The Long-Awaited Mangekyō

Deep in the karst cave, inside a secret chamber.

Kou stood motionless before Shisui's grave.

Light spilled down from overhead, falling across his lowered profile and casting his features in a cold light.

His gaze rested on the ground before the gravestone.

There, besides the small incense burner, lay a yellowed letter.

The corners of the paper were worn, and a thin layer of dust had settled over it.

Kou stared at the letter for a long time.

About three years ago, his strength had already reached the level of a Kage.

He had spent a great deal of time training in ninjutsu, Taijutsu, genjutsu, and the forbidden techniques he had dug out of Madara's legacy.

But what he had worked hardest on, in truth, was concealment.

After all, in this world, the longest-lived weren't necessarily the strongest. They were the best at keeping their heads down.

(Prisoner Madara: ???)

And two years ago, he had finally been able to do the thing he had always wanted to do.

Infiltrate Konoha.

Not for any important plan. He just wanted to take a look.

At his parents' graves, at Obito's grandmother's grave, at Rin's grave, and at the graves of the squad members who had died in the Third Ninja World War. He wanted to see them.

Kou knew it was pointless.

The dead wouldn't come back to life because someone visited them, nor would they feel comforted because someone remembered them.

They were just a pile of cold stones, with names carved into them, names being worn away by wind and rain.

But he wanted to do it anyway.

When you're not strong enough, you can't do what you want. If you still can't do what you want after you're strong, then what was the point of training?!

He infiltrated Konoha, evaded every sensory barrier, and slipped past the Anbu patrol routes, moving through the night like a silent ghost.

He went to the Memorial Stone, to Konoha's cemetery, and to the places he had once known but now didn't dare approach.

Then he went to the Uchiha Clan Compound and found his parents' gravestone.

But it wasn't what he had imagined.

The gravestone had been scrubbed spotless, without a speck of dust. Fresh flowers rested on the stone platform before it.

Dew still clung to the petals, as if they had been placed there only moments ago.

Kou stood there, staring at the flowers for a long time.

He understood that only one person could have done this at the Uchiha Clan Compound.

Shisui Uchiha, that rebellious disciple.

He stood before the grave for a long time. The night wind swept by, ruffling the hair over his forehead and stirring the emotions he had kept buried for too long.

He remembered what Shisui had been like as a child, the little brat who was always following him around and earnestly calling him "Big Brother Kou."

The idiot had absurd talent, yet kept wavering between Konoha and the Uchiha, driving himself to the brink of a breakdown.

In the end, he used the Summoning Technique to call forth the crow he hadn't summoned in years.

He had the crow deliver a few messages.

"Don't reveal your Mangekyō abilities to anyone."

"Be careful of Danzo. His right eye is a Sharingan, and he can use Izanagi."

"If you want the Uchiha Clan to be safe, don't go looking for a death wish."

He had told Shisui these things countless times while he was in Konoha.

Every time, Shisui listened earnestly and nodded earnestly, then went on doing things his own way.

That classic Uchiha stubbornness. Once they made up their minds, not even ten oxen could drag them back.

He knew that, given what he understood about Shisui, the boy definitely wouldn't listen.

Even though he had repeated those words in his ear countless times.

Still, he held on to a little hope.

He could consider it repayment for all the years Shisui had visited his parents' graves on his behalf.

He sent that small hope along with the message, then turned and disappeared into Konoha's night.

Then, one day a year later, an inexplicable unease suddenly welled up inside him.

As if he had realized what had happened, he summoned the crow.

The black crow landed on his shoulder, a letter clutched in its beak.

Dear Big Brother Kou,

By the time you read this letter, I'll probably already be dead.

I'm sorry, Big Brother Kou.

I listened to you. I never revealed Kotoamatsukami to anyone, and I never used it in front of anyone.

But a coup by the Uchiha Clan was truly unavoidable. I had wanted to use Kotoamatsukami on Clan Head Fugaku to stop the coup.

What I didn't expect was that, just as I was about to act, Elder Danzo came with Root to dispose of me. He wanted to use my death to stir up conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha, forcing them into an all-out war.

He had never intended to resolve the Uchiha coup peacefully, not even though he had no idea I possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan.

Thanks to the information you gave me about Izanagi, Big Brother Kou, I saw through his scheme and seriously wounded him.

But...this battle made me realize something.

Big Brother Kou, you were right. Among the Konoha High Command, no one except Lord Third wants to resolve the conflict with the Uchiha peacefully.

Lord Third is old, too. He has too many concerns, and he no longer has the strength to control the situation.

If I had listened to you from the start and firmly stood with the Uchiha, perhaps everything would have turned out differently...

But now it's too late.

The conflict between Konoha and the Uchiha truly has reached the point where it can't be reconciled.

The Uchiha are no longer satisfied with being treated fairly by Konoha. What they want is absolute control over Konoha, all in the name of "making the Uchiha great again."

If the Uchiha and Konoha go to war, the only outcome will be mutual destruction. It could even become the spark that ignites the Fourth Shinobi World War.

The Uchiha Clan will become the enemy of the entire Ninja World...

I am Shisui Uchiha of the Uchiha Clan, but I am also a shinobi of Konoha.

I...can't bring myself to stand on either side.

To buy time, I...have chosen to end my own life.

As long as the Uchiha lose me, one of their most important fighters, they will surely slow down their plans for a coup.

