Ishiki Kujo couldn't care less about the Uchiha clan's affairs. He didn't know them, didn't follow their drama. The only Uchiha he even remotely acknowledged was Uchiha Shisui—and frankly, not even Shisui was enough to drag him into that clan's swamp of internal decay.
As far as Ishiki saw it, the Uchiha-Konoha conflict had only two possible outcomes:
Either the timeline unfolded as originally plotted—leading the Uchiha into their self-inflicted apocalypse on the Night of Massacre. Coup attempts don't come without a price, and if they dared to challenge the village, they'd better be ready to bleed for it.
Or, and this was the longshot: one of the Uchiha prodigies stood up and eliminated the Second Hokage's ideological remnants still entrenched in Konoha's upper echelon—namely the three elder fossils besides Hiruzen: Danzo, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane.
Those three geezers had been marinated in Tobirama's paranoia their whole lives. The "evil Uchiha" had long since rooted itself deep in their skulls. Danzo's seed had grown into a full-blown forest of distrust; the other two had cultivated more modest plots of prejudice.
As for the Third Hokage, Hiruzen—he was a different case. His sin wasn't hatred, it was indulgence. Danzo could stage an assassination attempt on him, and Hiruzen would still smile, shoo Danzo out of his office, and let him crawl back to his sewer-hole at Root. Absurd didn't even begin to cover it.
If it weren't for the fact that Hiruzen had a wife and kids and genuinely loved them, Ishiki might've suspected something sick was going on between him and Danzo. Disgusting.
That was just Ishiki's take on the village. In his few encounters with Hiruzen, he hadn't sensed any grand conspiracies. At least Naruto was being taken care of properly under Hiruzen's arrangements. Even Ishiki's own memories confirmed the Third cared deeply for the kids at the Ninja Academy.
But when it came to Danzo and those two senile advisors? No redemption. As long as those three parasites weren't yanked out root and stem, they'd keep poisoning Uchiha futures endlessly.
Unfortunately, the Uchiha had no one left willing to handle that purge. Madara? Dead. Shisui? Alive but spineless. Obito? He was actively stoking the flames, wanting both Uchiha and Konoha to kill each other until only charred husks remained.
And Shisui… the poor bastard had been brainwashed by the Will of Fire. Peace, unity, harmony—he'd die clutching that fantasy. He might've buffered tensions using Kotoamatsukami if he'd kept it hidden, but if that dojutsu got out? He'd be the first corpse on the pyre.
Any way you sliced it, Konoha had the upper hand. The Uchiha were already halfway through their countdown to extinction.
Ishiki pushed the thoughts aside and returned to the notes in front of him.
Flying Thunder God Technique.
He could draw the formula—etched it perfectly. Even activated it with a low resonance hum. But he still couldn't use it. No matter how precisely he mimicked Minato Namikaze's hand seals and chakra flow, the jutsu refused to fire.
The missing piece lay in the connection between the formula and the sealing sequence.
Right now, they existed independently. Ink on one side, chakra signs on the other. No link. No feedback loop. Without synchronicity, the Flying Thunder God might as well have been a scribble on toilet paper.
He needed more. Maybe it really did require a "Sealing Scroll" to properly learn—something designed to convey the nuances impossible to deduce from memory alone.
But S-rank techniques like that weren't granted freely. Even if Ishiki's missions granted him the right to access certain scrolls, no way in hell would they let him near an S-rank teleportation ninjutsu.
So rather than count on Konoha's charity, he pinned his hopes on his Stand Draw: if he could roll [Under World], he'd dig that jutsu out himself—one way or another.
He closed the notes for now. The last day of February ticked away, and soon it'd be time to draw a new Stand.
Road Star had served him well, but even so… he felt that familiar itch. The thrill of the unknown.
He flipped to another section of the notebook—Wave Energy.
He'd long since forgotten what the Ripple was originally supposed to do, but recent weeks spent researching it had unearthed surprising uses.
Three stood out.
First—Nature Energy Sensory. The Ripple allowed him to detect and manipulate ambient nature chakra with frightening precision.
That was the key to Sage Mode.
He was close—damn close. Give him a little more time and he'd be able to activate Sage Mode mid-combat, seamlessly.
Last time against Yugito Nii, he didn't use it. He couldn't. Too many variables: controlling breath, absorbing nature energy, balancing it with mental and physical chakra… doing that while dodging claws and bombs? Insane.
Only in meditation could he enter Sage Mode quickly. In combat, he needed a shortcut.
Second—Healing. The Ripple overflowed with life force. When combined with Yang Release chakra, it pushed Mystic Palm Technique to a whole new level.
Maybe not quite "raise the dead," but close enough. As long as a limb wasn't dust, he could fix it.
This put him in high demand among Konoha's wounded. Some whispered he might surpass Lady Tsunade as the strongest medical ninja ever. Under the Yang-Ripple Mode, his glowing aura gave injured soldiers the illusion that a real angel had descended.
Even Kumogakure had noticed. They placed a bounty on him, naming him "Rejuvenation Kujo."
Ishiki hated the name. Too soft. Too mild. Where was the edge? The menace?
The third use of the Ripple—Detection. In liquid, it traveled beautifully. With just a sphere of water, a cup even, he could send the Ripple into the earth, letting it spread and echo. That resonance told him what lived nearby.
Two kilometers—his max range. Even Byakugan couldn't see that far.
Granted, the Hyuuga's technique had other advantages, but this wasn't a replacement—it was a specialty.
Besides, he wasn't about to swap out his Sharingan.
In combat, the Ripple mimicked Mystic Palm again—physical contact triggered violent internal disruptions. Great for assassinations. Clean and silent.
As for Troy… the fool hadn't coughed up anything useful. Ishiki grew tired of him. With a ripple surge, he sent the man packing to the other side.
Troy's last gift: a scroll full of high-quality ninja tools. Expensive ones.
Ishiki wasn't rich. Never cared to be. If it worked, he used it. If it didn't, he sold it. Simple as that.
Besides, aside from tools, there weren't many things to spend money on in the shinobi world. Maybe he'd need funds for future experiments, but he wasn't worried.
[Monthly Stand Draw: Dark Blue Moon. Replace current Stand?]