The lights in the hidden room were dim.
Kou lay flat on a chair, his gaze vacant, as if he had just rewarded himself and been drained of all his strength.
After a long while, he slowly sat up. Focus gradually returned to his hollow eyes.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands. They were still trembling slightly.
He forced down the lingering sorrow in his heart, then reached into the ninja tool pouch at his thigh and pulled out a kunai. Its gleaming blade reflected a cold light in the dim room.
He raised the kunai before his eyes. His gaze was reflected on its sharp metal surface.
His crimson Three Tomoe Sharingan was slowly spinning.
The three black tomoe spun faster and faster until, in an instant, they suddenly joined together.
Black markings linked the three tomoe, forming a brand-new, eerie pattern.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
Kou stared at the eyes reflected in the kunai and murmured:
"Did it really... work?"
His voice was soft and cautious, as if he were checking that he wasn't dreaming.
The immense chakra surging through his body and the tremendous ocular power he had never felt before answered his question without a doubt.
The Mangekyō Sharingan—his own Mangekyō Sharingan—had awakened!
"Ha... ha..."
Kou's breathing grew rapid. His pupils dilated slightly, and his eerie eyes were full of barely restrained excitement.
He could feel that he had grown stronger—not just a little stronger, but as if he had been reborn!!
It was hard to describe the sensation. It was like someone who had always walked on level ground being suddenly lifted into the air.
His vision abruptly widened, the world suddenly seemed small, and the things he had once needed to look up at were now beneath his feet!
The dramatic surge in his power brought a thought to mind:
I can do anything.
The moment that thought surfaced, Kou felt a jolt of alarm.
It wasn't a rational judgment or an assessment based on his strength. It was blind, almost frenzied confidence.
It came so naturally, so inevitably, as if it had always been growing inside him and had only just broken through the surface.
He abruptly raised his hand and slapped himself across the face.
"Smack!"
The crisp sound echoed through the hidden room. A burning pain spread across his cheek.
The pain was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, dousing most of the feverish, swelling flames in his heart.
A bright red handprint appeared on his face, but his eyes had regained their clarity and composure.
"The power of the Mangekyō... It's truly terrifying."
Kou murmured to himself, still shaken, his voice carrying a hint of relief at having escaped disaster.
He seemed to understand now why the Uchiha who awakened the Mangekyō all acted like idiots, never listened to anyone, and did whatever they pleased.
(Some Uchiha orphan who'd hit a dog with Amaterasu just for crossing his path.)
The boost this power granted was simply too terrifying. Faced with power of this magnitude, even someone like him, who had always believed in keeping a low profile and playing it safe, would find it hard not to get carried away.
"Stay calm. Stay calm."
He took a deep breath and reminded himself over and over:
The Ninja World is full of great heroes. Awakening the Mangekyō doesn't mean I'm safe.
I've only gained the strength to sit at the table for now. There's nothing to be proud of.
Don't get arrogant. Don't get impatient...
Kou slowly breathed out, his shoulders relaxing as his heartbeat gradually steadied.
The eerie light in his Mangekyō Sharingan had also grown much calmer.
The most important thing now was to figure out what his Mangekyō Sharingan could do.
"Anything but Amaterasu, please..."
Kou prayed silently, his tone almost reverent, as if he were begging a god for a favor:
That thing is pure poison for the summoning pool.
"But ideally, I'd get a space-type ability..."
Space-Time Ninjutsu was practically an all-purpose tool in the Ninja World. It was the kind of ability that wouldn't be outdated even in the high-level battles of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations.
The Kamui that the lucky bastard Obito had pulled from next door had made Kou jealous for years.
I want an ability that broken, too...
I'm sick of having to play with skill. I want an easy-mode wheelchair, devs!
Nervous yet expectant, Kou slowly closed his eyes.
He let his consciousness sink into the depths of his Mangekyō Sharingan, feeling for the unique abilities etched into its ocular power.
Information welled up from the depths of the Mangekyō, pouring into his mind and slowly unfolding in his consciousness.
After a moment, he slowly opened his eyes.
His expression was strange, and the corner of his mouth twitched. He couldn't help clicking his tongue.
"Tch... Like Itachi, I have two completely independent abilities?"
Since he had been reincarnated into the Uchiha Clan, Kou had spent years carefully categorizing Mangekyō abilities based on the Uchiha Clan's records and his own understanding of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
In Kou's view, Mangekyō abilities fell into two categories.
The first was like Obito's Kamui.
The left eye transported the user's body and anything he touched to the Kamui Dimension, making it a defensive eye.
The right eye distorted space around whatever fell within its field of vision, destroying it or sending it to the Kamui Dimension from a distance, making it an offensive eye.
The two abilities were fundamentally connected, differing only in how they were used.
Shisui's Kotoamatsukami belonged in the same category. Although the abilities of his left and right eyes differed, they both served the core purpose of "altering the will."
