"Just as I'd expect from you, even the Mangekyō you awaken is something special." She said it not to put Azula down, but simply because her expectations for her disciple were sky-high, even when she tried to keep them in check.
Azula, who was anything but your average teenager, understood Mito completely. "I haven't told my father yet. I think he'd probably want me to swap eyes with him right away, just to see if they'd evolve into the Eternal Mangekyō."
Mito nodded, following Azula's line of thought. The Eternal Mangekyō meant exchanging one's own Mangekyō with a close blood relative, though in all of Uchiha history, it had only ever happened once, with Madara.
But it also came with risks, like possibly losing the unique ability of your own eyes, or the one you swapped for.
And Azula hated anything that relied on chance instead of her own control; gambling with her future wasn't her style.
"Actually," Mito said, surprising her, "I agree. I think you should wait before telling Tajima."
Azula hadn't seen that coming.
"You've always had the highest Yin Chakra I've ever seen in an Uchiha. Awakening the Mangekyō only multiplied it. The increase is so extreme that using it for a few years shouldn't be a problem."
Azula nodded. She'd already tested her abilities, and honestly, the drain on her eyesight was minimal.
Still, she had a feeling Mito wouldn't agree with her based on that alone.
Mito kept going with her theory. "If you added another eye's Yin Chakra, I'm pretty sure it'd just mess your body up. But of course, that's all just theory. The real reason is, I'm making a new technique."
Now that caught Azula completely off guard. "What kind of technique? And since when? I didn't even know about this."
Over the years, the two of them had cooked up plenty of techniques together. They always shared everything. So for Mito to just… not tell her?
Yeah, Azula was feeling a little 'betrayed'.
Mito chuckled. "It was supposed to be a surprise for when you awakened your Mangekyō. But, well, you had to go and exceed expectations and wake it up early."
She said it all super casually, like an old grandma chatting about the weather.
No big deal.
Azula tried to figure out what kind of technique Mito was working on that'd help with her Mangekyō, but she came up blank.
Finally, she got to the important question. "How long's it gonna take?"
She was already running through her options in her head.
"No more than a year," Mito said, completely confident.
_No more than a year, huh?_ Azula thought, mentally flipping through her choices.
Option one: become Hokage ASAP, wait for Mito to finish her 'mystery technique,' do her own research on how to keep all the eye abilities after the swap, then swap eyes, get the Eternal Mangekyō, and shoot straight to the top all in one go.
Option two: the low-key route. Same as option one, just… quieter. Hold off on taking the Hokage seat until after she had her Eternal Mangekyō and reaching a level where nobody in the ninja world could even touch her.
Option three: go all in, take every risk, get stronger as fast as humanly possible. Which was a gamble she wasn't about to take.
Sure, there were other options, but these were the only ones she was actually considering.
Truth be told, she didn't even need to think that hard. She'd already made up her mind. Option two was, by every measure, the best choice.
But then she thought about Hiruzen and Danzō, and suddenly letting them stay in power any longer than necessary felt like a problem.
"Just one question," she said, wanting to clear something up. "The technique you're working on… it's not about keeping all the Mangekyō abilities from both eyes, right?"
Because she'd be pretty annoyed if she spent almost a year waiting, only to find out Mito was working on the exact same thing she was.
Mito paused for a moment. "Didn't really think about it that way, but… my technique could help with something like that. Just needs some major adjustments."
Azula nodded, already thinking. _If that's the case… is she working on the Byakugō Seal?_
It was the only thing that came to her mind. It was something they had been working on ever since she told Mito her secret.
She couldn't help but give Mito that _I think I know what you're up to look_, to which Mito remained nonchalant.
She held her gaze for a moment longer before a slight smirk broke her stoic expression.
Annoying as it was to be kept in the dark, she couldn't deny the anticipation now in her chest. If Mito was this confident, it was worth the wait.
•••
The very next day, news reached Hiruzen about the terms Kumo had set for their negotiation with the village.
He drew slowly on his pipe, exhaling a chilling stream of smoke that veiled his face, leaving Danzō, Koharu, and Homura unable to read his expression.
Danzō, who hadn't been given such a 'tactical choice,' wore an expression of barely concealed fury, though to be fair, that was practically his default look, unless he happened to be eyeing children he wanted to abduc—ahem, recruit.
It was no wonder he looked so sour. After clashing with Hiruzen and spending countless nights tossing and turning, he had finally pieced together a solid plan and set it in motion, only for it to blow up in his face.
Now, within three or four days, with nothing left to stop it, Azula's reputation was about to skyrocket, likely eclipsing Hiruzen's, and possibly even earning her the title of the new God of Shinobi—or Kunoichi, as the case may be.
Then, against all expectations, it was Homura who finally spoke.
"Hiruzen," he said, "I think it would be best if you stepped down and passed the hat to her gracefully."
His words left everyone stunned. None of them had anticipated such a 'heresy' coming from him.
Koharu stared at him in disbelief. "What do you mean, 'pass the hat'? You honestly want that brat running the village into the ground?"
Homura had already considered every possible reaction before speaking, so Koharu's outburst didn't surprise him in the least.
"You need to face reality, Koharu," he said, his voice low. "You know I'm no fan of hers."
He paused, the memory surfacing, one he had never wanted to revisit. It had been a pure power play on her part.
He had been weighing whether to postpone something deeply personal when she appeared out of nowhere.
"Delaying would be inefficient. You already know that." He remembered the scene vividly, every word etched into his mind.
At the time, he had been frozen on the spot. And then she had pressed further.
"But if you need more time, I can simplify it for you."
That was when he understood, she was showing off and demonstrating just how deep her intelligence network ran within the village.
He had never told a soul about that humiliating moment, so none of his old friends knew.
It was on that basis that Danzō passed his judgment. "Still as soft as ever, I see."
(END OF THE CHAPTER)