Chương 23: The Red Eyed Man.

But Tobirama looked unconvinced.

"Why would anyone know that Uchiha Madara is even alive in the first place? We could guess because he's not here. Why would anyone else come to the same conclusion." he argued. Sakumo frowned and after a bit of thinking spoke in a soft tone, "Perhaps Kakashi's sharingan developed a powerful Mangekyou ability and Madara wants it for that ability?" Sakumo didn't have a good grasp about the Mangekyou Sharingan, but he had heard about it from the stories from the Warring States Period.

After all, he had lived through the era of Madara and Hashirama even though he was quite young back then. Tobirama's eyes sharpened, "That's true… if it is a powerful ability that could help Madara with his plan then perhaps he will stop at nothing to gain Kakashi's sharingan…"

"That's not possible." Izuna quickly said, "Only an Uchiha can advance the Sharingan. The Sharingan are a connected pair. They are connected through the spirit of the original awakener of the Sharingan. Nothing other than the original awakener's spirit can advance it."

"But that's not possible." Minato said interrupting Izuna's flow, "Obito died with only a two tomoe sharingan. Kakashi awakened a three tomoe sharingan after he had to kill his teammate to prevent the rampage of the three tailed beast sealed inside her." Izuna shrugged, "That can't be the case.

If that were the case then in the Warring States period after Izanagi was developed, the Uchiha would have freely sacrificed their sharingan and taken fresh sharingan from weaker clan members who had no potential to regrow a new stronger sharingan."

"Then…" Minato stood dumbfounded as everyone observing him and Izuna came to the same conclusion.

"Obito's alive? And he developed the Mangekyou Sharingan on his own?????" Kushina was hit the hardest. She'd cared for Obito like he was her own son as a part of Team seven. Since Obito didn't have any parents and was an orphan Kushina hoped that showering him with love and care would fill the slight void in his heart that had been left behind in spite of his good nature. For Minato however, things went a step further. His eyes widened in shock as he connected the dots.

"The one that attacked Kushina and me during the night of Naruto's birth was a One Eyed Sharingan user. And he had his sharingan in the opposite eye as Kakashi, the right eye. So that was Obito?" Hearing Minato's words Kushina felt a fresh wave of shock and horror.

"Obito did… that?" She couldn't believe herself. She looked at Minato lost and confused as he himself looked like he'd realised something horrible. Minato finally looked at Izuna one final time as he asked, "Are you really sure Izuna-sama?" And Izuna nodded, he could see the distraught expression on both the people's faces but there was nothing that could be done at this point. The bandaid had already been ripped apart knowingly or unknowingly, and so there was no point lying right now.

Both Minato and Kushina collapsed on a sofa looking lost and confused, so no one spoke for a few seconds. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. It was only when their faces morphed with anger at once that Tobirama spoke again.

"So Obito is working with Uchiha Madara… and his Mangekyou ability is to be able to be able to teleport around, it makes sense that he would come back for Kakashi's Sharingan eye since that might have an even better corresponding ability, but that still doesn't explain why he would target Haruto." Hashirama, who had been silent until now, finally spoke.

"I think I know why…" Everyone turned to look at Hashirama confused.

"It has to do with Madara's Mangekyou. His left eye with the Chokkanryouku in it, the eye that grants Madara an instinctive perception allows him to peek into possible futures. It was how he dodged my certain death abilities like Sage Art: Gate of the Great God by studying the future. Perhaps he saw the boy becoming a threat in one of those futures and decided to take him out early."

"Perhaps that is why the boy knows about my secrets with Madara too. Maybe Madara had tried cultivating Haruto into a weapon against Konoha before, but Haruto disagreed with Madara and escaped with his sharp mind since Madara must be very weak right now." Tobirama frowned before the gears in his mind spun.

"So Madara tried to corrupt the boy before to become a helper to Obito in his grand plan and once he failed in doing so, he realised that he couldn't let the boy live which is why he decided to kill the boy…? Hmm…" Tobirama had a frown on his face, he still didn't believe that Haruto was good, but suddenly he found himself leaning towards supporting the boy if he was going against Uchiha Madara.

"I don't care what happens to Uchiha Madara… but I want Haruto-kun to kill that bastard Obito." Kushina whispered, yet it was loud enough to give shivers to even Hashirama.

Haruto woke up early the next day and after freshening himself up he left straight for the I. T building in Konoha. His usual workplace. He guessed that he would be shown the way inside to the R&D department. On the way to the office, he plucked a few leaves and stuck them into his pocket to practice the leaf concentration exercise later. As soon as Haruto reached the general Office, Shinakawa Rumi greeted Haruto enthusiastically.

"Good Morning Haruto-kun. You've been reassigned to the R&D department under direct orders from the Hokage. I will lead you to the R&D department now if you have no issues." Haruto, ever the excited bunny, nodded eagerly. He then followed Shinakawa down the long halls walking quietly with her until they took the staircase and reached the fifth floor, a step up from the third floor they were on before.

'This place has five floors? Why does the building look so small from the outside then?' Megumin asked.

'Genjutsu?' Haruto offered idly.

'Probably…'

'I hope I one day become powerful enough to see through all this.' Haruto thought to himself before correcting himself, 'No… with the help of the Dark God that is certain, the only question is when and how fast do I let the Dark God act through me.' Shinakawa knocked on a door and stepped aside waiting for a few moments before a pale effeminate man opened the door. Haruto recognised the man almost instantly.

'Hiruko?' He was the man in the series who, born in the same generation as the Sannin but disappointed by his own lack of ability, created a kinjutsu, a forbidden technique, that absorbed the Kekkei genkai of the bodies he consumed to make him grow stronger and grow immortal. The man was pale, almost sickly, he was rather tall, wearing an eastern white robe of some sort, with white hair tied into a pony tail and sharp red eyes.

Beneath his sleeves Haruto could see the man's body covered in bandages, those bandages weren't simple, they were weapons. Hriuko could extend them at will, harden them at will and attack an enemy with them whenever he sensed danger.

"Good Morning Shinakawa-san… what may I do for you?" Hiruko said gently, his smile seeming almost flower-like.

"Ah, Hiruko-sama, please don't embarrass me, I'm here to hand off the new recruit to the R&D department, Haruto Hayashi-kun by the order of the Hokage." Shinakawa said politely, blushing at Hiruko's gentle gaze. Hiruko's red eyes shifted towards Haruto who was standing to the side and stayed on him for a few seconds. It was only after the silence became slightly uncomfortable that Hiruko finally spoke up.

"Excellent. I was waiting for you. You shall help me in my experiments."