Then there were Sasuke's Kagutsuchi and Amaterasu. One created black flames, while the other controlled them. They, too, were fundamentally connected.
The other category was much more unusual. Uchiha Itachi was its prime example.
Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi: the strongest eye for physical attacks and the strongest eye for offensive genjutsu.
The two abilities were independent of each other, with seemingly no connection at all, yet they appeared to share some hidden link.
The two abilities Kou had awakened were similar to Itachi's: independent of each other, yet connected in some sense.
But unlike Itachi's extreme offensive setup, Kou's Mangekyō seemed to have one offensive ability and one support ability.
Kou unconsciously raised a hand and touched his fingertips to his eye socket, feeling the immense ocular power of the Mangekyō.
"Magatsuhi God" and "Inari God."
These two names corresponded to the abilities of his left and right eyes.
Fortunately, his left eye, "Magatsuhi God," really was the Space-Time Ninjutsu he had been hoping for.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of ability he had wanted: a highly mobile and practical one like the Flying Thunder God, Obito's Kamui, or Sasuke's Amenotejikara.
His "Magatsuhi God" was a space-time dōjutsu focused on offense, similar to Kakashi's left eye.
Its effect was simple, but terrifying.
It was... Space Collapse!
It locked onto everything in his field of vision and instantly collapsed the space around it!
Its advantages were a very short activation time, no need to charge up, and immense destructive power. It basically ignored all defenses, making it one of the most powerful offensive dōjutsu.
Its drawback was the immense ocular power it consumed. The amount required increased in proportion to the area of space collapsed.
The larger the area he wanted to collapse, the more ocular power it consumed.
All things considered, it was still an immensely powerful offensive dōjutsu.
A true hero killed with a glance!!
A hint of excitement flashed through Kou's eyes.
For him, this eye's ability made up for his possible lack of offensive options against top-tier opponents.
Before, when he ran into someone he couldn't beat, all he could do was run.
Now... at least he could fire off one attack first.
As for the ocular power it consumed, he wasn't too worried.
After all, with the intel in his mind, a little ocular power was hardly an insurmountable problem.
Hashirama Cells or some other means of recovery—if he looked, he would find a way.
Besides, the ability of his right eye, "Inari God," could make up for the left eye's loss of ocular power in the short term.
Thinking about his right eye's ability, Kou's expression grew solemn.
To him, his right eye's support ability was even more important than his left eye's "Magatsuhi God."
Kou's right eye ability, "Inari God," was fundamentally about absorption.
It could absorb ninjutsu, chakra, and even ocular power indiscriminately, converting them into power he could use.
The ability seemed similar to the Preta Path, but it also had its differences.
First, unlike the Preta Path, which required physical contact with the target, Kou's "Inari God" had far fewer restrictions on its use—all it needed was for the target to be within his right eye's field of vision.
If he could see it, he could absorb it.
And it could absorb not only ninjutsu and chakra, but ocular power as well.
That meant if his opponent used genjutsu, he could simply absorb their ocular power, causing the genjutsu to collapse on its own.
What went far beyond the Preta Path—and what Kou valued above all—was this dōjutsu's other ability.
Suppressing his excitement, Kou bit down on his finger, trembling.
Blood welled from his fingertip. He quickly formed several hand seals:
"Summoning Technique!"
A cloud of smoke burst into the air. A black Crow landed steadily on his arm.
Its feathers gleamed black, and its slightly open beak gave a low "caw."
Kou looked at the Crow right in front of him—or, more precisely, at the eye in its socket.
It was a Byakugan.
The eye belonged to a member of the Hyuga Main Family. Somehow, Ao of the Mist Village had gotten hold of it, and in the end, Kou had recovered it!
A flash of excitement crossed his eyes.
The most important thing about Inari God was that the power it absorbed wasn't simply converted into chakra.
It could also be converted into ocular power or used directly to strengthen his body!
That meant he could absorb his opponent's ninjutsu in battle and turn it into his own power—not simply "neutralize" it, but "steal" it.
And based on Kou's analysis, if he used the absorbed ocular power to nourish his own Mangekyō Sharingan, he might even gain some of the characteristics of other dōjutsu.
For example—
The Byakugan, one of the Three Great Dōjutsu of the Ninja World, as renowned as the Sharingan!
What would happen if he absorbed the ocular power held in this eye and converted it into his own, nourishing his Mangekyō?
Kou stared at the Byakugan in the Crow's eye, unable to hide his joy and excitement.
His hand trembled slightly. The possibility was so tempting that he could hardly bring himself to believe it.
He took a deep breath, pushing down the excitement threatening to spill out of him.
It was too soon to celebrate. This was still only a theory. He needed to verify it and conduct a whole lot of experiments!
But at least, he had glimpsed the path.
The path to becoming stronger, staying safer, and surviving to the end in this godforsaken Ninja World—the path!!
Before you continue