Mangekyo Sharingan

Time returns to the present.

The reward for this S-rank mission was a full fifteen million ryo.

With five people, that came out to exactly three million ryo each.

In truth, Kakashi and Shibi Aburame had not intended to take the money, as they had contributed nothing to the mission; it would not be an exaggeration to say they had simply coasted to victory.

However, none of them were people who cared much for wealth, and no one was going to quibble over such things.

Besides, since they belonged to the same team, it was only natural to share in both the blessings and the burdens.

Thus, after several refusals were rejected by the others, Kakashi and Shibi Aburame reluctantly accepted their shares.

Afterward, the group bid each other farewell and returned to their respective homes.

Uchiha Aoba, carrying the massive sum of three million ryo, walked along the road back to the clan compound.

Only now did he finally have the time to check the spoils of this mission.

"System, open the fusion panel."

[Battle concluded, rewards settled.]

[Total puppets destroyed: forty-two. Giant puppets destroyed: twice. Mukade killed. S-rank mission completed. Panel fusion rate increased by 12.2%. Rewards are being issued; please take note, Host.]

"How much?"

Uchiha Aoba thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

He hurriedly closed the system, slapped his forehead twice, and reopened it to check again.

After confirming it repeatedly, he could no longer hide the joy on his face.

A single S-rank mission had actually yielded a 12.2% increase in his panel fusion rate, which meant his overall fusion rate had now reached over 40%.

To confirm his hypothesis, Uchiha Aoba quickly opened the detailed panel to view it.

[Host: Uchiha Aoba, Konoha Jonin]
[Bloodline: Uchiha Clan]
[Character Panel: Uchiha Madara, Fusion Rate 46.1%]
[Abilities: Mangekyo Sharingan (Pending Activation), Shurikenjutsu, Advanced Kenjutsu, Advanced Taijutsu, Advanced Genjutsu, Five Nature Transformation Ninjutsu mastered (C-rank, B-rank, A-rank)]
[Overall Strength: Kage-level]

As expected!

Uchiha Aoba let out a long breath, the smile on his face deepening until he nearly burst into laughter.

Fortunately, his years of keeping a low profile allowed him to control his emotions, preventing him from losing his composure.

However, he could no longer walk slowly through the streets and accelerated his pace all the way home.

He was finally about to awaken the long-awaited Mangekyo Sharingan.

What would the tomoe look like?

Since it was the template of Madara, would his ocular power and other traits be identical to Uchiha Madara?

If he were to awaken Susanoo in the future, what color would it be?

One question after another surfaced in Uchiha Aoba's mind, making his heart race with excitement.

He arrived home, locked the doors, and shut the windows tight.

Unlike when he awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan, he intended to keep the Mangekyo Sharingan hidden for as long as possible.

The main reason was that excessive use of a standard Mangekyo Sharingan carried side effects ranging from vision loss to total blindness, so Uchiha Aoba decided that unless it was a last resort, these eyes must never be exposed.

They were to be treated primarily as a trump card.

Then again, this act of hiding the Mangekyo would not last for long.

With his current 46.1% fusion rate, he was only 3.9% away from the next stage of 50%.

Once the Mangekyo Sharingan evolved into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, it would mean Uchiha Aoba had completely moved past his growth phase and possessed the power to flip the table.

But that was a matter for the future; for now, it was not worth mentioning.

In the bedroom.

Uchiha Aoba stood before the mirror, looking at his own reflection.

After a moment of silence, he whispered in his heart: "System, activate the Mangekyo Sharingan for me!"

As the words fell, a violent, burning sensation surged into his eyes.

Uchiha Aoba let out a muffled groan. The discomfort felt as if someone had gouged his eyes out and was now forcefully churning a blade inside his empty sockets.

The intensity caused Uchiha Aoba to grip the vanity, shattering the countertop into pieces beneath his hands.

Blood dripped from his palms.

Blood tears streamed down from his pupils, staining his cheeks.

This unimaginable agony made Uchiha Aoba curse the system's ancestors down to the eighteenth generation in his heart.

Besides, no one had told him that awakening the Mangekyo Sharingan would be this painful.

Or was he just a special case?

After all, in Uchiha Aoba's memory, everyone else who awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan had experienced trauma, but wasn't that all psychological pain?

Why did it become physical for him? Was it because he had nothing left to lose that the system chose this torturous method to activate his Mangekyo Sharingan?

Pain! It was too painful!

The system's move was so ruthless that Uchiha Aoba nearly fainted from the agony.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

The sensation of pain finally began to subside gradually. Once everything returned to calm, Uchiha Aoba took quite a while to recover before he finally lifted his head to look at himself in the mirror.

He had no mind to wipe away the bloodstains on his cheeks; his attention was entirely focused on the pattern in his pupils.

How should he put it? It looked a bit like a pinwheel, though it had three blades.

Uchiha Aoba felt it was alright.

But that wasn't the most important thing; compared to the form of the Mangekyo Sharingan, he was more concerned with the strength of his ocular techniques.

However, after some exploration, the results made Uchiha Aoba frown.

It wasn't that his ocular techniques were bad.

On the contrary, Uchiha Aoba's ocular techniques were incredibly strong; once used, he could essentially finish off an opponent in an instant.

His left eye's technique was related to space, and it was very simple and brutal.

It consisted of only two words: Imprisonment.

As the name implied, Uchiha Aoba could use his ocular technique to freeze people in place, functioning much like a binding jutsu.

Except it was an area-of-effect binding jutsu.

In other words, he could instantly freeze any enemy within his line of sight, and there was no prerequisite for the enemy to make eye contact with him.

Furthermore, the duration of the freeze was tied not only to the enemy's strength but also to his own ocular power.

As for Uchiha Aoba's right eye, it possessed an ocular technique related to time.

He had three seconds of absolute control at any given moment.

Once the technique was activated, he could accelerate himself or even rewind time.

It could be said that the abilities of his eyes were an absolute bug in the entire ninja world; anyone would be satisfied with them.

However, the reason Uchiha Aoba frowned was that although his ocular techniques were indeed powerful, they consumed a massive amount of ocular power and chakra; a normal Mangekyo Sharingan simply couldn't withstand the strain.

Uchiha Aoba even felt that even if he reached the level of the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, he still wouldn't be able to use them recklessly.

Regardless, being able to obtain two incredibly powerful ocular techniques was something worth celebrating.

Finally, Uchiha Aoba carefully manifested his Susanoo.

Looking at the light orange ribs wrapping around him, he completely relaxed and let out a long sigh.

Thank goodness it wasn't pink.