Uchiha Kei, dressed in hunting robes, looked less like a ninja and more like an onmyoji.
Once certain things became reality, you had no choice but to believe in them. The return of spiritual energy, for instance, or a Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
Now that he had confirmed his suspicions, Kei couldn't care less about the Third Hokage's actions.
The Third Hokage confidently believed his operation was so secretive that Uchiha Kei couldn't possibly find out. And even if he did, it wouldn't matter—the key was that he had the strength to pull off his masterstroke.
But to Kei, it was all nonsense, like plotting against thin air.
There was nothing new under the sun; each year's rain fell on old eaves.
The Third Hokage's methods weren't unusual, or even particularly clever.
With Fire Fly at his disposal, Uchiha Kei knew all about the Third Hokage's arrangements. Until Konoha realized what Fire Fly could do, the entire village was exposed to Kei.
Who would have guessed that the butterflies fluttering around them were spies?
And the Third Hokage's supposed ability to bring people together was nothing but his own wishful thinking. Did he really believe the relationships among Konoha's top fighters could be smoothed over so easily?
Tsunade's lover and younger brother had both died under Orochimaru's command. Orochimaru resented Minato. Might Dai had spent his whole life as a Genin because Sarutobi didn't want his strength exposed, but the Third Hokage couldn't stop people from mocking him.
Jiraiya was always running off. Couldn't Tsunade's rejection have something to do with it? And now you're using Tsunade as leverage to win Jiraiya over? What were you thinking, Third Hokage? Did you really think you could fool Jiraiya like he was an idiot?
Besides, why did you think that just because you wanted to play chess, I had to play along? Couldn't I flip the board and play a round of Dou Dizhu instead?
If you dare bring your people to attack me, I'll set off the hundred thousand Explosive Tags hidden in Konoha. Then we'll see whether you deal with the disaster or keep fighting a civil war.69ꜱʜᴜx.ᴄᴏᴍ
Besides, the most important factor—timing—wasn't on the Third Hokage's side. In just a few days, the Sunagakure and Kirigakure Ninjas would be at Konoha's doorstep. If he pulled the top fighters back to the village without supporting the front lines, would he take the blame for losing the war?
Once that old man got stubborn, he saw nothing else. He'd poured all his energy into targeting Uchiha Kei and had long since forgotten to keep an eye on the bigger picture.
Maybe years of Konoha ruling the roost had convinced him that no one would dare challenge him.
Kei hated self-important old men like that.
So Kei didn't bother with the Third Hokage. Something far more important had come up.
Kei's theory about the Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan and the gods had come true—but not entirely.
He'd confirmed that awakening the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan was definitely connected to the gods. But it required a catalyst: the despair of a heart broken by grief in the face of death, as well as sincere prayers to the gods.
When you were at the end of your rope, you had to earnestly pray for heaven's protection.
So cultivating faith was only a way to make it easier for the Uchiha to awaken their eyes in such a state. They still needed to be overwhelmed by negative emotions.
That might also explain why the Uchiha Clan's records of how to awaken the Mangekyō were incomplete.
After all, no strong person would want to admit, "I really had no other choice back then, so I could only pray to the gods. Who knew? Heaven actually helped me."
It was like successful people never mentioned how they'd gotten their big break by sheer luck.
Having realized that the opportunity itself mattered more, Kei found it easy to have his subordinates establish faith in the gods. But getting them into that state of utter despair was far more difficult.
They had to be emotionally sensitive, and they had to lose something they cherished more than their own lives for it to happen.💥💥 🎃💞
That depended on their life experiences. It was hard for people with no faith and a selfish nature to reach that point.
Like Kei!
So, apart from Oboro, who served as the test subject proving this was the right way to awaken the eyes, everyone else had failed.
Some people already had something they cherished deeply. Others had been given Kei as the most important person in their lives by the system. But Kei wasn't about to use himself as a guinea pig.
Of course, the others weren't easy to fool, either.
Only Oboro, with her rich emotions and firm faith in the Future Buddha, had awakened after Kei tricked her so casually.
After all, Oboro was a useless person who occupied two purple-card slots, yet she already possessed powerful ocular power. Her potential was probably the greatest of them all.
