just one possibility.”

“How do you know about my dōjutsu?” Though powerless to fight now, Shisui still tried to glean information.

“I told you, my eyes can see futures you cannot,” Uchiha Tohaku said, playing with the pair of Mangekyō Sharingan in his hands.

“A prophetic dōjutsu?” Shisui smiled bitterly. “It seems everything I’ve done has been under your control, hasn’t it?”

Uchiha Tohaku did not answer Shisui’s question but spoke on his own: “The clan’s records call the Mangekyō the ‘Eye Reflecting the Soul,’ but I prefer to call it the ‘Eye of Answers.’ Every predecessor who possessed these eyes faced an inner trial, and the dōjutsu born from these eyes was their answer.”

“Since you repeatedly emphasize your capacity, I want to know: when faced with the clan’s and the village’s trials, why was your answer to dominate others’ wills? Do you also believe that the conflict between clan and village is irreconcilable under normal circumstances?” Uchiha Tohaku asked.

Faced with Tohaku’s probing question, Shisui fell silent. Tohaku was right—because he saw no future reconciling the village and the clan, despair mixed with a buried ninja’s ferocity awakened in him a nearly reckless dōjutsu.

“Such an arrogant answer,” Uchiha Tohaku said lightly. “The clan’s blood grants you power, yet you seek to use it against your own kin.”

“What do you intend to do with my eyes?” Shisui grit his teeth. “Control the Third Hokage? Your scheme won’t succeed. Even if you could manipulate the Third, the rest of the village won’t stand idly by against a Uchiha coup. The village’s strength isn’t something the clan alone can withstand. You will only push the Uchiha into the abyss.”

“Still so arrogant, Shisui,” Uchiha Tohaku chuckled softly as he loosened Shisui’s binds. “Do you not yet admit my capacity surpasses yours? Directly controlling Hiruzen Sarutobi? That’s merely the most basic use of these eyes.”

After speaking, Tohaku pulled a test tube from his pocket and tossed it to Shisui.

Though blind, Shisui’s keen ninja senses allowed him to catch it easily. “What is this?”

“A pair of three-tomoe magatama I took from the clan’s shrine,” Uchiha Tohaku said. “You’re free to go.”

“You’re not going to kill me?” Shisui was stunned.

“Kill you?” Tohaku laughed lightly. “Why would I?”

He patted Shisui’s shoulder. “Go. Tell Hiruzen Sarutobi the power of your eyes, and then, with these ancestral eyes, take a good look at the new future I’ve opened.”

With that, Uchiha Tohaku turned and walked away from the Forest of Death without looking back.

Back at the edge of the Uchiha territory, Tohaku summoned his ninja hawk and installed the pair of Mangekyō Sharingan onto it before releasing the summon.

“With the Kotoamatsukami in hand, my plan can truly begin,” Uchiha Tohaku said as he stood by the window, gazing out into the night. The lights of Konoha were bright in the distance, a stark contrast to the silence within the Uchiha lands.

Since being transported into this world fourteen years ago by some great force, Uchiha Tohaku always felt out of place in this sickly world. After all, even the most ruthless capitalism seemed too advanced for the shinobi world.

In his previous life, Tohaku was just an ordinary office worker whose only hobby was studying mathematics during his free time. Unexpectedly, after arriving here, his deceased parents gave him a name symbolizing loyalty.

Because of this damned world, Tohaku had to start learning killing techniques at the age of nine and, under the banner of the Will of Fire, was sent to the battlefield. Fortunately, his bloodline granted him the talent to survive, and amid life-or-death struggles, he awakened the clan’s ultimate power—the Mangekyō Sharingan—allowing him to survive until the war ended.

However, Tohaku knew surviving the battlefield was not the end; the night of the clan’s annihilation years later was something he had to consider.

But the Uchiha clan council, now a tradition, was nothing but endless, indifferent bickering. Tohaku understood that to change the future, he could only rely on himself.

Obtaining Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami was only the first step in his plan.

Though harboring other intentions, Tohaku’s assessment of Shisui today was sincere: arrogant, foolish, yet innocent. Despite possessing such a formidable tool as the Kotoamatsukami, Shisui met a tragic end in the original timeline. He could have boldly displayed the power of his eyes and become a Damocles sword hanging over Konoha’s leaders and the Uchiha clan alike, but he chose the most foolish path.

Fortunately, “Now, it is mine.”

Uchiha Tohaku smiled calmly by the window, looking toward the Hokage Rock. The four shadowy faces in the darkness were indistinct, but Tohaku’s gaze fixed on the third.

“So, strongest Hokage in history, what will you do?”