After listening to Uchiha Icarus's words, Uchiha Yuan cursed him internally for being a scumbag, especially in regard to Keiko. Yet, his face remained solemn as he replied without hesitation:
"Elder Icarus, I truly wish for the Uchiha clan and the village to coexist peacefully and prosper together. My loyalty to the clan and the village is no less than yours.
I will dedicate everything to defend them both. I also give you my word: if I become clan head, I will ensure that someone from the Uchiha clan becomes Hokage."
Uchiha Icarus opened his Sharingan and stared intently at Yuan.
Yuan returned the gaze with firm eyes, unwavering.
After a long silence, Icarus sighed and said, "Fine! Yuan, I trust you. But now that Shisui has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan...
Many of us inherited Lord Kagami's will, and Shisui is his descendant. If Shisui agrees as well, then you'll take charge of the pacifist faction."
Yuan nodded, picked up Shisui, and left.
After they had gone, Icarus looked at Keiko, who was still kneeling, with a complex expression.
"Keiko, I'm sorry."
A trace of sorrow flickered in Keiko's eyes, but she remained composed and obedient, as always. While adjusting her clothes, she said calmly:
"Lord Icarus, there's no need to apologize. It's an honor for Keiko to be your servant."
She then respectfully bowed to Icarus and quietly left the room.
Shisui remained asleep at Yuan's home for a full day and night.
The burden of awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan was tremendous—especially for someone of Shisui's young age.
"Yuan-senpai? How long did I sleep?" Shisui asked, rubbing his aching head.
"A full day and night. You just awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, so both your body and spirit were under extreme strain. Sleeping longer is a good thing."
Shisui nodded, but his expression was somber as he touched his eyes.
"Shisui, what's your Mangekyō ability?" Yuan asked.
"It's Kotoamatsukami. It allows me to invade someone's mind unnoticed and alter their will.
When I awakened the Mangekyō, I was thinking of using genjutsu to stop that person from attacking my senior. But my genjutsu didn't activate in time... he killed him first.
That's when I awakened my eyes. Maybe because I was trying to use genjutsu at that moment, I developed this power."
Yuan let out a sigh of relief. It seemed Shisui's Mangekyō ability hadn't changed despite his interference as the proverbial butterfly.
Objectively, Kotoamatsukami was an incredibly broken technique—it manipulated others completely without their awareness. In the original series, it was described as: "It turns anyone seen by the caster into a puppet."
The only flaw was its long cooldown—decades—unless one had the chakra of Hashirama Senju, which greatly shortened the interval.
Yuan had considered asking Asana to share her related research and give Shisui an injection, but...
Now, he wasn't sure if Shisui was still the same person after awakening the Mangekyō. Many Uchiha became mentally unstable after gaining it.
So Yuan subtly probed Shisui's mindset.
During their conversation, Yuan found that Shisui hadn't changed much. This showed his continuous ideological "conditioning" had worked.
Even better—Shisui now trusted Yuan more deeply.
This was excellent news for Yuan.
Over the next week, Yuan helped Shisui get accustomed to the Mangekyō, also informing him of its side effects.
Shisui already knew some of it. Regarding eventual blindness, he didn't mind. To him, power came at a cost—and blindness was the Mangekyō's price.
Yuan admired his mindset. He resolved to observe a bit longer and then help Shisui deal with the long-term side effects.
With Shisui's support, Yuan successfully gained control over the pacifist faction—half of the Uchiha clan.
Just as Yuan was preparing to move against the hawks, he received a message from Hyuga Asana: Orochimaru's human experimentation had been exposed.
By the time Yuan arrived, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze, and a large force of ANBU had already surrounded Orochimaru's lab.
Orochimaru, for his part, remained calm and allowed both Hokage to inspect the lab.
In the original timeline, Orochimaru's human experimentation cost the lives of many children. But in this altered world, thanks to his early research on White Zetsu's cells and successful studies on Hashirama's cells from Uchiha Yuan via Asana, only two children had died so far.
Two children versus the potential of a Kage-level powerhouse? Anyone with a brain would know which held more value.
Both Hokage were relieved to see that the situation wasn't as bad as the intel had claimed.
They had both received the same report—stating that Orochimaru had used Hashirama's cells for human experimentation, killing dozens or even hundreds of innocent children.
The Third Hokage was already aware of Orochimaru's research—he had tacitly approved it.
But he couldn't accept it if that research involved sacrificing children in such large numbers.
Minato was even more righteous and would never tolerate anything that harmed the village.
That was why they had rushed over.
But to their surprise, the intel had been exaggerated. The difference between two children and "dozens or hundreds" was astronomical.
Had they known it was only two casualties, neither Hiruzen nor Minato would've made such a dramatic scene.
Now the truth was out—Orochimaru's research on Hashirama's cells, his experimentation on children, all of it was exposed.
No matter the number of victims, the village had to respond with a fair and public judgment.
Both Hokage realized they had been set up.
Someone wanted Orochimaru to fall—someone aiming to weaken the Hokage faction. That's why they'd deliberately leaked and embellished the intel, pushing it into their hands.
(To Be Continued...)