Kei had put on a grief-stricken face and told Oboro, who prayed devoutly to the Buddha every day, that Gennosuke had tragically died in the Land of Rivers. Overcome with grief, Oboro awakened her eyes with ease.
Her blue Sharingan, marked with three tomoe, transformed into one with six tomoe, and she awakened two ocular techniques.
The first was Satsuma Jambudvipa, a powerful ability that could alter reality. Anything the user refused to acknowledge simply wouldn't happen. The price was one eye.
It was powerful, but not very useful. It was still a nuclear weapon.
If she ever had to use it, Kei would already be in such dire straits that he might as well give up fighting.
The second ocular technique was Compassionate Samadhi, a powerful healing ninjutsu.
As long as she had enough chakra, she could heal as many people for as long as she wanted. Unfortunately, Oboro was an F-rank weakling. She could barely heal a group of a hundred or so people at once.
It was a waste for such a powerful technique to be unable to make an impact on the battlefield because of something like this.
A powerful support who could silence enemies and heal allies was reduced to a useless ornament because she didn't have enough chakra. How could Uchiha Kei put up with that?
So, even though Oboro had used her eyes in a moment of excitement, she hadn't gone blind. Then she learned that Lord Kei had tricked her, and that Gennosuke was fine and living it up. The girl immediately cheered up and ran off to have fun, without a care in the world.
Kei, left to figure out how to make up for her lack of chakra, had to find a solution himself. That put Fire Fly in an awkward position.
Kei had given Fire Fly a vague order: visit Orochimaru and ask for his summoning contract with Ryūchi Cave.
Fire Fly didn't set off right away as she usually would. Instead, she waited for Kei's next instruction.
Kei was a little surprised. Why hadn't she followed his order immediately this time?
"Fire Fly, is something wrong?"
Fire Fly found it unbelievable. Her lord had seemed a little distracted lately. Had he been working too hard? Had he really forgotten something so important?
"My lord, you haven't told me what I should offer Orochimaru in exchange for the item."
Kei tapped himself on the head with the Hundred-Fold Fan. So much had happened lately that he really had failed to explain.
"Fire Fly, just go and ask. Don't worry. Orochimaru won't refuse you."
Then he turned back to thinking about his next problem.
Fire Fly set off, still doubtful. This was the first time she'd had even the slightest misgiving about her lord's actions. She'd never even met Orochimaru, let alone had any sort of relationship with him. Why wouldn't he refuse her?
The thought that she must never disobey Lord Kei was deeply ingrained in her mind, so Fire Fly carried out his orders to the letter.
But the visit left her even more uncomfortable.
It really was as Lord Kei had said, but was Orochimaru just too nice?
By the time Fire Fly met Orochimaru, he'd already lost most of his human emotions. He was conducting experiments on a human subject with an expressionless face, and the test subject was none other than his once-beloved student, Anko.
Fire Fly couldn't imagine how someone like him could be courteous to her. One wrong move, and she might be the next person on the operating table.
But this was Lord Kei's order, so Fire Fly gritted her teeth and spoke up.
"Mr. Orochimaru, Lord Kei asked me to request the Summoning Scroll for Ryūchi Cave from you."
Fire Fly was ready for Orochimaru to turn on her. But when the utterly inhuman Orochimaru looked up and saw her, it was as if his humanity had returned.
A smile appeared on that corpse-like face. The refusal she'd been expecting never came. Orochimaru readily handed her his ninjutsu.
That wasn't all. He even invited her to stay, prepared tea and snacks for her, and asked about her life and how she was feeling.
In the end, he even wanted to accompany her back to Naka Shrine.
Could this old bachelor, who'd been single for so long, have designs on her? She was already married.
Unseemly images floated through Fire Fly's mind.
Orochimaru leered at her and said,
"Madam, you wouldn't want to be unable to carry out Lord Kei's orders, would you?"
Fire Fly shook her head, casting the improper thoughts aside. Sigh, if this went on, Mr. Kogoro would get the wrong idea.
What sort of spell had she put on Orochimaru?
No!
What sort of spell had Lord Kei put on Orochimaru?
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