Failed Product

'Mangekyō Sharingan... No, should I say a Mangekyō Sharingan catalyzed through Zanpakuto mimicry? Was all of this within your plan, Sosuke Aizen?'

Orochimaru sat on a guest cushion in the Writing Room, his snake-like pupils reflecting Kagami Uchiha's figure as his mind began racing.

'And next, if I'm not mistaken, it will be those legendary eyes. The Bankai element is unclear, but can you truly remain so composed in the face of that myth-like power recorded in the legends?'

"..."

Sosuke Aizen did not answer. After all, he had no mind-reading ability.

He merely watched the burning Konoha in the sky gradually expand, then frowned as Kagami Uchiha—who seemed to have used some unknown method to withstand his spiritual pressure—slowly straightened his body.

"As long as you swear before these eyes that you will never harm Konoha's interests, I will let you go."

Layers of ripples filled the empty space. An invisible giant skeleton gradually wrapped itself around Kagami Uchiha's body, blocking out all disturbances from the outside world.

Those triangular pupils spun at high speed, shining with the radiance of the Sharingan. A special Dōjutsu echoed with the burning Konoha in the sky. Just as he had said, as long as he was in Konoha, he was invincible.

His Bankai and Mangekyō Sharingan had both been born for Konoha. Only within Konoha could they receive their strongest enhancement. This was Kagami Uchiha's deepest secret, as well as the most powerful trump card he now revealed.

"Bankai is the truest reflection of the deepest fears within a person's heart. In a sense, it is the same as the Sharingan. What I fear, what I despair of—there has only ever been one thing. I fear Konoha being destroyed by people of unknown origins. I fear it becoming someone's stepping stone. So no matter the cost, I want to stop that from happening."

Looking at the raging burning Konoha in the heavens, Kagami Uchiha shook his head, pressed a hand over his eyes, and looked toward Sosuke Aizen, who still seemed to be standing there calmly.

"You are a very talented man, Aizen. I know your abilities are more terrifying than anyone realizes. Even now, I still intend to let you go as long as you swear before these eyes. But if you have even the slightest disloyal intent, if you want to harm Konoha's interests, I will kill you directly. I now possess the powers of both the Mangekyō Sharingan and Bankai."

"Even if you tampered with my Bankai somehow, I am still Kagami Uchiha. I possess the greatest power in Uchiha legend, power that even Tailed Beasts cannot face. In this world, only the First Hokage's Wood Release can contend with it, and perhaps even that is slightly lacking. So I do not wish for you to make the wrong choice."

"Now, state your decision. Will you choose to stand with Konoha, or become my enemy? If you choose to become my enemy, the tens of thousands of degrees Celsius heat from the burning Konoha in the sky will instantly evaporate you from this world."

"Is that so? A catalyzed Mangekyō Sharingan and Bankai, along with the ability for your own Bankai to grow stronger as long as you are in Konoha—is this the final trump card you intend to use against me?"

But faced with such a trump card, Sosuke Aizen merely sighed deeply and shook his head.

"As expected, it failed."

"What?"

"The experiment failed. As expected, it was not as simple as it seemed at the beginning. The fusion of Chakra and soul is more complex than I imagined."

Looking at the clearly separated powers of the Sharingan and Bankai in the sky, Aizen regretfully adjusted his glasses.

"I thought that someone with Kagami's extreme yet kind nature, combined with the Mangekyō Sharingan and a Zanpakuto, could forge a path beyond my expectations. But it failed. I'm not really suited for gambling. Is it really a Chakra problem?"

"What... are you saying?"

"It seems that Ichigo Kurosaki's situation was simply a matter of good luck. Or perhaps they are merely pure cases of mutual noninterference like this. What a pity. I thought I would get to see a more splendid performance."

"What are you talking about?!"

"Of course, it's about you, Kagami."

Removing his dust-covered glasses, Sosuke Aizen wiped the lenses. His completely unmasked, indifferent gaze looked at the stunned Kagami Uchiha in the sky as though he were looking at a snarling experimental animal.

No matter what experimental animals did or where they went, they appeared to be free, yet they always remained within the scope of the scientist's research and theories.

They were assigned numbers and recorded locations. Though they appeared to live freely and possessed thoughts, they had been given labels and predetermined objectives from the very beginning.

Just as I said at the beginning, Aizen never did anything that appeared unnecessary. Some things might seem superfluous, but during an experiment, they were often essential.

