---Third POV---
Ryouma truly didn't expect Shisui to say something like that.
"Calm down first. I don't think things are so bad that you need to destroy your own eye."
"No, you're wrong." Shisui raised his hand and lightly touched his eye.
"At this point, I can't hide it anymore. My dōjutsu is called Kotoamatsukami. The abilities of my Mangekyō Sharingan are different in each eye. I believe what Danzō covets is probably my left eye."
"It can permanently alter a person's will without them even realizing it. After the war, I had originally intended to seal this dangerous power away forever. But I didn't expect it to be discovered by someone with ill intent."
"If these eyes could potentially endanger Konoha, then I might as well just destroy them."
He flipped his right hand, and a kunai appeared in his grip. Without the slightest hesitation, he aimed to stab it into his left eye.
Ryouma hadn't expected him to act so decisively and quickly reached out to stop him.
"That's too much. Really, it's not necessary."
"Ryouma, don't stop me. My mind is made up."
"I have other ways."
"Oh, I actually just thought of another idea, how about I entrust these eyes to you?"
As expected, every Uchiha who awakens the Mangekyō ends up digging themselves into their own mental corner.
Right now, Shisui was completely consumed with the thought that his dōjutsu might endanger Konoha, as if the things sitting in his sockets weren't eyeballs, but a pair of grenades.
Ryouma could only feign anger and shout, "Enough, Shisui! Listen to me properly!"
That shout seemed to do the trick. Shisui immediately snapped out of his twisted state from earlier.
"Sorry, I was being a bit impulsive just now. But I still think destroying it is the safest solution."
"Not necessarily." Ryouma smiled mysteriously and asked, "Have you ever heard of the Caged Bird?"
"Caged Bird? I remember that's the Hyūga clan's cursed seal technique used to protect the Byakugan, right?"
"Exactly. I can use a sealing technique to help you achieve a similar effect. If you ever find yourself unable to protect your eyes, this technique can take care of them for you."
And this was, in fact, Ryouma's original purpose for coming to see Shisui today.
Of course, using the Caged Bird as an example was a bit misleading, he had no intention of placing any binding curse on his friend.
Shisui lowered his head and seriously considered Ryouma's suggestion. It did seem highly feasible. If Ryouma's sealing technique really could mimic the effect of the Caged Bird, then this safeguard would be quite reassuring. After all, in all these years, there hadn't been a single case in the shinobi world of a Hyūga branch house member's Byakugan being stolen.
"Thank you," he said sincerely.
He had always kept the existence of Kotoamatsukami a secret, partly due to personal reasons. Back then, he had even considered using it to change the Uchiha clan's awkward position within Konoha. But before he could act, Fugaku's long-term bet had already been placed, he had built a relationship in advance with Minato and even managed to establish a connection with Ryouma, the future Fifth Hokage who was already a sure thing.
Because of this, he truly felt that he no longer needed the power of Kotoamatsukami, which is why he had been so determined to destroy it.
Not far away, Hidan and Itachi, who had been practicing shurikenjutsu, heard the commotion from Ryouma's side and looked over in confusion. Ryouma waved to them, signaling that everything was fine.
He then turned his attention back to Shisui.
"Alright, I'm going to begin."
"Go ahead."
With Shisui's consent, Ryouma took out a storage scroll from behind his back and released the seal.
Poof.
The familiar fūinjutsu set used previously to help Hidan inscribe his Lightning Speed: Hidden Form - Super Chakra Torrent Fusion Mode reappeared.
Speaking of which, ever since he obtained that special ink from Tsunade, he had only used it a few times, and always for others: once to reinforce Kushina's seal, and once to help Hidan record a jutsu.
He shook his head and cleared away these distracting thoughts. Inscribing a sealing technique was not something to be done carelessly. His Rikugan could prevent him from making errors in the brushstrokes, but they couldn't stop him from getting distracted.
"Sit down."
He held a specially crafted brush and began drawing intricate, detailed sealings around Shisui's eyelid and surrounding skin.
From a distance, Hidan and Itachi noticed what was happening. The two exchanged a glance and silently paused their training, wary of disturbing Ryouma.
