Mangekyō Sharingan

Time returned to the present.

This time, the S-rank mission had paid a full fifteen million ryo.

There were five of them, so each person got three million ryo.

Kakashi and Shibi Aburame hadn't planned to take any money, since they hadn't contributed anything during the mission. It wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say they'd simply coasted to victory.

But none of them cared much about money, and nobody was going to argue over it.

Besides, since they were all on the same team, they ought to share the good times and the bad.

So after they'd refused several times and the others still wouldn't take no for an answer, Kakashi and Shibi reluctantly accepted their shares.

Afterward, they said their goodbyes and headed home.

Uchiha Aoba walked back toward the clan compound with a fortune of three million ryo in his arms.

At last, he had time to check what he'd gained from the mission.

"System, open the fusion panel."

[Battle concluded. Rewards have been calculated.]

[Destroyed 42 puppets, destroyed giant puppets twice, killed Mukade, and completed an S-rank mission. Panel fusion increased by 12.2%. Distributing rewards now. Please be ready to receive them.]

"How much?"

Uchiha Aoba thought he must have misread it.

He quickly closed the system, slapped himself on the forehead twice, then reopened it to check.

After confirming it several times, he could no longer hide his delight.

One S-rank mission had earned him a full 12.2% of panel fusion. That meant his overall fusion had shot past 40%.

To make sure his guess was right, Uchiha Aoba hurriedly opened the detailed panel.

[Host: Uchiha Aoba, Konoha Jōnin]

[Bloodline: Uchiha Clan]

[Character Panel: Uchiha Madara, Fusion: 46.1%]

[Abilities: Mangekyō Sharingan (awaiting activation), Shuriken Throwing, Advanced Kenjutsu, Advanced Taijutsu, Advanced Genjutsu, mastered Five Basic Nature Transformations (C-rank, B-rank, A-rank)]

[Overall Strength: Kage Level]

Just as he'd thought!

Uchiha Aoba let out a long breath. His smile widened until he almost threw his head back and laughed.

Fortunately, years of keeping a low profile had taught him to control his emotions, and he managed not to lose his composure.

Still, he couldn't keep strolling along the street. He picked up the pace and ran all the way home.

At last, he could awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan he'd been longing for.

What would the tomoe look like?

Since it was based on Madara, would its ocular power be the same as Uchiha Madara's?

And if he unlocked Susanoo in the future, what color would it be?

One question after another raced through Uchiha Aoba's mind, making his heart pound with excitement.

He went home, locked the door, and shut the windows.

Unlike when he'd awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, this time he needed to keep things under wraps for a while.

Ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan came with side effects if overused: at best, declining eyesight; at worst, blindness. So Uchiha Aoba planned to keep these eyes hidden unless he had no other choice.

They would be a trump card.

That said, he wouldn't be able to keep his Mangekyō hidden for very long.

With his fusion at 46.1%, he was only 3.9% away from the next milestone of 50%.

Once his Mangekyō Sharingan advanced into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, he would have outgrown his developmental stage and gained the power to turn the tables.

But that was for later. For now, it could wait.

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

After a moment of silence, he thought, System, activate my Mangekyō Sharingan!

The instant the words left his mind, a searing pain surged through his eyes.

Uchiha Aoba gave a muffled groan. It felt as if someone had dug out his eyes and was now twisting a knife around inside their sockets.

His hands, braced against the sink, crushed the countertop with such force that it shattered across the floor.

Blood ran from his palms.

Two bloody tears streamed from his eyes and down his cheeks.

The unimaginable pain made Uchiha Aoba curse the system's entire family line in his mind.

And why had nobody told him that awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan would hurt this much?

Or was he the exception?

As far as he remembered, other people had suffered when awakening their Mangekyō Sharingan, but wasn't that pain supposed to be emotional?

Why was his physical? Was it because he had nothing to lose, so the system had chosen this kind of torture to awaken his Mangekyō Sharingan?

It hurt! It hurt so much!

The system had been merciless. Uchiha Aoba had nearly passed out from the pain.

He had no idea how much time passed.

At last, the pain began to ease. Once everything had settled, Uchiha Aoba took some time to recover before lifting his head and looking at himself in the mirror again.

He didn't bother wiping the blood from his cheeks. All his attention was fixed on the pattern in his eyes.

How to put it? It looked a bit like a pinwheel, with three blades.

Uchiha Aoba thought it looked pretty good.

But that wasn't what mattered most. He cared more about the strength of his ocular abilities than the Mangekyō's appearance.

After testing them out, however, he frowned at what he discovered.

It wasn't that his ocular abilities were weak.

Quite the opposite. They were extremely powerful. Once he used them, he could finish off an opponent in an instant.

The ability in his left eye was related to space, and it was brutally simple.

Just one word: Imprisonment.

As the name suggested, Uchiha Aoba could use his ocular ability to pin people in place, much like a paralysis technique.

Except it worked on groups.

In other words, he could instantly immobilize any enemy within his field of vision. They didn't even have to meet his gaze.

How long the immobilization lasted depended not only on the enemy's strength but also on his own ocular power.

As for Uchiha Aoba's right eye, its ability was related to time.

At any given moment, he could exert absolute control for three seconds.

Once he activated the ability, he could accelerate himself or even turn back time.

His eyes were nothing short of outright cheat abilities in the entire Shinobi World. Anyone would have been thrilled with them.

The reason Uchiha Aoba frowned was that, as powerful as his ocular abilities were, they consumed enormous amounts of ocular power and chakra. Ordinary Mangekyō Sharingan couldn't withstand the strain.

He even felt that he wouldn't be able to use them recklessly, even after reaching the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan stage.

In any case, gaining two incredibly powerful ocular abilities was something to celebrate.

Finally, Uchiha Aoba carefully activated Susanoo.

As he looked at the pale orange ribs encasing him, he relaxed completely and let out a long breath.

At least it wasn't pink.