As he felt the purple chakra lingering around him, Yue Uchiha sensed the Dragon Vein buried deep underground.
It seemed this was where he had arrived in this world—and where he would one day leave it.
He carefully studied the terrain with his right eye, etching every detail into his memory.
Just then, a heart-stopping surge of chakra erupted from the depths of the forest in the distance!
"Rumble!"
The massive explosion sent flames leaping into the sky. A moment later came a series of screams, so bloodcurdling they chilled the blood.
"Ahhh! A monster! She's a monster!"
"Run! Don't look back! The Uchiha Clan has unleashed that 'weapon'!"
At the words "Uchiha" and "weapon," Yue's heart gave a sudden jolt.
Ignoring the pain in his body, he gathered chakra beneath his feet and darted from branch to branch like a ghost, sneaking toward the edge of the battlefield.
Several hundred meters away, an open clearing had been scorched by the fighting.
Dozens of fully armed ninja were fleeing in disarray.
Every one of them had the skills of a jōnin, yet now they were like sheep driven by a pack of beasts, despair and terror written all over their faces.
From the sea of flames behind them, a small figure slowly emerged.
Enduring the pain wracking his body, Yue squinted with his only remaining right eye. Through the layers of rain and firelight, he finally made out the figure surrounded by fear.
She wasn't a young woman at all. She was a little girl who looked no older than eleven or twelve.
She was so frail that a gust of wind might have knocked her over. Her oversized, worn-out dark blue Uchiha combat uniform hung loosely on her, and the sleeves had to be rolled up several times just to uncover her hands.
Her hair was unkempt, as though it hadn't been brushed in a long time. A few wet black strands clung to her paper-white cheeks.
And yet this seemingly delicate child was the only Death God on the battlefield.
"Thwack!"
A burly jōnin from an enemy clan roared as he swung a massive cleaver at the girl.
But the blade abruptly stopped just three inches above her head.
It hadn't been blocked. The jōnin had stopped on his own.
In an instant, the fury in his eyes turned to vacant stupor. Then countless chakra chains glowing with an eerie red light burst from his chest, as though parasites had suddenly taken over his nervous system.
"Kill... kill..."
The jōnin muttered incoherently. He abruptly turned his blade and without hesitation chopped off the head of the comrade beside him!
"Bastard! What are you doing?!"
"He's under a genjutsu! Don't look into that girl's eyes!"
The surrounding ninja shouted in horror.
Yue watched clearly from the treetops.
The little girl slowly raised her head, and her once-black pupils changed in an instant.
It wasn't an ordinary Three-Tomoe Sharingan. The pattern was a complex, uncanny Mangekyō Sharingan, like a flower in full bloom!
Mangekyō Sharingan Technique: Yachihoko!
By linking to others through chakra, this terrifying eye technique could forcibly erase their memories, implant commands, and even control them like puppets.
"Uchiha Hikari?"
As someone who had crossed into this world, he knew that name, of course.
In the game storyline forgotten by later generations, Uchiha Hikari was born during the Warring States period and raised by the Uchiha Clan as their "ultimate weapon." Hers was a pitiful existence.
She had no childhood, no sense of self, and even her name, "Hikari," was a cruel irony.
For her entire life, she had dwelled in the deepest darkness.
At this point in time, she clearly hadn't yet met the nameless boy who would bring a little warmth into her life. She was still nothing but a thoroughly brainwashed killing machine.
"Hikari, you're too slow."
An old, sinister voice came from the shadows behind the girl.
Two middle-aged ninja dressed in the robes of Uchiha higher-ups stepped forward.
They made no move to fight. Instead, they stood somewhere safe and barked orders as though they were driving livestock.
One of them even held a sealing scroll, his eyes fixed coldly on the little girl's back.
"Don't waste your eye power controlling trash. Just eliminate them. Your mission is to clear this area and remove obstacles to the clan's advance."
At the order, the little girl named Hikari gave a slight shudder.
She said nothing. Not a flicker of emotion crossed her face as she mechanically nodded.
"Yes... Elder."
The girl's voice was young but hoarse, cold with a deathly stillness.
The next moment, the Mangekyō in her eyes spun wildly.
"Yachihoko: Inscription!"
The bodies of the dozen or so enemy ninja linked by chakra chains suddenly convulsed.
Their memories were instantly shattered, their minds forcibly rewritten.
Then, like rabid dogs, the dozen ninja howled as they drew their weapons and began the bloodiest slaughter of one another!
Limbs flew, and blood stained the rain.
In less than half a minute, the elite squad—which had still been capable of fighting back—was wiped out in the mutual slaughter. Not one of them survived.
The little girl responsible stood silently in the middle of the corpses.
Rain washed the blood from her face. She covered her eyes and swayed slightly, clearly suffering the heavy toll that frequent use of the Mangekyō took on her young body.
"Cough, cough..."
Hikari covered her mouth and coughed up a trace of blood.
"Hmph, useless. You've only used it a few times, and you're already in this state."
The Uchiha Elder showed not the slightest pity. He merely frowned in disgust. "Looks like we'll have to strengthen that seal even more if we want to drain her power more effectively. Everything for the Uchiha!"
"The Elder is right. Everything for the Uchiha!" the other ninja sneered.
Yue watched from above, his expression cold.
This was an era even more chaotic and more shameless than the future.
The Uchiha Clan was rife with factions. To seize power, they were even willing to turn gifted clan members into mindless weapons.
Although the abuse of Izanagi had eased under Zhi Uchiha's Izanami, madness still defined the Uchiha of this time.
And Uchiha Hikari was the era's most tragic victim.
"Who's there?"
A sharp-sensed Uchiha Elder abruptly turned, his gaze locking onto the treetop where Yue was hiding. "Come out!!"
Now that he'd been spotted, there was no point hiding.
"Whoosh!"
A shadow leaped down from the treetop and landed steadily in the muddy clearing.
Yue Uchiha slowly straightened up.
His black combat uniform was torn, and the bandage around his left eye was soaked by the rain. But the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his only remaining right eye gleamed with a chilling light.
"Who are you?!"
The two Uchiha Elders immediately drew their kunai and warily eyed the unexpected intruder.
They recognized Yue's distinctive black hair and red eye.
"A Sharingan? And a Three-Tomoe one, at that. Which branch are you from? Why have we never seen you before?!" the Elder demanded.
Yue ignored the two old men.
His gaze passed over them and settled on the little girl standing in the rain, her expression numb.
Their eyes met.
Hikari's gaze was empty, but the instant she saw Yue's right eye, something seemed to stir deep in her otherwise lifeless pupils.
"Another loathsome clansman?" Hikari murmured, her eyes still dull.
Before you continue