The Mangekyō Awakens

God, I'd finally made it to this point!

Qiuyang stared, his dark eyes shining, at the blond kid being hauled off to the Hokage Office. The bucket of paint he'd used for his prank was still clutched tightly in his hands.

As he cursed and struggled, he'd spilled paint all along the way.

Qiuyang watched them disappear with a broad smile, then couldn't help looking up again at Naruto's artistic masterpiece—

The once solemn Kage Rock had been "touched up" by Naruto, an artistic genius with a paintbrush. Now, it was as ridiculous as it could possibly be.

He couldn't hold back any longer and burst out laughing.

He laughed for a full three minutes, until tears streamed down his face.

How could he not laugh?

For years, he'd swallowed his grievances and endured everything, like a rat lurking in a sewer, crawling through the shadows, twisted and warped.

Every day, he'd worried that, as an outsider, he might be erased by this world without warning.

Now the main story of Naruto was finally beginning. He'd have the all-seeing eye of someone familiar with every plotline, and would never have to keep his head down and act timid again.

And Obito, just you wait!

Qiuyang leaped into the air, bounding through the familiar alleyways. In the blink of an eye, he stood atop a huge water tower on a high-rise, overlooking all of Konoha.

'Buzz—'

His heart stirred. His pupils changed from black to red, and three tomoe slowly appeared, circling the center of his eyes. He felt no pain or discomfort at all.

Good. It seemed the tremendous ocular power he'd expended that night had fully recovered.

Where had he come from?

Perhaps the surname beside his name would make it easier to understand—his name was Uchiha Qiu Yang.

He was a bona fide transmigrator.

He'd arrived at an awkward time: the night Itachi had gone on a killing spree, slaughtering his clan for the sake of his foolish little brother.

The area where his previous self had lived was handled by Uchiha Madara...

No, to be precise, it was the area around the Security Force, which was being cleared out by Obito Uchiha, that old schemer.

Back then, his previous self was only a few years older than Uchiha Sasuke. Unlike Sasuke, he couldn't bear the trauma. After watching his parents and older brother get killed one by one in an instant, he'd stared wide-eyed in helpless despair—and awakened the legendary Mangekyō Sharingan in a burst of rage.

Before that, his previous self had been a nobody who couldn't even awaken a One-Tomoe Sharingan.

The Uchiha bloodline he'd inherited from his family wasn't particularly strong. They were among the clan's most marginal members.

If not for his older brother awakening the Two-Tomoe Sharingan during a suicide mission in the previous Ninja World War and earning a place in the Security Force, it would've been a struggle for the family just to survive.

Just as their little household had begun to get back on its feet, Itachi and Obito had suddenly launched their clan massacre...

By then, staying alive was already a far-fetched hope for his previous self.

So after awakening the Mangekyō, he'd looked at his lifeless family lying on the ground and gone mad. In an instant, he'd gripped a kunai and lunged at Obito.

He'd sworn to kill the despicable man before him and avenge his family.

With no way back, why not stake everything on one desperate gamble?

Thanks to the ample ocular power that came with awakening his eyes, and a surge of adrenaline, his previous self had moved incredibly fast. In a flash, he appeared behind Obito, who was finishing off a clansman with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

Then he thrust forward with all his strength.

The sudden attack startled even Obito, who was wielding a Shinigami's scythe. The Mangekyō's mysterious Yin-Yang Bagua pattern had nearly caught him off guard.

But experience counted for more than youthful strength—and Obito was no ordinary veteran. He'd awakened his Mangekyō long ago and possessed Hashirama Cells.

After blocking the first few attacks, Obito had easily pinned his previous self down and beaten him senseless, using only the passive intangibility of his right eye's Kamui.

"How interesting. I never expected anyone else to awaken the Mangekyō in a fit of rage, just like me. What a pity, though..."

Looking down at his previous self, who was barely breathing, Obito shook his head. He turned to finish off the last person, then came back to claim Qiuyang's Mangekyō.

At that moment, the bewildered Qiuyang transmigrated into the body of his previous self, who had the same name.

"Hm? You're still alive?"

The hand that was about to chop off his head suddenly stopped. Beneath his mask, Obito pondered for a moment, then let out a sinister laugh.

Qiuyang had just finished receiving his memories. Faced with this horrifying situation, he understood exactly where he was—and felt like crying.

What the hell was that rotten goddamn Heaven thinking?

Hadn't it said it would send him to a dazzling world where he could fly through the skies and burrow into the earth, then let him be reborn into a race with an exceptional bloodline to make up for everything?

Who could relate? He'd already been imagining himself as the legendary overpowered hero, living a shamelessly blissful life every day:

He'd trample the chosen heirs of every sect underfoot, surround himself with holy maidens and goddess-like beauties, and call them all "sweetheart";

With a single cry of "Sword, come!" he'd effortlessly cut down all manner of otherworldly monsters and banished immortals from a thousand miles away...

And now this????

They'd dumped him into the Naruto World on the night of the Uchiha Clan Massacre—and he hadn't even been reborn as Sasuke, the sole survivor.

What was this supposed to be?

Were they messing with him or what??

Qiuyang struggled to swallow. The icy edge of the scythe at his throat seemed to pierce his skin and bone marrow, leaving him cold all over.

It was the second time he'd felt death so close. Honestly, it was despairing.

It wasn't that he was afraid of dying. It was just awful to have someone else hold his fate in their hands—and to have to suffer agonizing pain before death.

If... if he hugged Obito's leg and begged through his tears, might it awaken even a trace of his conscience toward his clansmen?

Qiuyang shook his head, dismissing the ridiculous idea. Obito was a full-blown obsessive, and his mind held nothing but his Rin.

He'd killed even his teacher and his teacher's wife without batting an eye. What good would begging him do?

"It'd be a shame to pluck out these eyes."

Obito finally spoke from beneath his mask, but Qiuyang couldn't detect even the slightest hint of regret in his words..

At this point, Obito was still a schemer. He wasn't terrifyingly powerful like Six Paths Madara, who could simply hot-swap in someone else's Mangekyō and use its abilities.

So with eyes that had awakened the Mangekyō, Obito estimated he could only use them at the Three-Tomoe level.

Using them purely as fodder for Izanagi really would be a waste.

And from their brief exchange just now, these Mangekyō eyes seemed to counter him somewhat. The right eye's power was something like freezing space.

But if Itachi found out... that would be troublesome.

"Caw... Caw..."

As Obito hesitated, a black crow flew toward him from a distance, croaking hoarsely. He raised his scythe and swung. The crow instantly vanished in a cloud of smoke.

Obito knew, and so did Qiuyang: it was a retreat signal from Itachi on the other side.

"Time's up? Forget it. I'll just kill you."

What a shame about those eyes.

But in the few seconds Obito had spent swinging at the crow, Qiuyang seized his chance. He focused his left eye and activated its Mangekyō ability—

"God-Meeting Machine."