Chapter 818: Chapter 819: Mom Doesn’t Have to Worry About My Eyesight Anymore

The scene turned incredibly awkward, and Itachi didn’t know how to respond.

Did he want to kill Danzo? Of course. But would killing Danzo solve everything? Maybe it would fix a few surface-level problems, but the root cause would remain unchanged.

Ethan didn’t care about that. In his mind, if anyone dared to defend that old ghost, he’d just kill them all.

"..."

Kakashi listened to Ethan’s words, cold sweat forming on his forehead. He felt like he had just heard something outrageous.

He knew Ethan had been working with Tsunade lately, handling various village affairs, so it wasn’t surprising that he was well-informed. But the hostility Ethan displayed toward certain people, did that reflect the Hokage’s current stance?

"Is Konoha about to face a bloody storm?"

Itachi spoke up. He didn’t know what Ethan’s status in the village was, but he acknowledged Ethan’s strength.

Even though he didn’t think Ethan could eliminate all those people, with his strength, even if he failed, his enemies would pay a steep price.

"Wouldn’t that just give outside enemies an opportunity to strike?"

"You overestimate those weaklings," Ethan glanced at him, then at Kakashi. "And you underestimate my strength."

"I see."

From Ethan’s gaze, Itachi understood one thing: Ethan hadn’t used his full strength in their fight.

It was hard to imagine how terrifying Ethan would be at full power. He thought of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, who nearly single-handedly ended the era of chaos and founded Konoha. And Ethan, who also had Wood Release, might possess comparable strength.

That possibility seemed quite high.

"In that case, why are you so determined to bring me back?"

If Ethan had the strength to eliminate his enemies directly, that meant Konoha wasn’t lacking in power. Itachi couldn’t figure out why he was so insistent on taking him back.

"Because I’m a reasonable person."

Ethan spread his hands. If it were up to him, he’d simply find Danzo’s hideout, kill everyone inside, and be done with it. But neither Tsunade nor Hiruzen Sarutobi would accept that kind of method.

He didn’t want to become a rogue ninja, wandering aimlessly. He lived a pretty comfortable life in Konoha and didn’t want to ruin it over one pest. So, he needed a proper reason to act against those people.

Itachi was clearly the perfect reason.

Since Danzo had colluded with outsiders to wipe out a major clan in the village, then he was a spy and traitor. With a witness, Ethan would have a legitimate reason to act, and the villagers wouldn’t think he was doing anything wrong.

Once Danzo was eliminated, more evidence would surface, and Danzo would fall into the abyss with no hope of redemption.

"So you want me to go back and testify against Danzo."

"Exactly."

Itachi closed his eyes, considering how much weight Ethan’s words actually carried.

Honestly, as someone more familiar with the village’s dark side, Itachi didn’t think Ethan’s plan was realistic. He knew how the major clans operated.

Not to mention Danzo’s talent for hiding, even if he made no effort to cover his tracks, even if there was clear evidence right in front of everyone, it would still be useless.

If Ethan really wanted to take down Danzo, what he could truly rely on was his overwhelming strength, not so-called evidence or reason.

So, was Ethan strong enough? Itachi believed that even if Ethan couldn’t succeed, he could severely cripple Danzo and those behind him.

Success seemed possible, but what Itachi cared about wasn’t that. What mattered to him was Sasuke.

Whether the plan succeeded or failed, Sasuke’s situation in the village would become very awkward, which ran completely counter to his original intentions.

"I refuse."

"Because of Sasuke?" Ethan casually grabbed some food. He had been busy all day and hadn’t eaten yet. "But you’re overlooking Sasuke’s own thoughts. Now that he knows the truth, do you really think he’ll just quietly follow your plan and become a clueless Konoha ninja?"

"Of course not."

Sasuke was already awake. He knew the truth about the Uchiha massacre. Even if Konoha couldn’t be entirely blamed, the people in the village who insisted on wiping out the Uchiha were undoubtedly his real enemies.

Especially after learning that the Third Hokage had actually leaned toward having Shisui use his Mangekyo to change the Uchiha clan’s radicals, only for the entire plan to be sabotaged by Danzo—who not only wanted to eliminate the Uchiha, but even killed Shisui. That alone made him the focal point of all the hatred.