Seeing him handling Shisui's face so delicately from afar, Hidan's eyes lit up with a sudden idea.
"Hey, do you think I could get him to carve a jutsu into me that automatically corrects my shuriken trajectory?"
Itachi's mouth twitched. Sometimes he really wondered if Hidan was even human.
"Even if such a jutsu existed, which I highly doubt, even he could do something like that, I'm pretty sure your suggestion would only earn you a solid beating."
"Fair point."
---
A few minutes later, Ryouma completed the final stroke of the sealing.
"Good. Now activate your Mangekyō Sharingan, and don't resist my control."
With Shisui's cooperation, Ryouma touched his forehead with one finger, then began forming a seal with his free hand, guiding Shisui's own chakra to activate the seal.
"Seal!"
The black ink flared with a blue glow, then quickly faded, sinking beneath the skin around Shisui's eye.
Ryouma scanned the seal one more time to confirm it was fully intact, then finally exhaled deeply.
"Phew… It's done."
Unlike Hidan's case, the sealing technique for Shisui was much more refined and delicate. After all, the eye is a fragile organ, unlike Hidan's body, which could endure a lot more abuse.
Touching his eye, which didn't seem to have changed at all, Shisui, who didn't know much about sealing jutsu, asked softly, "That's it? There's nothing else I need to do?"
"Nope. Next, I'll teach you how to use this sealing technique."
As he spoke, Ryouma carefully packed up the tools and resealed them into the scroll.
"This seal is a modified version of the Reverse Four Symbols Sealing. The basic idea is to create a space inside your body, kind of like a storage scroll…"
Halfway through the explanation, he suddenly paused. He wasn't talking to Minato or Kushina right now, there was no need to go into technical sealing theory with Shisui, who wouldn't benefit from the details.
"Ahem." He cleared his throat and continued, "In short, this sealing technique allows you to activate a space-time–based seal on your eye when necessary."
"There are only two activation conditions. One: you trigger it manually by channeling chakra into it. Two: it triggers automatically upon your death, or if your eye is forcibly removed."
Since this seal was meant as a safety measure for a friend, he naturally wouldn't include any controlling or restrictive functions like the Caged Bird Seal.
After helping Shisui deal with the hidden dangers of Kotoamatsukami, he pulled Itachi aside again to ask whether Hidan had been causing any trouble for the villagers recently.
Whether it was because Hidan had genuinely turned over a new leaf, or because he had some kind of shady deal with Itachi, he couldn't tell, but according to Itachi, Hidan had been diligently studying and working hard, to an almost absurd degree.
Ryouma was very pleased to hear this. It showed that his method of "education" had been a great success. The next time he met with Fugaku, he definitely needed to exchange more insights with him.
---
Lately, although Konoha appeared calm on the surface, there were turbulent undercurrents beneath. It had been four days since Orochimaru's crimes were exposed.
Under Hiruzen's leadership, the ANBU squads had practically turned Konoha upside down.
In addition to uncovering Orochimaru and Danzō's secret Wood Release experiments, they also discovered numerous other experimental sites related to the secret jutsu of various clans throughout the village. Even some minor ninja clans, long thought to have lost their traditions, weren't spared.
This utterly infuriated him. Since Danzō had already passed on to the afterlife, all of his anger was redirected at Orochimaru.
On that day, he brought a large stack of investigation reports to the Hokage's office and strongly urged Minato to convene a jonin council to formally try Orochimaru for his crimes.
Moreover, he admitted that, as someone who had failed in his supervisory duties, he too should be held accountable.
Minato didn't really want to escalate the situation, but the investigation had revealed far too much, many of the records involved studies of the secret techniques of major clans, and some experiments had even used the bodies of fellow villagers.
This was a serious matter. As Hokage, there was no way he could shield Orochimaru.
And so, today, Konoha's messenger hawks were once again busy flying across the skies.
---
In the Senju clan grounds, Ryouma and Tsunade were engaged in a heated debate over whether to add some koi fish to the pond where Isobu lived.
Tsunade felt that having an empty pond at home might bring bad luck to her gambling, so her stance was, "Add them."
