When Did I Ever Say I Didn't Have the Sharingan?

Midsummer,

By the Naka River.

In the woods, Kamizuki swung his unopened greatsword so fast it left afterimages. Every slash seemed capable of splitting the air in two. Sweat poured down him, and the mud beneath his feet had been trampled into a mess.

Orochimaru leaned against a tree trunk, twirling a kunai around his finger.

Whoosh—

The kunai shot out, stabbing straight at Kamizuki's face!

Bang!!!

Kamizuki turned his sword into a shield, and the kunai smashed against the greatsword and exploded into fragments.

The next instant, Orochimaru appeared before him and planted a solid kick in his stomach, sending Kamizuki flying into a tree trunk.

Whoosh—!!

Kamizuki burst from the shattered wood chips, scattering the dust as he drove his shoulder and elbow together into Orochimaru's chest.

Orochimaru raised an arm to block, but the blow forced him back several steps, plowing two shallow tracks beneath his feet.

Kamizuki gave him no chance to recover. His fists rained down, every punch aimed at a vital point.

Chakra coated Orochimaru's hands. He did not dare clash head-on with Kamizuki's body.

Half a year had passed. Kamizuki's build had not changed much, but his bone density and muscle fiber resilience had increased noticeably.

Even without Chakra, his fists carried enough force to shatter rock.

By stomping on the air with tremendous leg strength to create propulsion, he could achieve speeds comparable to the Body Flicker Technique.

His defense was nothing to scoff at either.

Ordinary senbon and shuriken could not pierce Kamizuki's skin, and this body possessed high resistance to poison as well.

Pure.

That was Orochimaru's assessment of Kamizuki's abilities.

After normal shinobi refined and stored Chakra, they entered a standby state, waiting until their Chakra was depleted before refining more.

Simply put, their mana bar was full. They used skills, then slowly recovered afterward.

Abnormal shinobi like Tsunade could continuously accumulate Chakra through the Yin Seal, allowing her to use massive amounts of Chakra for a short time after releasing it.

Kamizuki was the other extreme.

He had abandoned the step of accumulating mana, directly turning his mana bar into a health bar. Moreover, this ability was closer to a passive one; he did not need to deliberately pour Chakra into a Yin Seal like Tsunade did.

Beneath that body... was pure violence!

With these traits, Kamizuki's combat strength was already enough to rival an ordinary special jonin. He could even defeat some veteran jonin who relied excessively on ninjutsu if they let their guard down.

"Heavenly Restriction..."

Orochimaru chuckled lowly. "Abandoning the external manifestation of energy and focusing entirely on oneself."

"It is called a restriction, but I prefer to see it as another form of evolution!"

"I once saw a shinobi with the Steel Release Kekkei Genkai. He could harden parts of his body to resist physical attacks. In terms of sheer hardness, he surpassed even you."

"But that was only superficial. His organs, muscles, and bones were no different from those of ordinary shinobi."

"You are powerful in every aspect. Your physical strength and endurance are far beyond those of ordinary people!"

"If your physical strength does not shorten your lifespan, I would even say that you are the more perfect human!"

The light that had just risen in Orochimaru's eyes quickly dimmed.

"Unfortunately... your perfect puzzle is missing a piece."

"Perhaps that is why you named it a restriction. It has cut off your possibility of obtaining the Sharingan."

"Would you feel disappointed, Kamizuki?"

The probability of an Uchiha awakening the Sharingan was far lower than that of awakening the Byakugan, but those with talent should have awakened it by around the age of ten.

Not long ago, Mikoto had awakened her Sharingan after a training session.

After learning of this while out on a mission, Orochimaru immediately rushed back.

He feared Kamizuki would feel disappointed that someone close to him had awakened the Sharingan while he could not.

Because there was someone like that around him, Orochimaru could not help thinking this way.

Hiruko had been a friend from the same generation as the three of them, but he had been unwilling to accept that his aptitude was inferior to theirs.

Orochimaru had noticed, but he had not cared. He thought Hiruko was an adult and would come to accept reality himself.

But if something like that happened to his own disciple, he cared greatly and hurried back to offer some comfort.