Danzo is seriously wounded. With Lord Third and Itachi, they should be able to find a peaceful solution.

I know I'm running away, but...I don't know what else to do.

I'm sorry, Big Brother Kou. I'm truly...sorry.

Finally, I beg you, Big Brother Kou: please save the Uchiha Clan. Come back to Konoha...

I know I have no right to ask for your forgiveness, but please let me entrust you with what strength I have left.

The only people I can trust are Itachi and you...

Your foolish disciple, Shisui Uchiha

--

Kou stared expressionlessly at the small incense burner before the gravestone and the letter, now yellowed with age.

At some point, a small bottle had appeared in his hand.

The bottle was transparent, and inside it rested a Sharingan.

It was the Mangekyō Sharingan from Shisui's right eye, entrusted to him by Shisui along with the letter at the very end.

"Idiot."

Kou looked at Shisui's eye and spoke in a cold voice.

He had always hated Shisui.

It would have been one thing if he had merely wavered between Konoha and the Uchiha. But despite his ridiculous talent, he had refused to accept reality to the very end, stubbornly clinging to the Konoha he had imagined.

Then, when things were beyond saving, he dumped the problem on someone else. He went off to die without discussing it with anyone, never even considering whether the others would be willing to accept it.

He seemed easygoing, but in truth, he was hopelessly self-centered. At heart, he was a Uchiha through and through, a lunatic who belonged at the same table as that nutcase Itachi!!

When he learned that Shisui had died, his first reaction wasn't sadness. He was so furious he almost laughed.

A hand of great cards played into a complete mess—that described Shisui's life perfectly.

He hadn't awakened the Mangekyō over Shisui's death.

His feelings for Shisui had already been worn away by one disappointment after another.

Kou looked at Shisui's gravestone and spoke quietly:

"The Uchiha Clan has been wiped out."

His voice was calm, as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him:

"You didn't accomplish anything, from beginning to end. You only made things worse."

He paused. A trace of self-mockery crept into his voice.

"I didn't have the ability to change any of this. You did—you knew what to do—but you still insisted on doing things your way. And now look at the mess we're in."

"...It would've been bad enough if you'd just died, but you left the Uchiha and me with Itachi, that walking disaster. I'm so lucky to have known you."

He muttered in irritation, his mind returning to the decade or so he had spent living in the Uchiha Clan Compound, and to the kind looks the ordinary Uchiha had given him.

They knew nothing of the conflict between the village and the Uchiha. Some of them weren't even shinobi, just ordinary people with the Uchiha surname who lived there.

They only wanted to live in peace, to see their children grow up safe, to sit on the veranda in the sun when they were old.

"Everyone's the same. They drag people who just want to live in peace into their own stupid messes, ruin their lives, then spout that self-righteous crap..."

"Is it really that fun?!"

His voice rose higher and higher. Something churned in his black eyes.

"I just wanted to live a peaceful life. I just wanted to stay alive with everyone else—"

"Is that really so hard?!"

His voice broke with a raw, desperate scream.

The emotions he had suppressed for so long—the pain, anger, helplessness, and resentment he had accumulated along the way after learning that the Uchiha Clan had still been wiped out—burst forth in the empty chamber.

Only here could he stop suppressing his feelings and let his pain pour out.

Was he suffering because the Uchiha Clan had been wiped out? Because he had failed to save anyone? Or was he simply releasing all the emotions he had buried for years? He could no longer tell.

He just stood there, screaming over and over.

Unnoticed, the Three Tomoe Sharingan had appeared in his eyes.

The three black tomoe slowly spun across his irises, faster and faster, as if enduring immense pressure.

His face contorted, his features twisted, the veins on his forehead bulging. His whole body was like a bow pulled to its limit.

Gradually, the three tomoe joined together.

Black lines appeared between them, like bridges linking the three tomoe into an entirely new pattern.

The expression on Kou's face froze as the sinister Mangekyō took shape in his eyes.

"The Mangekyō Sharingan...awakened?"

He stood there without moving.

The patterns in his eyes turned faintly, radiating a cold light.

It wasn't bright, but it was impossible to look directly at.

Feeling the vast ocular power in his eyes and the chakra surging through his body, Kou could sense every cell in his body rejoicing, celebrating the Uchiha's ultimate power.

It was an instinctive ecstasy rising from the depths of his blood.

His heart was in such agony, yet in the brief lulls between waves of pain, instinctive pleasure rushed in to mingle with it.

Pain and pleasure, grief and ecstasy, despair and hope...

They were like two snakes entwined, biting, writhing, and merging inside him.

"Hahaha..."

He laughed.

"Wuwu..."

Then he cried.

Tears welled from those sinister Mangekyō Sharingan, ran down his cheeks, and fell to the ground with a faint sound.

"Hahahahaha!!!"

Kou lay flat on the ground, his expression caught between laughter and tears.

His handsome face was now twisted beyond recognition.

The light fell across his face and the Mangekyō slowly turning in his eyes.

At last, he understood how it felt.

Why Tobirama Senju had said, "The Uchiha are a clan born evil."

The immense power that welled up from overwhelming negative emotions brought such ecstasy that it really could make people lose themselves in it.

It wasn't a matter of willpower. It was an instinct in their blood, an irresistible temptation written into their genes.

White-haired loli, I was wrong about you...

You were right!!!

(How did you all feel about this chapter? I finished writing it and felt something was a little off, but I can't figure out what... If you think something could be better, could you tell me?)