Such as this combat experiment, or the current fusion experiment between the Sharingan and Shinigami.

"Because from the very beginning, you were my test subject for creating Sharingan Chakra, Kagami. I had great expectations for you."

Putting his Flat Glasses back on, Sosuke Aizen looked at Kagami Uchiha, who remained motionless in the sky, stunned by the revelation. A faintly mocking smile appeared on his face.

"The abilities after Edo Tensei are complete, and they possess nearly infinite Chakra. Then why can all Kekkei Genkai, releases, and Dōjutsu be inherited? There is only one answer: whether Dōjutsu, Kekkei Genkai, or anything else, they are all changes in Chakra."

"From the beginning, everyone has been a slave to the cycle of Chakra, whether in life or death. So based on that, I conducted a very interesting screening experiment. Ninjas with soul power, ninjas with Uchiha power, pure ninjas, impure ninjas. Fortunately, Konoha's sample size is truly large. I can have a lot of experimental data."

"Why did I revive Konoha's ninjas and leave them unattended? Why did I revive you and make you division captains? Why did I let you stay here without worrying about you at all? Of course, because you were all marked long ago. Every one of you is precious experimental material. I said so from the very beginning, didn't I? Each of you is unique."

"The interaction between the Sharingan, which changes along with the heart, and the Zanpakuto, which engraves one's own soul; the mutual verification between the Spirit Transformation Technique, which allows the soul to leave the body from the start, and Shinigami techniques; as well as the astonishing connection between individual will and spiritual bodies."

"Truly, sometimes I am genuinely grateful that this world is so careless and mad. It allows me to obtain so much data, and no one cares at all."

"AIZEN!!!!!"

Looking at Aizen speaking so casually from the ground, Kagami Uchiha's eyes were about to burst as he roared:

"Even if you calculated everything, calculated my Bankai, calculated that I could attack you with the power of Konoha falling from the sky, could you calculate this?! SUSANOO!!!"

Power began spreading from the void. A massive skeleton rapidly expanded and emerged in midair, eventually growing into an enormous armored giant. Like an incarnation of a god from legend, it held a burning sword, its eyes filled with fury, as it dove down from the sky with Kagami Uchiha enclosed within it.

Together with the countless ruins of Konoha created by the Bankai, it was as though the sky itself had been torn open by a massive gap. Countless falling Konoha buildings and the burning world coiled around the giant.

The several-hundred-meter flaming greatsword seemed to pierce through heaven and earth as it pointed directly at the smiling man in the seemingly unremarkable Konoha courtyard.

"No matter how much you say to shake people's hearts, you cannot change the truth! I possess power!"

"Power?"

Watching Kagami Uchiha shout as he swung the entire burning Konoha down upon him, Aizen smiled slightly and raised a finger toward the diving Kagami Uchiha.

"Lastly, let me teach you a very simple lesson. Never use abilities taught to you by someone else against that person."

"Kidō 91, Senju Kōten Taihō."

Countless rays of light blossomed beside Aizen in an instant, shooting into the phantom giant in the sky like fireworks.

In the next instant, a deafening blast like thunder shattered the phantom giant's outer shell, making Kagami Uchiha within it seem to falter for a moment.

But when he saw Susanoo immediately recover, Kagami Uchiha showed joy. Yet before he could look toward Aizen and declare the victory of his power, he heard Aizen's whisper as though it were right beside his ear.

"Then, Kyōka Suigetsu."

One second later, without even a chance to assume a defensive posture, the phantom giant and Konoha's reflection shattered in the blink of an eye.

Before everyone's horrified eyes, a massive three-pronged skeletal frame enclosed Kagami Uchiha as it fell from the sky, crashing straight into the courtyard and landing in front of Aizen.

Everything had been within the plan. The rebellion, the attack, even the final battle.

The only regret was that he had still failed to trigger a fusion reaction between the two.

"As expected, to obtain experimental results, I still need to conduct real-world measurements and analysis... Next comes the time for recycling."

Aizen snapped his fingers casually, and the massive sealing skeletal frame in the courtyard vanished in the blink of an eye.

After a while, as the heat source in the sky disappeared, colliding air currents gradually formed, and sparse raindrops began falling from the sky.

Konoha's civilians finally breathed a sigh of relief. Strange mirages before rainfall were uncommon, but not unheard of. The enormous thunder and flashes of light had already signaled the coming downpour.

The days ahead should be good.

Listening to the rumbling thunder gradually spread, the people of Konoha thought.