[Main POV]

  Outside the room.

  Uchiha Itachi, with his hands behind his back, held his breath as he eavesdropped. Hearing footsteps approag the door, he quickly moved several meters down the hallway.

  As the sliding door opened, he turned around, pretending to be surprised as he made eye tact with Gojo Kaigetsu, earing a bck satin blindfold.

  "Goodbye, Uncle Gojo."

  Gojo Kaigetsu nodded, aowledging Uchiha Itachi's polite farewell.

  Setting aside the future where Uchiha Itachi bees a plete lunati the inal timelihe current Itachi was still a child whose worldview had yet to be fully formed.

  There was still hope for him.

  Talking about someone's future without sidering their enviro is like pying a trick. Gojo Kaigetsu didn't believe iiny or the i evil of human nature. He believed that the enviro in whieone grows up has a signifit impa their future.

  Therefore, when it came to the current Uchiha Itachi, he her liked nor disliked him; he just saw him as a normal child and a potential colborator.

  Straightening his clothes, Gojo Kaigetsu was eager to return home and study how the "Infinity Teique" would fun in the ninja world.

  After Gojo Kaigetsu left the Fugaku residence, Uchiha Itachi cautiously ehe meeting room.

  "Father, Mother..."

  The precocious Uchiha Itachi quickly noticed the rare expressions of rexation and joy on his parents' faces, as if a heavy stohat had been weighing on their hearts had suddenly been lifted, and the dark clouds that had shrouded their minds had bee away by a giant hand.

  'Did Gojo Kaigetsu bring this about?'

  "Is that you, Itachi... What's the matter so te?"

  Uchiha Itaodded and curiously asked, "I just found it strange... Uncle Gojo's bck satin blindfold is like he's hiding his eyes."

  "Could he be a member of our Uchiha ?"

  "Huh?"

  Fugaku and Mikoto exged gnces and then burst into hearty ughter, like doting parents: "Hahaha, if Kaigetsu were really a member of our Uchiha , that would be great..."

  Fugaku shook his head. "It's normal for ninjas to have their own uyles. Gojo-kun is a war orphan, a civilian by blood, so it's impossible for him to possess a kekkei genkai."

  "As for why he covers his eyes... it might be his unique way of training."

  Is that so?

  Uchiha Itaodded thoughtfully, though he didn't fully uand. He kept a thought to himself. during his brief eye tact with Gojo Kaigetsu earlier, he had felt as though he had been pletely seen through. It was as if all the chakra in his body was exposed to the eyes hidden behind that bck satin.

  He evehat behind that bck satin air of eyes that were no less powerful than, if not surpassing, the Sharingan of the Uchiha .

  Why did he have such a strange feeling?

  Uchiha Itachi didn't uand, but he was deeply puzzled.

  ...

  ...

  Uhe desote moonlight, only a few people were moving about the vast Uchiha grounds.

  Gojo Kaigetsu suspected that at this moment, most of the Uchiha 's shinobi had been gathered by the hawkish elders for a meeting somewhere within the .

  Looking up at the bright moon, Gojo Kaigetsu fell into thought.

  He often heard rumors that he was a "Shadow Hokage," but that was just a joke. Konoha currently had three Hokages: the nominal Hokage Minato, the oh the greatest influehe Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, and the one who had spies pnted all over Konoha, the "Darkness of the Ninja World," Danzo Shimura.

  Hiruzen Sarutobi's will extended into the Anbu, and there were still many Anbu members who were ined to obey the Third Hokage. They remained vigint against the Uchiha , maintaining policies of covert surveilnd observation.

  Gojo Kaigetsu walked out of the Uchiha grounds, strolling alone down the quiet streets.

  In the distance, a solitary utility pole stood like a ndmark, its top just toug the bottom of the round moon. From afar, it looked as if it were holding up the moon.

  With his hands in his pockets, Gojo Kaigetsu slowly came to a stop.

  Through the Six Eyes, he saw the presence of several powerful chakras, each at least at the Jonin level.

  'Is this a dispy of force?'

  'As expected of you, Danzo.'

  Gojo Kaigetsu seemed to be talking to himself as he spoke aloud to the air:

  "The Third Hokage and Danzo Shimura protect Konoha from both the light and the shadows, trolling the vilge and direg its future."

  "Old man politics is unsustainable, leaving Konoha in chaos. At ye, it's time to make way for the geion, just like the rising aing of the sun. it's aernal truth."

  "Why not hand over all power to Minato aire to your for your twilight years?"

  "Don't you agree, Danzo?"

  Gojo Kaigetsu's deep, magic voice echoed through the empty streets. As he finished speaking, a bandaged, middle-aged man slowly emerged from the shadows.

  Danzo Shimura.

  And behind Danzo were eleven masked Root ninja.

  "Hmph, Gojo Kaigetsu, daring to question the Konoha leadership, meeting privately with the Uchiha . what is your true purpose?"

  "Questioning? Eh? Me?" Gojo Kaigetsu poi himself, exaggeratingly looking around: "e on, Danzo-dono, I'm at least an advisor to the Fourth Hokage~ It's only natural that I have some opinions on Konoha's personnel ges."

  "Hmph, you have a way with words. But that won't work on me. Once you reach Root, all your pretenses will be stripped away."

  "Gojo Kaigetsu, I now suspect you are involved in a secret plot to overthrow Konoha. e with me to Root."

  "Take him. Bring him back to Root."

  The Root ninja behind Danzo exged ghrough their masks, then moved with precision, f a circle to surround Gojo Kaigetsu and advang step by step.

  Danzo's thoughts were simple. Gojo Kaigetsu was just a civilian in, without a powerful bag him, only the civilian-born Hokage Minato as his support. If he secretly took him away for interrogation, nothing would happen.

  Hiruzen would uand, and Minato would defer to Hiruzen. They wouldn't do anything to him.

  Meanwhile, Danzo could fully analyze and decipher the mystery of Gojo Kaigetsu. As the "Darkness of the Ninja World," he couldn't tolerate the existence of someone as enigmatid revolutionary as Gojo Kaigetsu.

  Gojo Kaigetsu's smile widened, his expression a mix of amusement and disbelief as he asked, "Danzo, are you sure you want to do this?"

  "Even if it means risking war with the Uchiha tonight?"

  "What Uchiha?"

  Danzo Shimura's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but he followed his subordinate's gaze to a distant utility pole.

  His cloudy, aged eyes suddenly tracted, and his body stiffened. He saw.

  With the giant round moon as the backdrop.

  In the cold wind, the light blue ninja robes fluttered.

  Dozens of Sharingan, each with varying numbers of tomoe, gleamed with a crimson and icy light, log onto him, Danzo Shimura.

  ...