CHAPTER 97

"This voice..."

A cold sweat broke out across Uchiha Kai's brow. He hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

No—now he was sure. He was caught in a genjutsu.

But when? How?

Kai's mind raced. His Sharingan was fully matured—three tomoe, refined over countless life-or-death battles. Beneath it was his Mangekyō. Even if someone was stronger than him, to trap him so seamlessly… it shouldn't be possible.

Unless…

He took a slow breath. A possibility surfaced in his mind. One that chilled him more than the illusion itself.

The number of Mangekyō Sharingan users in Konoha should be limited. The Uchiha clan had yet to rebel. The only one known to possess such prowess—someone old enough to have honed his skills, but young enough to hide it—was…

Uchiha Fugaku.

It made sense now—the calm voice urging restraint, the figure calling himself the Uchiha's guardian, someone trying to pull him back from the brink.

It was Fugaku. The clan head himself.

Kai gritted his teeth. He had worked so carefully to stay hidden, to manipulate events from the shadows. How did Fugaku find him?

"I didn't leave any evidence… I wiped everything clean," Kai muttered.

"Who are you really?" he demanded, his eyes scanning the shifting, monochrome void around him. "How did you find me?"

Fugaku's voice echoed from every direction, calm and measured. "The scene. You cleaned up well… but you missed something."

"A trace?" Kai frowned, thinking quickly. Then it struck him.

The kunai.

The one he had slashed mid-combat and left behind. It had belonged to Uchiha Yong.

A Sharingan wielder. That kunai had been sliced with his chakra-infused blade. A detail few would notice—unless they were another Uchiha.

"You figured it out." Fugaku's voice held a trace of disappointment. "You are clever, but even clever men make mistakes. Now, tell me… what did you mean when you said the Uchiha will perish?"

Kai's expression turned cold. "Do you really think you've won?" he said flatly. "Your genjutsu is impressive, but it ends here."

Fugaku's voice sharpened. "You're a genius, Kai. I can see that. And I don't want to kill someone with your potential. There's still a chance to talk—"

But Kai's eyes had already begun to spin.

"Do you think this is the peak of the Sharingan?" he interrupted, his voice laced with steel. "Do you really think three tomoe is the end?"

The tomoe in his eyes spun faster—until they melted into a new shape.

A triangle-shaped, crystalline Mangekyō flared to life.

At that moment, the illusion cracked.

The kneeling figure in front of him dissolved into haze. The real Fugaku, masked and silent, stood a short distance away.

Kai saw it now—Fugaku's own Mangekyō was active. Its pattern resembled Itachi's, but subtly different. Three converging spirals, each rooted in old blood.

And in those eyes… was fear.

He hadn't expected this.

Even with all his caution, Fugaku had underestimated the boy in front of him.

"Mangekyō Sharingan…"

Fugaku's mind raced. How did this boy awaken it? Who did he lose? Or has he been hiding it all this time?

Kai didn't wait.

Now that his Mangekyō was active, he understood the illusion—its structure, its pulse. It wasn't Tsukuyomi, but something similar. A bounded space forged from chakra and will.

And it was his now.

He made a single seal. Chakra and ocular power surged. The moon in the sky above turned blood red, morphing into a massive Sharingan eye.

In the sky, the diamond-shaped Mangekyō rotated slowly—mirroring Kai's.

Fugaku looked up and whispered, "This… this isn't possible…"

"It is," Kai said quietly. "You grew complacent. I didn't."

Fugaku's voice, though still calm, was tense. "How did you get those eyes? Who did you… lose?"

Kai's grip tightened on his blade. Chakra surged, wrapping the weapon in glowing blue energy.

"So many died to protect me. Friends. Brothers-in-arms. I didn't kill anyone for these eyes… but their deaths opened them all the same."

He stepped forward. "I carry their will. And now, I'll carry you down to them."

He prepared to strike.

But then Fugaku raised a hand—slowly, deliberately—and removed his mask.

Kai's eyes narrowed.

"You finally took it off," he muttered. "Otherwise… I might've killed you before the truth came out."