My Mangekyō

"Woo—woo—woo—woo—woo."

It was still the same cliff late at night. Kaede played his bamboo flute, gazing up at the stars scattered across the sky. A faint sadness drifted from the notes.

"Kaede, you seem unhappy. Why is that? Can you tell me?"

He stopped playing. "I know those people today didn't deserve to die, but I was the one who pushed them into hell. I feel like I'm the devil's accomplice—more despicable than the devil himself."

"But didn't you save a mother, Kaede? Doesn't that mean there's gentle kindness in your heart, far more than in those who've long since grown numb?

"At least you saved one person, so you're not the devil's accomplice. You're a good person." With delicate brows and clear, bright eyes, Tong seemed like an angel, soothing his wounded soul.

It was the first time in his life that a girl had called him a good person, and Kaede was delighted. "You're right, Tong. Doing something is far better than doing nothing. I used to expect too much from the Uchiha, so when I saw what they were really like, I was terribly disappointed.

"Today, I finally understood. Maybe I'd expected too much of them from the very beginning. When Fugaku stood his ground against Orochimaru in front of me today, the clan members stood behind him without hesitation. That was what I'd always wanted to see.

"I was wrong—terribly wrong. I shouldn't have focused only on the Uchiha leaders and ignored what the clan members truly wanted. They're the real voice of the Uchiha.

"So I've decided to correct that mistake tomorrow. Will you come with me and see it for yourself?" Kaede reached out and took Tong's hand without thinking.

Tong kept staring into Kaede's eyes. "Kaede... Kaede, your... your eyes..."

Kaede tapped her forehead. "Don't worry about the little details. I just awakened the Mangekyō. Come on, Tong, feel my face. Doesn't it look even more handsome now?"

Kaede took Tong's hand and placed it against his face. She snapped back to her senses and shyly pulled away. "You're so annoying."

"The Mangekyō Sharingan, honored elders. Are you ready to witness a miracle?"

The Tomoe that had once filled Kaede's eyes were gone. In their place, four Tomoe formed two pairs in his crimson eyes, creating two lightning-like Thunder Patterns that crossed and slowly revolved.

This wasn't a normal awakening. After years of research, Kaede had discovered that awakening the Sharingan was tied to the special Yin Release Chakra that accumulated in the brain.

Whenever an Uchiha was stimulated and their emotions surged, this Yin Release Chakra would accumulate. Once it reached a certain threshold, the eye would awaken with the corresponding number of Tomoe.

This special Yin Release Chakra was the Sharingan's ocular power. At the Tomoe stage, it was continually accumulating.

The Mangekyō Sharingan required this ocular power to build up over time until it reached its limit. Then it broke through the genetic restraints of the ordinary Sharingan and evolved.

That was why the Mangekyō was so much stronger than the Sharingan. It wasn't just a Sharingan—it was its evolved form. The secret of the Eternal Eye lay in ocular power; simply switching eyes couldn't grant it.

After generations of inheritance, the Uchiha genes had begun to diverge from those of their ancestor, the Sage of Six Paths. A single Mangekyō Sharingan could only provide a limited number of Sage Eyes genes. A mortal wielding the eyes of a sage would go blind faster the more he used them, because they were incomplete.

They needed to be completed with another source of ocular power and genes, allowing them to evolve again and leave behind the mortal eyes of the Sharingan. This would bring them to the level of half-sage eyes: the Eternal Mangekyō.

The next step was to obtain the power of the Sage Body, Sage Chakra, and Yang Release. Once his power and genes were restored, he could become a direct descendant of the sage Hagoromo Otsutsuki and evolve the Rinnegan.

Kaede had discovered this secret long ago, but he had no good way to increase his ocular power. What's more, this Yin Release Chakra constantly affected the mind, making people more extreme.

So Kaede had never tried to increase his ocular power. Instead, he'd used the mysterious energy generated by his body to suppress its growth. He was afraid it would affect his judgment and make him lose the ability to think clearly.

But today, he needed the power of the Mangekyō. So he forced his immense Soul Power into his Sharingan, forcibly breaking through its restraints and awakening the Mangekyō. Though he'd opened the Mangekyō for a short time, his eyes were ruined. The delicate meridians in his eyes couldn't withstand such a brutal awakening.

Today was the Uchiha Clan's regular meeting. Kaede attended on behalf of his branch. He'd taken his granduncle's place long ago and become a regular attendee.

"Nothing major is on today's agenda. Does anyone have anything to say?" Fugaku presided over the meeting with an air of leisure, like a puppet on strings.

Kaede now understood that Fugaku was probably sick of these elders too. But he had no choice but to respect them. Most of them had been around since Madara's era, making them the oldest generation of the Uchiha.

It had been their fathers and elder brothers who betrayed Madara, leaving him alone and forcing him to leave Konoha. Afterward, no one dared to take the position of Uchiha clan head, afraid of Madara.

That was the Uchiha's strongest era. No one knew how many Mangekyō Sharingan users the clan had.

Unfortunately, disagreements and the rampant abuse of Izanagi had led to a civil war among the Uchiha. Including Madara's branch, thirteen branches had survived the Warring States Period, but only seven remained after the war.

Uchiha Haru had ended the Uchiha civil war, then gone home to have children, unwilling to deal with these people. The Uchiha had fallen into unprecedented weakness. Many Mangekyō users had killed one another, leaving only children who were no great fighters.

Kagami Uchiha had been put forward as the link between the village and the Uchiha. It wasn't until the generation of Kaede's father that anyone proposed choosing a clan head. Fugaku had distinguished himself and become the new head.

Today, he, Uchiha Kaede, had decided to become the agent of change and make the entire Uchiha submit to him.

Kaede strolled into the middle of the room. "I have something to say!"

"Oh, if it isn't the youngest Uchiha elder. You're still on your mother's milk, aren't you..." The third old man crouched on the right spewed vulgarities.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Garment!" The instant Kaede donned his Lightning Armor and activated his Mangekyō, thunder exploded. Blue lightning surged across the entire meeting hall.

The elders were startled and hurriedly activated their Sharingan, but even through their eyes, all they could see was lightning flashing around them. Starting with the elder nearest Kaede, every elder was struck by the lightning.

It all happened in an instant and ended just as quickly. Wearing his Lightning Armor, Kaede knelt in the center of the hall, leaning on his sword and holding out a hand. White, gray, and black eyebrows kept dropping into his palm.

He'd just shaved them off the elders' heads. Only the third elder had been given a full shave, and his hair probably wouldn't grow back for the rest of his life.

"Shaving off your hair in place of your heads. Do you wish to live?"