Despair, thick as ink, completely swallowed Uchiha Genki's consciousness.
He kept his eyes tightly shut, every muscle in his body rigid with utter terror as he waited for the agony of wood piercing his flesh, waited for his life to end.
But the touch of death he expected never came. Instead, a dull, teeth-rattling sound suddenly exploded beside his ear—
"Squish—"
It was the sound of a spike tearing through flesh, so clear it seemed to ring right beside him.
A warm crimson spray burst through the air, like shattered red plum blossoms blooming in the night.
A scalding drop struck his cheek first, sticky to the touch and rich with the stench of blood. It trickled slowly down his skin.
Then came two drops, three, four... Warm blood fell one after another, striking his forehead, eyelids, and nose, scorching his cold skin until it went numb.
The pain he had been waiting for still hadn't come. Uchiha Genki's body stiffened, and a crack suddenly appeared in his taut nerves.
Something was wrong... The warmth of this blood, that familiar smell—it wasn't his!
"W-what... what's happening?" His voice shook uncontrollably, like a withered leaf caught in a gale, trembling in a way even he didn't notice.
Summoning every ounce of strength he had, he slowly, tremblingly lifted his heavy eyelids. His blurred vision gradually focused through the crimson haze. What he saw left his mind utterly blank, his every breath choked off in his throat.
Two sharp wooden spikes hovered less than two centimeters from his head.
Fresh flesh clung to the splinters at their tips. Their icy killing intent seemed ready to lick his skin.
Yet that mere two-centimeter gap had become an uncrossable chasm.
At the other end of the spikes were two familiar figures.
Uchiha Hazuki hunched slightly, using her broad back to shield him. The deadly spike had pierced through her chest. Crimson blood welled along the grain of the wood, soaking her clothes and pooling on the ground in a glaring scarlet puddle.
Her body rested limply against Genki. Her once-warm hand hung at her side, cold and lifeless.
Beside Hazuki, little Uchiha Izumi pressed herself close to her. The other spike had pierced her chest, staining her pale sleeve with blood.
Her head lolled helplessly, dried tear tracks still on her cheeks. Her eyes, usually lit with a gentle smile, were tightly shut. They would never open again.
"No... No... That can't be..."
A trembling, disbelieving sound squeezed from Genki's throat, faint as a mosquito's buzz yet filled with gut-wrenching terror.
His whole body began to shake violently. His teeth clattered, and tears gushed like a burst dam, mixing with the blood on his face and streaming down in scarlet tracks.
He slowly raised his head and looked past the two figures shielding him. In the distance, Itachi Uchiha's face was frozen in shock. He had just finished dealing with a White Zetsu blocking his way and was sprinting toward them. His scarlet Mangekyō Sharingan was filled with disbelief, but he came to an abrupt halt at the sight before him.
The two figures, one tall and one small, stood like towering mountains, protecting him with their lives. The wooden spikes had pierced their bodies, but could go no farther.
"No... No... Noooo—!!!"
His heart-wrenching cry finally burst from his throat, a wounded cub's wail that echoed wildly through the silent alley.
Despair and pain swept over him like a tsunami, completely engulfing Uchiha Genki. Even breathing felt like swallowing knives.
"Mother! Sister!"
He reached out to touch the two figures growing cold before him. But the moment his fingers brushed their clothes, he recoiled as if burned.
That bone-chilling cold told him the truth without mercy—they were dead. They had died before his eyes, protecting him.
"No!! This isn't real! No!!"
He shook his head frantically and collapsed to his knees, clutching his hair with both hands. His knuckles turned white with the force of his grip, his nails nearly tearing into his scalp.
He'd done it. He'd actually done it!
He had reached an agreement with Itachi Uchiha!
They had been so close—just a little more, and his mother and Izumi would have survived!
Why?
Why had it turned out this way?
"I didn't do anything..." His voice was low and despairing, full of self-loathing. "I swore I'd protect them... I swore... but I didn't do a thing..."
Then, a searing pain suddenly erupted from his eye sockets!
A moment later, scarlet blood gushed from his eyes. It wasn't tears. It was pure blood!
Vmmm—!!
A vast, boundless domain erupted from Uchiha Genki and spread in an instant, sweeping through the entire Uchiha Clan Compound like a surging tide!
Wherever the domain passed, the air froze. The howling wind abruptly fell silent, leaving only a suffocating pressure of despair. It was as though even heaven and earth trembled beneath this power.
Despair and agony completely devoured Uchiha Genki's will. His consciousness teetered on the edge of collapse, yet his body unleashed a terrifying power beyond his control.
Bathed in a sky full of scarlet blood, a new pair of Mangekyō Sharingan bloomed in his bloodshot eyes, their light eerie and terrifying!
This was no ordinary Mangekyō pattern. Three black markings shaped like Reaper's Scythes revolved slowly in each pupil, their edges sharp as blades and radiating the deathly stillness of a life harvest.
Four pitch-black tomoe were set at the junctions of the three scythes and at the center of each pupil, their dark sheen seeming to devour everything.
"Magatsunokami—"
"Ōkuninushi—"
Two ancient, obscure names rang out like whispers from the abyss, exploding deep in Uchiha Genki's crumbling consciousness.
Their voices carried a chill that pierced the soul, each word etched with divine majesty—one was the god of the underworld who ruled over Yomi's infernal prison; the other, the god of souls who commanded the realm of all spirits!
Magatsunokami could summon the power of the netherworld and spread a Yomi Domain that covered heaven and earth.
Any soul that entered the domain, weak or strong, would be forcibly torn from its body by an invisible pull and dragged toward the domain's core, where it would become a puppet under complete control, unable even to wail of its own accord.
Ōkuninushi, in turn, could melt every soul it devoured into its own body. It could seize the other's memories, potent spiritual energy, and vast chakra, and even inherit the essence of their Kekkei Genkai's ocular power—truly making "all things devoured become one's own."
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