Opening the Eyes

Ten years.

Akashi Uchiha had finally endured until the end.

Although "he" was currently critically ill, he vaguely remembered that the title had mentioned something about "regret" earlier.

It should be time for him to take action, right?

Even if common sense regarding genjutsu dictated that this was clearly a trap and that his consciousness might suffer severe damage after taking action... Akashi was willing to accept it!

However, to Akashi's surprise...

The way to "make her regret" was actually for the protagonist he was immersed in, Hong Yan, to die of illness, followed by watching Liu Ru's regret from a soul's perspective, and finally seeing her stupid and wicked best friend get moved...

Akashi: ???

Are you not going to let me kill a single person?

What is the meaning of this?

It's over?

Tobirama Senju, you are truly rotten to the core!

After the immersion ended, the platform even had a survey asking if he was satisfied with the ending...

In Akashi's view, this was simply mockery and coercion from Tobirama Senju!

Satisfied my ass!

Because his external perception, which had been disconnected, suddenly recovered, Akashi reacted before he could even think, his body erupting in a rage: "How dare you betray... kill them together with that vixen!"

At the same time, Akashi felt a chill in his brain, an abnormal flow of chakra surging uncontrollably into his eyes. Immediately, his pupils stung, and then his entire body's chakra began to fluctuate violently...

Everything around him became clear in that instant; all motion became easy to track, and even... his own thinking became sharper and calmer than before.

Hiruzen, Danzo, Mikoto... everyone present: !!!

What is going on?

He actually awakened his eyes?

And...

Was he angered by the fact that his ancestor, Madara Uchiha, betrayed the village?

Clatter—

Akashi soon sat back down, and the abnormality in his pupils vanished completely—partly because he had just awakened them and they were unstable, and partly because... Akashi's aptitude as a ninja was very ordinary, merely at the level of a standard ninja academy graduate, and even weaker among his peers in the clan. Having awakened his eyes so violently just now, his chakra simply couldn't sustain it!

Unable to stop his legs from going weak, Akashi sat back down, his consciousness easily calming down thanks to the benefit of having just awakened his eyes.

Although it couldn't be called composure, he immediately began to think about the cause and effect instead of just blanking out.

[What's going on? Why did I awaken my eyes?]

[Is it because of... the stimulation from that genjutsu?]

[Judging by my physical condition, only about two hours have passed since I was caught in the genjutsu...]

[Others don't seem to have noticed I was under a genjutsu; they are just surprised that I awakened my eyes?]

[Why does the Third Hokage also look surprised? Does he really not know? Or is he acting?]

[I seem to have cursed something just now; will they think I'm strange...]

"Cough, cough, Akashi Uchiha, is it? I understand your indignation... This 'indignation' of yours is also a part of the strength that unites our Konoha!" Hiruzen looked at Akashi Uchiha with emotion—he had just matched this loyal Uchiha with the name he had seen on the student list earlier.

"I... I apologize." Akashi stood up awkwardly to apologize, his legs still a bit weak from the chakra depletion.

Akashi was also suspicious...

What is this gorilla talking about? Is he hinting at me?

"Alright, the story ends here. Next... let's proceed with the jonin team assignments." Hiruzen looked at Jiraiya, whom he had brought with him, winking repeatedly.

Jiraiya: ???

Jiraiya did understand his teacher Hiruzen's signal, but... he didn't grasp it very thoroughly. Still, he was the first to walk onto the stage.

The graduates were very excited to see that the first jonin instructor was the famous Jiraiya!

Jiraiya was a well-known civilian genius ninja among Konoha's younger generation.

Twelve years ago, Jiraiya graduated alongside Tsunade and Orochimaru, with Hiruzen Sarutobi serving as their jonin instructor; he was considered a disciple of the Third Hokage.

The First Hokage and Second Hokage were brothers who succeeded one another, and the Second and Third were master and disciple, so many suspected that the Fourth Hokage might also come from the Third's tutelage...

Of course, even without considering that, Jiraiya was currently a standout among Konoha's young jonin!

Seeing him come to serve as a jonin instructor, the graduates were naturally both excited and expectant...

After Jiraiya went up, he didn't waste words and spoke directly: "I will read the names of those who will come with me: Minato Namikaze, Akashi Uchiha... Ranwu."

After Jiraiya finished speaking, he glanced at his teacher Hiruzen—he had only come to serve as a jonin instructor because Hiruzen had requested it.

The spots for the three graduates had already been decided beforehand.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had originally arranged for his eldest son, as well as the granddaughter of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, to be assigned to Jiraiya, while Jiraiya himself had already set his sights on Minato Namikaze...

However, Jiraiya understood the look Hiruzen had just given him—"Add that Uchiha to the group!"

Awakening the Sharingan at twelve years old, while not earth-shattering, was still considered top-tier. Furthermore, the abilities of the Sharingan were incredibly overpowered among ordinary ninja; even with just an initial awakening, if one's chakra was below the level of a chunin, it would rapidly increase to roughly a passing chunin standard. Moreover, due to enhanced kinetic vision, the ability to copy chakra flow, and other traits, one's progress in ninjutsu and taijutsu would advance by leaps and bounds. The weaker one was before the awakening, the more obvious the improvement would be!

If it were merely "awakening the Sharingan at twelve," Hiruzen wouldn't have cared too much.

But...

This was a fiercely loyal Uchiha!

Opportunities must not be missed. Once the Uchiha clan learned of what had just happened, they would certainly choose to cultivate him within the clan and follow the internal promotion route of the Military Police Force, making it unlikely they would let him out easily.

Therefore, Hiruzen made a prompt decision to have Jiraiya "snatch" the person—given Jiraiya's status as a jonin instructor, the Uchiha family wouldn't be able to say anything...

However, that was all Jiraiya understood.

With three spots available, adding an Uchiha meant one had to be cut...

Jiraiya had come specifically for Minato Namikaze, so he couldn't cut him. As for the granddaughter of the Second Hokage, it wouldn't be easy to cut her either, right? Teacher Hiruzen, he assumed, wanted to demonstrate high moral integrity...

Thus, Jiraiya cast aside Hiruzen's son.

After Jiraiya finished announcing the three names, he glanced at Teacher Hiruzen out of the corner of his eye and found that although Teacher Hiruzen shot him a glare, he didn't say anything else.

As for Akashi Uchiha, he was still bewildered at this moment—what was going on? It had been decided beforehand that a jonin from the Uchiha family would come to "sweep up" all the Uchiha children.

How did he inexplicably end up under Jiraiya's instruction?

It wasn't until Mikoto gave him a gentle nudge from behind that Akashi finally snapped out of it and hurriedly followed along...