Even Itachi, who had silently borne the burden all these years, suffering through illness while still working for Konoha, had most of his pain directly caused by Danzo.

With Sasuke’s personality, the only reason he hadn’t rushed back to Konoha to kill Danzo was because of Ethan’s guidance during this time.

Seeing Sasuke’s reaction, Itachi suddenly realized that Ethan had probably predicted Sasuke’s response long ago.

In this situation, he had no other choice.

Sasuke would definitely not pretend he knew nothing and continue as an obedient Konoha ninja. In fact, this revelation could even push him to defect.

And that was absolutely unacceptable to Itachi.

If he wanted Sasuke to remain in Konoha, then the threats within the village had to be eliminated.

Closing his eyes with a sigh, Itachi realized that from the moment he confronted Ethan, everything that followed was already determined. He had no choice.

"What are you planning to do?"

Once he asked that, Ethan knew the matter was settled.

Either way, he had finally convinced Itachi to return to Konoha. The next step was to deal with Danzo, but there was no rush. Whether it happened a day earlier or later didn’t matter.

"There’s no need to go back immediately. We’re currently on a long-term mission, searching for Orochimaru’s secret bases to ensure there are no more enemy strongholds in Konoha or the Land of Fire. That gives us enough time... for your body to recover."

Itachi could already feel his chakra returning to normal, and his body felt significantly better, almost as if he was back at his peak.

Was it just an illusion, or had his eyesight improved too?

"Wondering if your vision’s gotten better?" Seeing Itachi’s surprised expression, Ethan gave a casual look, as if it were a trivial matter. "Actually, as long as you find the right method, the side effects of the Sharingan can be eliminated."

"..."

Itachi didn’t believe it. Although few in the clan had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, those who had were all incredibly talented.

Could Ethan really solve a problem that even those geniuses couldn’t?

But the facts proved that he could. Ethan had simply taught Itachi a special chakra control method. When using his Mangekyo abilities, the terrible side effects on his eyes were gone.

No matter how powerful the Mangekyo was, it was still just converting chakra into special ninjutsu through the Sharingan. Perhaps this conversion process was what caused the damage. All Ethan had to do was find out whether it was the chakra’s nature or the fragility of the eyes causing it.

Either way, once the problem was identified, it could be solved. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

His level was too high. Chakra was just a form of energy. With his perspective and deep understanding of chakra, fixing the issue wasn’t hard. Plus, the fact that evolving the Mangekyo into the Eternal Mangekyo could remove the side effects proved the issue was solvable.

With Ethan’s intervention, Itachi’s eyes returned to normal. Even though his Mangekyo hadn’t evolved via eye transplantation as described in the clan records, it could still be called an Eternal Mangekyo.

The same went for Sasuke and Kakashi. Sasuke’s Mangekyo had just awakened and was still unstable, which Ethan thought was actually better. From the start, he had taught Sasuke the "correct" way to use his eyes. Once it became habit, he would be able to use them more effectively—and Ethan thought the Eternal Mangekyo’s design wasn’t as cool as the original anyway.

Now, neither Itachi nor Sasuke had to consider eye transplants, and Kakashi no longer had to worry about his Sharingan becoming useless.

In fact, Ethan’s guidance helped Kakashi the most. After using Ethan’s technique, the strain from the Sharingan was greatly reduced, and his chakra consumption returned to normal levels.

Although he still couldn’t deactivate the Sharingan at will, at least it no longer drained his chakra constantly.

Kakashi was thrilled. This meant his strength had increased significantly. But then Ethan said something that made him a bit uneasy.

"Did you know? Uchiha Madara could still use Susanoo even after losing his Sharingan... and Uchiha Shisui had a record of activating Susanoo with only one Sharingan."

There was no need to explain further. Kakashi understood perfectly: You’d better master Susanoo.

"Wait... you’re including me too?"

Ethan had been continuously providing benefits to Itachi and Sasuke, all for the purpose of eliminating Danzo. These brothers were convenient reinforcements.

But from the way he spoke, it sounded like he included himself in the plan too?

(To be continued.)

◇◇◇

◇ One bonus Chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.

◇ You can read the ahead Chapter on Pat if you’re interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)