"Disappointed?"

Kamizuki paused, then understood why Orochimaru was asking. He grinned. "I don't understand."

"Orochimaru-sensei, how did you reach that conclusion?"

"When did I ever say I didn't have the Sharingan?"

The sparring stopped. Orochimaru frowned. "The Sharingan is an ocular Kekkei Genkai. Its awakening and manifestation must rely on Chakra as a medium. That is common knowledge, isn't it?"

He did not explain further. Since he had taken on an Uchiha disciple, the Third Hokage had shown him the Second Hokage's research on the Uchiha.

When an Uchiha suffered mental stimulation, special Chakra would surge from the brain and act upon the optic nerves, thereby awakening the Sharingan.

Simply put, Chakra was the necessary key to awakening the Sharingan. How could Kamizuki, who could not perform that step, possibly possess the Sharingan?

"That is indeed common knowledge, but have you forgotten something even more basic?"

Kamizuki pointed at his eyes. "Aren't eyes part of the body?"

Orochimaru froze for a moment before answering seriously from a professional perspective. "Although the eyeballs and brain tissue belong to different systems, there is no doubt that the eyes are part of the body."

You know even that, and that Steel Release shinobi you mentioned earlier... you've already dissected quite a few people, haven't you...?

"Then would a Heavenly Restriction that strengthens the entire body alone fail to strengthen the eyes?"

Kamizuki wiped the sweat from his face. "If I told you that I am currently in the Sharingan's awakened state, would you believe me?"

Orochimaru stared at Kamizuki's pitch-black pupils without speaking.

Take a guess.

Kamizuki thought for a moment, then said, "Orochimaru-sensei, you know about the Mangekyo, right?"

"I heard from Hiruzen-sensei that it was a realm once attained by someone from your clan. It is the Sharingan's ultimate form."

Orochimaru gave a faint smile. "Are you trying to tell me that this black 'Sharingan' of yours is the Mangekyo?"

"...You're the kind of person who gets asked to guess a price and immediately names an outrageously high number. No fun at all."

Kamizuki pouted and continued,

"When I was four years old, my dynamic vision and insight suddenly improved by a great deal."

"The difference between a One Tomoe Sharingan and ordinary shinobi lies in dynamic vision. It can predict simple attacks and slightly interfere with an opponent's judgment."

"Two Tomoe is an enhancement of that. The difference is not that great."

Kamizuki raised three fingers. Orochimaru listened intently, as though he were the student now.

"Three Tomoe is the ultimate form of the Sharingan known to ordinary people. It possesses insight comparable to the Byakugan, can see the pathways of Chakra flow, and can even copy an opponent's ninjutsu."

"Beyond that, it possesses considerable genjutsu ability. Without a way to counter it, one can be controlled the instant their eyes meet."

"That is why people say that when facing an Uchiha with Three Tomoe, you must never fight them one-on-one."

"In terms of insight alone, my eyes are no weaker than Two Tomoe. As for the genjutsu side..."

A strange smile curled across Kamizuki's lips. "Orochimaru-sensei, could you relax your Chakra defenses for a moment?"

"Then you will understand."

"Experiencing it yourself will be more useful than anything I can say."

Orochimaru swallowed, a sense of foreboding rising within him.

"I... won't be in any danger, right?"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing!"

After receiving Kamizuki's assurance, Orochimaru lowered his hands, sank his Chakra into his abdomen, and tensed his muscles.

He knew there would be danger, yet Kamizuki's words had stirred his curiosity.

Something churned in the depths of Kamizuki's eyes. The pitch-black backdrop was completely devoured by a blood-red glow.

An utterly pure black tomoe slowly turned within his scarlet eyes, like a bloody gear meshing into place.

Sharingan—Awaken!

A cold, sinister pressure surged forth.

The instant that scarlet came into view, Orochimaru's narrow golden pupils contracted sharply, and his limbs went rigid.

The world within his vision twisted and utterly collapsed, his consciousness forcibly dragged into a silent void.

Within the darkness, a pair of enormous scarlet eyes cast down an icy, ominous gaze!