Ryouma, naturally, held the opposite opinion, "Don't add them."
"Come on, what's the point of adding fish to a perfectly fine pond? Is Isobu not cute or obedient enough or something? And as for your gambling luck, with all due respect, I really don't think a pond can fix that."
"Hah? You've got some nerve. Who wants to look at a big turtle all day? Besides, I've already gotten Isobu's permission."
"Hmm? Really?"
Hearing that, Ryouma cast a questioning glance at Three-Tails.
Isobu glanced at Tsunade, who was standing there with arms crossed and a fierce expression. After a moment's hesitation, it visibly shivered, then nodded its head rapidly, clearly showing it was in agreement.
Tsunade's lips curled into a smug smile: "See? Told you so."
"That's clearly a confession forced under pressure."
Ryouma felt that Tsunade seriously lacked empathy for small creatures, no doubt a result of being spoiled by Katsuyu.
Despite being one of the three great sages, and living for over a thousand years, that slug still doted on her constantly, always cooing, "Lady Tsunade, Lady Tsunade."
Just as he was about to transform into the president of the "Small Animals Protection Society" and have a proper showdown with Tsunade, a few messenger hawks soared across the sky.
Their sharp, piercing cries tore through the air.
Ryouma and Tsunade exchanged a glance and immediately dropped their playful banter.
"Looks like the Third Hokage has finally finished his investigation. It's all on you now."
"I'm not promising I can talk him into anything. He's been digging for days, and now he's suddenly calling a jonin council meeting. Whatever Orochimaru did this time must be pretty serious."
Ryouma fully agreed with her assessment.
"Well, we can only try. No matter what, there's still that bond between teacher and student between them."
---
By the time Ryouma and Tsunade strolled into the Hokage Building's meeting room, it was already packed.
Although it was called a "jonin council," in reality, most of the attendees were clan leaders or elite members representing their respective clans.
Naturally, Fugaku was among them. When he saw Ryouma walk in, he was about to call out and invite him to sit nearby, but just as he opened his mouth, he hesitated.
Would that make his intentions too obvious? Like he was trying too hard to win Ryouma over?
While Fugaku was still hesitating, Hiashi on the other side caught sight of Ryouma and immediately brightened up. He waved enthusiastically.
"There's a seat over here."
"Oh! That's perfect."
Ryouma and Tsunade no longer needed to search for a place to sit and headed straight over to Hiashi's side.
Damn it! Fugaku cursed inwardly.
Wasn't Hiashi always boasting about being the most dignified and proper? What's with this shouting across the room nonsense?
Setting aside these small interludes, before long, Minato and Hiruzen entered the meeting room together and officially convened the gathering.
This was actually Minato's first time hosting such a large-scale jonin council, but he didn't seem even the slightest bit unprepared. After all, during the war, he had often participated in similar meetings.
"Today's gathering is to discuss how we should handle the issue regarding former advisor Danzō and jonin Orochimaru conducting forbidden experiments."
Minato went straight to the point without any buildup. To most of the attendees, though, his words landed like a thunderclap.
At Minato's signal, a few nearby ANBU members immediately began handing out the prepared documents to the attending jonin.
Ryouma, of course, received a copy as well. As he casually flipped through the listed experiments, he couldn't help but suck in a sharp breath.
"Well, damn."
Danzō had practically researched every bloodline limit and secret technique across all of Konoha's ninja clans.
No wonder Hiruzen was furious enough to summon all the clan representatives for a meeting. He really wasn't overreacting, everyone in this room had skin in the game, and old grudges too.
Just from a quick glance, he spotted several experiments involving the Senju clan.
Things like attempting to merge Senju and Uchiha cells, or transplanting Sharingan into Senju hosts, experiments of that nature.
However, considering Orochimaru's age, it was obvious that many of the older experiments were Danzō's work alone.
Thinking this, he discreetly glanced at Tsunade beside him. Seeing that her expression remained fairly composed, he gently tugged at her sleeve and whispered:
"If you're angry, you don't need to force yourself to speak up for Orochimaru. Let me do it instead."